I too bought an ILO DVD recorder and am having the same problem. I have recorded programs from live TV, VHS tapes and other DVD's and once finalized, they play fine on the ILO, but when I try to play them in my Cyberhome or any other player, all I get is a directory structure as shown below... .. Video_RM Video_TS Inside of the Video_RM folder is what appears to be another file with an icon which looks like a camcorder and when I highlight that icon and press play, it flashes to another screen which says "Press any key to play", but then bounces right back to the folder again?? What am I doing wrong? I am using DVD +R by Verbatim, Fuji and a couple of other brands with the same results?? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!! Thanks Video-Pro
Video-Pro, Make sure you have the latest firmware installed on the recorder. I think there were issues like this in some of the earlier firmware revisions. You can get both factory and hacked versions of the latest firmware from my ILO firmware page.
Thanks for the advice. I was hesitant to upgrade the firmware because it appeared to be working fine and I didn't have any issues with it until this problem cropped up. I have your updates and will put them on tonight and let you kow if it solved the problem!! Thanks again!! Video-Pro
Video Pro - I am having the same issues and I have the latest hacked firmware. I get the same file structure. I have not tried the finalized disks in more than one player though (this too is with the cyberhome progressive scan DVD player). I had a similar problem with playing VCDs on other DVD players. I will be interested in hearing how it turns out for you with the new firmware although it should be similar to my experience. I wonder if it's simply the DVD players that are not compatable? Steve
FESCSteve... What version is your firmware at currently?? And do you remember what it was before the upgrade?? As far as players, I tried it in my Cyberhome 300 and my Pioneer LD/DVD player with the same results. The only place it played correctly was on my computer?? WTF?? This really sucks as I wanted a unit to backup some of my really old VHS tapes and be able to play them on the standard DVD player!! One other interesting note though is that the ILO and also my Pioneer LD/DVD player will play PAL DVD's.... I accidentally put in a PAL DVD and when I saw what was playing, I realized it wasn't NTSC!!! Go figure?? Thanks Video-Pro
I don't recall the version (i'm at work right now) - but upgraded to the latest just two days ago. Some were having problems with the macrovision being fooled and not being able to copy tapes that didn't have macrovision, but I don't recall anyone with the same problem that you and I are having, either before or after the upgrade. I sure would like to be able to also make copies of my home mini DV recordings to share with family (the main reason for getting the Ilo brand with it's firewire input) - does not look good right now... Steve
I tried the same DVD - this time in my mom's player and it worked like a charm. Looks like my issue was just an incompatable dvd player (cyberhome). Steve
Ok, well, I upgraded the firmware, but it still does the same thing. All I get is a directory structure Anyone else have any ideas on this problem? I'm going to try a different brand of disks and see if that helps... This really bites!!! Thanks for your help!! Video-Pro
I think it may just be that your DVD players are not compatable with +R media. I know my Cyberhome was not happy with it and gave the same results as yours, but the same DVD +R in another DVD player worked. If you have access to yet another DVD player, give it a shot. It may take a while before all the DVD players out there are + and -R compatable. You may just be unlucky enough to own a couple that are not. Good luck with it. Let us know what you find. Steve
Ok, I used DVD shrink on the DVD I burned on the ILO and then burned it back to a nother +R DVD and it played fine in everything?? What the heck is going on here? I really hope I don't have to do this everytime I want a video burned from the ILO!!! Any more ideas?? Thanks Video-Pro
Video-Pro, The ILO disc is going to be DVD_VR format. That's why it has the VIDEO_RM folder along with the VIDEO_TS folder and the disc name is DVD_VR. DVD Shrink or DVD Decrypter are only going to copy the VIDEO_TS folder to the computer. Once you burn it back to a blank DVD+R, you are creating a standard DVD+R disc, not DVD_VR. It sounds like your players are capable of playing DVD+R media, just not in the DVD_VR format. This is why some recorders have what is called DVD-VIDEO compatability mode, which the ILO doesn't. I have 2 HD04's and a Pioneer DVD player. My Pioneer has no problem playing both DVD+RW (unfinalized) and DVD+R (finalized) straight from the ILO. In closing, I don't think it is the recorder but the players that are having a problem with the recorded media.
