Last Question. DVD Recorder disc error

[goldberg317]

Over the last few years,I had bought 2 stand alone DVD recorders that hook to tv.Both worked great for 6 to 8 months.DVD cleaner works on both,but nothing else works on them.All i get is disc err.What im i doing wrong? And what can i do to fix it? Thanks All

[jman98]

Just a guess that may or may not apply in this particular case. DVD players/recorders are made as cheaply as possible because the marketplace demands low cost. This means that the cheapest components are used. They simply aren't designed to last. Additionally, the marketplace demands that they be very thin. This means that they are prone to heat damage. You absolutely must put modern players/recorders in areas with a lot of good air circulation or heat buildup will shorten their lifespan. So both of those are possible causes.

You could try to clean the lens and see if that helps. I've never done it and it usually doesn't help, but it might. Otherwise a repair would likely cost as much as a new recorder so you may just have to buy a new recorder. I'm not a smoker, but we've had reports from some that if you live in a house where someone smokes, that smoke can put oily residue inside your various electronics and this can also shorten their lifespan.

[orsetto]

I certainly agree the things are made cheaply, and jman98 raises excellent points about positioning and maintainance. I would only add that, aside from possible premature wear and breakdown, the number one cause of DVD recorders failing to burn is the constant undocumented changes media mfrs are making to the blank discs. Unlike PC burners, DVD recorders cannot be updated to handle the changes, they are forever locked down to the media data they are shipped with. So when they stop burning discs you bought in a store, you need to start buying the better-grade older-formula slower 8x media thats only available from internet vendors. The two most reliable are Taiyo Yuden (TY) 8x premium DVD-R and Verbatim DataLife Series 8x DVD-R. If your recorder fails to burn these universally-compatible discs, its totally worn out and needs to be discarded (they aren't worth fixing unless they have a hard drive feature).

Its unclear from your post if your recorders are also failing to *play* anything: if thats the case, they probably are hopeless. If you've tried pre-recorded DVDs and CDs and still get disc error readouts, thats bad. If you're a gearhead, you could open the drive casing and try to clean the laser lens (carefully) with a swab moistened in cleaner fluid from your cleaning disc: this is sometimes the only way to get rid of nicotine grease contamination. If your units are Panasonic, they may be showing a common Panasonic problem of dirty/dusty disc clamp not engaging properly. Google this site and others for threads mentioning "Panasonic DVD dirty disc clamp spindle", and you'll get a lot of tips on how to get a Panny up and running again.

If you've been buying very inexpensive generic recorders, they tend to just crap out quickly and there's not much you can do: 8 months is what you get for $50-100. If you do a lot of recording, and can afford it, spend $200 on a current Panasonic like the EZ18, 28 or 38: these are about the only reliabe DVD-only recorders left in the USA market. If you can swing $250, the Phillips 3576/Magnavox H2160 is equally sturdy and adds the extremely convenient hard drive feature. Everything else for sale in the USA is pretty junky at this point: DVD recorders are one huge failure here, nobody is buying them, so there is little incentive for mfrs to compete in offering better-grade models like they used to.

[handyguy]

I always open them up & clean them that way. Don't use a cleaning disk.