Newly Recorded DVD Not Working

[kerrex_2006]

A few days ago, I recorded an HBO movie on a DVD recorder, and when I played it the first time, it played perfectly, but today when I tried to play it on another DVD player at a friend's house, it read "No Valid Disc."

Did something go wrong in the recording process?

[Baldrick]

Did you finalize it? Is it a standard dvd-video? No dvd-vr, dvd-ram and such.
Or maybe it's the media, some dvd players doesn't like all media or "crappy" media, www.nomorecoasters.com

[ricoman]

More than likey, he forgot to finalize it. It will play on the recorder he recorded it with but not on others. Or he used an RW disc. Many don't play well on standalones.

[kerrex_2006]

How do you finalize?

[V Bot]

What brand of recorder do you have? You should have the option of finalizing in the recorder menu.

[ricoman]

Yes, you must put it back in the original recorder. There should be some setup or utility type option, go into that and choose finalize. It takes a few minutes, so don't mess with it until it's done.

[kennywally]

yup, most likely not finalized

[CobraPilot]

If he used a DVD+R, no finalizing necessary, is it? Only for DVD-R?

[kennywally]

+ needs to be finalized too

[CobraPilot]

DVD+R need to be finalized? Perhaps I'm thinking of DVD+RW . . . . .

[hech54]

Yes. +R needs finalizing.....always has.

[ekamatra]

DVD+RW needs to finalized as well.

[Faz224]

You should never interrupt a recording until it don't gets finalize otherwise the dvd never works. Try to finalize it.

[bevills1]

Another possibility is media/player incompatibility, especially when older players are involved. I have an older Toshiba player that plays DVD-R but won't play DVD+R unless bitset to DVD-ROM book type.

[CobraPilot]

As to needing to finalize DVD+RW, there seems to be a difference of opinion between posters on this forum and manufacturers.

I have two DVD recorders (different brands), and both manuals say about the same thing as is extracted from one of them:

"• Once you have finalized a DVD+R/ DVD-R, you cannot edit or record anything on that disc.
• There is no need to finalize DVD+RW."

and

"• You can play back DVD+RW on most DVD players without finalizing. However, if you have added or deleted chapters, or made chapters hidden, you must perform “Make Edits Compatible” before being able to see those effects on other units. To play back discs other than DVD+RW on other DVD players, you will need to finalize."

Just to double check, I've tried to finalize some of my DVD+RW's and both units immediately open the trays and request a "finalize-able" disc be inserted.

I'm confused about this. (Both manuals DO confirm the need to finalize -RW, -R, and +R discs.)

[lordsmurf]

All 3 bullet points are correct.

[kerrex_2006]

Well, I've tried to find the Finalinzing option in the manual, which is for a Phillips DVDR3390,

and every time I press most of the buttons to select these options, it blocks me from doing so.

[jjeff]

If you cannot finalize a DVD then either it's finalized or damaged, in which case you'll never be able to finalize it.
I have many unfinalizable DVDs that failed during the finalizing process. They will only play in a player like the one that recorded it.