Pioneer 510H media compatibility question

[huggeeze]

Hi all,

Another question on my dad's Pioneer 510H. Appreciate everyone's help. New to this great site and wasn't sure whether this would be dependant on hardware or media (or both!)...so wasn't sure what forum to put it in.

He would like to find a portable dvd player that will play dvd's which he has burned on his pioneer DVR-510H. The dvd's are -RW disks recorded in VR mode (as opposed to Video mode). He's been using Ritek DVD-RW 2X 4.7GB. Ideally it would also play them in a unfinalized state. He's not sure how to search for such a player without going to the store and trying his dvd's in various players. Pioneer makes a dvd player that will accomplish this (model DV563AS), however they no longer make portable players.

Thanks for your help, and apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

-Kevin
huggies1108@NO-MAILyahoo.com

(remove NO-MAIL in email address above)

[rhegedus]

If he wants to ensure better compatibility, he's probably better off burning them in video mode rather than VR mode and finalizing the disks.

I don't see any benefit in VR mode unless you want to transfer to PC to edit or you want to archive your recordings for playback on the Pioneer at a later date.

[spiderman2k1]

Try Panasonic or JVC or Toshiba and Sony

[huggeeze]

I agree that video mode would give greater compatibility...that's kind of the point of this question. He uses VR mode so that he can directly edit on the DVD's...he's constantly re-editing things.

And finalizing takes very long. So the point of the question is, realizing there's less chance of compatibility, are there any portable players anyone is aware of that will accept unfinalized VR mode discs? spiderman2k1: any particular models you're familiar with for this situation?

If not, would he be more likely to find a portable player that would accept Video mode discs, but still UNfinalized?

Thanks for your help!

[rhegedus]

Whoa now!

Where is your dad editind the video - on the Pioneer or on home PC?

If he's editing on the Pioneer then it's just as easy to edit in video mode as it is in VR mode.

And finalizing takes 1 min max - the only difference is in the recording time to DVD, but that only matters if the video is an hour or less. Anything else will be the same.

[huggeeze]

Are you sure you're talking about the 510H? He is editing on the Pioneer.

page 55 of manual:
"How long finalization takes depends on the type of disc, how much is recorded on the disc and the number of titles on the disc. A disc recorded in VR mode can take up to 1 hour to finalize. A disc recorded in Video mode can take up to 20 minutes."

He just showed me editing on the 510H. When he burns a disc in VR mode, the menu shows the option to do chapter edits (divide chapter, erase chapter, combining chapter etc.). However, in video mode, he has none of these options. I've confirmed this in the manual.

page 54 of manual:
"Most regular DVD players can play finalized discs recorded in video mode. A number of players can also play DVD-RW discs recorded in VR mode, finalized or not."

We're just trying to find a portable player from this second group...considering the limitations of video mode as I've shown here.

Thanks for the help!

[rhegedus]

Are you sure you're talking about the 510H? He is editing on the Pioneer.

Yes, I've got one.

page 55 of manual:
"How long finalization takes depends on the type of disc, how much is recorded on the disc and the number of titles on the disc. A disc recorded in VR mode can take up to 1 hour to finalize. A disc recorded in Video mode can take up to 20 minutes."

I think that's somewhat misleading. The most you can record in VR mode is about and hour per disk. I think that the times quoted for VR finalisation include the burn time too.

I've never, ever spent more that 5 minutes finalizing any disk: VR or video, but I think adding lots of chapters or having clips separate instead of joining them will add to the finalize time.

page 54 of manual:
"Most regular DVD players can play finalized discs recorded in video mode. A number of players can also play DVD-RW discs recorded in VR mode, finalized or not."

You're just going to have to get a VR disk and take it to your local electrical retailer and try it out.

[huggeeze]

Thanks Rob.

He does have numerous separate chapters, so that is probably what's making the long finalize time.

Can you also confirm that Video mode has less editing options than VR mode? At first you said editing was the same for both...just wanted to make sure we weren't missing something.

Thanks!

(anyone else happen to know of any portable players that will play DVD-RW VR mode unfinalized?)

Will he have better hopes of finding a player that will play DVD-RW Video mode unfinalized?

-Kevin