do I HAVE to finalize to rip to HD?

[DirtBikeMike]

I searched but did not find.......

I am using a stand alone DVD recorder to record TV shows directly to DVD-R. I then rip the VIDEO_TS folder from the recorded DVD's to my hard drive for storage/editing/burning later. My question is : If I use DVD-RW to record the shows, leave the disc UN-finalized, can I still rip the VIDEO_TS folder to my HD then just erase the DVD-RW and start again with the next show re-using the same RW disc over and over?

What process does the stand alone do when you tell it to finalize a recording?

[johns0]

The reason you finalize is so that other dvd players can read the disc,if you can rip the dvdrw without finalizing then there's no reason to finalize since you're going to erase it anyways.My burner can rip unfinalized dvdrw but some others cant,just gotta try.

Finalizing a dvd closes the track(s) and no more burning can be done.

[Noahtuck]

Even IF the RW needed to be finalized to be read by your PC drive, it would not be permanently finalized, you would just use it again and record over whatever was on it.

[DirtBikeMike]

Thankx tonz fellas....that's exactly what I was looking for.