Ok, thanks for that response gtrman. So from what you are telling me I need to find another DVD Recorder?? If so, can you recommend one? A friend of mine told me about this ILO, and he has a Lite-On which he says is the same unit and he doesn't have the problem I have.... He also has a Cyberhome 300 player and it plays the Lite-on recordings perfectly!! Thanks for the help and I await your next response!!! Video-Pro
Ok, I guess we will find out exactly where the problem lies. I just ordered a Liteon 5001 like my friend has and he said his copies from live video and plays back on his Cyberhome player without a problem I'll post a report once I get it and try it out!! Thanks for all your help here!!! Video-Pro
I bought a liteon recorder and had problems with it, returned it and they had no more liteon (Xmas special) so I bought the ilo.... I have recorded about 7 DVD's with no problems, but now am starting to have problems... Same media, so I know that is not it.. I had my wife return it to wallys, and she just brought home the new one... I will try it with the firmware update.. Also, I noticed with both recorders that the DVDs' always have this white fine powder all over them after they are recorded.... What is up with that? CJ
I seem to be having a problem with sound on this ILO machine. While recording I started hearing this humming sound. I thought maybe my speakers had a problem, but when I played the recording back it was worse on the recording. Now it sounds like a helecopter in the background of the sound. Of course this is my first recording and I may not have configured it correctly, but I just thought I would see if anyone else was having a problem.
If you are using the ilo tv tuner this is a known problem.Use your vcr tuner to record your tv programs.
Okay, I am trying to decide if I want to buy an ilo DVD recorder (considering the DVDR04 or the DVDRH04.) I have read through this thread (lots of good info, y'all rock!) and tried to extract some understanding. Let me 'splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up. The ilo DVDR04 seems to be a pretty good deal. It records on DVD+R/RW disks. It can playback both (+) and (-) disks. Now, this is where things get, um, fuzzy. It apparently has issues that need updates from the webpage? And, you can get hacked updates to help remove Macrovision issues? And, the disks it writes (when finalized appropriately, if necessary) sometimes do not work in DVD+R/RW - compatible DVD players, because of the DVD_VR format it uses? (What exactly does that mean? Does that have to do with how the video/audio/other data is recorded on the disk?) Whether I get the HDD version or not, I want to use it to record TV shows like a TiVo. I also want to take some of the older video tapes we have (especially the dozens of children's tapes we have) and copy them to DVD. I would submit a guess that most of the tapes we have do not have Macrovision (or any copy-protection), but I don't want to end up not able to record my tapes to DVD. Can anybody here fill in the blanks? Thanks! ---William Burtnett
Ok, here's what I have determined from experimenting with ILO's and Lite-on... I originally bought an ILO DVDR04 ($153.00) and I loved it. Once I discovered however that it wouldn't play back the recordings in any of my existing DVD players, I figured it was defective. I returned it and bought another one (139.00), only to have the same results. I read in the forums here that the hacked firmware update might solve the problem, so I made the update. It did add a great feature of LP mode and supposedly removed any Macrovision protection (I don't know for sure as I don't have anything with macrovision on it to test it), and also did the region adjustment. Well, none of this helped. My friend who told me about this said his played fine, but he had a Lite-On 5001. So off I went in search of a 5001. I found one and tried it ($210.00), but still had the same problem. No playback, just a directory structure?? Dissapointing, but not to be stopped, I found a 5005 ($99.00) and tried that, but still no joy?? Ok, so I figured I had the best unit out of the three I had tried, and this was also the cheapest! Go figure?? Anyway, I found the firmware hack for the 5005, and now I have a DVD recorder that does both +/- R/RW and has an LP mode, no macrovision and is also region free....And also plays PAL to boot!!! As far as making recordings that will play on other DVD players, I found that the Cyberhome I was testing on in my living room was screwed up, but the one in the bedroom played fine? If I want to I can rip the recording with DVDDecrypter and then use DVD shrink and I can play that in ANY player.. So I hope I helped you more than I may have confused you!!! I think that no matter which one you get, you can always, as a last resort, play the recordings on the recorder itself. Have fun and good luck! Video-Pro
i have heard of others having problems playing recordings made on the Ilo, on other dvd players, but i haven't yet had a single problem. I've played my dvds on my sony player, a mintek player, my portable kawasaki dvd player, all with no problems whatsoever. Go figure - i guess it just depends on what player you're playing it on, and what formats it supports.
