I'm not a complete newbie, and have some knowledge of region encoding and PAL vs NTSC. I wish to record a program played on the BBC using a stand-alone DVD recorder, and then to watch this on a stand-alone USA DVD player. I have a sample disk with a program recorded from the TV, and neither my stand alone USA DVD player or my PC DVD RW drive recognises the data on the disk. In fact both players respond as if there is no disk in the drive. I would have thought that a UK based stand alone DVD recorder would have used a format that is readable in the US, at least using a PC? Am I wrong in this assumption? I'm thinking that there is a problem with the disk itself. Is it damaged (possibly in my trip from the UK to US), or should I have used a specific type of media? The disk is a panasonic DVD-RAM (120min/4.7GB rewritable 2-3x speed) Thanks for any advice
I'm pretty confident the stand alone recorders provide region-free recordings. If your computer doesn't recognize the disks, the fault is probably with the stand-alone unit.
hi what is the file format? is it something like dvd-VR the vr being the main bit? i think that recording useing a standalone uses a slighly different version of format than the norm for pc! i think this has been asked about before and you may need nero visionexpress to handle the file to be converted to dvd format of vob/ifo/bup to burn with the same app... edit... found this! may come in useful with what you know so far? Introduction to DVD Video Recording Formats Info provided by CyberLink! Looking at the current DVD trend, the two major usage for recording on DVDs are Data Backups and Video Recording. With the massive storage space available on a DVD, it is easy to back up a great deal of data and is ideal for producing DVD movies, due to MPEG-2's large file size. But one problem with DVD burning is that the process is relatively slow; especially in comparison to CD burning. As well, because DVDs can hold up to 4.7 GB worth of data, it is unlikely that the average person will use up all of that capacity at one time. So this brings us to the new DVD Video Recording (VR) format. A format which gives you the flexibility to produce fully editable DVD movies! What is DVD VR and What can you do with it? In short, DVD VR is a format that enables you to produce a DVD movie that can be edited. A DVD produced in VR format will allow you to add new video contents, change menu backgrounds, insert chapters, split video clips and even remove unwanted video segments (as long as you have enough space available on the disc). And as more DVD authoring applications are adopting the new VR standard, like CyberLink's PowerProducer 2, you will be able to easily record, edit, and playback your DVD movie creations. So now, using products like PowerProducer 2, you can reuse your re-writeable DVDs again and again, and add as much content as you want. You can transfer 30 minutes of your travel video onto a re-writeable DVD, and then a few months later you can add another 10 minutes from your next trip onto the same disc. Plus, if you want to change the selection menu to contain a new background image, music, navigation buttons, etc., it can be done with ease. Where can you find VR Technology Currently, VR technologies are mainly available on high-end home DVD recorders, where you can record and re-record TV programs without the need to change to a different disc. However, with developments in the software industry, you will be able to use programs like PowerProducer 2 and your DVD burner to perform the similar functions as those high-end DVD recorders. Limitations for VR Format However, VR technology does have some limitations to be aware of. When you delete a video segment from the VR disc, it may appear to be deleted from the DVD, but you cannot instantly add-in new contents in the "deleted" space. In other words, your DVD's available storage space will not increase just because you have deleted some contents from it. To clear more space you need to Defragment your DVD disc, using programs like Power Producer 2, which will help you optimize the available disc space. Another issue with VR technology to make note of is that there are two different video recording standards available today: DVD-VR and DVD+VR. With a DVD-VR disc, created using a DVD-RW burning device, you can only playback the contents on a DVD-RW compatible device, and not on a standard home DVD player. However, with DVD+VR format the discs created can be played on DVD+RW compatible devices "and" home DVD players. After reading through this introductory article on DVD video recording technology, we hope that you are now more familiar with the options that are out there for you. Now is a great time to purchase a DVD burner and utilize it as a video recording device. Just keep in mind to use a suitable software application, like PowerProducer 2, so you can fully take advantage of VR technology! i take it the film clip played on the standalone it was recorded on??? ======================== as this VR format leaves discs OPEN for more input/editing it may this why it cant be read on a pc? also not all media/dvdr discs can be read by all dvdroms!!! if you could get the disc read we can convert from there maybe, i know a couple of apps?
