Just checking in again: Bought the 05 on Sunday. I have burned a dozen discs at this point from pretty much every input but the DV input. Works fantastic. Again this is the ZU model. Ive been using the Memorex 4x DVD+RW - I have noticed that the first time you put the disc in before your initially format it that occasionally you get a "No DIsc" error. In EVERY instance this has occured when I opened the drive door and rotated the disc a few degrees and put it back in, it read the disc fine. On one occasion I had to rotate the disc twice before it would read but once its formated those discs are easily read reformatted and reburned. The drive ive been using to edit my recordings on my PC to get rid of commercials and such is a Toshiba SD-R5272.
Gtrman: thanks for the info I appreciate it. Will try to do the firmware updates on the 05 and see what happens. Like others on this thread I first got an 04 and then wanted another for another room but all they had at Wal Mart was the 05's and I did not realize that these were completely different from the 04. Just using the 05 for playback so far, no problems there, have not tried recording with it yet. Hopefully we can get some hacks for the firmware on this one soon to improve some of the software issues at least.
well i bought this dvd recorder and we have yet to record anything it say that the dvd is empty can't play and we are using new dvd's.
If your getting NO DISC errors make your using good quality media. Download DVD Identifier from: http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/ Then check your manufacturer code against the list at: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm Also Ive found that with RW media - havent tested with R media that if you eject the blank disc and rotate it a little bit and reinsert it that the burner will read it. Sometimes it may take a couple of times. This is something that occassionally happens on my toshiba pc dvd burner as well. ************** As for how my burner is holding up - I havent seen any of the heat issues thats been mentioned. Its sitting on top of my big screen not in a cabinet dont know how much of a difference that makes. Ive only tried memorex DVD+RW media thus far to record on but i have yet to have a bad burn in the 20 or so burns ive made. Ive not gotten the failure to finalize error thats been reported but again I am not burning to the very edge of the disc, something someone farther up the thread recommended to resolve the problem.
[bold]For what it's worth... Memorex is not on the ILO approved disc list.[/bold] Yeah, and neither are ILO DVDs... It's looking to me like there are too many DVD recorders, players, formats, and discs that are simply incompatible with each other right now. I'm looking for a happy medium between "high price" and "reasonable quality" and I just don't believe it's out there. Even the higher-priced home recorders either have compatibility issues with other players/computer DVD drives, or are too picky with the brands of media they'll record on. This is ridiculous for a format that's supposed to be so "versatile"... I'm resigning myself to the fact that now doesn't seem to be the right time to purchase a DVD recorder and I'm giving up. I've been through three models of three different manufacturers at this point, from $99 to $249, and the error-to-success ratio is just waaaay to high for me to be comfortable with. My six-year old Sharp VCR finally died back in June, which is what led me to the DVD recorder option -- I was unable to find a Sharp VCR and didn't want to invest $82 on a Sony VCR when I could get a DVD recorder for $17 more -- little did I know... So I wish all of you success with your various DVD recorder projects, trust me you'll need it! Perhaps in the coming months I'll try again once the next gen of recorders hits store shelves (preferably with better ventilation and greater cross-compatibility), but for now I'm finalizing everything I have, returning these $240-worth of DVD recorders I currently possess and going back for the $82 Sony VCR I wanted in the first place. I'm gonna keep hanging around here, so if some sort of DVDR magic happens, PLEASE post it here! <hugs to all!> D.
GoofusKAC I beleive you have got this thing figured out until the companies that build these DVD recorders can get togeather and put an end to the compatability issue there is no need to continue recording with DVD recorders that will only play on certain few players
Bought an ILO DVDR04 at WallyWorld yesterday after almost bribing the salesperson to let me have what was obviously a misplaced 04 demo among all the 05s. Now my problem begins. I can NOT get the hack to take. After downloading it, I'm using a Memorex CD-R to hold the hack files. The disk was created with Easy CD & DVD Creator 6. The executable, BTW, is "IOLHack.EXE" rather than the WM... file discussed. When I put the disk in the 04, per instructions, nothing happens. What am I doing wrong? My main goal is to transfer googobs of store-bought VHS movies to DVD. I'm really interested in the "kill MV" hack. Incidentally, I turned in a CompUSA GoVideo RV4000 for this baby.
