RCA DRC8030N Dis Problems

[JackLee1978]

I've had a RCA DRC8030N DVD Recorder for about 8 months and have burned dics from the hard drive with no problems. However, recently I have gotten "No Disc" or "Disc Problem" error messages anytime I put in a DVD+RW disc, even ones I burned from it. Movie DVD's play perfectly fine.

[joecass]

When you burned DVD+RW discs previous to this problem, did you use the option "make disc compatible" on the Menu ? Could be the discs themselves, or the burner needs cleaning, or the burner is fried.
I would try a DVD-RW disc, a DVD+R and a DVD-R disc and see what happens. Then get one of those DVD Lens Cleaning discs, and try that, too.
"Disc Problem" or "No Disc" messages on RCA units usually means there's
something wrong with the DVD drive. If a lens cleaning disc doesn't help, sometimes you can fix it by taking the unit apart, and manually cleaning the lens with a cotton swab and alcohol. Also try removing and re-inserting the tiny flat ribbon cables that go into the drive lens assembly.

[tonythemagnificent]

Help!! I too am getting "disc error" messages, but I believe my unit is trying to fill the disc with too large a file, not recognizing the size of the entire job to be copied.

I bought this recorder (rca DRC8030N) a couple years ago, and have struggled only slightly through the quirks it has, but have found it to be adequate for my needs. I recently copied one of my VHS tapes to the hard drive and ended up with a 2h02min video (with 54 chapter markers) and then tried to export it to a +R disc. It has failed to complete several times, first try it just hung up at the end of the copying process. Second try it exported completely and allowed me to rename the disc and hit the finalize button, but then hung up again. Third try, it hung up during/after the finalize process. I have not changed media and have successfully transferred about 25 other disks of video (other shows/programs I want to keep). After creating three coasters on this project, I need help. Am I asking it to put too much info on a single disc?

I've found that using export runs much quicker than "Copy" in realtime mode. In all three attempts the source video is quality level 2, 2h02min, smartcopy on, and the export page states that 2h02min are needed and 2h08min are available. Normally if Smartcopy triggers, it reverts to realtime mode in order to compress the data, but that is not occuring in this case.

When I insert one of the coasters, the unit says there is a disc problem. "The disk may be dirty, have an incompatable format or region code." When I look at my disc library, it shows the following for 2 of the 3 coasters (the third one apparently never got registered): disc #1 with 1 title, available space *1:0h2m, available space *6: 0h17m, quality *2(0h4m,) smartrecord on. disc #2 with 1 title, available space *1:0h3m, available space *6: 0h21m, quality *2(0h4m,) smartrecord on.

Now, having said all that, I just successfully transferred a silent copy (no sound track) of the same video (2h02m) with no chapter markers in it to a +R disc. So I'm thinking that either the sound track filled up additional data, or more likely, the chapter markers added significantly to the size of the file being copied. Does anyone have info on how much the chapter marker data adds to the size of the video, and the space requirement on the destination +R disc??

Any help/insight you can provide would be appreciated.

tony

[wabjxo]

One WAG is that chapter marks are "colliding" which means there are marks too close to each other for a "high-speed" copy. MPEG2/DVD specs have specific locations and spacing for chapter marks and, when using high-speed copy/dub, the machine moves any marks it doesn't like, or maybe all marks, to meet the specs. That's why many DVDR manuals warn about edit points/chapter marks moving.

Maybe you can check to see how many marks and proximity, or do like some people have done with similar problems, remove ALL chapter marks and see if that solves the problem with that title?

[wabjxo]

deleted

[goguerra]

I have played around with this error and the only solution I have found to fix this problem is to replace the mother board (the board that lies under the hard drive). I have tried cleaning the DVD drive but nothing. I tried swapping DVD drives, yet nothing. Once I swapped the mother boards, then the problem jumped from one unit to the other. Unfortunately there is no firmware out there to flash the mother board and until now, this is the solution.

[byrdrom]

I too had those problems with the disc. After I reformatted the hard drive that solved most of those problems. Now I have new problem, can't get the disc tray to open. I had tried to copy a new disc from the hard drive and it was taking forever, so I stopped copying, but I could not get the tray to open. Neither the remote or the button on the front panel would open it. After disconnecting the power cord and then reformatting again, I still could not open the tray. I finally removed the covers and took out disc. Another coaster recovered!! Now does anyone have any solutions to opening the tray
Thanks

[goguerra]

Yup, sometimes the disk trays gears/mechanics misalign. If you open the disk cover, you will see there is a white lever arm on the bottom. Pushing it in will manually open the tray (can be done with no power to the unit). If it is hard and stiff and wont budge, then the mechanism id definitely misaligned and you will need to open the DVR and the DVD drive and force the tray out (it will take a good pull and it will make a scary sound but nothing will break). Once this is done, you can see the 2 little arms that are guided by the white plastic guide. One those arms is most likely out og place and will need to be put back. Also, check for a crack in the black plastic that connects the 2 little guides and super glue if it is cracked to prevent more unwanted misalignments. If this task is too daunting, then you can ship th DVD drive to me and I can have it fixed for ya for $5. Simply pay for shipping both ways.

[byrdrom]

Thanks goguerra. I am about to go on vacation and will be gone for about a week. Will check out this solution when I return.

[byrdrom]

Hey Goguerra,
I followed your instructions, and was able to operate the slide tray manually. But with the power on, it will not allow me to operate it, with the power off I can. Even reformatted the unit, still no success. When I would leave the tray out and turned on the unit, I could not close the tray with remote or the button on the unit. But I could push the tray in manually. So I am thinking the mechanism is operating properly, but I have an electronic or software problem. Any more ideas, or should just good bye, and I sure hate to do that as I have recorded over 400 movies in the 2 years that I have had it.
Thanks for the help.

[goguerra]

Let me know another thing: When you push the Open/Close button on the remote or on the front panel, does the DVR make a noise? By this, I mean, do you hear something spin inside the DVD Drive when you push the open/close button?

[byrdrom]

goguerra,
No, nothing happens and no noise from the player. Incidently, when I am in another mode of the DVR unit and press the open button (remote or front panel) the unit stops to open the tray, but nothing happens.
Thanks