anyone have either emerson dvd recorder from Walmart and do you like it?

i unpluged it for 20 mins, and recorded some music video for 5 min,
it seemed to do ok, but i wont be sure untill i record something in a movie lenght time,

funny thing with this DVD recorder i had a VCR hooked up making copies of old family home videos which worked fine,
but i was curious to see how it would do if i tryed an old video tape movie i got like 12 years ago, wanted to see if the copy guard worked on it, sure enough it worked it would not allow me to make a copy onto a DVD ,but funny thing is i tryed it on a friends DVD combo VHS recorder which was a zenith and it did infact record it, i thought that was weird lol i didnt record the whole thing was more or less just to test it,

 

I have had the same weirdness on other players. I can record from dvd to tape or dvd to dvd and dvd to tape with my set up. I am often surprised at what I can record (VHS) with no problems at all. Then I put one in that gives me the copyright protection block. I do have a "video stabilizer" for tapes that remedies that though.

I did have a similiar problem as yours and unplugging it worked (like so many electronics will.. it is like a reboot or reset I suppose). It would record a minute or two then give me a record error message and power off. Sometimes it would work and at times it wouldn't. It continued that way for awhile. Eventually it would not record at all. The unplug worked but only after a lengthy unplug. Just unplugging and then right back in did not.

I have had my unit for over a year now and I am still pleased with it. I am constantly recording on it. It is a workhorse and it seems to be just fine for me.

 

yeah when i did the upgrade over the phone with customer service they woman said to turn it off for only 5 mins after i did it,

but what happens when they stop producing 8x DVD's will they give us an upgrade to 16x lol i will prob end up getting a new one by then and have 2.

 

8x will probably be around for a while.

16x Max will be it for DVD's. They will go no higher.

As 16's came out shortly after the 8x's I would imagine that most people have not upgraded to 16's. Besides that 16x drives are only made for computers. Not DVD recorders. (Not yet at least)

You can still get 4x discs. They are hard to find but they are out there. (Verbatim Digital movie discs)

 

Has anyone used the Taiyo Yuden discs? I tried them before the upgrade (4x) but the machine could not read them.

Jesse

 

really thats all i've been using in my symphonic(sister to yours)

 

Yep.

My Maxell 4x discs (made in japan) are Taiyo Yudens.
They work like a charm.

 

I understand they usually record faster than marked and so maybe that is why I couldn't get them to work before the upgrade. I should try them again I suppose.

Jesse

 

I just used the firmware upgrade from this thread and it works great! No time lag on my machine. I used Maxell DVD 8x. Thanks to all who have posted about the upgrade.

 

I just found some Maxells that are made in Japan. Are these TY's? They work fine in my machine.

Jesse

 

If the Maxells are 4x then they are most likely Taiyo Yuden.
If they are 8x then the they are Hitachi's.

Yudens are slightly better, but the Hitachi's are still extremely good media.

 

What about the Maxell DVD-RW 2X, who makes them?

Thanks

 

Ok...

The 8x media will not record any faster than the 4x media. This machine will only record up to a max of 2x.

The only reason to do the upgrade is so that you can use 8x media as 4x media is harder to get. In otherwords, all the upgrade does is tell the internal burner now you can record on both 4x and 8x media.
That's it. There is no difference in record speed.

As for Maxell DVD-RW x2, these are made by Optodisc, Ritek, and Verbatim. In stores, you will mainly find RW's made by Optodisc.

In any case, they work fine.

 

IMPORTANT MIS INFORMATION ABOUT THE EMERSON DVD PLAYER/RECORDER.

Alot of people have been complaining about the 2-minute cuts on RW discs, or for any matter, just two minutes cut after they got the update. I figured out why it does it. The discs/nor the update have anything to do with it. I sometimes accidentally hit play after i have recorded, which starts playing the DVD that I am recording on. Then I am like (whoops) I accidentally hit play, so I stop the DVD recorder (I ONLY HIT STOP ONCE). This is what causes the disk, the next time you record to start about two minutes later.

WHY?


When you hit stop only once, the laser is set to stop again in the same spot that you last played the disk (THAT is what Resume means) so when you hit play it starts where you last left off.

when recording after playing, The DVD Recording laser needs to move (search and find) a empty spot on the disk so it can record what you want. This is why there is a delay. I was worried about using my rw disks and was going to have to time it, but now works fine, only a couple of dvd's with some 2 minutes missing. Glad to help everyone out

HEY ANGIE ABOUT GROWING PAINS.

I only have like 4 episodes, i think the last four of the series. Did ou know Warner Bros is releasing them in FEb 06.

 

Sorry, Inconclusion to the 2minute skipping.

PRESS STOP TWICE AFTER PLAY. or make sure you hit the VCR BUTTON THEN PLAY.

 

I started getting a 1-4 second start-lag and a alot of lag during the recording as well(parts of the recording just didn't play,just skipped a few secs). I also was not able to even format or burn succesfully on disc's I had used many times before,I thought the recorder was dying/firmware screwed it up....wrong. I have had mine for almost 2 years now and have nver cleaned it before. I opened it up,cleaned the lens with eyeglass cleaner and it now works again like it was brand new. The flawed recordings that I made before I cleaned the lens will not even play properly now though. As for the "stop twice" before recording comment,I never had a problem like this before. If the recorder knows how much time is available on the disc,it knows where to put it beforehand,that's what "loading" is all about.

 

For what it's worth, I purchased one of these units last month. Being a newbie, I studied the guide before installing/using the unit and found it easy to set-up and easy to use. My main use is recording TV shows & movies and dubbing VCR to DVD. I have never had a problem with anything (yet) and am 100% satisfied with the picture (recording off satellite) in both the DVD and VCR modes. I'm using only Maxell DVD-R & DVD-RW discs - so far so good. Again, great unit/value for the price!

 

I have a Emerson EWR20V4 DVD/VCR combo recorder and when i try to play a vhs tape than it turns off my player.
If anybody know how to fix this please let me know
Thanks

 

Okay guys... I ordered the TY's (4x) and they still will not work in the Emerson. What gives? Is there a way to get them to work? A firmware update? Do they do that?

Jesse

 

Hmmm?

You ordered TY 4x media and they do not work?

That is odd. Even the cheap Comp USA 4x's work in this unit.

Maybe the code for Authentic TY 4x is different from the Maxell 4x TY's.

I know its too late, but maybe see if you can find the Maxell 4x
made in japan. I'm telling you I've used countless Maxell 4x TY's.

They are flawless.

To answer your question, I do not think that Funai will give you a firmware upgrade for one specific media. How much did you pay for the TY's? Where did you buy them? It could be that they are fake TY's.