Wide World of Women

Did you that that you have to periodically upgrade your DVD recorder's firmware? I learned that from a bunch of Memorex DVD-R discs I bought to use in my Panasonic VCR/DVD-R unit. I went to the Panasonic site and sure enough, I had to upgrade the firmware on my unit so I can burn stuff onto non-Panasonic DVDs. Trust me, do it! I have saved so much money shopping DVD-R sales to get discs about $0.23 per disc if I bought 100. Normally it would be close to $75.00. Panasonic discs were about $2.00 per disc.

Take a look at my latest Lori Leland and Kim Wells caps since those programs were recorded on non-Panasonic discs.

I'm not sure I'm following you about the "firmware".

I got a new SAMSUNG DVD-VR330 as a Christmas present to myself.....its compatible with just about any DVD format imaginable....no mention of firmaware or upgrades in the literature that came with the unit, and I don't see anything at the SAMSUNG website.

Here's the link to the unit.......

http://www.samsung.com/Products/DVDPlay ... 330XAA.asp

I recommend the unit, its versatile and includes a VCR unit, all for just a little over $200.

I got my unit 2 years ago so I had to upgrade the firmeware for my unit before using alternate DVDs.

I have had a Panasonic recorder for atlease 2 1/2 years and have ran it just about 24/7 and have never had any trouble recording with any make of blank DVDs. The one thing I did notice was, I have to format the HDD every now and then or when I try to record from the HDD to a -R disc, it will record x-amount then stop. Which in the end, the disc is corrupt and can't do anything to fix the disc.

I don't have the DVD/VCR type. Mine is just a DVD recorder which has the DVD drive I can record to (right to a DVD) or I can record to the HDD (hard disc drive) which has alot of space for recording. On the best setting, I can get 18 hrs 13 minutes and to this day using it as much as I do, I still can't tell if it is live TV or recorded.

Do you know if you have to upgrade the firmware do to the VCR recorder ?

And while we are talking DVD recorders, have you seen the Blu Ray disc and recorders ? I'm not thinking of getting one yet, but that may be the way I go for the next recorder if mine holds up for a few more years. There is also another type HD-DVD. If you go to the bottom of this page and click on the FAQ tab, it will explain it

BTW rocky, I like the Memorex DVDs over the Panasonic . I have had a few Panasonic disc go bad already

Panasonic Firmware Download page link....

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/st ... VDFirmware

It's there DY. Click on "DVD Player Support" on the right side of the page. Since your unit is new, you probably don't need a firmware update but check it out to be sure.

Rocky, yes I did, thanks.....and as of now I won't need any upgrades.

I've got a dvd recorder so old that they don't offer anymore firmware upgrades. I can't even use any of the 16x discs that are out now.

There's a simple solution though. I just record onto RW discs which are 4x max and later copy on PC using Nero.

I have owned four Panasonic machines- including two DMR-ES25's and two ES15's- that work for about two or three weeks then stop reading/recording dvd+rw media. I have tried new brands of media. I have tried not to use a disc more than once or twice. I have had no luck. I now have two machines in the local service center that have been waiting for a part from Panasonic for eight weeks. This is ridiculous. Do these machines not use dvd+rw media worth a crap, or is that a problem with most machines? The reason I ask is because I have a new Liteon machine that is having the same problems.

I always know when the machine is about to breakdown because the machine starts becoming very noisy when a recording is stopped and a chapter is being finalized. It will stop and begin the chapter finalization, but then the machine locks up and and says there may be a problem with the disc- even with a brand new dvd+rw.

Does anyone have any advice on a machine that might be more reliable? I don't mind paying more for a machine if it will work for longer than a month!

Thanks in advance.

To begin with, as far as I know Panasonic recorders do not record on dvd+rw. I could be wrong, as far as I know they only record with the -Rs and -rams. These DVD recorders, you need to know what they use and don't use.

I have had a Panasonic DMR-E80H going on about 3 years and run it 24/7 most of the time. The only trouble I have with it, is when I keep recording to the hard disc drive (HDD) and remove move stuff I don't want or edit over time. Then when I go to record to a disc, it ruins the disc. What I do is, record to the HDD, edit then put what I want onto the Ram disc, then format the HDD about every 2 weeks or so. That way, I have the back-up on the Ram and when I get enough to fill a disc. I take whatever I have on the HDD then record what's on the Ram back to the HDD then to a DVD-R.

Another way you lose stuff is if you have the DVD recorder recording or dubbing and you lose your electric do to a storm or pulling the plug.

As I told rocky in a post above, I like the Memorex DVDs over the Panasonic. I have had some Panasonic disc go bad on me (so much for the 100 years or so they last) I think Memorex puts out the best videos, but thats just me.

Go back and look in your book and see what type DVDs you can use, that may be your trouble. If it's not that and Panasonic can record +rw's now, I would hate to have your luck. The main thing that I can tell you is you need to format your HDD if you have one and try -R DVDs & -Rams DVDs

Good Luck and hope you get this worked out

I just went back and saw that you said:

"Does anyone have any advice on a machine that might be more reliable? I don't mind paying more for a machine if it will work for longer than a month!"

If you need to pay more and you don't have a HDD, get one that has it. You will be better off

The Panasonic DMR-ES25 owners manual shows that it will record dvd+rw. It is not an HDD machine.

I have been on the phone with Panasonic support several times, and they have no explanation for the problem and ask for the machine to be returned or serviced. I told them they may want to stop advertising the machine as dvd+rw compatible.

Sounds like none of you guys use dvd+rw discs. I like them because after recording several different channels on a dvd you can go in the chapters and erase the ones you won't want to put on the PC. The disc info can be transferred to the PC and the disc can be formatted and used again. I would mark my discs, so that I would not use them more than one or two times after the first generation recording. I figured I wouldn't use as many discs in the long run. I probably just need to use dvd+r and then toss'em in the garbage after I transfer the vids to my PC.

Basically I record with the Panasonic dvd recorder then take that dvd and extract the files with DVDDecrypter software. That gives me an ISO image file that I change to .avi with AutoGK software. Then I use TMPGEnc software to edit the files, resulting in .mpg files ready to be uploaded to rapidshare, or burned to cdr /dvd.

If anyone else would mind chiming in on how they capture vids I think others may benefit.

Cheers!

The chicks love my "firmware".

I had 15 months of videos on my Liteon HD/DVD recorder and one night as i was splitting a video on the HD it froze and now it shows all blank thumbnails of my recordings

Since i got that crap it has recorded on a dvd only a few times
Or it would record and then the stuff would dissapear from the disc

PC tuner is the best way so you record to HD and later burn to DVD

In order to use a PC tuner does that mean that I would need a TV cable line in to a video card directly to my PC? If so, that would require me to do some serious rewiring and configuring.

I bought a VCR/DVD burner combo so I don't have that problem since I record questionable shows to tape then burn to DVD. Also, If there is a show I am recording to DVD that I don't like, I can delete it but I may lose disc space. Not a problem since I match up discs to the shows I am recording onto DVD.

BTW.... I gave up on DVD-RW discs once I realized I couldn't copy to the computer HD easily.

Simply put.....

Yes

It doesn't mean you have to re-wire your place, I used to have a wire going from the VCR to the computer when I wanted to use the TV capture card. When not in use, I coiled it up.

This is what i use