Cannot Play A Recorded DVD

[moviebuff2]

Hi everyone:

I recorded a DVD-R on my friend's standalone Samsung (I don't remember the model number) at XP speed. When the recording ended, the Samsung machine flashed a message about "waiting for the completion of formatting of the disc". After the message was cleared, I test-played the disc on the same machine and everything was OK. The picture was clear from the beginning til the end.

However, I cannot play the disc on any equipment of mine. I tried 2 stand-alone DVD players and 3 DVD-ROMs. All stand-alone machines indicated "no disc" after several attempts toread it. All DVD-ROMs could not understand the disc - a click on the drive gave me error message of "The device is not ready".

What could be the problems? Incompatibility? Finalizing? Please Help!!!

[handyguy]

You didn't finalize it on your samsung.

[moviebuff2]

Thanks. I thought "formatting" was the same as "finalizing".

[guns1inger]

Formatting is preparing the disc for recording, and wiping any previous recording on the disc.

Finalising is closing the last recording session so that the disc can be accessed by other players.

[moviebuff2]

guns1inger wrote:

Formatting is preparing the disc for recording, and wiping any previous recording on the disc.

Finalising is closing the last recording session so that the disc can be accessed by other players.

Hi guns1inger

The formatting took place after the recording. That's why I thought the Samsung was finalizing the disc when it displayed the message "waiting for the completion of formatting of the disc". This is not my own machine, and my friend does not have the manual.


Added note:

BTW, I talked with a salesman at Fry's :P , he told me that Samsung might have actually finalized the disc since the event took place after the recording, but it did that specifically for Samsung only. Hence, it is the incompatibilty issue between Samsung and other machines. He told me that I could have made Samsung finalize the disc universally so that the disc would be playable with other brands. But, the machine never asked me how I wanted the disc to be finalized.

Without a manual, I cannot tell if the guy was correct.

[normcar]

my friend does not have the manual.

Have you tried the Samsung website for the documentation. Some manufactures have the manual on the site as a file download.

[moviebuff2]

Hi normcar

I don't remember the model number of my friend's machine.

WalMart is selling Philips DVD Recorder at $140 ($40 below Fry's!). I think by Christmas, the price will probably drop below $100. Santa Claus, do you hear that? :P

[normcar]

I purchased a Philips DVDR985 for about $850. I burned about 50 DVDs on it, and it never worked properly. I even sent it in for repair, and it still didn't work. I would not buy anything from Philips after seeing the bad customer service reviews I have read.