A friend has lent me some D VD's recorded off air to copy. 1 of them
can't be read by either of the DVD re-writers in my computer, or the two
drives I have in my hobby room.
The TV DVD re-writer comes back to tell me that they are empty, the TV
DVD player does not come up with a play list.
The first time this happened (4 D VD's ago) he told me that it had not
been finalized. He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

In all the years I have used re-writable disks (CD or DVD) I have been
able to erase them and start again.

Can anyone help please?

Dave

On 01/06/11 15:01, Dave wrote:

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

That's probably a misreading of a terse onscreen warning. If they are RW
drives then he can erase and rewrite them even after finalizing. He will
usually need to do that before they are readable on a standard DVD player.

What he won't be able to do (I think) is add extra content to a
finalized disk.


--
Bernard Peek

Dave wrote:

A friend has lent me some DVD's recorded off air
The first time this happened he told me that it had not
been finalized.

That was my first thought.

He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

Finalising won't prevent erasing them, but will prevent writing anything
else to them *until* they've been erased.

On Jun 1, 3:01*pm, Dave wrote:
A friend has lent me some D VD's recorded off air to copy. 1 of them
can't be read by either of the DVD re-writers in my computer, or the two
drives I have in my hobby room.
The TV DVD re-writer comes back to tell me that they are empty, the TV
DVD player does not come up with a play list.
The first time this happened (4 D VD's ago) he told me that it had not
been finalized. He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

In all the years I have used re-writable disks (CD or DVD) I have been
able to erase them and start again.

Can anyone help please?

Sometimes you get the option to unfinalize them.....
Some RW discs can be formatted in Video or VR format not sure of the
difference
but sometimes you don;t need to finalize them for another player to
read them,
but that might just be the +R which tend to be better for video than
the -R.



Dave

On 01/06/2011 15:09, Bernard Peek wrote:
On 01/06/11 15:01, Dave wrote:

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

That's probably a misreading of a terse onscreen warning. If they are RW
drives then he can erase and rewrite them even after finalizing. He will
usually need to do that before they are readable on a standard DVD player.

What he won't be able to do (I think) is add extra content to a
finalized disk.

Yes, my Nero software allows me to add other recordings at a later date,
but they are compatable with his DVD readers.

Dave

On 01/06/2011 15:09, Andy Burns wrote:
Dave wrote:

A friend has lent me some DVD's recorded off air
The first time this happened he told me that it had not
been finalized.

That was my first thought.

He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

Finalising won't prevent erasing them, but will prevent writing anything
else to them *until* they've been erased.

Thanks, that was my impression as well.

Dave

On 01/06/2011 16:47, whisky-dave wrote:
On Jun 1, 3:01 pm, wrote:
A friend has lent me some D VD's recorded off air to copy. 1 of them
can't be read by either of the DVD re-writers in my computer, or the two
drives I have in my hobby room.
The TV DVD re-writer comes back to tell me that they are empty, the TV
DVD player does not come up with a play list.
The first time this happened (4 D VD's ago) he told me that it had not
been finalized. He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

In all the years I have used re-writable disks (CD or DVD) I have been
able to erase them and start again.

Can anyone help please?

Sometimes you get the option to unfinalize them.....
Some RW discs can be formatted in Video or VR format not sure of the
difference
but sometimes you don;t need to finalize them for another player to
read them,
but that might just be the +R which tend to be better for video than
the -R.

I didn't know that, I always thought that -R* was the oldest standard.

Just been and checked the DVD and it is -RW. But, on it it makes the
point that it is only 2 hours worth long. Looks like I have a bit of
googling to do tonight.

Dave

On Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:01:12 +0100, Dave
wrote:

A friend has lent me some D VD's recorded off air to copy. 1 of them
can't be read by either of the DVD re-writers in my computer, or the two
drives I have in my hobby room.
The TV DVD re-writer comes back to tell me that they are empty, the TV
DVD player does not come up with a play list.
The first time this happened (4 D VD's ago) he told me that it had not
been finalized. He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

In all the years I have used re-writable disks (CD or DVD) I have been
able to erase them and start again.

