Problem recording onto DVD from TV
4-Tel
Posts: 607 Forum Member
✭✭
I have a Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder, but have never used the DVD recording feature (stuck with tapes until I got Freeview+) until now.
I finally had cause to record onto DVD last week. I used a DVD+R disc, which the machine initialised before use. I set the timer in the usual way and saw the recording light appear for the duration of the recording.
When I've come to play it back, the machine seems to be playing a track (the clock counter goes up and I can fast forward and rewind), but nothing appears on screen - pictures or sound! I tried it on a different DVD player, which refuses to load the disc at all and on a computer, which didn't even recognise the presence of a disc in the drive.
Only because the recording was for somebody else (not because I believe there is any real prospect of retrieving it), I was wondering/hoping if perhaps I've not done something elementary which is stopping it from playing back. Does the disc need finalising (I can't find the machine's instruction book to find out)? Any other possibilities as to what might have happened? The fact that the clock is counting is giving me a shred of (probably false) hope.
I finally had cause to record onto DVD last week. I used a DVD+R disc, which the machine initialised before use. I set the timer in the usual way and saw the recording light appear for the duration of the recording.
When I've come to play it back, the machine seems to be playing a track (the clock counter goes up and I can fast forward and rewind), but nothing appears on screen - pictures or sound! I tried it on a different DVD player, which refuses to load the disc at all and on a computer, which didn't even recognise the presence of a disc in the drive.
Only because the recording was for somebody else (not because I believe there is any real prospect of retrieving it), I was wondering/hoping if perhaps I've not done something elementary which is stopping it from playing back. Does the disc need finalising (I can't find the machine's instruction book to find out)? Any other possibilities as to what might have happened? The fact that the clock is counting is giving me a shred of (probably false) hope.
0
Comments
However if you turned the telly off then that signal would disappear. So I would first double check what it was you told it to record and whether or not there was any audio or video present for it to record.
If it is possible, try recording from whatever source you used onto VHS and DVD, not sure if it would do it at the same time but that is not absolutely vital. If it records onto VHS OK but not DVD then that implies the DVD recorder is cream crackered in some way. Does it play back commercially recorded disks? It is possible the laser needs a good clean. Preferably with direct access to it so you can wipe it with a cotton bud very lightly dampened with something like Isopropyl Alcohol. Failing that a cleaning disk might work.
Playing back on the recorder should be possible whether the disk is finalised or not. It certainly was on the Panasonic recorder I had many moons ago. It would need to be finalised to play on another player however.
As a final throw of the dice, any idea how I'd finalise the DVD? It gave me the option of initialising it when I put it in, but since recording, no option has appeared for finalising.
The fact that it lets you play, fast forward or rewind the recording and the counter counts up/down as appropriate implies that the recorder is able to read the disk. If it needed to be finalised then it would be the same as the other machines, it would either not play at all or not be recognised.
I think the problem here is that the recorder is recording something but not what you are telling it to record. My feeling is that if the laser were knackered or so dirty it couldn't record the disk would be corrupt and nothing would happen if you tried to play it, even on the recorder.
I have a feeling that, assuming the absence of operator error obviously
And if you are totally desperate then you could read the manual
-R and -RW disks always do need finalising but offer greater compatibility between machines.
It does sound like you were recording the wrong input. Unless you have a strange TV you cannot record something that is playing on it, I have never come across one that outputs its signal.
So you need a separate source unless your recorder has a built in digital tuner. If you daisy chain a Freeview set top box into the input of the recorder (say AV1) and then to the TV (from AV2) you can watch what the recorder is seeing. Output is usually composite from AV2 on most recorders (but not all) so the picture quality to the set could be degraded.
Most recorders also have "pass through" which means you can watch the Freeview box even with the recorder switched off.
All digital TVs are capable of outputting their signal via at least one of their scart sockets - this has been the case since Freeview tuners were first built into televisions sets, to allow Freeview TV owners to record from their single Freeview tuner whilst they still had analogue only VCRs/DVDRs. Some will output only what Freeview station the TV is tuned to - regardless of whether that is what is being watched on TV at the moment. Some will output whatever is being watched on the TV, be it from the analogue tuner, the digital terrestrial tuner, the satellite terrestrial tuner or from an external source. But, if the OP's TV falls in to the second category, and the TV was set to output (say) the signal from the analogue terrestrial tuner, which is now not picking up a TV signal, then this may explain why his recording showed nothing.
What he needs to do is record the scart input on both video and DVD simultaneously - and see whether he then gets a picture on both, gets nothing on both, or in fact gets a signal on one and nothing on the other. If he gets a signal on one but not the other, this suggests that he has to choose his source for DVD recordings seperately than when choosing his source for videotape recordings.
Now I just need to confess my failings to somebody I laughed at when they were surprised to find you could record off the TV onto DVD - turns out I can't after all.:rolleyes:
As I posted above you might be able to download a manual for your unit from the Panasonic website if you are in any uncertainty that you are pressing the right buttons.
http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_GB/Support/Downloads/220239/index.html#anker_222458
It might also be worthwhile using a different format of disk. DVD+R and DVD-R are not exactly the same, that + and - is important. -R disks seem to have more options than +R if you look at the specs for various Panasonic recorders so there is a chance they might work better.