Panasonic DMR E50 Discs not playable on DVD-Rom drives?

[Thomas J]

I recently purchased the Panasonic DMR E50 region2 Pal version. It's working great and I'm very pleased with it.

The only problem I have is to play the DVD-R discs on my computer DVD-ROM player (and yes I have "Finalized" the disc). I have tried 5 different DVD-ROM players on different computers and all fail to read the disc. Anyone else having this problem?

The Disc is playing perfect on several different desktop DVD players.

[dafoe]

I have an E-30 and an HS-2. I just popped a DVD into my burner with 5 3s Company episodes on it. It works fine. I think it was recorded on the HS-2.

I can't try the disc on my DVD Rom because it's not hooked up. If I want to use it, I have to pull my CD burner beacause my IDE channels are full.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

[Tech44]

I have the E30 NTSC and don't have problems playing the discs on DVD-ROM or stand along players.

[tom03]

Have a DMR-E50EG Region2 Pal/NTSC.
Record on Princo1x in SP and FR Mode in PAL
and play the DVDs on my
Pioneer DVD-Rom DVD-117 and my
Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-105.

[Thomas J]

Thanks for your replays!

Here is some more info.

I have two different drives connected to my Power Mac 1.3Ghz, one Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-105 (internal) and one Matshita (Panasonic) CW8571 Combo-drive connected via FireWire.

No one of this drives can read the disc produced by the DMR E50. The disk mounts on the desktop named as "DVD_VIDEO_RECORDER" and when I open the "Get Info" window it says "Capacity 2,9Gb" "Available: Zero KB " Used 2,9Gb on disk (3 121 510 400 bytes) If I double-click on the disc there is no folders or contents on it, I guess it should have been a "VIDEO_TS" folder and a AUDIO_TS" if everything was okay.

I've tried different discs produced by the DMR E50 on my computer and also on 4 different Windows machines running Windows XP. When I put the disc in a DVD-ROM drive running XP the following message appears. "The disc is unreadable"

Still works flawlessly on any desktop DVD player.

Strange....... well I guess I'll have to return the unit for new one.


BTW. I'm using Memorex DVD-R discs for my recordings.

[piano632]

Many people have complained about Memorex discs on Panasonic recorders. I would try using another brand. The discs made in Japan are always good, as well as Mitsui & Fuji. (As far as I'm concerned, Memorex has NEVER made anything I would call a great product - and that includes audio and video tape too.)

[scottymac]

Make sure you set Hybrid VBR to off, that should help with compatibility with both computer drives and other DVD players.

[Thomas J]

There is two options for the VBR "Automatic or Fixed" I have used the automatic setting which is the default setting.

I will try the Fixed option and see if it make any difference.

The Panasonic 4x DVD-R disc that came with E50 also fales on all the DVD-ROM players, so I don't think this is a disc disc problem.

[tom03]

BTW there is no AUDIO_TS folder made by the E-50.

There only a VIDEO_TS folder which include the files.

When the DVD_VIDEO_RECORDER Disc has no folder there is a Writing (E-50) or Reading (DVD_ROM) Problem.

There are no difference between FR-Mode and Fix bitrates in reading disc, maybe some freezes when the bitrates are too high for some standalone player.

[Thomas J]

I tested the "Fixed Mode" with no success still not readable on my Mac DVD-ROM drives. Also tried it on some Windows machines with no luck.

Well seems like I have to return the unit for a new one.

PS: Contacted Panasonic support here in Sweden today and they where not able to help me. They told me that discs burned with E50 should work on any newer DVD-ROM drive but could not give me any suggestion more than that I have to return the unit.

BTW: the Panny support center here in Sweden is a shame only open 2 hours a day!

Thanks for all help and suggestions!

[Shotsfan]

No problems here, but I have only recorded one DVD-R on the E-50! I prefer to use RAM then edit, remove to the PC and make menus etc then burn. The one DVD-R (Samgsung Be-ALL) disk I have made works fine on my PC DVD-ROM.

-----------------------------

Panasonic E-50
Panasonic SW-9581
NEC DVD-ROM

[dfgh11]

I can't get dvd-ram disc made from my E50 to play on my computer. It just won't recognise them.. And my dvd drive is a panasonic lf d311.
Haven't had the balls to waste a dvd-r trying it out, but I guess I'll have to

[Specialist]

I've tested the Panasonic DMR-E30 extensively.

Here were the conclusions:

1. The DVD-RAM discs produced by this unit play in all DVD-RAM drives I have tested, including the Panasonic SW-9571 and the Panasonic LF-D311;

2. The DVD-R discs produced by this unit play in virtually all stand alone DVD player/recorders;

3. The DVD-R discs produced by this unit play only in *some* computer DVD-ROM drives - 'spotty' compatibility in other words;

We had the most difficulties with 3rd party, add-in drives in our tests.

Hi-Val add-in: No
Creative Labs add-in: No
DVS add-in: No
Samsung OEM: Yes

Note: The same poor compatibility was exhibited by the DVD+R disc we tested from the stand alone player/recorder from Philips... the DVDR985.

4. We tested the Pioneer DVR-7000 last and the DVD-R discs produced by this unit played in all computer DVD-ROM drives tested.

This is not a format issue, folks.

This is an engineering issue.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net