Types of DVD recording... (1 Viewer)

[stewart borland]

I am the Visitor Centre Manager for The National Trust for Scotland in Glencoe. We stock a range of scenic videos filmed by a local man (who must be in his late 60's early 70's) and has now decided to add DVD to his portfolio.

Unlike other more mainstream suppliers, he's doing the copying/DVD burning himself (I think using Sony equipment) and therein lies the problem.

The first batch wouldn't play on our 'industrial' type Pioneer machine & wouldn't play on my Toshiba at home. He thought it was the type of disc & the fact that they were overprinted and the ink may have ended up on the wrong side!!

He's changed disc supplier, dropped the high colour printing & thinks they should be fine now.... they still don't play properly at work (although they do play) and are still not recognised on my Toshiba at home (just says disc error) but did play on a friends new Pioneer.

I love my DVd's but I'm into films & tv shows. I don't feel able to help the guy but would like to.

If anybody can answer this for me I'd really appreciate it.

What's he doing wrong or will RW's(?) only work on new machines? What % of home machines do you think they'll work on? Is there a better option or is the only answer comercial duplication?

 

[Michael Reuben]

You need to get more information about what format he's using. There's -R, +R, -RW and +RW (not to mention DVD-RAM, but I doubt that applies here).

-R is by far the most widely compatible, although I do have one player (a Sony 7000) that can't read them, probably because they didn't exist when the player was manufactured.

If he's using -RW, I'm not surprised you've having problems. Many commercial players won't read those.

M.

 

[stewart borland]

Thanks Michael, I'll try and find out more tomorrow when I phone him with the bad news! but that's a start. He seems to have 'latched' onto me as 'someone who knows' and sadly I don't :b

I should have mentioned, this is for the UK - does that make a difference to your pick of the most popular?

 

[Michael Reuben]

Possibly, but I don't think so. Region coding isn't an issue, and AFAIK, any of these formats can handle PAL material. But if I'm wrong, I'm sure someone here will correct me.

M.

 

[PaulT]

Some Sony machines record +RW as well as -R/RW, so if he is recording his DVD's with +RW then your Pioneer or Toshiba models probably will not play them either.

Pioneer home units should play -RW (not sure about commercial types), Toshiba will not play -RW.

If he is not finalising his -R or -RW discs, they 'may' not play or play properly in some drives as well.

I also do not believe it is a Region problem.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Have the discs been finalised? This may make a considerable difference.