Thanks usafret. As you suggest, I will get a small pack of the Sonys. At this time I don't plan to read them in a computer -- but I want to keep my options open. I have already cabled the DRW500 to a TV, VCR, and a DVD player, but I haven't recorded anything yet. I can't find anything in the manual about managing the recording to chapters - although it does show how to label chapters. Can I control when to end a chapter and to start a new one. What if I want to re-record a particular chapter on +RW media? Are there some instructions that I might not be aware of?
No audio output to TV: I have my DRW500 connected to TV by S-Video. With the input to the recorder from the coax cable, I get a very good picture through the S-Video output to the TV -- but no audio. Can someone please explain what settings control this. Additional information: 1)The reason that I use S-Video out to the TV is that I have the AV out connected to my VCR -- in case I ever need to record a tape from DVD. 2) My cable signal to the TV does not pass through the DRW500. It goes through a splitter, which in turn separately feeds coax cables to the TV, the DRW500, and a VCR.
Hi Shilliard............You snowballed me on that Chapter situation, I am having to go back to the book on that one. As to the sound-- You are really wiring it up aren't you! Never heard of going to each piece of equip with your incoming cable signal but sounds neat. Since you are going out to tv with s-video from the 500 it appears to me that all you need to do is use a couple of rca plugs for your L and R audio from the 500 to the tv; am I thinking right??
usafret, yes, that was right. I had been of the false belief that the S-Video cable handled the audio too. I fixed it now by connecting the audio.
GOOD SHOW on the audio dilliard. I am still experimenting on the Chapter topic.. If you figure it out before you hear from me please post it in the forum. You're whizzing right along.. Jerry
Like i said, i just got a chance to work on the Drw500 again today, luckily usafret got the s-video working (thanks again), but now i notice that the audio is not working right... I think it is the left channel that does not work. I can plug the right channel audio cable into the right channel input and get sound, and i can plug the left channel audio cable into the right channel input and get sound, but i can not get sound from the left channel input with either cable. what is wrong? devoted
I made my first recording with my DRV500. It was of the 2-hour TV premier of "24" last evening. I recorded onto the +RW disc that came with the unit. The video and sound quality were very good. However, the picture would occasionally freeze for about 1/2 second. Sometimes this freezing would happen approximately every 1-2 minutes --sometimes more often and sometimes less frequently. I think that the freezing may have gotten got worse near the end of the show, where I got the feeling that the recording may have actually lost some data. The freezing never happened during commercials. Does anyone understand what happened and how to fix it? Stan
Hello! Just read your first try problem. I experienced the same when I first started recording but at this very minute I cannot remember how I corrected it (as I have told others, I get up at 4am and from about noon on I go brain-dead).. I will probably remember tomorrow morning, meantime let's give a yell to the brain of this site, CULTTVGUY.......HEY CULT GET YOURSELF ACTIVE THIS MAN NEEDS YOUR KNOWLEDGE!! That may get his attention, I will check back tomorrow morning. Sorry for now, but I will hang with you on this until resolved. Jerry
To be honest i havent used it for about 2 months since it started locking up on each disc and making coasters,after having recorded a couple of hours worth of stuff and totally wasting my time.I tend to use my ADS DVD Express now and record via USB on the PC and edit/encode with TMPGenc and burn to DVD that way.It takes a bit longer,but I can also use it to record PAL,which the Sanyo in all it's cheapness won't allow,and when you have dozens of PAL tapes that you want to put on DVD,its not good having to convert them all to NTSC and lose quality. I don't think the problem you mentioned is one that i have come accross,so i cant really comment not having experienced it personally. I hope you solve it though,someone needs to have a bit of luck with this Sanyo thing.
Hello, I've been following this thread in trying to understand everyone's experience with the Sanyo DRW500. I recently purchased a Sanyo DVR500 and is in the middle of testing it. The recorder is similar to the DRW500 in looks....I'm wondering if they're the same device except that my unit was purchased in Canada. So far I've been happy with the quality of the recordings. I've not experienced any freezing of the images while recording. I did see in US Sanyo's website of an update that can be applied to the DRW500. Maybe by applying the update may resolve some of the challenges you're experiencing. My only disapointment with the unit is that the movies I recorded on the DVR500 is incompatible with my older Toshiba DVD player. I guess I'll have to upgrade my Toshiba DVD player to another player that is compatible with DVD +R.
Stan-- Well I have given it a good 4 hours of brain (or is that 4 hours of good brain)--- nothing! I am almost positive it is some type signal loss.. I do recall that I started out with S-Video and then changed, but I also remember finding a plug that I did not have pushed in solidly. Unplug, and plug back in your s-video cable at the 500 and TV, then record an hour of something.. If you have time, watch whatever you record, then watch the playback... It could been just a breaking-in glich in the 500. Lemme know and I will keep thinking.. Jerry
Hi rlim and welcome to this madness!! I use +r discs (HP brand) with no problem. Best I can think of on your problem is: 1. The discs may not be finalized. 2. The 500 doesn't accept the "brand" that you recorded on. Does it give you a "no disc" notice?? If not, try finalizing it. Don't know how many discs you have but if it is just a few you could just dubb them to the 500 if the above doesn't work. The 500 is basically a good machine, especially for those of us just starting out and don't want to invest a lot of money into a fancier one at this time (like me).. Keep on keeping on and lemme know how its going. Jerry
usafret, I finalized the dvd after recording. I'm wondering it could be the media itself. I'm using Memorex +r and DVD +rw. I bought 25 of the +R since they were on sale for $3 for a pack of 5's. This could be the reason the sale ... nobody wants them.
rlim,apparently this model has a problem with Memorex media.There is a firmware upgrade available which is supposed to cure that problem I quote usafret's previous message of Jan 3rd : "Go to http://www.sanyo.com/entertainment/dvd_recorders/index.cfm?productID=1076 Look on right-hand side of page under Products... "
HEY--------THE CULT IS BACK!! Sure am glad too. I used memorex +R and +RW and the only problem I had with them was that they would not work on computer-based dvd. Cult told me about the HP brand and I like them. I talked with sanyo about the upgrade and that was one thing they sed it fixed cause lot people had problems with memorex.. If you haven't done so already go to that site and upgrade. Thanks cult. Jerry
I've tried it and it doesn't seem to recognize the fix. I'm wondering if the "DVR500.SAN" fix may have already been applied to my unit since it is the model I'm using today. The Canadian website does not have a fix for this unit. I may try the HP DVDs since you have great success with them.
this link provides useful info an what is the best media,and what sucks and should be used as landfill. http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm You can also download a free program called DVD identifier which tells you who ACTUALLY manufactured the discs you are using.For example,HP are actually made by CMC,which is generally considered to be the worst company for making discs.I didnt know this before i posted my recommendation on this forum. But i guess if a certain brand works for you,thats cool too. www.supermediastore.com have some great deals on discs too BTW.
Culttvguy, thanks for the link. Great site. I'll be returning the remaining Memorex DVDs I have back to the store tomorrow since they maybe manufactured by CMC. I'll look into buying better DVD media. I guess this is all part of the learning process..
