I bought a Panasonic DVD recorder/VCR (thanks to the advice I got here)
and have used three different Panasonic DVD-R disks (4xspeed). I've
been recording with them over and over again. I even went into Disc
Management a few times and erased recordings. These disks probably came
from two different packages, so it probably isn't a fluke.

Are you sure these are DVD-R, not DVD-RAM?

"Chris Tsao" <rigida7147@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1137116102.113414.308000@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...

Cathy wrote:
Yup.

Chris Tsao wrote:
I have some panny discs but I'm loathe to throw one away just to
satisfy my curiosity :O)

Are you sure you're not just writing on available space? I haven't
really messed around much but if memory serves me right (and it
doesn't usually!) it mentions that you can 'erase' recordings but that
you don't regain the space. So, say, you could be recording on a four
hour length, record two hours, 'delete' it and still have two hours as
long as discs aren't finalized, without being able to see the erased
material. You can record indefinitely to a disc until it is full or
you finalize it.

--
Paul (Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

I will take long odds that is exactly what he is doing - on LP it takes over
4 hours to fill one disc and of course you can "'erase" something on a cd-r
or dvd-r so the machine ignores it..... it is still burned and no longer
available to burn on again.


S

mindesign wrote:
I can re-record with them though. They're the 120 mins./4.7 gigabite
ones. I will try again with a fourth disk and report back what happens.
I even hit the eject button once after recording and then when the disk
went back into the DVD recorder, it was able to record again.

Chris Tsao wrote:
Yes, Chris, that's entirely possible. Length, specially on a
panasonic, is entirely up to you. You have a setting which allows you
to make the dvd as short as whatever or as long as eight hours. So,
let's say you have set your machine to record eight hours on a disc,
then stopped recording after an hour, watched the recording, then
'erased' it. If I am right then what you are doing is actually just
wiping an area of the disc and making it unusable. So, instead of
having eight hours to play with you now have seven.

As you're new to dvd it can all seem a little confusing, but to stop a
dvd from being recorded on again you have to physically finalize it.
This will be in the disc options somewhere. On a dvd-r once you have
finalized a disc you cannot record on it again, no matter what you do.
IF you haven't finalized it then you will be able to put it in the
machine and take it out and it will still be recordable. What you
won't be able to do though is put it in another player. If you have a
dvd player on your pc try playing an unfinalized dvd-r in it and
nothing will happen, as it needs to be finalized to work in another
machine. I hope that's not too long winded for you, it's a problem I
have :O)

DVD-rw on the other hand can be finalized, played in another machine,
then put back into your recorder and reformatted, so you have a nice
blank disc, and you can also erase recordings from it.

DVD-ram, which is what panasonic would like you to use, acts more like
a hard disc, in that you can erase any portion of the disc, and even
re-arrange stuff in an order you prefer. those discs are very
expensive though.

If you really do want to be able to re-record on a few discs, rather
than archiving movies or whatever, then get some dvd-rw or ram discs.
DVD-r are best used for movies or tv shows you want to keep, that sort
of thing.


whew!

:O)

--
Paul (Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

mindesign wrote:
It's the only answer I can think of.
--
Paul (Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

Chris Tsao wrote:
Is the data side of the 3 discs pewter or blue/purple in color?

-Junior

yes i can do the samr thing with ym panny, but when i erase the program i
dont get back the space, if i record a 30 min program and delete it i only
have 90 mins left, if i recorded it in SP.

"Chris Tsao" <rigida7147@aol.com> wrote in message
news:1137116102.113414.308000@f14g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...

maiet wrote:
isn't finalised.

--
Paul (Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

"Paul Heslop" <paul.heslop@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote in message
news:43CB364E.1EFF23E2@blueyonder.co.uk...
yes.

Thanks, that was my next question. I'm leaving on an 1 hr and 40 min.
bus trip and I recorded this silly Vincent Price movie I only watch
once every 25 years to play on my laptop.

unclejr wrote:
It looks like a light light light purple. Maybe there's some blue?,
it's hard to tell.

Chris Tsao wrote:
:O) bon voyage.



--
Paul (Had a '28 Ford, had payments on that)
-------------------------------------------------------
Stop and Look
http://www.geocities.com/dreamst8me/

Paul Heslop wrote:
Merci beaucoup.