Can anyone help please?

Dave

Have you ruled out the possibility of the re-writers not being
compatible with the discs. For example my NEC re-writers won't work
with Zero Defex discs at all save for reading finalised ones and
there's no sign of NEC providing a firmware fix for this. Might be
worth checking your manufacturers' web sites to see if they (like NEC)
list the discs that work with the latest firmware for your drives.

The TV player won't read a non-finalised RW disk of course but for
brands which work on my rewriters I regularly finalise and
subsequently erase RW discs - my backup software routinely finalises
disks so they can be read by any restore device and then erases and
reuses the discs the next time they're used. If your friend cannot
erase discs he has finalised, then that may also point to some
incompatibility between drive/firmware and disc. Another surprisingly
common "problem" is that people buy the inkjet printable discs (which
don't have the R/RW symbol on each disc) and then mix up the lids of
the spindles they came on.

HTH

On 01/06/2011 18:26, Jake wrote:
On Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:01:12 +0100,
wrote:

A friend has lent me some D VD's recorded off air to copy. 1 of them
can't be read by either of the DVD re-writers in my computer, or the two
drives I have in my hobby room.
The TV DVD re-writer comes back to tell me that they are empty, the TV
DVD player does not come up with a play list.
The first time this happened (4 D VD's ago) he told me that it had not
been finalized. He took it back and finalized it and it worked fine when
he brought it back for me.

All the D VD's are RW, but he is under the impression that if he
finalizes them he will not be able to re-write them.

In all the years I have used re-writable disks (CD or DVD) I have been
able to erase them and start again.

Can anyone help please?

Dave

Have you ruled out the possibility of the re-writers not being
compatible with the discs. For example my NEC re-writers won't work
with Zero Defex discs at all save for reading finalised ones and
there's no sign of NEC providing a firmware fix for this. Might be
worth checking your manufacturers' web sites to see if they (like NEC)
list the discs that work with the latest firmware for your drives.

My computer drives are compatable with all sorts of media, so no problem
there until I encountered friends disks.

The TV player won't read a non-finalised RW disk of course but for
brands which work on my rewriters I regularly finalise and
subsequently erase RW discs - my backup software routinely finalises
disks so they can be read by any restore device and then erases and
reuses the discs the next time they're used. If your friend cannot
erase discs he has finalised, then that may also point to some
incompatibility between drive/firmware and disc.

I'll not try finalizing the disk, as I do not own it and the contents
are quite rare.

Another surprisingly
common "problem" is that people buy the inkjet printable discs (which
don't have the R/RW symbol on each disc) and then mix up the lids of
the spindles they came on.

Just discovered a major problem with that type of disk. Last year I
copied Goodnight Mr Thom from a video I had and that started to pixilate
almost at the end where the lads future was decided. A wipe with IPA
usually cured it.

This time the DVD contained Ice cold in Alex, so I gave the shiny side a
clean up with IPA and then decided to give the label/data side a wipe.
DVD re-writer does not recognise it as a DVD :-(

Dave

On Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:26:04 +0100, Dave
wrote:



This time the DVD contained Ice cold in Alex, so I gave the shiny side a
clean up with IPA and then decided to give the label/data side a wipe.
DVD re-writer does not recognise it as a DVD :-(

Dave

Now you've really confused me. You say you gave the shiny side a wipe
and then the "label/data" side - the label and data sides are
opposite. Is there any chance that your friend's disks don't match the
"colours" you're used to. E.g. most DVD blanks have a blue or purple
hue on the data side but I've seen some which are silver and have
occasionally been confused as to which is the label side and which is
the data side of the disk (particularly in artificial light).

