Problems playing certain DVD disks

[barryman99]

I have a Sony HXD870 DVD recorder. I am having a problem with it recognising certain disks.
If I insert a pre-recorded shop-bought DVDs it plays absolutely fine. However, it is now refusing to recognise DVD's that I have burned myself and gives me a message that disk is not recognised etc etc. It used to play them ok!!

I have tried using a lens cleaner disk but that made no difference. So, it's just a problem with my home burned DVDs. I have tried about 5 different makes of blank disks, both DVD- RW and DVD+ RW but still no play. I've also tried burning an ordinary one-off DVD+ R disk but get a message saying "Cannot format". All my home-burned DVD RW disks and the DVD+R disk all play on my standalone DVD player and on my PC so it's definitely the Sonye recorder that has the problem.

Any advice appreciated

[Subtitles]

Have you tried setting the Sony DVD recorder to factory settings?
Since you can play the disks on your PC, I would recommend to make a copy on your computer in case they fail later on to play on other players.

[barryman99]

If I do a Factory Reset as advised above I think I would lose all my current settings for recording TV programmes via the EPG. But would a Factory Reset also wipe my hard disk of all the things I might want to keep. It is worth me pointing out that another feature not working is Dubbing from HDD to DVD disk. I would very much hope that a factory reset would fix that as well.

[cholla]

I would also recommend a factory reset.
There may be one available from the Sony DVD recorder menu.
Try that one first.
If not there some devices have a series of buttons that have to be used on the device & sometimes the remote control.
I do not have a Sony but my Magnovox does not wipe the hard drive with a reset.
It will delete settings you have for TV programs.
Next I would test with a DVD burned with your computer.
I recommend doing the burn with ImgBurn.
See if that DVD will play.

Last & the most risky see if Sony has a firmware update for your device.
If they do install it but read & follow the instructions carefully.

The problem may be the lasers are failing. They can read the commercial DVDs because they are pressed.
The writable DVDs are burned into a special dye.

[Subtitles]

It is up to you to decide if a factory rest is worth doing.
No guarantee it would fix your problem.
I have a Pioneer DVD recorder and I have absolutely zero recordings on it by copying to DVD disks and then store onto my PC hard disk.
Only then I had the courage to do a factory rest which helped fix few problems that I had but not like the one you describe.
If you have any recordings on the HDD then it is best NOT to do factory reset.