LG DR787T - certain channels will not record for entire set time

[treefrog10]

Hi everyone,

I am having a problem with my DVD recorder. I have had the recorder for just over a year, the problem started about one month ago.

I set the recorder to record three shows each day, each are for 1 hour (soaps) using the EP setting. The first one is on CBS and the other two are on ABC. It will start to record the first show on CBS but will quit after a few minutes but it will record the next two just fine. The time will vary from 3 minutes to about 11 minutes. I tried different discs, new and both the -RW and +RW, but get the same results. I also tried changing the setting to LP.
If I change the first one to NBC, it will have the same problem as the CBS and only record a few minutes of it.
If I change the middle or last program length to say, 30 minutes instead of 60 minutes, the CBS program will record more minutes, maybe 25 or 30 but still not for the entire hour.

I would certainly suspect the recorder (and it may still be) if it wasn't for the fact that if I change it to record all three programs on ABC it will record all three just fine. I tried many times with no problems at all.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Kim

[wabjxo]

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[joecass]

I have an LG 897T with basically the same problem. CBS seems to be the worst offender, any prime-time HD show I try to record on a timer will stop at some point before the hour is over.
Sometimes I'm able to record Fox or NBC hi-def shows, but there's no consistency. You have to use DVD-RW discs formatted in VR mode at the very least to get a successful timer recording.
I believe the content protection is also flagged at the start of programs besides the commercials.
The only way to find out for sure what's going on is to insert a disc while the program is airing and hit the record button. If the show is copy-protected, you'll get an error message and recording will stop at that point. Basically there's nothing you can do to prevent the timer recordings to stop other than using a different type DVD recorder, i.e., one with a hard disc drive. On that type of machine, you can record content protected programs to the hard drive, you just can't record or copy copyrighted shows to DVD.

[jjeff]

Does it quit during a commercial, if so Wabjxo is right, commercials of late seem to be causing false CP shutdowns on certain DVDRs. Haven't heard of this happening with LGs but LG DVDRs do tend to have their share of problems from what I've read.
If it is the commercials you might want to read your manual to see if your machine is capable of recording the copy-once material and what media you'd need. Otherwise I'd suspect something flakey going on in your DVDR that I haven't heard anyone else having yet.

[treefrog10]

Hi all,

Thanks for the info. I did put a disk in last night and manually started taping a show on CBS and after about 7 minutes (during a commercial) it stopped and said that the content was copyright protected and could not finish recording. This really sucks! They need to get their s**t together when designing technology. Why sell recorders at all
I have tried to format both types of discs, both ways but it didn't make any difference. Where do you buy CPRM-compliant discs? I don't think I have seen these anywhere.

[wabjxo]

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[jjeff]

I think?? LG's use RAM discs, if so like Wabjxo said they should work but they are more expensive and harder to find.
I'm not familiar with your DVDR, but does it have a new digital tuner and are you recording from a digital channel? If so it sure points towards the copy protection problem of late. Analog recording should be OK for now but of course will go away in 2/09.
Treefrog10, I think any disc can be CPRM-compliant it's just the way it's formatted. Panasonics can't record any disc in VR mode other than RAM discs. Not sure about LGs.

[SmokieStover]

It's because of reports like this that I never bought a DVD recorder of any kind. I have absolutely no interest in Hi Def and get along just find using a VCR for the watch once programs and a Hauppauge PVR 250 and an ATI Wonder Elite for the record and keep material.

Analog cable will be around on my cable system for along time to come. Also have a DTV converter box hooked to antenna for recording purposes. I have never encountered recording problems of any kind with any VCR or PC TV Tuner Card. And I don't record with any Micro-Soft horseshit either.

And some people wonder why DVD recorders have failed in the U.S. market place? I have heard may explanations for this failure, but don't recall anyone mentioning the anti-recording, recording equipment you eventually end up with if you are stupid enough to buy one.

Excuse me while I pack away two VCRs (Quasar VHQ-720 and Quasar VHQ-740) that I bought and tested this week. Ten bucks a piece at a local Goodwill!

