Earlier this month I got a Panasonic VHS/DVD Recorder combo unit to test-drive, and I’m using Sony DVD-RW’s to record, finalize, and then copy to regular DVD+R’s. Using RW’s allows me to erase & edit much more conveniently than non-rewritable discs, especially when dealing with shows that need commercials removed, or copying individual music videos from VH1 Classic. At least…that’s the plan.
The problems started while I was recording music videos. In order to record them with absolute perfection, each title takes about 3-4 attempts (although I’m getting better with practice!) But towards the end of each disc, the machine starts throwing errors – it fails to record, erase, change the title, or even access the menu, which throws the unit into a 10-minute “Self Check” mode where I can’t do anything but sit on my thumbs. The discs ultimately turned out okay, although on one I noticed some skipping/stuttering after finalizing, but those problems disappeared once I copied them to trusty, reliable Ridata DVD+R.
Now, all of a sudden, one of the discs failed completely, wiping out an entire day’s work of video-recording (although that might be my own fault…I tried overburning the disc) and two of them won’t format, period. Each disc has only been used 2 or 3 times!! Although with lots of pausing & erasing, but would that really make a difference?
So to make a long story short (yeah…too late, I know…) here’s my questions:
Generally speaking, how many times can a DVD-RW be recorded/erased before it goes bad?
Is it possible the Panasonic is physically damaging the discs? I asked a friend who has the exact same unit and he said he never encountered the problems I’m talking about, but he thinks it might be bad media.
Are Sony products even bigger pieces of crap than previously believed?
The number I’ve seen the most is 1000 times. I have a few that I use to test burn DVDs and have re-recorded them at least 100 times each. So far, only one has gone bad (that is, could not be reformatted or erased).
Not likely. If it states it can use the media, it shouldn’t cause any damage unless the motor is out of alignment. If that were the case, your other media would be damaged as well.
I’ve only used one Sony RW, but it hasn’t given me any trouble.
I think you answered your own question when you tried to overburn the disc. I’ve been doing the same thing you have - recording TV shows and music videos, but I have a Panasonic standalone recorder that uses DVD-RAM discs. I’ve using the same 12 discs for the last 4 years and have yet to see one fail.
If you can’t retrieve the data, just chuck the bad discs. Try to avoid overburning if you can.
But I only did that once…well, actually, what happened is I deleted a video near the beginning of the disc, and while the instructions said you only get the time back if you delete the most recent title recorded, when I tried it it gave me the time back anyway. So I figured the instructions were wrong…until I filled up the disc and tried to finalize. :smack:
I’ve been filling up the discs pretty good, but not excessively – generally I’ll have about a minute or two left over when done. And while this unit takes DVD-RAMs too, that’s kinda useless for me since I don’t have a DVD-RAM drive.
In my experience, rewritable media typically fail not because the dye layer is worn out, but because the plastic of the readable surface is scratched; doesn’t matter how careful you are with these things, they get scratched and become unusable - the plastic of recordable media seems softer than that of pressed factoy CDs/DVDs.
Oh, forgot to mention…regarding the 2 bad discs, I tried formatting them on my computer, but after InCD got stuck at 3/4 complete for six hours had to cancel…and while the Panasonic was indeed able to reformat them afterwards, they started having issues almost immediately. (That was the one that crashed the unit when I tried to access the menu.)
Mr. Blue Sky, I was wondering what you said about overburning, and I’m confused about something – is it a problem to burn close to, but not over, the time remaining? Usually I’ll leave at least a minute or two free, but sometimes I’ve burned right into the last few seconds, even 1:59:59 in 2-hour mode one time! (Blank space is EVIL! YEAH!!)
OK, my “2-hour” mode is something like 2:04:10. In fact, I like to set the clock 30 seconds ahead, then make four 31-minute recordings of TV shows, just so I don’t cut anything off on either side.
I’ve had a couple of discs crap out on me like 5/6 of the way through. EVERY TIME it’s near the end. Which is why I tape the same programs with the VCR too, so that if it screws up, at least I’ll have the program (even if it is only in 240 lines VHS instead of 480 lines DVD). It hasn’t really been a problem lately though. After some trial and error, I’ve got 4 Memorex DVD+RW discs that I’ve used 10 times or so apiece, and use these to record programs and keep old home movies. As far as home movies go, I’ll put them on the trusty +RWs with the recorder, then use the computer to copy them to +Rs. This avoids 1:50 of DVD recording transfer, then “The disc is dirty” crap-out.
Someone mentioned doing this in passing, but just to reinforce the point: I’ve had a ton of RW disks become unerasable after just a few uses TO A PARTICULAR PROGRAM OR OS (usually Windows XP’s built-in burning, which is licensed from Roxio). This seems to happen more often on “bad burns,” but I’ve never really figured out a pattern.
I take those same, unerasable disks and stick them in my Mac (don’t have a Mac?try another program on Windows), and they erase just fine – and work again on Windows.
RW’s seem “fragile” in their formatting; I don’t know enough about how they’re done to say why. But other than a couple physically scratched disks, I’ve never had one go so bad that I couldn’t reformat it on an alternate machine.
