Sony RDR-HX750: Disc Finalize?

[Lango]

Hi , hope I am putting this in the right place. I bought a Sony RDR-HX750 recorder and can't seem to work out how to finalise the recorded disc, so that it will play on another type of DVD player. I have tried everything in the Sony manual ,word by word, to no avail. The odd thing is that the first few times I did this it worked ok, now won't seem to allow discs to play on another player. I am using CD-RW discs and have formatted them,and tried new discs. I'm no technical whiss, and the Sony has stuff I'll never use, just nedd some help. Great Forum, will spend some hours learning here.. Thanks, Lang

[Mach2billy]

Did you mean that you're using a DVD-RW disc? You can't record video on to a CD with this unit. When you are finalizing a DVD, select the DVD drive, then go to the System Menu, then Disc Setup, and choose Finalize. If you use DVD+RW discs, they do not need to be finalized.

[Lango]

Thanks Mach 2,yes I did mean DVD-RW, I get confused with all this. Have been doing all that you said and following the manual closely, and assumed that DVD-RW did not need , yet still the DVD-RW s wont play on other DVD players. On page 36 of the manual it says"-RW Finalising is unnecessary and etc; and in the same quote ' you may need to finalise the disc'. Got me stuffed!!. Either way I can't get anything I record to play on an other DVD player, only on the Sony that recorded it. Very frustrating.. Is there a direction anyone can put me in so as I can read up on how this thing works?, would really appreciate it, before I throw the Sony in the rubbish, and it's new..

[Sam]

I may be wrong on this, but I believe there are some DVD players that cannot play DVD-RW, so perhaps that's where your problem lies. Try it on another DVD player and make sure that it accepts DVD-RW.

[springle]

When a DVD-R/RW is finalized, it is changed into a DVD-V, just like the symbol you see on a purchased DVD.

You don't need to finalize if you play the disk on the same machine that burned it, but if you intend to play it on a different machine, then it must be finalized. All DVD players play DVD-V. You don't need to finalize DVD+R/RW disks, but you can if you wish. The "+" disks are in the market because of a Standards War. The "-" disks are consistent with the original DVD standards organization.

Also, you must finalize the disk on the machine which originally wrote the program.

Generally, when a DVD recorder finalizes a disk, some sort of progress meter is displayed on your TV. When the process is complete, you are notified. However, the finalizing process might fail. When this occurs, you cannot read the disk on a different machine. Your recorder should give an on screen message if finalizing fails.

Finalizing seems to fail with old DVD recorders - machines that seem to fail gradually rather than catastrophically. Finalizing also may fail when using inferior disks.

I stopped using Sony blank DVD-RWs when I found it was almost impossible to finalize them. I've also had problems with Fujifilm disks. Verbatim and TDK seem to work well enough. The most reliable disks I have found to be the
-RAM disks, which also don't need to be finalized. However, not all brands of DVD recorders can use these disks.

[Mach2billy]

Hi Lango - just to clarify your situation, did the finalize process complete ok without any error messages? If it appeared to complete ok, then perhaps the issue is that your other DVD players are not compatible with rewritable discs, as Sam mentioned.

In my manual the finalizing info (page 39) has a section on DVD-RW (VR mode) discs, then another section on DVD-RW (Video mode) discs. Normally video mode is what you would want to use, and the instructions say they would need to be finalized to use on other players. To check how your DVD-RW discs are being formatted, go to System Menu, Basic and look at the selection for DVD-RW discs. If VR mode is selected, then change that to Video mode. That will ensure that DVD-RW discs once finalized will play on other players that are RW compatible.

However, if your other DVD players are too old, from before the RW discs came into use, they may not be able to play RW discs no matter how they are formatted. Check the manual or the symbols on the front of the DVD player (looking for the RW symbol).

I have a Pioneer and a Sony DVD recorder, and both have worked very well with Memorex and Verbatim discs. I've copied about 75 discs, and only had 1 with a problem.

Hope that helps...

[Lango]

Sorry for the delay in getting back, have tried three different types of DVD discs and brands,have followed the advise from you good people and also from the manual and still I cannot get the Sony discs to play on any other machine.Indeed, the Sony machine says 'disc finalised', I have tried various times of recording,various brands ,various everything I can think off to no avail. All I record are the MotoGP and WSB, the first few times I had none of this problem, I could play them on other machines, then the rot set in. I can burn a DVD on my computer and play t back on the Sony,can't play a DVD burnt on the Sony on anything. The Sony has had about 40 hours or less use and is basically new. Do you think it's me or the Sony (probably me!).. Any other advise?.. many thanks.

[Mach2billy]

When you try to play the discs recorded on your Sony DVR on another player, do you get an error message? Disc error, or disc incompatible or something like that? Do you know how old your other DVD players are, and if they are DVD RW compatible?

[Lango]

Sorry for the delay in getting back, live out of town. I got some other brand and types of DVDs and tried them at various settings and burn speeds, no use, still can't get these to play on other equipment, a couple of which are basically new machines. What I found is that DVDs burnt on other units will play on the Sony however not the reverse.For instance I can burn a DVD on my computer and play on the Sony,no problem, or on another DVD player and play on the Sony yet not the reverse. I only use the Sony to record the MotoGP and SBK and the first few times everything worked well, no problems.Then the problems started. The machine has about 40 hours of use and is basically new. I tried a basic DVD-R and without finalise and with finalise, no luck. Iv'e done something I suppose but I can't find it, or maybe it's the machine?..
Really appreciate the help you folk have given, this is despairing..

[Lango]

Sorry Mach, 'ment to add, I think it was on a couple of times 'disc error', or 'data error' now nothing at all on other machines,black screen.But back in the Sony, all good!!!.