HOW to DVD-RAM on PC so that it plays in my PANA DVD Player

[saxon22]

I used to be able to copy a DVD movie onto a DVD-RAM on my PC and then play it on my Panasonic Stand alone player. A couple of weeks ago, my Panasonic died and I bought another one: the Panasonic DVD-S54K was the only one cheap enough and with DVD-RAM comp. I could get my hands on. So I got and ...... it does not play my DVD-RAM dvds. Mind you I can watch them on my PC but the stand alone player does not accept them. I have burned the dvd-Rams using nero, IMG Burn, and nothing.

My QS are:

1. Any solutions?
2. Are there other dvd stand alone players that have a solid rep. as to dvd-Ram compability? I am not rich but if there are other DVD-players that basically are not as selective as the new panny dvd stand alone is then I would not mind spending the money
3. Any other solution than the one I am trying to put in action here?

I eatch a fair amount of dvds and consider it a big waste to burn a dvd to just watch it and then throw it away (I do not collect). I am aware that dvd discs are super cheap, but still would prefer to burn them on dvd-RAM, watch the movie, erase it and then burn something else..... rinse and repeat.

Any help guys??????

[usually_quiet]

Depending of what your DVD player supports, you could use DVD-RW or DVD+RW instead of DVD-RAM. I find RW media far less troublesome than DVD-RAM and less expensive too. Under laboratory conditions, they are supposed to last for 1000 writes. In the real world, probably less, but enough for my purposes. I have used both Verbatim and Office Depot brand DVD-RW discs with success.

[saxon22]

You know, sometimes obvious solutions are .... no so obvious. I guess I was mentally blocking this particular avenue of "salvation" because of my experiences with CD-RW media a while back. I guess purchasing a pack of DVD-RW could be THE solution.

Thanx!

P.S. I am still however interested as to why it is not working?

[jman98]

DVD-RAM discs are very expensive in the USA. Surely moving to DVD+/-RW as usually_quiet suggested would be a significantly cheaper and easier way to go. I personally prefer to deal with DVD+RW over DVD-RW. You can buy a spindle of excellent quality Verbatim DVD+RW or DVD-RW discs for probably what just a handful of DVD-RAM discs would cost. The re-writable DVD discs are so cheap that if I seem to have even the slightest problem with one, I just throw it away and grab the next one off the spindle.

[usually_quiet]

I looked up the technical specs for your new DVD player. It plays the following on DVD-RAM: DVD-VR, MP3, JPEG, MPEG4, DivX. If you are using Video mode recordings for your DVD-RAM, it won't play them. However, it does say DVD-RW can be used for recordings in Video mode.

[saxon22]

You guys are right dvd-Rams are pricey but I already have 6 of them so no extra $$$ to spend in that department.

What is the most affordable place to buy Verbatim dvd-rw? (I am assuming there is not much difference/preference between + and - like it was a couple of years ago).


What is DVD-VR? Can I burn my movie on dvd-ram in dvd-vr mode using either img or nero 9?

[usually_quiet]

See https://www.videohelp.com/glossary?D#DVD-VR for an explanation. DVD-VR is most often used by camcorders and DVD recorders. I don't know of any program that can author mpeg-2 video to that format.

Verbatim DVD-RW is hard to find in brick-and-mortar stores. Look for an online source for Verbatim using Google. That's why I switched to Office Depot brand, although Verbatim makes somewhat better media. I watch for sale prices.

[saxon22]

Thanks for all the help. Really appreciated.


I will try to get the dvd-ram solution and in the meantime will see how the dvd +rw will work out.

As for the discs, I will get a couple of verbatims and take it from there.

Thanks guys!

[usually_quiet]

I found one soulution, but you could buy many DVD-RW discs for the cost of the program -- CyberLink PowerProducer 5 claims to be able to export to DVD-VR.

[saxon22]

$50 to 80 green ones. That is almost too much. Good find

[usually_quiet]

IMO you are wasting your time looking for a cheap/free software solution. The DVD-VR format you need to use isn't popular. It isn't used for much of anything other than amateur videography and for recording TV shows using a DVD recorder.

People with those interests want to get their recordings off of DVD-RAM. They want to save recordings on DVD+R or DVD-R, if they are going to save them at all, because the discs are inexpensive and will play on almost any DVD player. The last thing most of them want to do is put anything back on DVD-RAM in DVD-VR format.

