Help with Toshiba RD-XS52

[cr8zycat]

I recently purchased a Toshiba DVR RD-XS52 and really like it. The programming is a bit complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it really has a lot of great features. However, I don't seem to be able to record onto a DVD-R that will play in many DVD stand alone players. The DVD-R plays fine in my Toshiba unit and in my Sony standalone. However, it will not play in standalone units that some of my friends have: Panasonic, JVC, GoVideo, and RCA. Is anyone else having this same problem? I was hoping to be able to make recordings and just send them out without having to worry about what brand of machines they own.

[samijubal]

Try different media.

[cr8zycat]

Thanks, but I did that. I've tried DVD-R's made be TEK, Sony, Fuji, Memorex and CompUSA. The results were the same. The recorded DVD's would not play in those other standalone DVD players.

[samijubal]

You are finalizing the discs? I never found a player that wouldn't play the discs I made with a Panasonic standalone. Even garbage like Optodisc and Lead Data discs.

[cr8zycat]

Yes, the discs are being finalized. I gave a recorded DVD-R to a friend last night who has a Sanyo standalone DVD player. The disc played just fine. So now I know that the finalized discs play in a Sony and Sanyo standalone, but don't play in a JVC, GoVideo standalone.
BTW, the finalized disc will play in a Panasonic DVR unit (with HDD), but not in a Panasonic standalone (don't remember the model number). Strange, huh.

[Coolb69]

Cr8zycat, I got this for Christmas and am just starting to get to know it. But, your problem is due to the fact that this Toshiba comes from the factory with the 'dvd compatible' mode "OFF". You need to go into setup and look through the menu's until you come to that field and turn it 'ON'. After that, your dvd's will play in most if not all recorders/players. When this is turned off the recorder records in the 'dv-video' mode, which is different in some ways to regular 'dvd-VIDEO' mode. So hope that helps.... this is a bugger of a machine... does so much but man, I hate reading owners manuals..... Mickboy

[cr8zycat]

Coolb69, thanks for the tip. But I already had done that and still got the same results - really strange: half the people I gave disks to, they played in their machines; and half, they didn't. I ran out of things to do to try and make them compatable to ALL machines. So I returned the unit and bought a Panasonic 160 GB unit. It works great.
Turns out that I can pre-program my satellite box to change channels. That's the main reason why I went to Toshiba in the first place - for the IR sensor. Since I no longer need that, the Panasonic meets all of my needs.
Nancy

[JK27]

My experience with the RD-XS32 was different (and better) than yours. I have burned many (about 30) DVD-R's on the Toshiba. I have finalized them and so far, I have found only 1 DVD player than won't play them (a Cinevision). The others that I have tried (Sony x 2, Denon, Toshiba, and Fisher) all play the DVD-R's without problem.