My Panasonic ES30V died a couple of weeks ago and I got a 40V as a
replacement (I love Costco!). I seem to be having major problems with
it. Occasionally it will simply lock up (so far, just when entering
titles), and then I have to pull the plug to reset it (One would think
this is Windows based!!!)

But the bigger problem is that it will not finalize some of my disks
that I copied from my family VHS. It says it failed, and then I cannot
read the disk anymore. I have had to toss a half dozen coasters so far
this week. It works fine at other times. All the blank DVDs are TDK
and all are from the same batch. I have wasted many hours on this and
am getting very frustrated. I have heard of others having this problem
too. I am about to return it to Costco, but was wondering if anyone
else has figured out how to prevent these problems.
Is the firmware in this thing just wacko? I have updated it to the
latest version, but it did not help. Is it worth calling Panasonic
support....or is that just laughable?

Thanks
CV

On 1/6/2006, Caesar Valenti managed to type:
I don't know anything about the problems with the equipment, but it
seems to me that returning it to Costco would have major benefits for
your sanity. That's pretty important, in my view...

With sympathy,
Gino

--
Gene E. Bloch (Gino)
letters617blochg3251
(replace the numbers by "at" and "dotcom")

"Caesar Valenti" <caesarv@email.com> wrote in message
news:43bf3357$0$58120$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
tdk are horrible discs, almost everyone i have had contact with that has a
panny has said all tdk has failed or them too. buy a better disc.

panny's just aret compatible with tdk.

In article <43bf3357$0$58120$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net>,
Caesar Valenti <caesarv@email.com> wrote:
I've not had a problem with TDKs - and I started using them when I
got a TDK internal DVD burner [which is in reality a Plextor]

I have noticed at times that TDKs are manufacturered by others
while most of my TDK's were RICOH - but the recent ones weren't.

But I've had a Philips recorder that occaisonaly does weird things.
Sometimes I just reset [and I found later those were just one brand
of early +RW's I was using], and a couple of times when I'd go to
modify a menu things would go bad - and then the disk would appear
empty.

I've been able to recover almost every single time using
Iso-Buster. And when I'd re-recorded on a +RW and had a problem
I've found that IB will also find the pieces of other recordings
that had not been completely over-written.

I've only had to toss about 2 DVDs that weren't salvageable with
IB. One of those recently started getting dropouts near the end
and when I look at the disk there was a manufacturing error. I had
been having so much good luck that I never bothered to check a
brand-new disk before I put it in.

However you may have a problem with that particular recorder, and
since Costco likes to keep customers they will exchange or refund
for almost anything you've purchased. I've heard a story from an
employee where they refunded the price on an older PC when it could
not be upgraded. They figure it's better to make a customer happy
by refunding a $400 purchase - so they might by a $3000 HD receiver
later.

So I'd suggest two things. First pick up another name brand disk -
just a small quantity - and test those - to see if the TDKs' are
bad - or just take the recorder back to Costco for an exchange.
Then if you have problems with the disks it's most probably the
disks.

Bill



--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

Thanks for the info. I just bought a 10-pack of HP DVDs (DVD+R.) I was
using -R. I will see if that makes any difference and report back here
later.
cv




Bill Vermillion wrote:

The HP DVD+R did actually work!....but now I am not sure if it was the
+R change that helped or the fact that it was a different brand. I have
both +R and -R TDK, so I may try a few more experiments.
cv

Caesar Valenti wrote:

"Caesar Valenti" <caesarv@email.com> wrote in message
news:43c1fdd1$0$58101$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
So, it's a week later now. Do the +R discs still work for you? I'm having
the same problem on my Panasonic ES20. It will record a movie on timer,
stop, shut off, record another movie, stop, shut off, and then say it cannot
read the disc. Recently it froze on "writing information to the disc" and I
had to do the "hold the power button for 10 seconds" trick. It later
recorded fine on the same disc. I'm using mainly Staples DVD-R (8X) discs
but also have some Memorex DVD-Rs. My old Panasonic DMR-E50 originally
worked great with the Memorex discs (4X) but as it got older it would only
read the cheap Staples discs. So far it has not had a problem with the
Memorex but I've only used a few in this machine.

Also, sometimes the ES20 will record two movies on a disc and one will
disappear! Other times the disc will not finalize. This mainly seems to
happen when I use FR recording. I'm guessing it is not leaving enough room
on the disc to finalize.

