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05-14-2009, 12:24 PM
kschwi kschwi is offline
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Hi,

I had my My Toshiba DVD player/burner for 6 months now and have no problems up until this week.

I regularly DVR items on my DISH receiver and then play them while burning them onto a DVD-R using my Toshiba DVD Burner. The last 3 times I've done this I have gotten an error telling me I cannot record to this disk at around the 1:50 minute mark. I usually get 2 hours to 2 hours and 5 minutes on a blank DVD-R. I know it could be the blank Sony DVD-Rs I am using, but could it be a problem with my Toshiba unit? The program did burn the 1:50 minutes but was just a few minutes short of complete.

The disks are then unable to be finalized nor can I delete any of the titles. Is there any way to salvage any of these disks?

Is it the Toshiba or the Sony Disks? ImgBurn says the disk id is 16D1.
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  #2  
05-14-2009, 07:24 PM
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I can only think of two likely issues:
  1. The Toshiba does not like these exact Sony DVD-R. Were these "made in Taiwan" or "made in Malaysia" on the Sony package? Note that not all Sony media are the same quality. It could be choking on the outer rim of the disc, an infamous problem with lower-grade media -- also an issue with firmware/media incompatibilities (old burner + new discs = problems).
  2. The disc is somehow filling up before it gets to two hours. While this should be more or less impossible on a DVD recorder, I've seen it happen a few times, where the VBR bitrate remains excessively high during the recording, resulting in a disc that fills up before the "mode" length (SP mode, for example, not reaching 2 whole hours). This is highly unlikely, but not entirely impossible.
Try to use Verbatim DVD-R instead. (View the Blank DVD Media Review for a list of current deals on these exact discs.)

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  #3  
05-15-2009, 11:21 AM
kschwi kschwi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by admin View Post
I can only think of two likely issues:
  1. The Toshiba does not like these exact Sony DVD-R. Were these "made in Taiwan" or "made in Malaysia" on the Sony package? Note that not all Sony media are the same quality. It could be choking on the outer rim of the disc, an imfamous problem with lower-grade media -- also an issue with firmware/media incompatibilities (old burner + new discs = problems).
  2. The disc is somehow filling up before it gets to two hours. While this should be mo
  3. re or less impossible on a DVD recorder, I've seen it happen a few times, where the VBR bitrate remains excessively high during the recording, resulting in a disc that fills up before the "mode" length (SP mode, for example, not reaching 2 whole hours). This is highly unlikely, but not entirely impossible.
Try to use Verbatim DVD-R instead. (View the Blank DVD Media Review for a list of current deals on these exact discs.)
Thanks for you reply. Unfortunately, I didn't save the wrapper although I have an unopened 25 pack of Sony DVD-R made in Malaysia. I believe the ones made in Malaysia are the inferior kind.

I do have two other questions when you have time. I have some DVD-Rs that are on Ritek, Fuji Film, Nexxtech. Would you recommend copying them over to Verbatim or Taiyo and then if I only kept one copy you'd choose the one on the better media even though it is a copy, correct?

Secondly, I have a bunch of old VHS tapes I was thinking about converting to DVD. Some of the quality on a few of the VHS tapes is a little shaky with some snow or tracking lines. I was planning on hooking my VCR to my Toshiba DR410 1080p Upconverting Tunerless DVD recorder and hit play on the VCR and then record on my Toshiba unit. Is there any simple way to improve the quality over how it looks on VHS? Or any suggestions? These are that important but if I can improve how they look it would be nice.

Last edited by kschwi; 05-15-2009 at 11:22 AM. Reason: to say thanks
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  #4  
05-15-2009, 11:36 AM
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Use ISO Puzzle, ImgBurn or DVD Decrypter to read an image of those old discs, then burn a new copy on better discs -- then test the new disc using Nero Disc Speed. These programs and topics are discussed in several places on the forum (do simple site search to find them), and on the various DVD media guides on the site.

Whether you want to copy entirely depends on how good the discs appear. Personally, I'd copy anything important over to an archive disc, and store it safely. Continue to use the cheaper disc for playing, trashing it if errors are discovered later, or if the disc is simply too hard to read well on players.

Digital data is not lost when a copy is made, that was an analog issue (VHS tapes, for example -- copy of copy was rather poor compared to original). Digital DVDs are identical.

VHS tapes need to largely be corrected in the analog domain, BEFORE it is converted digital. This is accomplished with advanced hardware, such as high end S-VHS VCRs, TBCs, proc amps, detailers, and other devices at times. After the analog corrections are as best as can be done, the signal is digitized, and then it can be further processed in software if required. These topics are heavily covered in the DVD Project Restoration forum here. The most "simple" way would be to use a good VCR, and then use the on-board Toshiba image filters (if exist -- not sure if this model has them, I forget).

If you have any valuable video, like that of family, weddings, grandparents, etc -- or some other type of rare video -- consider having it professionally converted from a service such as ours, which specializes in improving quality, not merely transferring like most other services.

Hope that helps.

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  #5  
07-05-2009, 03:29 PM
kschwi kschwi is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by admin View Post

VHS tapes need to largely be corrected in the analog domain, BEFORE it is converted digital. This is accomplished with advanced hardware, such as high end S-VHS VCRs, TBCs, proc amps, detailers, and other devices at times. After the analog corrections are as best as can be done, the signal is digitized, and then it can be further processed in software if required. These topics are heavily covered in the DVD Project Restoration forum here. The most "simple" way would be to use a good VCR, and then use the on-board Toshiba image filters (if exist -- not sure if this model has them, I forget).

If you have any valuable video, like that of family, weddings, grandparents, etc -- or some other type of rare video -- consider having it professionally converted from a service such as ours, which specializes in improving quality, not merely transferring like most other services.

Hope that helps.
Hi,

I did try a Mitsubishi S-VHS machine (I don't have the model number handy) but ran into some tracking problems with lines across the screen and or static noise. So I thought I would try a different S-VHS machine a JVC-HR55922U which seems to be a slight improvement, but still could be better. I wonder if some settings could be tweaked on the JVC to help.
There is S-VHS on or off (this appears to be set on Off and unable to switch to on. Could this be because these are old tapes?) Other options are Video calibration ON or OFF and Picture control, AUTO, EDIT, SOFT, SHARP.

My DVD recorder is a Toshiba DR-410

I do have a few other VHS machines (Magnavoxes)which are not S-VHS. (I am using an S-video cable) One is older bought around 1995 and the other is a combo unit VCR/DVD player.

Any thoughts on which machine might work best and what setting changes should I make?
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07-19-2009, 12:50 PM
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If the tape is EP/SLP mode, then you may need to try it out in a Panasonic AG-1970P or AG-1980P VCR. If you're only having an issue with one tape, again, consider having it professionally worked on, as opposed to purchasing expensive gear that has a learning curve to use -- then being stuck with gear that you'll never need again.

S-VHS is the format of both the tape and the video on it (the same thing, more or less). If you put a VHS tape into an S-VHS VCR, it will shown it to be a VHS tape. The benefit of a S-VHS VCR is that it will often playback and filter the tape better than a normal VHS VCR (especially consumer graded machines). JVC S-VHS VCR settings are discussed in depth at http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/vid...k-hardware.htm -- give that a good read.

The best machine largely depends on the tape itself. In theory, the JVC machines should look best, but some tapes are just not cooperative, monkey-wrenching your workflow sometimes.

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