I was lucky to find even that one program, which is geared towards amateur videograhers. That is the area where you'd need to look for a solution as well, but what I suggested to you is considered rather inexpensive software. The only thing cheaper might be used/remaindered software, or (possibly) software that came with a camera you already own that uses DVD-RAM discs.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I use DVD+RW and record in Video mode on my recorder,they play on any machine.I don't know why your DVD-RAM discs won't work but a possibility is your new player only supports Video mode.

[usually_quiet]

I use DVD+RW and record in DVD Video mode on my recorder,they play on any machine.I don't know why your DVD-RAM discs won't work but a possibility is your new machine is only a player,you might try updating the firmware.

Re-read the original post. It is a DVD player. The OP wants to copy movies from a PC to DVD-RAM and play them using a new DVD player.

A previous Panny DVD player seems to have played regular DVD-Video format movies or possibly video data files copied to DVD-RAM. The new one only plays DVD-VR format on DVD-RAM.

Always read the manual to avoid unpleasant surprises. If I remember correctly the OP's player seems to play DVD+RW, but I know for certain DVD+RW isn't supported by all DVD players. My parents own one -- it's an integrated player on one of their TVs, a 2007 Toshiba.

[Edit] The new Panny DVD player does support divX and MPEG-4. Free converters are available for that, but someone else will have to help the OP figure out how to convert the video correctly for that player. Maybe you can do that? I don't convert video at all, because I have no reason to do it. I just to burn my recorded TV to DVD and leave it at that.

[saxon22]

The problem is that panasonic advertises its dvd stand alone players as DVDRAM compatible. It is unethical to do so without providing full compatibility. Besides my old panasonic played the discs without a problem. This is just a silly way for panasonic to lose clients. After all you either support the format or not.

As for reading manuals, yea I was silly for trusting panasonic. Next time, well there will not be a next time. Samsung here I come!

However, the search for a solution continues.

[jman98]

The problem is that panasonic advertises its dvd stand alone players as DVDRAM compatible. It is unethical to do so without providing full compatibility. Besides my old panasonic played the discs without a problem. This is just a silly way for panasonic to lose clients. After all you either support the format or not.

This is not unique to Panasonic. Unfortunately the home electronics industry commonly uses misleading terminology to fool customers into thinking they are getting something they are not. My personal pick for the most evil of such terms is how many HDTV manufacturers will say that their TVs are "compatible" with 1080 video when the TV itself is only capable of 720p output. What that really means is that the TV downsizes all 1080 video to 720p for display. Now that 1080p TVs are pretty common and coming down in price it's not so much of a problem, but we used to get posts all the time from people who misunderstood what the term meant and thought they were buying a 1080p HDTV at a bargain price but in fact had bought a 720p HDTV. Any time you see the word "compatible" in home electronics, be very wary because it probably in reality means "no native support - supported only by conversion to lower quality format".

[usually_quiet]

Support for disc types and video formats vary from model to model and year to year. Panasonic is not unique in that respect. The true problem is that DVD-RAM is unpopular and thus lacks the kind of support that the other DVD formats have. The likely outcome of your insistance on using it now is a lot of extra work or unnecessary expense.

Also, do research before buying a Samsung. They make great TVs and monitors, but I have not heard a lot of praise for their DVD players and recorders.

I looked up the technical specs for your new DVD player. It plays the following on DVD-RAM: DVD-VR, MP3, JPEG, MPEG4, DivX. If you are using Video mode recordings for your DVD-RAM, it won't play them. However, it does say DVD-RW can be used for recordings in Video mode.

I already gave you another solution early on, which you seem to have rejected -- convert to MPEG4 or DivX -- but not all MPEG4 or DivX files are going to be compatible either. That is true for all DVD players.

[saxon22]

The reason I trusted panasonic is that they have supported DVD-RAM from the start. Like I stated before, my previous panasonic worked perfectly with DVD-RAM and I have watched 100's of videos using a total of 5 DVD-RAM discs. My pioneer dvd burner does so as well. It think it is a stupid policy on part of panasonic to state that they support dvd-ram and then pull a switch worthy of a third grade company.
Just because a format is not popular does not give a company a free rein to chop the features of their product yet still advertise it in a way that does not mention it.

