Hello, I bought the sanyo from wal-mart too and I am incredibly frustrated. It took me 2 days to figure out that the default AUTOMATIC CHAPTER is set at 4 minutes so it causes all recordings not to work because it takes up too much space. After that, got it working, felt comfortable and bought a 50 pack of dvd's and started recording. Now, for no reason at all, it will stop recording and ruin the dvd. I lose maybe 1 out of every 3 dvd's. That is pretty expensive. Going to return it and get the pioneer You all recommend. Should have went to best buy first.
I bought the 500 last week also.. Still a lot of things I don't understand about dvd. Ran across the Chapter screen, did not know what it was for but turned it off anyway.. Only problem I am having is recording old vhs tapes.. I was an avid vhs man for years and have about 300 movies and sports events on vhs tape and my primary purpose of going dvd was to preserve these movies. Yesterday I started recording one to the dvd and a screen came up that said the program was not authorized for recording (it's a 12 yr old Charles Bronson tape that had been dubbed)! It then made the dvd-rw unusable!! Out of all these tapes I have no idea which are copywrited and which are not; I sure cannot go "trial and error" if it is going to destroy the disk when it runs across one ($$$$)... Other than that I am running along OK with the 500. Anyone know of a trick to keep this thing from destroying the disk when this happens??? Hey culttvguy how do you disable "macrovision" on a vcr??
As far as i know you can't disable the Macrovision on the VCR itself,but you can buy gadgets which you plug in line between the Play VCR and the Record device(in your case,the 500) Its basically a small box which eliminates the macrovision from the signal coming out the back of your VCR,so by the time it gets to the recording device,you get a clean unaffected signal to record with. here are a couple of examples you could try. Go on Google or Yahoo and search for Sima CT-1 ,that model should do the job just fine.You'll find loads of places that sell them.Compare prices,you should be able to get one for under $40 Good luck
i have the sanyo drw 500 just got it i figured ourhow to record even recorded on dvd from my camcorder. i have only one question i hope osme one can h elp it automatically makes a menu but it puts the date the recording was recorded on it i was wondering if anyone knows how i can get the recording date off seeing as im recording home movies that are in the 90s the 2004 date is alittle confussing lol thanks
Hi yarnball... Welcome to the world of newbies.. I have had my 500 about 3 wks and learn something different every day.. You mentioned the camcorder; when i try making a dvd from the camcorder I do not get the full-screen view (black on both sides of movie). I have tried all 3 diff settings for the tv.. When I record from the camcorder to a vhs and then record to a dvd everything is ok.. What settings and connections are you using?? As for the date, I initially thought of changhing the date on the 500 but it will only change to years 2002-2099.. I will keep tinkering tho and let you know if i find anything.. Jerry
Hi jerry im just using a 8mm camcorder i have it hooked to the front av 2 jacks and i have it set on the ps for the standard t.vs as far as the date goes i guess im just being picky im used to doing it on the computer which is more steps and time consuming but i can use my own titles lol but for the ease of just turning on and pushing record i guess the day of recording date is a small although annoying price to pay. i wonder .... ae all dvd recorders the same when it comes to that silly date thanks agian yarnball
I got a Sony DRW-500 for fathers day. I have recorded on DVD+RW and works OK for single movie but when I try to record a second movie it go nuts after a few minutes and colors flash and then the unit sounds a ring and shuts down. When you turn it on again or reload DVD then the second movie is gone-nothing recorded What's going on? If I record short sections on same DVD its OK but let record for longer periods its OK
hi coyote999...... i am a long way from knowing much about dvd recording but i have learned a lot through trial and error also (and wiping out several dvd-rw):-} What are you trying to record? If you provide a little more info i am sure someone on this site can help.. I am enjoying my 500 but still have a lot to experiment with.. Good Luck... Jerry
Not exactly a reply; but another question! I am now recording some OLD 8mm film that i had previously transferred to vhs. This film has no sound (i said it was old) so is there any way to dubb a background sound, like music, onto it so the sound will play and be recorded along with the movies?? any/all help would be appreciated. jerry
usafret, you'll have to run audio from a seperate source via the red/white RCA cables along with the yellow video RCA cable.If you're using a CD player for example,just run the red/white cables from the output on the back,to the inputs which you would normally use on the DRW500.play the CD or whichever sound source to the point when you want the music to start,and pause it.Once you start recording the picture,un-pause the music source and let it record.
