how to record?

Ok, this is going to sound really dumb, seeing as I'm the one who brought it up, but I've no idea what it means either. All I do know is that when I burn a DVD on my PC or laptop it finalises the disc so that it can be viewed on other devices. Maybe one of the more tech-savvy members can give you a fuller and more complete explanation... SMc, TheWatcher, firebird, shavedcok, josh1979 and Red all really know their apples with capping, recording and posting as does steven6660. Hopefully one of those will be able to explain things better...

Finalising is what the DVD recorder does to make it playable in any DVD player,it adds the chapter info etc.that the player reads first.Domestic DVD recorders need to be told to finalise,usually in the menu.I have found that '+' DVD R and DVD RW's are the least fussy about what you play them in.I am sure you even have to finalise DVD-RW so they will play in another player,although this is reversible.DVD+RW are your best bet in future as they initialise faster in your player as well and don't require any finalizing,which can take a while in some players.

Dreamlander

ok, thanks for that dreamlander. Until I get some more dvds, how do i go about finalising them?

When a disc is finalised it means the disc is closed and no more data can be written to it. If there was any spare space on the disc after you finished your recording it is no longer available after finalising.
DVD+R & DVD-R need finalising for them to be seen on a computer.
They can still be played on the stand alone video recorder they were made on without finalising but may need finalising to play on a different player. There will be an option in the disc menu on a stand alone DVD recorder to finalise the disc.
If you use a PC to record, it will all depend on the software used whether a disc gets automatically finalised or not.
DVD+RW & DVD-RW cannot be finalised (and dont need to be), you can keep adding stuff until they are full and should be readable with any modern computer dvd drive.
I always use DVD+RW for transfering video to computer with no problems after I replaced an old computer dvd drive (from 2002) with a new one last year. The old drive could not see the disc.
I have had problems using some makes of DVD-RW on my DVD recorder though.

If your disc wont play but the computer detects the disc in the drive, try openning the disc with windows explorer and find a .VOB video file in the Video_TS folder. Right click it and choose open with VLC player. That should play.
Hope this all makes sense.

You might want to check out this thread as well as I posted some info on DVD media that might be pertinent and this is even more an issue with RW media over R
http://www.babeshows.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=3346

If you do find it is a media issue then a firmware update for the drive in your unit might help improve issues but if your machine still has a warranty I suggest you contact them for which firmware to download as if the firmware update doesn't take properly or you use the wrong one you could end up with a dead drive (note most firmware update pages have disclaimers to use at own risk). If they tell you what to do though then you can push the responsibility back on them to some extent

jack29g Wrote:ok, thanks for that dreamlander. Until I get some more dvds, how do i go about finalising them?

Like others have said it should be in your player menu somewhere,usually where the recording quality option is.I still believe some players need DVD-RW to be finalised before they can be played back,even some PC drives.They can still be wiped afterwards by the original player.DVD+RWs finalise as they go so will play in any machine.

If you still have problems go to AVForums where there is loads of useful information available.

Dreamlander

Ok, thanks for the help, Ive now managed to finalise my dvds and play them on my laptop. But I have found another problem, I can't seem to save the videos on to my laptop.

I tried a couple of ripping programs which both didn't work.

record on dvd-rw & transfer it to your p.c into a avi or WMV file using a program called ImToo DVD Ripper Platinum 4(download it from torrent sites)

I downloaded imtoo and tried to use it but when I selected the dvd in my laptop to be ripped it said 'the selected dvd folder is invalid, please try another one'

jack29g Wrote:I downloaded imtoo and tried to use it but when I selected the dvd in my laptop to be ripped it said 'the selected dvd folder is invalid, please try another one'

Mine's an old version, the latest one doesn't work for me.