Jake

On 02/06/2011 09:07, Jake wrote:
On Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:26:04 +0100,
wrote:



This time the DVD contained Ice cold in Alex, so I gave the shiny side a
clean up with IPA and then decided to give the label/data side a wipe.
DVD re-writer does not recognise it as a DVD :-(

Dave

Now you've really confused me. You say you gave the shiny side a wipe
and then the "label/data" side - the label and data sides are
opposite. Is there any chance that your friend's disks don't match the
"colours" you're used to. E.g. most DVD blanks have a blue or purple
hue on the data side but I've seen some which are silver and have
occasionally been confused as to which is the label side and which is
the data side of the disk (particularly in artificial light).

Sorry for any confusion.

The data side of the disk is immediately under the label, so that puts
it on the label side. The data, as you say, is read and written from the
shiny side, but what got me was that I could damage a DVD by wiping the
label/data side with isopropal alcohol.

Over the years (15+ or more), I have had disks of all types of colour,
or none and never had this sort of problem before.

Many thanks for your help. I have been told that he can't finalise his
disks with his DVD recorder today. Either that, of was saying that he
couldn't erase a DVD RW on that machine. I did say to him that his
computer would erase it.

Dave

On Thu, 02 Jun 2011 21:19:26 +0100, Dave
wrote:

On 02/06/2011 09:07, Jake wrote:
On Wed, 01 Jun 2011 23:26:04 +0100,
wrote:



This time the DVD contained Ice cold in Alex, so I gave the shiny side a
clean up with IPA and then decided to give the label/data side a wipe.
DVD re-writer does not recognise it as a DVD :-(

Dave

Now you've really confused me. You say you gave the shiny side a wipe
and then the "label/data" side - the label and data sides are
opposite. Is there any chance that your friend's disks don't match the
"colours" you're used to. E.g. most DVD blanks have a blue or purple
hue on the data side but I've seen some which are silver and have
occasionally been confused as to which is the label side and which is
the data side of the disk (particularly in artificial light).

Sorry for any confusion.

The data side of the disk is immediately under the label, so that puts
it on the label side. The data, as you say, is read and written from the
shiny side, but what got me was that I could damage a DVD by wiping the
label/data side with isopropal alcohol.

FWIW the data layer in a CDROM is close the the label side but a DVD
has the data layer(s) near the centre.

Over the years (15+ or more), I have had disks of all types of colour,
or none and never had this sort of problem before.

Many thanks for your help. I have been told that he can't finalise his
disks with his DVD recorder today. Either that, of was saying that he
couldn't erase a DVD RW on that machine. I did say to him that his
computer would erase it.

Using some software like IsoBuster you should be able to read data
from the disk even if it is not finalised.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking some articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.

On 03/06/2011 09:37, Mark wrote:

FWIW the data layer in a CDROM is close the the label side but a DVD
has the data layer(s) near the centre.

A few years ago, I had stuck a CD label to the wrong disk and tried to
remove it. Where it has stuck well, I removed the CD label, the CD
became see through.

Using some software like IsoBuster you should be able to read data
from the disk even if it is not finalised.

At $30-00 it wouldn't be worth me buying it for this sort of work.

New twist. When I discovered that the DVD's needed cleaning, I changed
back to Kodak ones. One of them I had recorded to came back as empty
from 4 different drives last week. Looks like a lot of work and
investigation is called for nor, to get to the bottom of this problem.

Dave

On Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:20:54 +0100, Dave
wrote:

On 03/06/2011 09:37, Mark wrote:

FWIW the data layer in a CDROM is close the the label side but a DVD
has the data layer(s) near the centre.

A few years ago, I had stuck a CD label to the wrong disk and tried to
remove it. Where it has stuck well, I removed the CD label, the CD
became see through.

Using some software like IsoBuster you should be able to read data
from the disk even if it is not finalised.

At $30-00 it wouldn't be worth me buying it for this sort of work.

