Problem With Finalizing DVD

[Sky King]

I have a Panasonic DMR E30 DVD recorder which I think is GREAT.
The problem I had with one disc was after recording just short of 2 hours worth of video on the disc, I then went to finalize. The recorder couldn't find anything on the disc and indicated that there was 2 hours of recording available in the mode I had chosen. I tried several times to re enter the disc in the recorder hoping it would recognize the disc but no luck. Prior to my attempt to finalize the disc I checked to see how it came out. It looked great. I checked the disc for scratches...none. The disc in question is a Memorex DVD-R. All other Memorex discs worked fine.
What happened ??
Why didn't the recorder find the video on the disc ??

[pluche]

Instead of re-entering the disc , put the recorder on "off" while the disc is still in; wait a minute and put it "on" again; see what happens
(you may have to repeat a couple of times) - another option: keep the disc again inside the recorder; put it "off", unplug the recorder for a short while, plug it back in and put it on;
my opinion: your brand of DVD-R is "borderline" compatible with the recorder; this means it works well with several discs, sometimes not at all or partially; I have such problems with Imation discs
In fact one can check this compatibility in watching the time it takes for the recorder to recognize a disc; a short time indicates good compatibility

[Sky King]

pluche,

Thanks for your reply. I did what you suggested and the disc is still not recognized by the DVD recorder. This disc must have gotten corrupted somehow after the recording process. I did let a day go by before trying to finalize it originally, but know this can't be the reason for the problem.
I have had very good luck otherwise using the Memorex DVD-R discs.
One other problem I seem to be having is that after finalizing, when I fast forward, using the skip button, from the beginning of the disc to near the end to view a scene, the picture becomes very pixillated and sometimes freezes. Any idea what might cause this ?? Is it a Memorex disc problem or a problem with my recorder ??

[bakerlite]

Sky King, this is definitely a problem with the DVD-R media - I was having exactly the same problem with Bulk Paq disks on my E30 (when they actually did record instead of causing power downs, or chose not to finalise after seeming to record okay). On the various forums people are always describing problems they have with Memorex DVD-Rs. I've got some Traxdata discs (other people highly recommend them, but I've already had one coaster out of three discs tried) and some Verbatim discs (which I've so far, touch wood, had no problems with - recordings are playable and stutter-free even in PS2 and some of the cheaper 'supermarket' players). They are a bit more expensive (including postage, the cheapest Traxdata DVD-Rs I found were £50 for 25, and 10 Verbatims cost £25, but you really get what you pay for with DVD-R media). Try some different types of DVD-R as what will work in one Panasonic machine might not work quite so well in another. Oh, and one final tip, although it's not infallible. Enter a title under 'Disc Information' in the 'Functions' menu before you record anything. If the power shuts off and you get the 'Recover' message, you've probably got a duff disc, but it saves you trying to start recording onto it!). Cheers!

[pluche]

I fully agree with Bakerlite - you have a problem with the Memorex media !
note: you can indeed have several that worked well but ...
personally I never used Memorex but I have the same phenomena with Imation;
what I used most (without any problem so far) is Fuji, Maxell and also cheaper onces like Optodisc , Datatrack and Sentinel (in Europe)