I just bought an Emerson EWR10D4 DVD Recorder. I didn't want to pay a lot right now so I opted for one of the cheaper models. I don't know much about DVD recording but I'm learning. It seems like the manual for this recorder assumes the reader already knows a lot of things. This recorder automatically uses what's called Video Mode when recording to a DVD-R. Also, the default setting for DVD-RW is Video Mode. However, with DVD-RW, you can change that setting to VR (Video Recording) mode. With that mode, I could do more editing, which I liked. I recorded one DVD-RW disc in regular Video mode. And I recorded two in VR mode. (They were all home video directly from my camcorder.) I took all three discs to my mom's house. She has an Apex DVD player. It would not play the VR mode DVD-RWs. It kept saying Bad Disc. It DID play the one I recorded in Video mode. So, I just assumed that player wouldn't play discs recorded in VR mode. A couple days later, I put that Video Mode disc back in that same player and it, too, said Bad Disc. It took several tries before it would play again. Now I'm wondering if maybe the VR discs would play if I kept trying them. Here's my questions: 1.) What good is VR mode if other DVD players won't play them? 2.) Any idea why my mom's dvd player kept saying Bad Disc on the DVDs I just recorded (even the Video mode disc which DID play). They were not dirty or scratched. But it took about 6 tries before it played. 3.) What exactly is the difference between Video mode and VR mode (other than the extra editing capabilities)? I use DVD-RW discs.
Unless you "FINALIZE" the DVD disk after you're done, it will only play in the DVD unit you recorded it on. After you "finalize" the disk, it should play in any DVD player. APEX is a great player, I have 3 of them. If you did "finalize" the disk after you finished recording and it didn't play in another DVD player, I don't know the problem.
VR disks will play in some dvd players and not others, even if the disk is finalised. Sony players will play VR disks. They don't appear to work on PC's however, although with NeroVisoon you can import the title and you can burn to another DVD disk: some of the time. I am still looking for copy software that will enable a direct copy of a VR disk on the PC. The problem you have with the Apex player not reading the Video formatted disk I would put down to the fact that the whole issue of burning dvd's and getting them to play on DVD players is an absolute minefield. I have an AKAI player which reads most disks, even disks with errors that won't play on the more expensive Sony player. However, it won't read VR formatted disks, whether finalised or not, and sometimes with +RW disks I have to try several times to get it to read the disks. DVD burning is still in its infancy and is an imprecise science at this stage.
