[Rafael2K]

I apologize in advance if the questions I will ask are too elementary, but I have done some preliminary searching and came up empty-handed. I have been looking for ways of taking videos I have on my PC for further editing/sequencing into my E80 and E85 (I know it sounds like the world turned backwards but please bear with me). I have a Matshita SW-9572 multi-drive on my PC and first tried burning the videos using Nero on a DVD-RAM disc, but the E80/E85 would not recognize the burned RAM discs as "properly formatted." So option one is down the drain. Then I went out and bought a 10-pack of DVD-RW's, and tried to burn a video on one of them. No luck. The burning process fails every time. Is there any particular way these discs need to be formatted before burning? I just used the direct-CD utility to format it and then Nero also prompted me to erase the disc before burning (which I did), but no cigar (burning process failed again). What am I doing wrong? I am completely new to DVD-RW burning so pardon my naivete. Finally, am I going the right way about this whole thing? What is the best way of moving from PC to E80? I suppose I can just burn the videos into DVD-R's and then dub into E80 (this works just fine), but this is a waste of money as -R's are not re-usable.

 

[tagteam]

First of all, the following is straight out of the e85 manual:

Discs that cannot be played

*DVD-ROM, DVD-RW.........



Have you ever been able to play any -RW disk on your e80/85? We know for sure that recording to -RW is not supported and it doesn't appear as if playback is either.



Next, what are you trying to accomplish, exactly? Your post was sort of unclear in that respect. In fact, you stated, parenthetically, that it "sounds like the world turned backwards" and that seems to be the case. I mean, considering the files already reside on your PC, I'm having some difficulty understanding what's to be gained by transferring them to your e80/85 for "further editing/sequencing".


Why not simply edit, author, and burn on your PC?

 

[alert5]

The easiest way to output any video from PC to E80 is to connect your video card tv-out via svideo. To capture the sound with the video you'll need a simple PC sound out to red/white RCA adapter cable.

 

[tagteam]

Sounds like that would definitely be the easiest way but it certainly would not be lossless (in the event that's an issue here).

 

[Rafael2K]

Tagteam, I would import the RW video into the E80 via composite or S-video using another DVD player. I know this is not lossless, but that's life. And the reason I want to do this is because, in a pinch, editing/sequencing is faster on the E80/E85 than on the PC. For instance, they did not show the undercard of the Roy Jones fight a few weeks ago on American TV. I recorded the main event on my E85 from the American broacast, and I was able to download an MPEG2 with the main undercard fight on the Internet. So, to put the whole thing together, I could just burn the MPEG2 as a video file on an RW disc and then move to the E80 to join it with the main event and have the whole card put together. I know that I could do the opposite, but my question still remains: What would be the best way to move from PC to E80?

 

[Kelson]

Understand first that I do not have an E-80 or any Panasonic DVDR so I only know what I have read while researching these units. Having said that: to go from PC back to the E-80 HDD, while staying completely in the digital domain, it seems that RAM is your only option. Your problem with RAM may be a format issue. RAM for video must be UDF 2.x. The default PC format for RAM is UDF 1.5 for data. Video files are just data files, the PC can write them to UDF 1.5 witout a care but a settop player or recorder won't read it. Your quote that you get an "improperly formatted" error message from the E-80 leads me in this direction.


I suggest the following. Format the RAM in the E-80, that way you know it is in a UDF 2.x format compatible with the E-80. Then put it in the PC drive and write your video files to it. If the PC refuses or tells you it needs to format the RAM, it means you do not have a UDF 2.x compatible driver in the PC and that is the root of your problem. Nero comes with InCD which is a UDF 1.x, 2.x driver. You may need to install it, but before you do make sure you do not have another UDF driver installed. You made reference to Direct-CD in your post. That is a Roxio product -- I don't know what version of Roxio you run but I do know that v5 does not support UDF 2.x. I also use Roxio (v5). I uninstalled Direct-CD and installed InCD to get the UDF 2 for formatting and writing RAMs.


