DVD-R Recording

[bertie]

I have meant to raise this subject for some time. I have, for some years now, recorded from VHS to DVD-R by way of Panasonic DVD recorders. I have used DVD-R discs which are then finalised - a variety of types have been used but currently I use Maxell. I have also burned back-up copies via my PC.

A problem I often come across is that on the second or subsequent viewing, the pictures break up - this seems to be more prevalent with the original recording but can also happen with the burned back-up copies. I have also found the same issue with DVD-R and DVD+R discs acquired elsewhere ie from friends, Ebay, ioffer and even from members of the Forum.

Is this a common problem or can someone suggest a - hopefully not too technical - solution. I have an extensive collection of films which are not available commercially and I would like to think that I can use the recorded discs I have more than once and certainly in the years to come. Any help would be gratefully received.

[Wolfgang]

I suggest googling your player model and see if anyone else experienced problems like this. Your DVDs should last years.

[Fellwanderer]

Have you tried them in other players?

As dvds from many sources seem to be giving problems, I would suggest it is more likely to be your player.

[smudge]

How 'affordable' are the DVDs which you are using? I have found that cheaper DVDs (from back in the day when recorders became 'affordable' themselves) which I used are mostly struck by this problem. I have regretted using them on the odd occasion when it was good stuff which was affected by this.

My suggestion is always by the best media you can afford!

Smudge

[Bernardo]

Recorders now are increasing moving away from rewrite drives towards DVD player drives + hard disc drives for recordings. Copyright and piracy paranoia I suppose.

[dvdman]

have you been buying these blanks from poundland ?? as panasonic dvd recorders dont like cheap discs as i have owned 3 machines in the last 5 yrs

[woody123]

I have a Panasonic hard Drive/DVD recorder and a Philips DVD recorder.I use Verbatim(if they're on special offer) or Asda's own brand DVD-R and +R(£13 for 100).I have had no problems with recording or playback with either brand.The Panasionic doesn't like Maxell discs and believe it or not the Philips doesn't like Philips discs(3 or 4 failures out of a pack of 50 discs).My computer rewriter also has failures with Maxell discs.
dvdman is right though,avoid Poundland specials and their ilk.

[Richard_in_wales]

Maxell and Verbatim are not the quality they used to be. Maxell are problem givers for many folk. I've been using Ritek and Datasafe brands for about three years and they are to date problem free. Don't forget to use a cleaning disk before you record and always make at least one back up. Programmes like CDburnerXP and DVDshrink can also save .iso 'image' files of disks to your hard disk(s), both are free and work with all Windows versions.