New twist. When I discovered that the DVD's needed cleaning, I changed
back to Kodak ones. One of them I had recorded to came back as empty
from 4 different drives last week. Looks like a lot of work and
investigation is called for nor, to get to the bottom of this problem.

There's a free version of IsoBuster. It might still do what you need.
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking some articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.

On Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:24:13 +0100, Dave
wrote:

On 06/06/2011 09:46, Mark wrote:
On Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:20:54 +0100,
wrote:

On 03/06/2011 09:37, Mark wrote:

FWIW the data layer in a CDROM is close the the label side but a DVD
has the data layer(s) near the centre.

A few years ago, I had stuck a CD label to the wrong disk and tried to
remove it. Where it has stuck well, I removed the CD label, the CD
became see through.

Using some software like IsoBuster you should be able to read data
from the disk even if it is not finalised.

At $30-00 it wouldn't be worth me buying it for this sort of work.

New twist. When I discovered that the DVD's needed cleaning, I changed
back to Kodak ones. One of them I had recorded to came back as empty
from 4 different drives last week. Looks like a lot of work and
investigation is called for nor, to get to the bottom of this problem.

There's a free version of IsoBuster. It might still do what you need.

A pointer would be nice, please.

I don't understand why you would need a pointer. It's easy to find.
www.isobuster.com
--
(\__/) M.
(='.'=) Due to the amount of spam posted via googlegroups and
(")_(") their inaction to the problem. I am blocking some articles
posted from there. If you wish your postings to be seen by
everyone you will need use a different method of posting.

On 08/06/2011 10:20, Mark wrote:
On Tue, 07 Jun 2011 23:24:13 +0100,
wrote:

On 06/06/2011 09:46, Mark wrote:
On Sun, 05 Jun 2011 16:20:54 +0100,
wrote:

On 03/06/2011 09:37, Mark wrote:

FWIW the data layer in a CDROM is close the the label side but a DVD
has the data layer(s) near the centre.

A few years ago, I had stuck a CD label to the wrong disk and tried to
remove it. Where it has stuck well, I removed the CD label, the CD
became see through.

Using some software like IsoBuster you should be able to read data
from the disk even if it is not finalised.

At $30-00 it wouldn't be worth me buying it for this sort of work.

New twist. When I discovered that the DVD's needed cleaning, I changed
back to Kodak ones. One of them I had recorded to came back as empty
from 4 different drives last week. Looks like a lot of work and
investigation is called for nor, to get to the bottom of this problem.

There's a free version of IsoBuster. It might still do what you need.

A pointer would be nice, please.

I don't understand why you would need a pointer. It's easy to find.
www.isobuster.com

Many, many thanks for that link. When I did a google for it, every site
wanted me to get my wallet out for it.

A very grateful Dave

On 08/06/2011 20:47, Dave wrote:
On 08/06/2011 10:20, Mark wrote:

I don't understand why you would need a pointer. It's easy to find.
www.isobuster.com

Many, many thanks for that link. When I did a google for it, every site
wanted me to get my wallet out for it.

A very grateful Dave

When I google for it the first hit is www.isobuster.com - with a
sub-menu for various parts of the web site. What did you google for?

Andy

On 08/06/2011 21:24, Andy Champ wrote:
On 08/06/2011 20:47, Dave wrote:
On 08/06/2011 10:20, Mark wrote:

I don't understand why you would need a pointer. It's easy to find.
www.isobuster.com

Many, many thanks for that link. When I did a google for it, every site
wanted me to get my wallet out for it.

A very grateful Dave

When I google for it the first hit is www.isobuster.com - with a
sub-menu for various parts of the web site. What did you google for?

When I googled I just put isobuster into the box, as soon as I used the
www.isobuster.com site it downloaded fine and is now sat on my desktop,
ready to be used.
I have not had time to look at it yet, might get around to it tonight.

Once again a very grateful Dave