Will any standalone copy RAM to DVD-R?

[samijubal]

Does anyone know if any recorder will make RAM to DVD-R copies? After almost a week of trying to use a computer I'm ready to throw in the towel and buy a standalone if they will work.

[lordsmurf]

Not really.

[tommyoz]

If the standalone recorder has a HD and supports DVD-Ram and DVD-R it might. I don't have one so I really don't know. I would think that having a HD is the key. You could move your content from DVD-Ram to your HD then copy it to DVD-R.

[zorankarapancev]

Perhaps Panasonic DVD recorder with HD could do that.

[Capmaster]

Yes. The Panny DMR-E85 will do it, as the other Panny HD recorders no doubt will too. Go to:

http://www2.panasonic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/vModelDetail?storeId=11251&catalog...VD%20Recorders

Go to the bottom and click the link for operating instructions to DL the Operator's Manual PDF. Then go to page 35 (Dubbing) :

[samijubal]

Thank you. I was specifically asking about hard drive recorders, left that out by mistake.

[lordsmurf]

Thank you. I was specifically asking about hard drive recorders, left that out by mistake.

Ignore my answer in this case. Some HDD recorders offer this.

[Capmaster]

Thank you. I was specifically asking about hard drive recorders, left that out by mistake.

Yes. I knew what you meant, but it might not have been obvious to all.

Lordsmurf's answer is correct for the non-HD models.

[chas0039]

That is a lot of money to spend to deal with frustration. It really does work with TMPGEnc DVD Author. It takes hours because of how slow the RAM drives read but it works for me.

[samijubal]

Does it work with VBR recordings? I've tried that over and over, it says illegal file or no compatible file or something to that effect.

[handyguy]

Change the recording option to FIXED from AUTO. This should give you a compatible recording.

[samijubal]

The discs I want to copy are from 2001-present, too late to turn off VBR now. With what I paid for the 200 RAMs I have, most of them double sided, a DVD with hard drive pales in comparison. My first 15 double sided RAMs cost me $300 back in 2001, that was a good price back then.

[chas0039]

Does it work with VBR recordings? I've tried that over and over, it says illegal file or no compatible file or something to that effect.

Clearly it doesn't for you. I have been able to use TMPG to read my VRO files from my Panasonic E-50 with no problem. I believe some of them have been Flex mode which is a form of variable bit rate and that doesn't seem to be a problem. I just ran another quick check and it works. Is the output on your RAM VRO? What was the brand of recorder? I know some earlier versions had not yet added support for VRO.

QUOTE:

TMPGEnc DVD Author Version 1.6.26.73 - July 16 2004
Fixed Some recognition problems concerning the DVD writer, have been fixed.
(recognition of DVD media type)
Fixed Problems related to recognition of DVD-VR files made from some DVD-recorders.

[samijubal]

They were done on a Panasonic E20 in SP. Never used flexible recording, everything was done in SP. I think they are VRO, not sure. Have you tried VBR recordings with TMPGNE?

[chas0039]

I am not sure about what you are doing. How can you not be sure they are VRO? You need to open the file to get it into TMP so you have to be looking at the file to use it. VBR is variable bit recording anf that is what Flex recording on the Panasonics do. They output to a VRO file with all the video when you record on a RAM disc. I don't know that you can tell if they are fixed rate or variable rate by just looking at them. I have done exactly what you want to do:

I record to the RAM disc. I copy the file to my hard disc on the computer. I open the file with TMPGenc Author and I save it to the hard drive in a new file. It is now a standard DVD file system. It does not matter if I recorded in SP XP or Flex. Unless you have something vastly different on your E-20 you should be able to do the same.

[samijubal]

I'm new to this, so I am probably doing something wrong. I've copied to the hard drive using Womble, but when I go to open the file with TMPGne it says illegal file or whatever. If you have the exact steps to copy and wouldn't mind taking the time to type them in here it would be greatly appreciated. They are VRO, when I use Womble it says VRO file. I've been able to copy 1 disc in a week and when it got to the standalone edit point the audio went off by a few seconds. I think Womble can deal with the edit points if I can get something to burn the disc.

