Pioneer DVR-420H.....

[andyg]

Have got a question with regards to copying from the HDD to DVD.

If I record a programme onto the HDD and then copy to DVD in its original state (ie: unedited) I can use the 'high speed copy' option which takes a few minutes but depending on how much I edit the original programme on the HDD that I'm going to copy (inserting chapters, cutting out adverts and so on), this option usually gets greyed out and I get the message 'high speed copying cannot be used on this copy list with a video mode disc - or something like that'

Anybody know why?

I normally have to copy then in real time mode which ties up the recorder for up to 6hrs depending on what I'm recording. I've also heard that it then re-encodes the programme again so I get more loss of quality?

Am I doing something wrong? Should I be editing in the copy list instead of editing what's on the HDD? The reason I edit on the HDD is that I don't always transfer straight away and I need the space to record other stuff.

Also, is it not possible to get auto chapters when recording something off the tuner/AV in? If I copy a disc, it puts chapters in for me every ten minutes (or whatever time I choose in setup) but no chapters are inserted when recording using the tuner or AV in. Anyone know why?

[Zen of Encoding]

Which "picture quality" setting did you use when recording the material
and how long (time) are the shows you recorded?

If the file size exceeds the available space on the blank DVD, your 420
will automaticaly use the "optimal" quality setting and re-encode your
material to fit the 4.7 Gig DVD. Re-encoding always takes place at
real-time speed, not high speed.

[Frobozz]

I'm not sure what you're doing to cause this. High-speed copying is usually available as long as the material will fit the disc without re-encoding. I did find this in the Pioneer 540H manual and it might be the same with your 420: "When HDD Recording Format is set to Video Mode Off, titles recorded in LP/MN9 to MN15 modes cannot be highspeed copied to a Video mode disc. Please use a VR mode DVD-R/-RW or DVD-RAM."

Check the Copying section of your manual for more about high-speed copying.

The automatic chapters are only added to a disc if the disc is being burned in real time. If you want time-increment chapters with high-speed copying from the HDD then add the chapters manually in the Edit mode by pressing the commercial skip button multiple times to advance to where you want to place the next chapter.

[andyg]

My HDD is a bit full at the moment so I've been using the EP setting. I know that quality is on the poor side but I'm taping off sky anyway which is always a bit blocky so it doesn't really improve quality much using one of the better quality settings.

The time of the show depends. I tried this morning to copy six programmes to disc which varied in length - total time was 5.48 or something like that and it said I couldn't use high-speed.

If I record two programmes at different qualities should I still be able to copy at high speed?

Will check the copying section of my manual to see if it says anything about video mode being off and not being able to high-speed copy using MN9 to MN15.

[andyg]

Think I've sorted it - Have got "Frame Accuracy" enabled in the "Recording" sub-menu in initial setup and the user guide says that this often prevents high speed copying depending on how much editing is carried out. Am going to try it with this disabled to see if it's any better.