[Felgar]

I posted this on the other DVD-R thread, but perhaps some people who aren't following that one can offer insight into my situation...


I have 6 hour-long episodes of a show that I'm trying to get off me HDD, and onto a DVD-r. They are edited down to 42.5 minutes each approximately. So in total, it's a 6-program list that runs for 4:15. I tried burning them to DVD-r last night. I am using Imitation DVD-R, because those are all I can get my hands on without ordering off the net. The disks are expensive enough at $10 or so each.


Anyway, I'm recording them on FR mode, they are SP on the HDD. It all seemed to be going ok, so I went to bed. When I got up this morning, (7 hours later) the dubbing was still active (little moving arrow between HDD and DVD-R) and the countdown clock was 0:00, and the picture was froze at the last frame of the recording. The unit would not respond to any input, including the eject button on the front panel, and the "Hold return for 3 seconds" cancel method.


So eventually I unplugged it. On restart it said "RECOVER" for about a minute, and then went back to normal operation. Attempting to insert the DVD-R now causes u11 to show on the front panel. I'm sure the disk is toast, but did I do something wrong that caused it? Is there a prompt at the end of the dubbing that is supposed to show up? The last part of the episode is edited, could that have something to do with it not being able to burn a whole segment or something?


It's probably just a simple case of poor media, but since this is my first one I wanted to confirm that it wasn't my fault. What has been other people's experience with Imitation brand?

 

[johnny dollar]

I have experienced the dreaded "RECOVER" on rare occasions with the E30. I have yet to figure out what triggers it.

 

[dgb]

It doesn't sound like you did anything wrong. Based on other threads, the Imation brand is one of the more reliable brands.


Sounds like it ran into trouble writing to the disk right at the end of the dub. Could just be a defective patch on the disk or some dust.


At the end of a successful dub, the unit briefly displays the dubbing menu, then returns to displaying the current input.


*If* the HS2 doesn't do any re-encoding of DVD-R dubs which maintain the same data rate, it may actually be best to stick to an SP dub of SP material. That way you stay away from the outer parts of the disk, which seem most suceptible to read/write problems.


The recorders also do some housekeeping, involving writing to a DVD-R when they power up. This can fail on a disk which completed recording properly, so I've turned off the auto-shutdown after x hours option.


I think a problem writing to the disk, which causes the unit to shutdown without completing its housekeeping, will make it try and complete that when it powers up again (the RECOVER message.) When I've had that happen on my E30, it usually ends up with a U-11 error. Strangely, the disks will sometimes finalize in the HS2, but still will not play on the E30.


David

 

[Felgar]

Ok, I understand. I did notice what seemed to be a blemish on the very outside of the disk, but it seemed to be outside the data area, but perhaps that was the issue. If people have had good luck with Imitation, then I'll give another disk a shot.


If the recording fails the unit usually powers down? Strange that mine was just "hung" on that final frame (most likely on the house-keeping process) and never did shut down. Wouldn't even turn off when I pressed the power button.


If I could get it down below 4 hours I could record 4-hour mode. How many minutes would be advisable to leave at the end of the disk?

 

[calebu2]

We've burned almost 20 DVD-Rs on our unit since we bought it last tuesday. No problems so far. Used only Fuji's at the moment (the fun will happen in a few days when we start trying to record onto cheap princo media


Most of the DVDs we've recorded at SP mode from video files stored at SP mode on the HDD. One was recorded at XP mode from an XP HDD file (originally recorded from cable). The others we have recorded using FR directly from a video input to the DVD-R. This was done overnight and worked fine.


My aim is to dub all of our VHS onto DVD. We've been recording the shorter/unedited videos to the HDD and removing commercials where necessary before burning compilation DVDs. For full length concert video, we've been clocking the show length and using FR to burn it directly to DVD-R.


There was one DVD-R that crapped out right at the start of a burn process, but it didn't appear to have been written to, so we just started again with the dub.


I figured out over the weekend how to transfer files to my PC using the DVD-RAM and extract audio from the file. If anyone wants me to share my experience with that, I could start a new thread when I got a chance (I had to download about 10 different video programs before I found one that worked - vcdhelp.com does not tell you "Which ones work with DMR-HS2 VRO files" ))


Steve

 

[Felgar]

Must have been just bad luck. I'll give it another try.

 

[dgb]

Felgar,


For some reason the fact that you were recording six programs on one disc didn't register when I read your post. Using SP to *perhaps* avoid re-encoding would only get you two programs. Most of the problems I've had were after the equivalent of the 100 minute point in SP recordings, which would mean 5 programs at LP in your situation, but I think you're right to put it down to a flaw on that disc and try FR again.


David

 

[Felgar]

Update: Examining the disc I was very suprised to find that it was only about 15% burned, as shown by the color change. Now, I don't whether it froze after the 1st program (which would match the amount of burning) or else at the very end because it's the same show from a marathon and I divided the original 6-hour program right at the final logo screen each time. So in the morning, all I saw was one of the logo screens.


I am in the process of burning another disc. So far there's about an hour left, and the unit is playing as one would expect. So there's a chance that it's working, but also a chance that it will freeze right at the end having only written 1 episode. I will find out soon and report back. Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[Felgar]

Success!!!


Phew, what a relief. Couldn't help but second guessing everything until I finally got the disk done. The short version is that the second Imation disk worked, and that the 1st Imation disc must have been defective... There are some pertinent details below...


By monitoring the recording, I've learned some things. In my first attempt, the picture was not frozen at the very last episode. I'm not sure where it was frozen, but it certainly was not the last of 6. It was most likely the 1st. I have come to learn that when burning multiple episodes, the unit will briefly stop after each one and put up a prompt "Writing information on the disc" or something like that. It must be writing some form of file table, TOC, or titles... But whatever it writes, it must be on another part of the disc. That explains why it failed so early on the disc; it was actually trying to write to a different part at that time.


It seems that multiple edits and divisions have no effect on the stability of the recording. Although multiple programs might. But I expect that after writing all 4 hours it would have failed anyways, had it been a 1 program burn.


One thing that remains a mystery is why the unit did not detect the writing error and stop. Perhaps it turned off briefly, and then when turning on it tried to recover, couldn't, and thus aborted... After the abort it showed 0 on the counter, even though there would have been about 3:30 mins left at the point that it froze. Who knows...


Anyway, thanks for the help everyone.

 

[JeffWld]

Quote:

Originally posted by Felgar Must have been just bad luck. I'll give it another try.

I've used about 70 Imations and ran into 3 that were duds. In all cases, it was due to defects in the outer write area. FWIW, all the Imation discs that I've found have been rebranded Pioneer media.


My experience with Pioneer-manufactured discs (Pioneer, Apple, Imation, Maxell), is that the average failure rate is 4 per 100.

 

[hroeder]

If you paid $10 for a DVD-R you need to go back and have them replace the disc. That's highway robbery. Take it back and hope for a refund. Buy on line. You can get at least 6 for that price.

 

[mrwilson]

Or try returning it to the manufacturer. I've had three bad Memorex, out of about 200, and they've replaced all of them with no questions asked.

 

[Felgar]

Arthur, it's not so bad as it seems due to the exhange rate and duty in Canada. It would be about $5 USD approximately. But ya, still a complete rip-off. I'm looking into buying a 100 spindle online, but border fees can be a killer...


I'm thinking the same thing mrwilson, apparently the store will not replace it, but there is a storage media customer service number on Imation's website. I when I get a few I will send them back.