[bold]I can NOT get the hack to take. The disk was created with Easy CD & DVD Creator 6. The executable is "IOLHack.EXE" rather than the WM... file discussed. When I put the disk in the 04, per instructions, nothing happens. My main goal is to transfer googobs of store-bought VHS movies to DVD...[/bold] Well first of all, the website from where to get the updates/hacks is here: http://ncc2315.com/ilo/r04.htm - anywhere else you find the files I'd be cautious of (this is NOT my website and I hope it's OK to mention it in my post!)... READ THE WEBSITE BEFORE YOU START DOWNLOADING AND TRYING TO RUN STUFF!!! Second, if you just burned the .exe file to a CD-R and tried to run it then that's your problem -- you need to run the .exe file on your PC and burn the necessary file(s) to a CD-R from there. If you got the correct files from the correct website there should have been detailed (and simple) instructions on what to do before you tried to run an .exe file on the ILO. Third, if you're trying to record ANY pre-recorded VHS tapes to DVD and thinking this macro hack will help you, you're mistaken. The macro hack only works for pre-recorded DVDs PLAYED on the ILO -- any copyblock guards existing on your VHS tapes will not be defeated by hacking the DVD recorder. And fourth, if you're thinking of transferring "gobs" of ANYTHING to DVD using a lower-priced model recorder, you're going to be disappointed. Trust me on this. Not trying to be discouraging, just warning you these are by no means heavy-duty machines that can run for days on end without some sort of failure. You DO, however, have an ILO-04, which is the best unit of the three I've been drinking over for two months now, just avoid the slower record modes, and be patient with what you want it to do (in other words, pressing "stop" when you're done recording followed by "open/close" too fast is making weird things happen for me); stop your recording, go get a refreshing beverage, THEN come back and eject/finalize/whatever... and good luck! continued best wishes to all... D.
Looks like I've inadvertently got the white hat (cracker/upgrader) riding in from one side of town and the black hat (hacker) from the other! GoofusKAC gives me the ILO party line and website and Guitarman directs me to another site with the hacks. What to do, what to do? GoofusKAC, I understand all you've said in the context of the "official" ILO upgrade. The language is all there clear as can be. However, in light of your "run the .exe file on your PC and then ..." comment, I would suggest that the file download and burn handling instructions could be a mite clearer for dummies like me. (Here's a money making idea: "How to Copy Any VHS tape to DVD For Dummies". I won't even claim origination fees.) As for the time it'll take to transfer my "gobs" of tapes to DVD, thanks, but not to worry; I've got "gobs" of time. Considering that I'm also deep into the process of tranferring my LPs (collected over 40+ years) to CD, all I need is a guarantee of another five or so years. All joking aside, y'all, is this a doable project or not? $98 is $98!
Well I'm sorry you're unable to read, and also sorry you can't recognize when two people (apparently) send you to the same website. That's unfortunate. 1. The site I sent you to for the updates/hacks WAS that of "guitarman", I was only trying to be helpful and save you a click or two... 2. I'm glad you have gobs of time, my point was whatever DVD recorder you have isn't going to last as long as the gobs of VHS you're trying to copy. 3. If you don't know what to do with an .exe file (and I mean no offense by this I swear), perhaps you shouldn't have been turned loose on a computer. Unless you're using a Mac of some sort (and I'm sorry if you are), .exe files and what to do with them should have been LESSON TWO right behind "how do I turn this thing on?"... I'm sorry I can't be of more help, but my tech support is about 17 levels above you and anything I try to suggest will just confuse you more. Again, no offense is intended...
Ed, Read and listen to those of us that have attempted to help others in here without putting them or their level of expertise down. Some forget that they too were rookies at everything at one time or another.
I purchased a DVDR05 earlier this month Aug 2005 from Walmart. I wish to copy my Camcorder tapes, input source S-Video onto a DVD+R. I managed to record the data onto the DVD, but on both occasions it failed during finalising the Disc. Has anyone seen this problem. The settings are still set for factory default.
