Hi Guys

Just burned my first DVD and all went very well. The player is very easy to use. My question is after I finalized, I was not able to play the DVD on another DVD player, Panasonic as well. I'm using Memorex DVD-RW 4X, 4.7 GB 120 Min.

Thanks!

Hi Guys

Just burned my first DVD and all went very well. The player is very easy to use. My question is after I finalized, I was not able to play the DVD on another DVD player, Panasonic as well. I'm using Memorex DVD-RW 4X, 4.7 GB 120 Min.

Thanks!

Not all DVD players will play RW media.

For archival work I use Taiyo Yuden 8x Premium Line DVD-R media in my Panasonic, Philips and Magnavox recorders:

http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-silver-thermal-8x-dvd-r-media-100-pack.html

In this post I comment upon Memorex media:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17163187#post17163187

Thank you, Digado!

Also are you sure you did the finalize option? Many times people think the mini finalizing or as it's called writing to disc that's done every time you push STOP is finalizing, but it's not. You need to either push EJECT then REC or go into FUNCTIONS, OTHER FUNCTIONS, DISC MANAGEMENT, FINALIZE DISC.
I have a older (7? years) Apex that will not play any RW discs as well as a (5? years) old Cyberhome little DVD player.

Hi Jeff

Yes, it's a great unit because once you've stopped recording, if you try to eject, it asks if you want to finalize, which I did. Then it tells you to press record to finalize, which I did. Very cool! It's idiot proof. I had a feeling it was the disks. Memorex is all Office Depot carries.

One thing I wasn't crazy about was no HDMI input. The highest quality input connection is S video.

Other than that, it's been great!

Thanks again.

Hi Jeff



One thing I wasn't crazy about was no HDMI input. The highest quality input connection is S video.

Thanks again.

If I'm not mistaken, all HDD recorders these days are limited to S-Video or composite IN ... it's part of the Grand Plan to ruin our recordings:)

You can have blank discs shipped easily - you'll get them in a day or two . Memorex is *not* the answer - in a pinch, you can get Maxell media at most drugstores ... they've been ok on my 2160A and on my panasonics -- just wouldn't want to archive anything really important on them. Try to find 8x not 16 for the DVD-R or +R ... that may help.

If I'm not mistaken, all HDD recorders these days are limited to S-Video or composite IN ... it's part of the Grand Plan to ruin our recordings:)


The ones available to US consumers have never had HDMI inputs. There were a handful that had component inputs, but they haven't been available new since... 2005, maybe? Whenever that Polaroid model was still on the market.

S-video is the staple, although I think the LG recorders don't/didn't even have them (composite is their best.) I had an Insignia that I believe was a rebadged LG. Piece o' junk, but I digress...

Thanks again, Guys! Two other questions and I promise not to bother you again, at least today ;)

I was transferring video from the broken Comcast DVR to the EA18. My initial process which I've come to find out the hard way was wrong, was I would record, then as a commercial began, I would pause the recording, fast forward the commercials on the DVR, then press either pause or record to continue recording on the Panasonic. What I ended up doing was only recording the last bit from the last pause to when I pressed stop. Unfortunately, I deleted those recordings thinking they were recorded. Rookie mistake. Now I pres record, then I press stop, then record again etc…to fast forward the commercials. This of coarse automatically creates chapters. Is there a way to pause during a recording so I can keep within the same chapter and not create a bunch of chapters?

Also, I have the Panasonic set to 4:3 however when I record 4:3 ratios it automatically stretches them to 16:9 ratio. Am I missing a set up or is this just its nature.

Thanks again!

Thanks again, Guys! Two other questions and I promise not to bother you again, at least today ;)

I was transferring video from the broken Comcast DVR to the EA18. My initial process which I've come to find out the hard way was wrong, was I would record, then as a commercial began, I would pause the recording, fast forward the commercials on the DVR, then press either pause or record to continue recording on the Panasonic. What I ended up doing was only recording the last bit from the last pause to when I pressed stop. Unfortunately, I deleted those recordings thinking they were recorded. Rookie mistake. Now I pres record, then I press stop, then record again etc…to fast forward the commercials. This of coarse automatically creates chapters. Is there a way to pause during a recording so I can keep within the same chapter and not create a bunch of chapters?

