I've got an LG DR797T recorder that I copy shows from my DirectTV HD-DVR, at the "SP - Standard Play (120-min)" setting.

I set the recorder to do a scheduled record, and it kicks off and seems to record just fine. I then play back the DVD right in the unit, and it plays and looks great (it even up-converts it to look near HD).

But when I go to play that same DVD back in almost any other DVD player (or DVD computer drive as well), the DVD is never recognized and cannot be played. I'm using Memorex DVD-R 16x blank discs. And if I had to suspect something the most, I guess I'm wary of those 16x DVD's.

Should I try a different make or model of blank DVD?? Are there slower discs than 16x that would be more commonly capatible with other players (if so, what is the lowest and most common denominator)?? Or perhaps switch to DVD+RW or DVD-RAM??

Could any of this possibly be the problem?? Or am I way off base and barking up the wrong tree.....??


=Kevin.

Did you finalize the disk?

Yup, the symptoms you describe are exactly what would happen if you didn't finalize the disk...

the symptoms you describe are exactly what would happen if you didn't finalize the disk...

Once the scheduled recording is over, there is a pop-up message on-screen that says: "Please wait while the recording is finalized". So I always wait until that msg is gone.

So I assume the finalizing is automatic, and I don't do anything further to finalize it myself manually. I can look into that further on the settings. Is there a quick way to check on the DVD itself to confirm (or deny) if that's really been done or not? And if it hasn't been done, can they be finalized after that fact?

Also I should note that I made a lame mistake in my original post. I gave the wrong model number for the LG combo-recorder. It is actually an LG 'V194H'. I apologize for the confusion.


=Kevin.

Is there a quick way to check on the DVD itself to confirm (or deny) if that's really been done or not? And if it hasn't been done, can they be finalized after that fact?I can't speak for your DVD recorder, but on my Pioneer models if you load the disk, select the DVD drive (as opposed to the hard disk drive) and press "Display", the information that's shown includes the word "Finalized" if the disc has been finalized.

On my machine you can finalize as a separate step after recording to the disc. If your machine supports this then it would be a good way to see if the disc is finalized - if the machine allows you to finalize the disc then it probably wasn't finalized already.

On my machine you can finalize as a separate step after recording to the disc. If your machine supports this then it would be a good way to see if the disc is finalized - if the machine allows you to finalize the disc then it probably wasn't finalized already.

Thanks for the two suggestions. I'll try them tonight, and post an update after that.

One more thing about finalizing, at least with my Pio 640, and probably your LG as well, it cannot complete finalizing while a programmed recording is in progress, so if one started while your disc was finalizing, that might be the problem.

I'd try different media, as well, Memorex is pretty bad.

Try to find some Verbatim media, or possibly Sony, or Taiyo Yuden if you have a supply of it.

I'd try different media, as well, Memorex is pretty bad.If the discs play OK in the machine that recorded them, it's relatively unlikely that the burn is bad. But I agree about the Memorex 16X media, I've had no luck with them.

One other thing to note, though - if the computer drive and DVD player are very old, there's a chance they're simply not able to read DVD-R media. Although DVD-R generally has the highest compatibility of writable formats, some very old readers couldn't deal with it's less reflective recording layer.