Inbetween the two recorders I bought a Lite-On recorder but took it back
because the recording quality was very poor and it was very difficult to
operate. I'm now planning on returning the Panasonic ES20 and getting
who-knows-what instead. Anybody like the Toshibas? They also read/write
RAM discs.

Well, I have been using it a fair amount this weekend and am happy to
report that everything has worked well....at least as long as I do not
use TDK -R discs.
I tried some of my TDK+Rs and they worked just fine. The HP +Rs also
worked.

So, for now, I am happy. Strange.....I did make some TDK -R disks that
DID work, but it seemed that if I put any title on them, they would not
finalize (this may be bogus, but that is my feeling). In any case, I
have put lots of titles and chapters on +R and have not had a single
problem.....yet. I guess it could have been a batch problem (???), but
I doubt it.

CV


Ulysses wrote:

tdk dude, ( esp -r ) they just dont match with panasonic recorders, face it
and learn from it. dont use them again. every now and then i buy a 5 pack
just to check if they might work 6, 8, 12, 18 months later, every time they
fail, every single one. its the only brand that fails for me in my E100,
E50, E85 ( princo isnt a brand, its a piece of rat shit ).

"Caesar Valenti" <caesarv@email.com> wrote in message
news:43cc4250$0$58042$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...

"Caesar Valenti" <caesarv@email.com> wrote in message
news:43cc4250$0$58042$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
Thanks for the info and update. I would suspect the media as being my
problem on my Pana ES20 except for the fact that it is behaving much like
how my DMR E50 did as it was dying. First it started having problems
reading Pana RAM discs. I thought I had a bad batch of discs. Then it
started having timer recording problems--I would put in a new disc, it would
read it fine, then it would fail to read it when the timer started. If it
made it past about 2 1/2 minutes on timer then it would be OK. I'm pretty
sure the reason is because it does not actually start writing to the disc
until this point.

Meanwhile I've been reading reviews on DVD recorders and it sounds like NONE
of them are very good. I'd prefer to get one with a hard drive that also
reads RAM discs (turns out they were all OK and work fine now) but they seem
to start at about $400 and I'm just trying to improve on the 'ol VCR. Come
to think of it I don't recall ever having had a VHS tape fail to record.
But I already have quite a stack of screwed up DVD-R discs from a recorder
that I only have had for 2 months. I guess I'll try some DVD+Rs and see if
they are better.

I would be curious as to your findings. Several people have said that
TDK and Panasonic are not a good match. That's too bad because Costco
carries printable TDK discs (both +R and -R) in spindles of
100.....AND....starting on Jan 23rd they go on sale (with coupon) as buy
one, get one free. This means that 200 disks can be purchased for about
$42. This is a very good price for a name brand printable DVD (unless,
of course, they are crap!)

CV

Ulysses wrote:

only the tdk -r dvd's have been dodgy in my panasonic recorders, the +r's
have been fine, and i've tried all the different speeds over the past 3
years and its always the -r's that fail.

"Caesar Valenti" <caesarv@email.com> wrote in message
news:43cdb0ce$0$58039$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...

Well, you can be sure I will not be buying any -Rs in the near future!
Fortunately, all my computers can take either / or.
cv

maiet wrote:

i've used the -r tdk in my various PC burners with better results, but not
that much better to buy them again. the old 4x -r's made in japan were
brilliant, but i didnt get many of them as they went to 8x and i missed out
on buying heaps of the great 4x. 8x and 16x tdk -r are shit.


"John Vallelunga" <johnv@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:43cddb53$0$58108$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...

"Caesar Valenti" <caesarv@email.com> wrote in message
news:43cdb0ce$0$58039$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...

Hmmm. I've been getting 50 Staples brand DVD-R discs for $7.95. That's
less than $16 for 100. When recording on LP mode in both my Panasonics I
could not tell the difference between the live satellite broadcast and the
recording. Of course part of my problem might be the discs but based upon
my experience with the Painasonic RAM discs I suspect it's the recorder, not
the discs. I do not know who makes the Staples discs. I rarely use the RAM
discs any more because at this price I just record everything on DVD-R.
They also have DVD+R for the same price (when on sale--I watch their ads and
wait. The last time they had them on their web site for that price but not
in their local circular).

My current recorder can also us +RV discs but I don't see the point. From
what I've read if you record two movies on one you cannot erase the first
one and reuse the space unless you erase the last one recorded or reformat
the disc. RAM is clearly superior in that respect.