As for te Samsung, what I was trying to convey is that my next big ticket item is going to be a TV. I was strongly opting to get one of the plasmas Panasonic is selling, but now I think it will be Samsung that will get my business instead. So basically, for being cheap and not spending extra 5 bucks at most to provide fully functional dvd-ram playback on their dvd player, they will lose $1200 in sales. Really stupid if you ask me.

[usually_quiet]

You have $1200 to spend on a new TV but can't find the money for RW media.

Did your other DVD player play DivX or MPEG4? My guess is no, unless it was only a couple of years old. DivX and MPEG-4 are more popular formats among movie downloaders, judging by what I see at Video Help. Panasonic made the right move from a business perspective by dropping support for what you are doing and adding support for what the majority is doing. Also, your player continues to support DVD-RAM as used by 99% of its customer base (DVD recorder and camcorder owners). Trust me, they won't miss you.

Also, they did mention what formats they support on DVD-RAM in the technical specs for the product, but you didn't read it or didn't understand it. That is not their fault.

[Edited]Support for DVD media types, video file types, and video format types are separate issues. To avoid future problems you should read the technical specs before you buy any more DVD players/media players and educate yourself on the things you don't understand. Video Help's glossary is good for that

[saxon22]

You are missing my point.

Let me re state:

1. By using Dvd-ram I did not have to encode, decode, recode dvd movies to watch them. All I had to do is to shrink the original dvd and then burn it on a dvd-ram. Easy and painless.
2. By using erasable media I did not have to buy spindles of dvd-r so that I could watch a movie.
3. Divix is nowhere near the quality of a dvd ripped movie so why would I select this particular way of transferring and then watching movies?
4. No it was not a sound decision to support dvd-ram but only half way. it would cost them very little to provide the feature but since they did not, they lost my business.
5. it is their fault since they clearly printed that the dvd player supports dvd-ram. Since most people use dvd players to watch video content it would only be logical to provide that function for the user of dvd-ram, especially if they did provide it on their previous models. Don't you find it funny that panasonic will allow for playback of video on all the other supported formats but not on dvd-ram? Why have it o the player if it does not do what the player can do in all the other formats provided?
This particular panasonic will play +/- r, rw, dl+ but not dvd-ram. They why have the feature?

Buyind a dvd player should be easy and simple, and I would expect panasonic not to play games with me regarding what formats it supports and what formats it supports only half way. it is bad business.

Sony used to be this cocky and look where it is today.

[usually_quiet]

I'm not missing your point. I don't see it as having much validity in 2009.

2. For years DVD-RW and DVD+RW media have been far more popular reusable media for playing back DVD Video. More burners support them. More DVD recorders support them. More players support them. They are less expensive. Using them is easy and painless. There is little reason to avoid them.

3. Your dislike for DivX and MPEG4 is not shared by most of those who who download video. Many younger consumers will not buy players that don't support DivX and MPEG4.

4. DVD players are commodity items to most people. Costs need to be minimized even for Panasonic. The vast majority of people using DVD-RAM have never used it as you do to burn DVD Video for playback on a DVD player. Why would Panasonic spend an extra dime to support a feature that so few of their customers will use? In addition, DVD players have limited resources compared to computers and can't be all things to all people. Something had to go.

5. You need to face the fact that DVD-RAM is a dying DVD media format and support for it will never be greater than it is now. Your old player's ability to play DVD Video on DVD-RAM is an oddty. As far as I can tell, Panasonic's primary reason for supporting DVD-RAM on DVD players has always been to allow those who have Panny camcorders and DVD recorders to play their recordings using DVD-RAM discs. No other major manufacturer's DVD players support DVD-RAM at all. At best, only their DVD recorders can use it. That being said, even my 2005 Panny recorder does not play back DVD Video on DVD-RAM. It only plays DVD-VR format recordings.

What consumers want changes over time. Panasonic is serving the majority fairly well. The majority does not include you at this moment. For that matter, nobody else feels they can make money serving your need either. To serve the fickle demands of the market, they all play games with support for media and file formats. Get used to reading the technical specs more carefully.

[MysticE]

1. By using Dvd-ram I did not have to encode, decode, recode dvd movies to watch them. All I had to do is to shrink the original dvd and then burn it on a dvd-ram. Easy and painless.

"All I had to do is to shrink the original dvd " would most certainly fall under " encode, decode, recode".

[lacywest]

Interesting