"Mark Crispin" <m**@CAC.Washington.EDU> wrote in message
news:Pine.OSX.4.64.0603152146570.482@pangtzu.panda.com...
> [Please respond via email, as I don't normally read this group.  Thanks!]
>
> I recently bought a Sony RDR-VX515 VHS/DVD-recorder, and I tried burning
> some DVDs.  I choose DVD-R since I wanted the greatest compatibility and
> reliability.  DVD+R and DVD+RW have some compatibility issues, and I
> figured that DVD-RW and DVD+RW would be less reliable than burn-once
> media.
>
> According to the manual, I need to use "8x-speed or slower" for DVD-R. So,
> I got a box of imation 8x DVD-R.  After coastering several DVDs ("the disk
> can be neither read nor written", says the RDR-VX515), I gave up and tried
> some Memorex 16x DVD-R.  These worked much better, although I still
> managed to coaster a couple of them.
>
> It seems to be that if I set the disk title before recording the program,
> I wind up either with a coaster or a disk that will play in the RDR-VX515
> but nowhere else.  If I use a Memorex 16x and record the program first,
> then set the title name, then set the disk name, I get a disk which will
> play elsewhere.
>
> I have yet to get a non-coaster with the imation 8x.  Ironically, the
> Memorex 16x were cheaper than the imation 8x.
>
> None of the material is copyguarded in any way.
>
> My question is, is this to be expected?  Or is my RDR-VX515 a lemon?
>
> My experience with CD burning has taught me "always record at the slowest
> speed, and use the best quality CDs you can find".  Reliability is
> paramount for me.  I don't particular care how long a good burn takes;
> burning a coaster wastes far more time.  Anyway, a video DVD is only going
> to burn at 1x anyway.
>
> So if my experience is the way things are in the DVD burning world, OK.
> But if my RDR-VX515 is a lemon, I need to know ASAP.  I have 10 days in
> which I can return it, and I haven't sent in the rebate paperwork yet.
>
> There was, by the way, another reason why I bought the RDR-VX515.  My
> S-VHS VCR smoked, and I had to replace it.  Apparently S-VHS is not to be
> had at all any more, and the only VCRs with anything better than composite
> video are these combination VHS/DVD units.  I gritted my teeth at paying
> the "Sony tax"...
>
> -- Mark --
>
> http://panda.com/mrc
> Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
> Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.

"Mark Crispin" <M**@CAC.Washington.EDU> wrote in message
news:Pine.WNT.4.65.0603171737170.4052@Tomobiki-Cho.CAC.Washington.EDU...
> Further information:
>
> I called Sony.
>
> They claim that there's nothing wrong with my unit, and that while it's
> surprising that the 16x Memorex disks worked (the Soiny documentation says
> that the burner supports "8x or slower" disks), they said that it's not
> surprising that the 8x imation disks didn't work -- that I should only use
> "well-known name brand discs."
>
> They also said that yes, I should not set the disk title until just before
> I'm ready to finalize.
>
> -- Mark --
>
> http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
> Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
> Si vis pacem, para bellum.

>
> -- Mark --
>
> http://staff.washington.edu/mrc
> Science does not emerge from voting, party politics, or public debate.
> Si vis pacem, para bellum.

"Mark Crispin" <m**@CAC.Washington.EDU> wrote in message
news:Pine.OSX.4.64.0603191832000.8141@pangtzu.panda.com...
> On Sun, 19 Mar 2006, Martin van derPoel wrote:
>>> Do you have any idea why it works to set the disk title *after*
>>> recording
>>> the media content and not before?  Someone else said that you shouldn't
>>> set the disk until you're ready to finalize, but couldn't say why (other
>>> than the empirical evidence).
>> I always have the disks recorded at once.
>
> As I said in my previous message, I'm burning video in real time (copying
> irreplacable laser discs to DVD), not data.  The burner is basically a VCR
> that does DVDs too.  I don't have a computer DVD burner.
>
>>> Why would it work better with 16x disks than with 8x disks, especially
>>> since it's only recording at 1x?
>> Maybe the firmware understood the 16x disk.
>
> Well, Sony customer service didn't know that.  But maybe it was done after
> the manual was printed.  If so, it's good news since those Memorex 16x
> seem to have greater local availability than the Sony 8x, and the imation
> 8x don't work.
>
>> If the burner does not have the type of media in its firmware it does not
>> know what to do with it, that's where the firmware update comes in.
>
> There's no possibility that it picked "a reasonable default" behavior that
> happened to work?

>
> -- Mark --
>
> http://panda.com/mrc
> Democracy is two wolves and a sheep deciding what to eat for lunch.
> Liberty is a well-armed sheep contesting the vote.