I am trying to record from VCR tapes to DVD+RW One of the VCR tapes was copied from a 8mm video tape and another was a std VCR movie to DVD+RW Some of the DVD+RW showed as no disc loaded on 500 system too
Hi Everyone! I just joined this site so i'm fairly new to discussion groups. But I wanted to add a bit of info to this thread that I think people should considder when dealing with this model. I too wanted to create new copies of shows i got off tv from VHS. and this unit looked like a good basic choice to begin with and if you're not concerned with technical details then this post may not mean anything to you. anyway as a few of you have already mentioned, the Sanyo DRW-500 recorder is quite buggy and as a computer tech I fully agree with that statement. the problems I had were at first it seemed ok then the unit started making coasters out of dvds and at one point it froze up just like a computer would if you exausted the memory. This unit appears to be poorly designed at least it gives me that impression from the expirence i've had with electronics both computers and other consummer . and the reason i give this statement toward this unit is because. I tried three units of the same type the second two failed right out of the box what they did is even though they appeared ok because the clock blinked when power was applied when I went to switch the units on both did not come on there was a small click from the drive and the fan came on the unit did not post in computer term or failed to start up both units i exchanged for this had this exact same flaw so it appears to be a poor design flaw or bad electronic components were used. For those not so technically minded this could be an extreme frustration even those who are technically minded also a tip from personal expreince. If you're looking for a simple recorder or even dvd player I would not advice sanyo for optical devices because even their players can be flakey my first player was a sanyo it was a DVD/vhs combo and it failed a month after i got it actually it glitched out of the box. If you want simple but reliable and aren't looking for a high fee for a player or recorder Apex pioneer sony panasonic all make reasonaly priced units that seem to be more weel rounded. Anyway I hope these thoughts answer some questions and help with DVD recoder/player purchasing. another tip before i close check reivews on the player in mind see if it's got good reviews typically that will tell you if the model you want is reliable and what you need. The best way you can do this is have the vender name and model number and just type them into google's search bar you usually get really good links to reviews and info. take care all Clint
HI CULTVGUY! sorry it has taken so long to thank you for your advise on the video enhancer and dubbing sound! Both work to perfection... I am so engrosed in making dvd's i forgot to reply....:-} so THANKS!! Jerry dvdgenie: I have found a lot of little flaws with this 500 that i wish were better but it serves its purpose; probably not as good as the more expensive models but i guess we get what we pay for.. Hope your experience with it improves.
It's me again....... Things are going pretty good with my 500 now; CULTVGUY has been a great help.. Does anyone know if you can program a tv show to record on a mon-fri or weekly basis instead of programming one day individually??? Appreciate any/all responses... Thanks!
Usafret,I think you have to do each timer recording manually by changing the date and time for each one. I couldnt see anything in the manual that shows you how to set it up for daily "same time" recording.So basically,if you wanted to record a daily show from Monday to Friday,you could do so for 3 weeks as you can program 15 timer recordings,but each has to be entered seperately. Even that would not be much use unless the programmes themselves are pretty short,otherwise how are 15 programmes going to fit on one disc,even in the longest record setting.Imagine if you were away for those 3 weeks,you'd need to come back to change the disc
Hey Jerry I got your reply yes it serves it's purpos one thing i was thinking of doing is after i get into computer and electronics engineering more was to buy another one of these units and modifying it and then passing the tips onto others but that would be a ways down the road yet it's a good recorder for a start one and with some bug fixes could be really good problem is not everyone who owns electronics knows how to modify them but i'll keep you guys posted on my findings anyway for right now i exchanged the sanyo and use the pioneer 220-S recorder not a bad buy either as price goes and also has greater video capilibites as well as numerous other feature this model is also found at walmart as well as bestbuy and possibly ciruit city
I am very disappointed with my Sanyo DRW 500. There seems to be a firmware glitch that will not allow an R+ disc to finalize, which renders them useless in other players. The RW+ works fine, because they finalize themselves before you can remove them. That is the reason for the long delay at the end. Not a single one of the 40 or so R+'s I've burned worked in another player. I used the good Memorex disc so that's not the problem. I called Sanyo and they said all my DVD players were too old to recognize the R+ format. I went out to Best Buy and bought a brand new one that said it played R+ and the ones I've ripped still do not play in it. I can watch them in the DRW 500, they are on the disc, just not playable on other machines. My tech wiz friend and I got on the internet and saw some other forums with several people with the same problem. I called Sanyo back and it their helpfulness sounded sincere, the girl even said she thought they had a firmware update that might help, but they didn't. I tried to take it back to Walmart to exchange for a different brand, but had misplaced the receipt and they wouldn't exchange it. I am going to try my luck again with Sanyo tomorrow. Is anyone else having this problem.....RW+ will work in other players but R+ won't?
Karen,when i took my Cyberhome 1500 back to Walmart,I didnt have the receipt either,and they did a"No receipt Exchange" for me,that is when i go the Sanyo.Go customer services,or call them first to save a wasted journey.By speaking to a different person than the one you saw before it might make all the difference. As for the problem you are having,I cant say i have had that on mine yet,the discs play on everything i have thrown them at,although the machine has locked up a couple of times and made coasters ! ANdrew
I just bought a DRW 500 from Walmart and have been busy recording my VHS tapes. One problem I keep running into is during the process of recording from the VCR ... sometimes the DRW will stop and give me a message that says "input signal lost" or " input signal changed .. please wait". What could be causing this? It's very frustrating and instead of have one record that I want ... I sometimes have as many as 12 or 13. Also noted a couple of times the DRW would stop and give me a message "video prohibited" but the video being copied is a home movie. Strange!! Otherwise I've not experienced any other problems.
