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

If someone could help me I would greatly appreciate. I am so frustrated and a bit mad. I got an Emerson record a little less then a year ago. I followed the salesman lead and got what he told me to when I got home it wouldn't record. I called emerson they sent me a disc to upgrade at first it worked, then didn't. I cleaned it, worked a little stopped working. It has not worked more than it has. I decided to go on line and look for help and found this. I read some and went to store to get maxell DVD-RW 2X 4.7 2 hrs because that was the smallest they had and it still won't work. Does anyone have any ideas??? I would greatly appreciate.

 

Hi,
I'm sure you are more than frustrated. What other blank dvd media have you been using? Also, have you tried unplugging the unit for about thirty minutes? Sometimes this will "reset" the unit.

Jesse

 

LOL you are probably right So are you saying to completely unplug it or simply shut off. I've tried several other DVD's but off the top of my head I tried Imation 8x which was the first to finally work for a decent amount of time, not anymore!!! I also tried Memorex 8x, not even remotely!!!! By the way, thank you for your help.

 

I would try Maxell's. If you are sure the update worked then 8x is fine but they have a great track record with these units. I had a major problem once and unplugging it (no power to it at all for about thirty minutes) seemed to fix it.

Hey guys, I have the skip at the beginning problem all of a sudden. I am using some Compusa discs (I know... they are crap) but I had so many and had ran out of Maxells. It is only for a few seconds but I hadn't had this issue for months. Anyone know what's up? Is it just the discs ya think?

Jesse

 

Could be the disc's. I have used the Comp USA's and they have worked ok. I havenot used them in about a year though. The are sitting around for when I run out of my vast array excellent of 4x media.

GR

 

it's not the discs , i can play imation recorded discs, now having trouble reading any discs even rented blockbuster. the emerson vhs/dvd just isn't a very good buy.

 

WOW thanks everyone for your help I will try all suggestions when I get back from vacation and if they don't work I will have to agree that it's just not a very good piece of equipment. Does anyone have a suggestion for what I should get for the replacement should none of these ideas work???

 

Look it Cats, this isn't the greatest DVD/VCR recorder, but like every baby, it has to be coddle. 1st Question?: Is 8X DVD blanks available? I've haven't been shopping lately, but all the Ads are saying 16X. Is this the end of our 8X. Also, I finish a 6 hour or 8 hour VCR dubbed tape and find "cannot record" on the DVD screen. Dont' worry hit the open button and get the DVD out of the tray, OK.
Look and you will see the DVD has lines on it. Turn off the Emerson, insert the DVD disc just recorded and the DVD will show up with your title's and chapter numbers at the top menu. Edit your names and finalize and you have a DVD disc to watch on any machine on your patio w/ some wine and good sound system. More secrets to follow just experiment, but I must admit the Emerson is a little brat. I use Office Depot 8X now but they are funny at times. Thanks for all the info, I'll try the Maxell's or any brand available. Good Forum ps the best mode is 4 hrs for good quality. I usually VCR the live event because I can't trust the DVD to start after the first 20 seconds. Then dub the VCR to DVD.
Good Luck the Mac

 

Hi gunner,
If you can possibly afford it, I would suggest you get something with a Hard Drive. I have a Pioneer with a Hard Drive and it is great for editing, especially home movies. If you record stuff just to watch but not save you don't have to worry with disk. Just watch it and erase it off the hard drive. It save wear and tear on the Burner.
If you just want something to burn DVD's, I have had good luck with a Magnavox.

Good Luck....motorcycl

 

Funai/Emerson called me back today and said they are going to send me the original remote, free of cost. Wow, I am impressed with their customer service.

 

All DVD recorders and drives can be funny with different types of DVD media. Maxell 4x DVD-R, Verbatim Movie Disc 1x-4x or 1x-8x DVD-R, Spin-X DVD-r 4x, Imation 4x DVD-R and Comp USA 4x DVD-R have all been used sucessfully in my Emerson. Its when you get into that upgrade to 8x media do you start having problems. These drives were originally set up for 4x media. The media upgrade only had codes for certain 8x media. Some of the newer 8x media simply will not work because the DVD codes are not on the upgrade disc.

Don't be cheap with the media. As Maxell media can be iffy at time because it is hard to find 4x media, get the Verbatim Movie DVD Discs. Most times you can get spindles of 25 from 7.99-9.99 on sale at Best Buy and Micro Center. The Digital Movie Discs rated 1x-8x will work in a non upgraded EWR10d4 because the discs are coded to be read at 1x 2x 4x 6x 8x. The Emerson will read them at 4x.