NKM If you read above youll see that most people who had the finalization problem were recording all the way as far as the ILO would allow them. The problem is that the ILO doesnt save enough space on the disc for the TOC which is what references everything else on the disc for players to read. I personally have recieved this error and in every occassion it was because I recorded as long as the DVD would allow. The best thing to do is set the record speed of the burner to a length that is longer than what your recording. If your recording say a two hour program make sure your recording at a speed that will allow you to have 3 hours or so on the disc. That will guarantee you dont get those errors.
i have been reading the treads in this forum and i to have received the same errors and also bad disk errors as well and i have found that using maxwell disks instead of memorex will stop bad disk errors and as people have stated not recording to the full disk (leave a 10 min space) will work for finishing issues. if anyone has any other solutions that they would like to add feel free and as in the words of mick foley " HAVE A NICE DAY' JEFFREYM1
FWIW, you can add one more to the list of former DVDR05 owners. I wasn't looking for a DVD recorder, but I saw this one advertised for $98 at Wal-Mart (I didn't realize they had gotten that cheap) and decided to pick one up to play with. (I didn't see this thread until after the fact or I might have reconsidered.) I had it for a couple weeks but didn't have time to do much with it. Here's a rundown: It was one of the ZU units. I saw no mention of DVD-R anywhere in the manual, etc., but it accepted DVD-R discs with no complaints and correctly identified the disk as DVD-R in the on screen display. The discs I used were Philips DVD-R and Memorex DVD+R. The first time I tried to record something, I put in the DVD-R, it initialized it, I scheduled a recording for that afternoon and left home. I got home after the recording was supposed to be done and the display said "bad disc". I tried playing, etc. the disc, opening and closing the tray, etc. and it just wouldn't do anything with the disc. That night I recorded some things on 2 DVD-R discs and they played OK, although one of them seemed a bit off. In at least one section, if I tried to rewind, it would skip ahead a chapter instead. Not necessarily the end of the world, but very annoying. In other sections of the disc I could rewind OK. Those were the only "successful" recordings I got. Over the next couple weeks I tried 4 other discs, 2 DVD-R and 2 DVD+R (like I said, I didn't have time to play with this much), with varying results. One failed to initialize. The recorder went through the process, thought about it for a while, then said something about recovering from a previous error, even though I had not seen any error. The disc ended up unusable. Two discs did the usual thing of going through the motions of recording and then not being able to do anything with the disc afterwards (couldn't play, edit, finalize, etc.). One I had set up to record 2 things. When I got home later the recorder had opened the drawer. I don't know why, or how much it recorded. When I tried closing the drawer, the LED display would say "load" and just sit there. I tried it several times, gave it at least a few minutes on one or more occasions, and it always just said "load" until I hit the "open" button. That was my final test. When that failed I took it back. Two playable discs (and at least one of those possibly not completely right) out of seven is not a very good percentage. I've seen it mentioned here that trying to put too much on a disc can be a problem. That may explain the first failure. As I recall, I set it up to record 4 hours in 4 hour mode. But I think the others were all well under capacity. On the last two discs, for example, I was set up to record around 1:45 and around 1:30 in 2 hour mode. James
[bold]I've seen it mentioned here that trying to put too much on a disc can be a problem. That may explain the first failure. As I recall, I set it up to record 4 hours in 4 hour mode. But I think the others were all well under capacity.[/bold] I've seen others say this too, and yes likely a full disc is a problem, but none of the DVDs I errored out on or got "baddisc" were anywhere near full (we're talking 12+ mins free in SP mode, and 60+ mins in SLP and EP). Some of the errors happened during finalizing, but just as many happened when I'd put a disc in to continue recording. Once the first 05 died and I found an 04, I was left realizing I had about 12 DVDs I'd started on the 05 that I was unable to read on the 04, so I actually was (briefly) again an 05 owner. Same thing happened, and I was AMAZED! I had a total of 13 discs started on the 05, filled to only between 10% and 60% capacity, of those I was able to finalize only NINE DISCS! Once I hit DVD #10 I got one "baddisc" error, then everything beyond