pioneer dvr 520 copying from hdd to dvd

[Eileen]

i'm really needing help with my pioneer dvr. i had bought the model 510H S and had so much problems with it, returning it 3 times, that they finally agreed to ship me a new one.

so now i have their latest model 520H S and i am unable to figure out how to transfer info from the hdd to a dvd. i am able to get data on the dvd from my tv, vcr, and analog camcorder. but once, again, i am running into that problem where i can't transfer the hdd playlist to the dvd.

when i remove the disc and look on the side where the recording takes place, there is a definite indication that something has been recorded there. but when i view the info on my tv screen it shows there are still 6 hours left on the disc to record to and when i try to view the disc there is nothing there to see.

i have used 3-4 brands of discs and still it does not seem to work.

thanks for any help

eileen ingala

[Frobozz]

I'd like to help you with this, Eileen, but I have too little information about the steps you took to attempt copying from the hard drive to the DVD.

Please describe the steps you took.

Did you use DVD-R or DVD-RW media? If DVD-RW did you initialize it in Video or VR mode?

Are you trying to play the DVD on the Pioneer? If so, did you press the DVD button near the top of the remote so it plays from the DVD rather than the HDD? If not, did you finalize the DVD before putting it in a different DVD player?

The more specific you are the easier it will be to figure out what step may have been missed.

I know you had a horrible experience with the 510 and I want to help you get things working right on this one.

[Eileen]

okay, here goes: i have used dvd-r and dvd-rw. i tried recording on line 1, line 2, line 3 and ch 3.

i have initialized them in both vr and video mode.

only once, when i hit the stop record button, did i see the message that the
information was being recorded to the disc.

i have tried to view it on my pioneer and my computer using power dvd.

while as i said the back of the disc shows something was recorded on it, when i checked the properties of the disc in my computer it shows no used space.

the last two times i sent it back to pioneer they were able to transfer from the hard drive to the disc, but i am still
not getting anywhere with this.

needless to say i am embarrassed to call them back since they gave me a brand new dvr.

if there is any other information you need (including directions to my house LOL) please let me know. thanks.

eileen ingala

[Frobozz]

Ha! If you lived in Eugene Oregon then directions to your house probably would be the best way to troubleshoot this.

Okay, let's start near the beginning. You have recorded some program to the hard drive that you want to copy to a DVD. (Note that you may want to edit names of the titles you're wanting to copy so the DVD has sensible names for each title). I lay this out in steps from there.
1. Click the Home Menu button on your remote control.
2. In the window that appears press enter on the HDD to DVD button.
3. A window appears showing the different recording that are on your hard drive across the top. Press enter on the Add button.
4. Use the arrow keys to select a title you want copied to a DVD. When it is highlighted press enter. It will appear in the lower part of the window. You can add multiple titles this way.
5. When you have all the titles you want on one DVD press the return key on the remote (it's to the lower right of the arrow keys).
6. The Add button should be highlighted now. Use the arrow keys to scroll down to Next. A new window appears asking you to insert recordable media. For the sake of this exercise insert a DVD-R disc.
7. After accepting the disc the window will tell you if you can burn the disc in high speed. You can do this if the amount of information to be recorded is less than the amount of space available on the DVD. Otherwise the Pioneer will have to re-encode the video at a lower-quality setting to fit the disc. Lets assume High Speed is available. Select the High Speed button and then press Start.
8. The DVD will be recorded with the content. You can monitor the recording process by pressing the Display button on the remote control twice.
9. When the Pioneer reports the disc is done recording you now need to Finalize the disc so that it can play on other DVD recorders. Press the Main Menu button and choose Disc Setup.
10. Here you'll see the option to select Finalize. As you proceed you'll be given a choice from 9 menu backgrounds. Choose one and you'll briefly see how your title page will look before the finalization begins. Finalization should take less than 2 minutes.

You now have a playable DVD. Be sure to select DVD as the playback format on your Pioneer or it will continue playing from the Hard Drive instead.

Using DVD-RW media instead requires you to first initialize the DVD-RW disc in the Disc Setup window. If you initialize is as a Video mode disc it will act the same as a DVD-R except you can erase and re-use it. If you initialize as a VR mode disc it cannot play on anything but your Pioneer DVR. The VR mode makes most sense for recorders that don't have a hard drive. You probably won't use it much.

[Eileen]

well i'm just wondering about something -
in step 6 you say to use the arrow keys to scroll down to Next. well no where on my screen do i see that word.

when the add button is highlighted here are the commands that follow:
erase
ttl name
divide
combine
preview
move
erase all
chap edit
erase scn
confirm
according to my manual i am supposed to press enter on that confirm command. that takes me to the screen that asks me to insert a recordable disc and then when i select the recording speed the screen tells me recording is occuring - but it never does. when i switch to the dvd and
look at the screen it shows that i still have 6 hours left on the dvd.

any ideas?

eileen ingala

[Frobozz]

Apparently "Confirm" replaces "Next" that is in the menu on the 510, which I have. Did you select Start after selecting the recording speed? As I noted, you can watch a progress bar for the burning progress by pressing the Display button twice.

You say you can visually examine the disc itself and see that something is burned to it. But when you insert the disc and press play the screen shows you still have 6 hours left on the DVD.

When I press play and the DVD is blank I get a window that reads "No Title." By the way, if you are seeing 6 hours available on a DVD then you have chosen to record at the DVR's lowest-quality setting. Is that what you want?

You are using DVD-R media and not DVD+R media, correct?

What happens when you try to Finalize the disc you burned?

[Eileen]

since i wasn't recording anything on the dvd it didn't seem to matter what picture quality i set. i have recorded a bunch of dog training vhs tapes on the hdd and wanted to get as much as i could on a dvd. the quality for this project is not important, i am doing this more for consolidation and limiting the amount of discs to be stored and viewed.

when i copied a video from my camcorder of the last litter we bred (i recorded from birth to when the pups went to their individual homes) i selected highest quality.
that's what started this whole thing. i was able to copy from the hdd to dvds to send to the puppy owners, and then all of a sudden that function was not longer operating. yet when i sent the dvr back to pioneer they could not duplicate this problem, and sent along a dvd of "holly and the pups" that they had copied.

when i finalize it shows the time lapse for the finalization, but i remember only once seeing the words "copying info to disc" and never saw that again.

does any of this make any sense?

i sure appreciate your taking the time to help.

eileen ingala

[Frobozz]

If it Finalized then the disc must have a Title on it. If the disc didn't have the video recorded to it then the Finalize option would not be available. Finalization only takes about a minute.

Try playing the Finalized disc in your computer.