[joecass]

I agree that VCR's are much easier to use compared to the new digital technology, I still have two of 'em, but they really don't compare to DVD recorders and PVR's when it comes to picture quality. If I'm going to spend time watching a $2500 Plasma TV screen, VHS just doesn't cut it anymore. Neither does standard analog cable, or even standard digital cable, which in my area only has a resolution of 576 X 480, not even DVD specs.
So you either embrace the new technology or sit there with your rabbit ears, VHS and tube TV for another 20 years.
The problems with the LG machines are not native to LG: many people report Sony DVD recorders having strict
copy protection software, and in some instances, Panasonic machines exhibit the same problems.
The problems are not so much in the machines themselves, rather the way digital broadcasting was implemented, much like Macrovision for VHS and copy protection for commercial DVD movies.

[jjeff]

I agree, I don't even to care to record off analog OTA. Luckily in my area everything that's analog is also digital and most all newer programs are 16:9 HD.
Knock on wood so far I've never ran into any CP problem with my Pannys recording OTA. I've heard about the copy once problem with: JVCs, Philips 3576 and LGs but unless I've missed it I haven't read any reports about Pannys having this problem.

[jaemell]

I can confirm a few things about this, having experienced it in the recent past and again tonight.

1) It seems to happen only on timer recording. I'm running an "experiment" now to see if it will happen during a regular recording.
2) It happened once 3/4 of the way through an NBC program (Chuck) a few weeks back, and then again about 19 minutes into the same program (different episode) a couple weeks later. I had thought that it was a weird/accidental broadcast flag enabled by the network, as I've heard Vista-recorders were affected by. Tonight, though, it happened on Fox and NBC programs, and sure enough--it was during commercials. If I recall correctly, it was a car commercial that killed my recording once... maybe GM or Honda.
3) I'm using DVD-R discs, but not in VR mode. I'll try re-formatting some and trying a timer record next week during these same shows.
4) Given that this is happening with increasing frequency, I'm betting that advertisers are worried about viewers time-shifting using all sorts of digital recording options, and so they're putting these flags in their commercials in order to screw up recordings so that viewers will give up on the technologies that allow them to easily skip commercials.

[kissian]

i have the same problem! i have a magnavox dvdr combo. it happens on 2 cbs shows,if i otr the shows it cuts off saying error . tonight i just pushed record(no otr) instead of cutting off i noticed that during certain commercials the recording would pause and then start up again in a minute or so (however long the commercial was)so, in my opinion the answer seems to be don't otr(timer record) at least i hope so

[zds425s]

My LG RC797T has the same problem with certain programs. I am so glad I kept my Mitsubishi VCRs. They record just fine.

[sdtropea]

My new LG DVD/VCR recorder started experiencing the same problem a few months back also. The only way around it is tedious but works. Copy the show with the VCR and dubb it on to a DVD to keep, eliminating the Ads by pausing and fastforwarding through them, as you copy to DVD.
Who cares about the stupid ADs anyway and it really makes me want to not buy the products that halt DVD recording process because of advertiser greed.

[joecass]

After quite of while of trying every conceivable method of recording using my LG 897T, I gave up, and bought a Panasonic DMR-EZ48VK.
The same programs I was unable to record on the LG, record just fine with the Panasonic. I've been using +RW and -RW discs to record timer programs, so far not one glitch, during commercials or otherwise.
The Panasonic does not record digital TV to VHS, but otherwise the VHS part is superior to the LG.
So the whole problem with the LG must be within the software design, or the digital tuning system that is very sensitive to copy protection schemes.

[foxylamb45]

I have had the same problems of all forums here about timer recording being cut short to any number of reasons.
Called LG and they told me all kinds of different things to try - different dvd's, etc. etc. etc.
Called back on another day and got a woman rep who knew what she was talking about.
I have the RC199H DVD recorder/video cassette recorder. They will send you out a DVD Update Timer Recording Fix that will take care of these problems. Is a different DVD Update for different models.
Call LG and ask for the Update - it will fix it all for ya...

[joecass]

What has been working for me on the LG 897T - is using LP 4 - hour mode to record timers rather than SP. Timers are now working fine with no glitches. I wasn't aware of any software updates for these machines, definitely worth investigating.