LVTravel said:
JimL said:
LVTravel said:
I can play commercial movie DVD's on my XP Pro SP3, but it sees
nothing on DVD's I have recorded. Both Windows Media and RealPlayer
say I need decoders or something like that. The recorder/player
(Toshiba) plays them, of course. Is this just a case of Toshiba
trying to capture a market by making their recordings play on nothing
but a Toshiba?
JimL
What program and method are you using to publish the movie to the DVD
media? Therein lies your answer but without knowing the answer we
can't help you.
If you open your created DVD in Windows Explorer, you should see at
least one folder called Video_TS and also maybe one Audio_TS. Without
the Video_TS folder you don't have a proper Video DVD.
As I mentioned in the question, "their [Toshiba's] recordings..." I
record them on "The recorder/player (Toshiba)." I didn't even know
there was a way to record shows using a computer. Otherwise I would
have said I record them on the recorder.
JimL
Well you are on a computer newsgroup with Windows XP in the title.
Toshiba makes DVD drives for computers so one can only speculate.
As for your issue, it may depend totally on the type of recording the
Toshiba stand-alone machine makes, what kind of disc you are using and
if the video has been finalized by the recorder. If it hasn't been
finalized then you can't play it on any other machine, other than
another Toshiba stand-alone device.
If you are going to use the disc on a computer then you need to ensure
that you are using a DVD+ or - R or a DVD + or -RW disk that has been
finalized. You can not use a DVD RAM disc and there are other formats
that some stand-alone recorders create that can't be played on anything
else. I have a Magnavox like that.
Have you attempted to look at the disc in Windows Explorer to see if the
folder is there as I mentioned in my original reply? If it shows as a
blank disc or not properly formatted disc when you attempt to view it's
contents I would suspect that the disc was not finalized.
Thanks. When finalized the menu shows, but when I try to play anything I
get a series of messages the essence of which says, "Go somewhere and buy
some expensive software." That is why my original post asked if Toshiba
is just using proprietary protocols to try to corner this little corner
of the market. Despite the first answer I got declaring otherwise, I am
gathering that the Toshiba recorder will not, under any circumstance,
make discs that play like normal store bought movies.
Thanks
JimL
We would need the exact wording of those error messages to help determine
what the Toshiba recorder is doing.
"Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a compatible
decoder is not installed on your computer."
When I click on the Web Help button I get a MS web page saying this:
-----------------------------------------------------
DVD Playback Options for Windows
If you are running the Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows Vista Business,
Windows Vista Enterprise, or Windows XP operating system on your computer,
you might need to install a compatible DVD decoder (also known as a MPEG-2
decoder) before continuing with the following activities.
a.. Playing a DVD
b.. Playing a recorded TV show
c.. Playing video files that were encoded with the MPEG-2 codec (.mpeg,
..mpg, and some .avi files)
To purchase a compatible DVD decoder, visit Plug-ins for Windows Media
Player.
-----------------------------------------------------
Following the link gets me a listing of MS softwares.
With RealPlayer I get:
--------------------------------------------------
RealPlayer needs to download new software to play this clip.
--------------------------------------------------
When I click on from there I get:
--------------------------------------------------
There is no software update available from Real to support this content.
--------------------------------------------------
If you have read the instruction manual for your recorder and use the type
of disc in the drive that they recommend and finalize the disk you should
not have any problem playing the disk in any other player, either
stand-alone or on your computer if you can also play commercial movie
discs on the machine that you are attempting to play the Toshiba recorded
disc on.
I've played dozens of commercial movie discs on the computer with no
problems.
The recorder uses both DVD-RW and DVD+RV.
Finalizing is a matter of menuing to the selection.
With DVD-RW, finalizing makes a computer readable file structure. Clicking
the drive in My Computer brings up Windows Media which displays a title and
chapter structure, but fails (as above) to play anything. It also sets up a
menu of titles found on the disc which displays on at least two DVD players.
With DVD+RW, finalizing does all the above except building the player
displayable title menu.
What is the model number of the Toshiba recorder?
DR570KU
I'm getting the feeling I'd be better off sticking with only DVD-RW's.
Video mode is another story.
JimL