Another test. If you have Fuji RAMs they come preformatted for video (UDF 2). If you have a virgin Fuji, you should be able to pop it into your PC and write to it if your PC has a UDF 2 driver. If not, you don't. I was not able to write to a virgin Fuji until I removed Direct-CD and installed InCD. I use Win XP SP2. As a note, XP SP2 has native capabiity to read UDF 2 but not write it. You still need InCD. Panasonic RAMs may also come preformatted as UDF 2. I don't have any so I can't say, but if that is what you have it should say on the box whether or not they are formatted as UDF 2 (i.e. formatted for video recording in compliance with version 2 of the DVD-RAM standard).


Hope this helps you out. Please let us know how it works out for you.

 

[vferrari]

The problem you may be running into may have nothing to do with UDF, but simply that DVD-RAM to be recognizable by a standalone DVD-RAM recorder must be authored in VR format vs. video format. If your burning software does not support VR mode (whose file structure differs from the more common Video mode of commercial DVD's and DVD-R's recorded by standalone recorders) and most doesn't, the resultant DVD-RAM will not be recognized. I've had mixed success playing back DVD-RW discs burned in Video format on my Panny recorders. However, I've found that if I do a direct DVD-RAM (recorded in VR mode on the Pannys) to DVD-RW copy, the resultant VR mode DVD-RW will appear as a DVD-RAM disc to the Panny, you just can't write to it (obviously).


Good Luck.


Also, the format of the video clips you are trying move from your PC to DVD-RAM/RW matters as well. Are they DVD compliant mpeg2? What is the audio stream (i.e., PCM, AC3 (Dolby Digital 2.0), or MP2 (MPEG 1, Layer 2)?

 

[AnotherID]

As I recall the Panasonc Video Album software allows importing of uncompressed AVI files only for save to the RAM format (The software will compress and save the file in the correct format.) I have not tried the uncompressed format, but I do know that it will not convert and existing MPEG file.

 

[JustinCheckin]

I tried a DVD-RAM that I edited with titles to DVD-R using dvddecrypter ISO mode and the DVD-R is unreadable on the E85, did I miss something here vferrari?

 

[vferrari]

I've never done it with DVD Decrypter or with a DVD-R. I've used B's clip to record a 'data' disc to DVD-RW and just drag the DVD_RTAV folder from the DVD-RAM to the DVD-RW and it does an on-the-fly copy. These DVD-RW discs play flawlessly in all my Panny recorders and appear to the recorder as a DVD-RAM disc. I can even high speed dub from the DVD-RW back to the HDD and use the time slip/commercial skip playback features. I use this primarily to free up DVD-RAMs when I don't want to move the content to DVD-R or want to retain the DVD-RAM disc navigation/title/playlist features.

 

[JustinCheckin]

Thanks vferrari, although I got lost with "I've used B's clip to record a 'data' disc to DVD-RW..."


So essentially what I do is buy DVD-RWs, copy the DVD_RTAV folder to a Windows NTFS volume and then just copy it back to DVD-RW?


How do I format the DVD-RW? What s/w do you use?

 

[vferrari]

Like I said, I use B's clip to write to a blank DVD-RW directly (i.e., on the fly). I don't drag the folder to my HDD first. B's clip is the burning software that came with my Panasonic multi-drive burner.

 

[JustinCheckin]

Ah, B's Clip is a s/w!


What version are you using and is it called B's Recorder Basic?


Any alternative to this s/w which I have to buy online (else have a Panny drive).

 

[vferrari]

Justin,


Yes, the software I use to copy DVD-RAM to DVD-RW on-the-fly is indeed B's Recorder Basic (Ver 5). B's clip is the packet writing part of the B's disc burning software suite. Sorry for confusion.


Vic

 

[JustinCheckin]

If I didn't buy B's program, any other way to record from DVD-RAM to DVD-RW so the Pannys can read it properly?

I have Nero right now. Should the DVD-RW be formatted using UDF 1.5?