These work like a charm. Verbatim is Mitubishi Media and the drives in these Emersons are made by Mitsubishi.

Check these discs out of your recorder.

GR

 

I have had the Emerson EWR10D4 since Christmas 2004. Here is a summary of my experiences:

I have not yet found a disc over 4x that will record in this machine. It will not even PLAY the finalized Sony 16x discs that I either burned in my other DVDR (A Philips DVDR3455H w/HDD and 4x burner) or in my computer.

Yesterday I purchased a 50-pack of 8x Nexxtech DVD-Rs at Circuit City for $7.99. I had no idea of their quality, but for that low a price, why not try them. As I expected, the Emerson would not record to them, but I did make a copy of a disc that was originally burned on the Emerson onto the Nexxtech. The Nexxtech disc then played fine in the Emerson.

Later that day, I burned a World Cup soccer match to one of the Nexxtech's in the Philips DVR. It worked in the Philips, my computer, and in my Pioneer DVD player, but would not play in the Emerson...strange.

Last week, the support department at Funai (which makes the unit for Emerson) advised me not to record to ANY DVD-Rs over 4x and to use only 2x DVD-RWs without installing the 8x firmware upgrade, which am awaiting via mail.

The support tech also gave me the following info:

Recommended DVD-R 4x discs: Fuji, Memorex, Imation
Recommended DVD-RW 2x discs: Fuji, Imation, TDK
NOT RECOMMENDED: Memorex RW, Sony RW and R, 4x TDK RW and R

Incidentally, a locally-owned computer store sells 4x Hyundai DVD-Rs that work well with this machine. I have also used the Maxell 4x DVD-Rs with some success, though sometimes I have trouble finalizing them. I have a pack of Maxell 2x DVD-RWs that I have not opened yet; hopefully they will work. The 4x's Maxell RWs will work most of the time but after a few recordings, they start to freeze.

I also have a problem with the Emerson's timer recordings. Sometimes they work perfectly, sometimes nothing records at all. I haven't been able to deduce a pattern yet.

As for the recording quality, the 2-hour SP speed is very good. In fact, it is better on the Emerson than on my Philips.

 

I think you'll find it better after you upgrade it. Don't waste money on those imation dvd-rs they are garbage. The first and only spindle of them I bought, before I knew better, I had to throw away more than half of them-would not record. Read the 'media' section of this forum for some good info on dvd-brands that are reliable, and will play after more than 3months storage.
charles

 

I have a crap load of Imation 4x discs. I have tried a few and they worked great.

When I first got my Emerson, I used Comp USA 1x media, which are princo discs. A year later, the discs still work fine. I am going to do some quality scans on my DVD burner to see how they really are doing.

I am never going to upgrade my machine. If it craps out then so be it. It only cost me 75 bucks. Newer models are going to start dropping in price due to the blue ray machines.

I have so many 4x's discs they could last me until 2010...LOL.

GR

 

I actually did go thru one spindle of those princo things too, and they seemed to work ok. After reading all the low opinions of them I figured
I had wasted a lot of time dubbing to them, maybe they will be ok after all. If they'll play a while fine, I don't think I'll get to take any of them with me anyway lol
charlesAB

 

I have not had alot of problems with discs going bad either... except for the ones I put labels on. Huge mistake. None of those work now. Do not put labels on DVDs. You will regret it.

Jesse

 

I use a Sharpie and mark then w/title and year. I am really having problems w/these Office Depot 8X. I have 50 left about 90 out of previous 100 could be finalized. These new batch I get the DVD recording w/VCR dub and after 2 hrs...write to disc, remove disc and looks brand new w/4:03 LP left. Strange
I looking for a good 8X blank disc, any suggestion?

 

Danny McC like I said in an earlier post....

Get Verbatim Digital Movie Discs. The 1-4x or 1-8x discs work great!

GR

 

A few people mentioned having the Emerson ewh100f from walmart. I am considering buying this model. How are its editing capabilities? Can you edit on the hard drive and then burn to disk? Is it programmed using TV guide on screen, or similar service? Any other comments now that you have had some time to play with the unit?
Thanks!

 

HI everyone im new here and my daughter in law just gave me her emerson dvd recorder model # EwR20v4 i can get it to play dvd and vhs just fine but cant get it to record tell me it cant read the disk err24 or something like that iv been reading your post so am hoping its the dvds i bought thay are 16x im going to try and find the lower ones im not good at this stuff so hope it works any suggestion will be appreciated