[chas0039]

You are the second person I have heard from who has had a problem with Womble. As I have no idea what Womble is I cannot help but it seems to make VRO files useless to TMPG.

Copy the VRO file to your hard disk. Don't use any program just do so in Windows under my computer using a drive that works with RAM. Just put it on the desktop. Open TMPG and create new project, add file, and there you are. I think Womble is corrupting your file. If it is somehow essential to your project you are out of luck. If you could explain what it is that Womble is doing that you need there may be a way to do it with something different.

[samijubal]

Womble can deal with the standalone edit points. I tried a couple of others that get to the edit points and either go back to the beginning of the segment, shut down completely, or throw the audio sync off. Womble ignores the edits except for a couple of second buzz in the audio, I haven't actually got to the burn part yet so I don't know what it will do then. I haven't tried downloading to the hard drive in Windows yet, I'll give it a try. Thanks for all your help and patience.

[chas0039]

If you copy to disc and then read into TMPG it can probably deal with your edits. I still don't know what you use Womble for when you haven't yet copied the file to the hard disk? It can't edit on the RAM can it? You must have to copy to the HD at some time unless you are reading the file from the RAM with Womble and then using Womble to save its results. If so, Save it to HD first, process through TMPG and then use Womble to work with the standard DVD files.

[samijubal]

I was using Womble to edit from the disc then save to the hard drive. I've saved it to the desktop, haven't done anything else yet. I just have one question, does TMPGNE do AC-3 audio?

[chas0039]

If you look at their link on this site, it reports that it does.

[samijubal]

I'll try it over the weekend. How long does it take you to transfer from one to the other? The one time I did it it took 3 or 4 hours, is that normal?

[chas0039]

It depends a lot on the speed of your equipment. It takes me about 1/2 hour or longer to move the VRO file as RAM readers are still at 2X. My hardware is pretty good so it only takes another 1/2 hour or so to reauthor with TMPG and then 15 minutes to burn at 4X.

[samijubal]

My LG 4120B is supposed to be 5X on RAM, it took about 25 minutes to copy just over 2 hours to the desktop. What I used last time was Power Producer Gold I think it was, came with the burner, after it read the disc it sat there organizing files or something for 2 hours or more before it was ready to burn. Records in PCM anyway, don't want to use it again.

[lordsmurf]

Three things to consider

Panasonic MPEG files often have corrupt AC3 files. I've repaired many discs for people this year. Womble MPEG Video Wizard 2003 is the only software that seems to repair the AC3 by making a new MP2.

Womble MPEG-VCR prior to June 2004 may have trouble on VRO files.

There is lots of BS data in the VRO streams, sometimes. RESTREAM can strip this junk out before you feed it to an encoder or authoring program.

[chas0039]

My LG 4120B is supposed to be 5X on RAM

Always something new on the market. Thanks for the info. I am surprised at improvements in RAM format given the almost universal apathy. It has uses but not many.

[samijubal]

I looked at Restream, looks too complicated for me. I'm just starting working with burners, been using standalones for 3 years, but just got my first burner a week ago. If it wasn't for this place I don't think I'd ever have been able to do anything with it. Womble is what I've been working with, but I have been just editing a little and then copying to the hard drive. I think what I need to do is let it reencode the VBR VRO original to fixed VOB instead of just copying straight to the hard drive. If I just copy straight to the hard drive then nothing can recognize the file. I don't know if that's right or not.

[samijubal]

A week and a half later, I Finally did it. Thanks for all the help, never could have done it otherwise. I even did 5 series episodes from 3 different RAMs onto one DVD-R. I discarded Womble and just used TMPGne. Came out great and kept the AC-3 audio even, I'm a very happy camper. Thanks again for everyone's paitence and help in this and the other forums I posted in.