that just said "no disc". Even just-finalized DVDs wouldn't read on the damned thing (luckily they play everywhere else, even in the PC) -- just like the first time the piece of crap just seemed to forget what DVDs were - and based on my second attempt being ONLY to finalize discs (no recording was done on it at all), it still went to hell before I got through #10. Try the CyberHome 1600 version of this -- it runs for the same price, and almost everyone carries it except Wal-Hell-Mart. The number of returns is much lower, PLUS the CyberHome model actually has some ventilation slits in the top which may be the root of ALL of the problems with the ILO model. AND IF YOU DO THIS PLEASE REPORT YOUR OBSERVATIONS HERE! I'd do it myself but I currently have $230 invested (temporarily) in other recorders I'm trying out and I ain't got no money... I need to get rid of this ILO 04 model because of the jumpy pic in the slower record modes but DAMMIT I love this machine!!! I've seriously put more hours into this recorder than should even be legal, but once I ran the macro/LP hack SLP turned into a slo-mo-freeze-frame hell I can't use. Independent of that, I've so far recorded on and/or finalized nearly 100 DVDs on this thing in five weeks and generated ZERO coasters!!! ZERO!!! All the discs play on both of my DVD players, and they also play in the DVD-ROM drive in my PC (which I've heard many have problems doing). Seriously, and the sooner the better, try to find an ILO-04. Floor models will probably be your friends. DO NOT run the macro/LP hack on it, just leave it as is at the time of purchase and be happy with it. I can almost promise you 100 DVDs from now you'll be thanking me! And if anyone knows which exact LITE-ON model the 04 is a clone of please also let me know -- I can't find the LITE-ON brand in this market, but if they're still making home DVD recorders (as their website says) I'd be ECSTATIC to be able to make that my next purchase. D.
Re: The full disc problem. Like I said, I thought I had set up the first disc to record the full length (4 hours in 4 hour mode), but I knew the last 2 were around 1:45 or less in 2 hour mode. And I don't think I had set up a disc full of material on any other disc either. But whatever I tried to record, I just looked at all 7 of the discs I recorded on, or tried to record on, and none of them are full to the edge. The closest is about 1/8 inch from the edge (around 2 mm I guess). Is that too close? No telling which one that was, except that it's one of the ones that won't play. How close is too close? Anyone know? Oh, and you mentioned putting discs back in to finalize them. FWIW, none of the discs I tried ever left the recorder until after they were finalized or I had problems. I wasn't sure if they could be removed without finalizing first, so I didn't try to remove any without finalizing first. In most cases I never got the chance to finalize. FWIW, I think the Wal-mart I was in had one or more 04 models on the shelf when I got the 05. All I remember for sure was seeing the 04 model for about the same price and deciding to stick with the 05 ("It must be better. It's one more than the 04". <g> That was about the extent of my reasoning since I didn't know anything about either of them). I can't remember for sure if the 04 was just a display unit or if there were boxed units on the shelf. I haven't gone back and checked because I'm not really looking for a DVD recorder. The 05 was just a big PITA and I just don't need that. I may change my mind (the 05 was basically an impulse buy to begin with and the impulse may strike again), but at this point I think I'll just stick with VCR's. They're practically ancient technology, but they work dammit. James
Just bought my 1st DVD Recorder a few weeks ago, Ilo R05 , set it up to record for 7 hours, get the not compatable/damaged disk error message when I tried to finalize it, made 2 coasters from my $28.95 Sony +R pack of 50. Decided the unit was bad, returned to Wal-Mart, got another one, yet to attempt to record on it, just read all your posts, wish I had read them before buying! Have no doubt Ilo. is cheap China crap, not surprised coming from Wal-Mart. I'm not even sure I'll make any more coasters with it before I return unit#2 back to Wall Mart. Apparently there isn't an affordable recorder out there that can record with any quality for more than 4 hrs. I'll just go buy a cart-load of VHS tapes to record the upcoming best 50 hours of Gunsmoke, and forget the DVD recorder for now. One question though the Sony +R label showed a max recording time of 6 hours, while my Ilo 05 said it could record for 8 hours per disk, what's up with these inflated/inconsistent/recording limits? (disk claims vs recorder claims) p.s. haven't checked to see if I have the M or Z 05, ilo's download site says it has firmware only for Z, I do know mine's supposed to record up to 8 hours, what a farce! DVDR'd out in Alabama