Whenever you press STOP that stops the recording and becomes the end of that "Title." After you've pressed STOP and then you press REC that starts a new "Title."

"Chapters" are automatically placed at five minute intervals on DVDs. There is more "chapter" flexibility with RAM discs.

Whenever you press STOP that stops the recording and becomes the end of that "Title." After you've pressed STOP and then you press REC that starts a new "Title."

"Chapters" are automatically placed at five minute intervals on DVDs. There is more "chapter" flexibility with RAM discs.

Sorry, I meant Titles not chapters. Thank you.

I off load my DVR the same way you were initially trying to do. That is press REC on my DVDR and then PLAY on my Tivo. When I get to a commercial(or part I don't want to record) I push PAUSE on my DVDR. I then FF my Tivo to a point a few seconds before where I want to record. I then push PAUSE again on my DVDR to continue the recording.
You've got to be VERY careful not get out of sync, that is recording the commercials but skipping the part you actually want to record.
Unless you use RAM discs you cannot add your own chapter marks on your EA-18, as Digado said they're automatically created every 1 1/2 to 6 minutes depending on recording speed. The faster the speed the closer the chapter marks will be(at least for the EZ Panasonics, the ES series was a more consistent 5 minutes regardless of recording speed).
I believe on the EA series(like the ES/EH series) the 16:9/4:3 setting has no effect on recording, only output. On the EZ series the 16:9 does effect recordings from the tuner but not the line inputs.

I off load my DVR the same way you were initially trying to do. That is press REC on my DVDR and then PLAY on my Tivo. When I get to a commercial(or part I don't want to record) I push PAUSE on my DVDR. I then FF my Tivo to a point a few seconds before where I want to record. I then push PAUSE again on my DVDR to continue the recording.
You've got to be VERY careful not get out of sync, that is recording the commercials but skipping the part you actually want to record.
Unless you use RAM discs you cannot add your own chapter marks on your EA-18, as Digado said they're automatically created every 1 1/2 to 6 minutes depending on recording speed. The faster the speed the closer the chapter marks will be(at least for the EZ Panasonics, the ES series was a more consistent 5 minutes regardless of recording speed).
I believe on the EA series(like the ES/EH series) the 16:9/4:3 setting has no effect on recording, only output. On the EZ series the 16:9 does effect recordings from the tuner but not the line inputs.

Thanks, Jeff! So I could record and pause and record etc... without having to press stop, correct? I must have done something wrong because that's what I was doing. I will practice with this method.

Also, regarding 16:9. What's happening is what I'm viewing is 4:3, but it's recording by default automatically in 16:9. If it's just the output, how then would I view in 4:3? I will also look in the manual, so you don't have to respond.

Thanks again!

Since you're recording from a DVR you also have another complication. Many STBs(or DVRs) only output letterboxed 16:9 from SD outputs. They may output full 16:9 from a HD output(HDMI/DVI or Component). If this is your case and there's no setting on your STB there's really nothing you can do, other than purchase a rather expensive component to S-video converter. Those converters will take the full 16:9 from your STBs component output and convert it to full 16:9 S-video to feed your DVDR.

The easiest way to see what's going on is to run the video cable you're running from your STB to your DVDR and run it directly to your TV. Whatever you see is what you'll get for a recording. Setting your DVDR to 4:3 only tells your DVDR to output marked 16:9 in the letter boxed format to a 4:3 TV. By marked I mean a commercial DVD or one that has the proper flag set. Our Panasonics don't set the flag(except on RAM discs) so when you record 16:9 material and play it back on a 4:3 TV you won't see the black bars on top but rather you'll see a vertically stretched picture where people look tall and skinny.