[TomC]

Yesterday copied a 2:05 VHS tape at FR speed and didn't stop the DVD recording manually on my E60. I found that at this point I couldn't add any titles or finalize. I couldn't find anything in the manual that said a disc could be too full for finalizing, but I can't think of any other explanation.


If my assumption is correct, is there any way to stop it a couple of minutes early so I leave a tiny bit of space on the DVD for titles and finalizing? I thought of timer recording, but I don't see a way to do FR timer recordings, the directions just tell you to choose a specific speed during the set up.


Thanks in advance.

 

[PatsWonSB]

This sounds strange. When you specify FR speed, the recorder stops recording automatically after the time you specify.


I've done recordings on an E30 and E80 at SP and XP and have forgotten to hit stop and the recorder stopped automatically when the disk was full. I was still able to add titles and finalize.


What do you mean that you couldn't add titles or finalize the disk ? What errors were displayed on the screen ?

 

[JeffWld]

DVD recorders are designed to limit usable recording space in such a way that you can't use up so much disc space that it would prohibit finalization/titling. This is a reserved area.


If you received the message "cannot finalize", it usually is because there are errors/flaws/damage to the media. This critical write area is also, unfortunately, the most vulnerable to defects.

 

[TomC]

I could add titles in the sense that it let me get into the screens and enter the letters, but when I went back to the title 5 seconds later it was gone, like I could send the titles but the disc wasn't taking them. When I gave up and just decided to finalize, that's when I got the message on the recorder "cannot finalize"


Bad media sounds like a logical cause. I will try again tonight. I just didn't want to make too many coasters without knowing what was happening.


Thanks!

 

[buster37862]

Quote:

Originally posted by TomC I could add titles in the sense that it let me get into the screens and enter the letters, but when I went back to the title 5 seconds later it was gone, like I could send the titles but the disc wasn't taking them. When I gave up and just decided to finalize, that's when I got the message on the recorder "cannot finalize" Bad media sounds like a logical cause. I will try again tonight. I just didn't want to make too many coasters without knowing what was happening. Thanks!

Tom, I've never had this happen, so I'm pretty much shooting in the dark.


It's just a hunch, but I'm wondering if MAYBE you might have jumped the gun during the titling process. Did you hit the "STOP" button as soon as you entered your last letter --- then wait approx. 5-7 seconds for the program to resume playing on its own? If not, you may have confused the unit before it finished that process --- thereby corrupting some info on the disk. NOTE: Be sure NOT to hit ENTER or RETURN when activating completed titles (after last letter is typed and entered) --- use "STOP" to complete the process and give it time to process.


IMPORTANT: If by chance you are hitting "RETURN" after your last title letter is entered, you are simple EXITING the titling process without actually completing a title. This is a possibility as to why you don't see a title immediately afterwards.


Try this, re-insert the disk and see if all scenes will play normally without titles. If yes, repeat the titling process carefully and be sure to hit "STOP" to activate each title (wait for processing), then see if title actually took. AFter all programs are titled, try to finalize again.


If that doesn't work (i.e. disc cannot finalize or play), I speculate that you probably somehow corrupted the disc during titling. Try a new disc and go slowly.


I personally do not enter individual program titles directly to DVD-R discs. I title each program while it is still on the Hard Drive and let it transfer the title with the dubbing process automatically. For me, -R discs are just too fickle, so I want to do the least editing possible after it is burned.

 

[TomC]

Buster, I'm very deliberate in titling and I always do the stop button and haven't done enough of them so that I can go too fast.


It should be able to finalize without titles, so I know that this disc is corrupted somehow. Yes, it does play the scenes but won't finalize or accept titles.


I have the E60 without a hard drive so I have no choice but to title on the DVD-R.

 

[gigaguy]

My hunches-

- Could the DVD-R possibly already be finalized? Not sure if you could still get to the finalize menu then.


- I got the same message on my E80, it would not finalize a recording I had made on my E30, but I think you just have one machine?


-Or maybe just a bad disc, like someone else mentioned, not using Memorex, I hope. I think I got that on a Memorex once too.



I always pause a few seconds between operations like dubbing, setups, etc, to give the machine time to register the commands, seemed to solve any errors I was getting before. good luck.

 

[Scott M]

I own a E80, and have had two TDK discs fail during the finalization process. In my case, I was able to enter a title before starting finalization and the discs did have some space left. I just chalked it up to defective media.