DVD Recorder Issues

HoshPosh

We've had approx 5/6 DVD recorders since 2004 as we do use them a lot and they don't appear to last. None of them have lasted the year, the record we had with the last one was just two months!

The last 3 (including this one) have been ones with hardrives as the sky plus is filling up fast daily and it's nice to put them all on copy and let them record off overnight where I split and segment them to get the adverts out the next day.

This hasn't been a problem up until the last ... 2 weeks ish. It keeps throwing up 'Protect!' messages like it would if you were recording a pre-recorded video off and won't let me record. Sometimes it's got to the last 15 minutes and will then throw up the 'protect' message and black screen, thus cancelling out everything I've recorded off so far of that programme. I get the odd here and there 10 minute clip (like the middle of a programme that I need) but I haven't been able to record off anything more than 15 minutes and during those few minutes I'm terrified the message will click in and I'll lose what I've recorded of it.

I'm more than happy to take it back and swap it [again...] as the manager of Argos knows our issues and said we could when we bought it if we had problems again [this was bought September, replacing the one that had only worked then since July!] But I could do without it if there's a simple explanation and fix

The DVD Recorder is close to this one: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5335873/Trail/searchtext%3EACOUSTIC+SOLUTIONS.htm They appear to have taken the other one off the site.


(Issues before have been dying, tracking failing, crashing with disks in each time etc - never this. Previous makes have been warfdale, sony, panasonic, lg and goodmans(? goodsomething))


ETA: Meant to say. It's all connected by Scart - there's the TV, Sky Plus box and DVD Recorder. A wii is also connected to the TV but that's by the Red/white etc on the side, it's not connected to the DVD recorder.

HoshPosh

Reading through the book I've found that it's a DVD160RW300.

Clicky

aliEnRIK

I was GOING to say you should use a decent make. But as youve used a sony, pan' AND lg im not going to.
Id be looking at where the units are kept. Id guess theyve all overheated!
Is it sat on top of another unit? (Sky perhaps?) or near a source of heat?
If so, move it!

HoshPosh

Thanks

We've tried everything over the years - the LG one is in my room and is still going strong but it doesn't have a hardrive - something I desperatley need from a DVD recorder as I'm not in enough to record them off seperatley or to record the programmes as they air.

They're not on top of each other (well they are but not in that way) They're on shelves in a TV cabinet with the air circulating around them and a good handspan if not more in between them.

aliEnRIK

So the lg is the ONLY one still going strong, and all the others have died?
That points to something about where the units are kept and what theyre plugged into.
Possibly a bad 'mains' connection? Maybe a faulty scart lead (As in wires touching where they shouldnt)?

HoshPosh

Possibly, however it is barely used and then only to watch DVD's on whereas the others are used daily and heavily.

New wires were bought with this one and the sky plus box was replaced just before as we had a well-known-to-be-faulty type box.

They're a good meter away from the radiator and everything else appears to play fine where it is (scart to tv and sky plus and red/yellow etc to the tv for the wii). It only appears to be the recorders we have problems with

cowbutt

I had a similar message from a Samsung HT-DB120 home cinema unit (i.e. built-in 5.1/Dts amplifier) and a previous 'Voyager' unit from Tesco died in similar circumstances. The Voyager died just within its warranty period, whilst the Samsung was out by about 6 months.

My take is that the 'Protect' message is indicating that there's a short in the power-amplifier stage, probably due to damage caused by overheating. I noted that my Samsung and the previous Voyager unit were very similar and were probably designed by the same ODM. The Samsung notably had a fan bolted on, which I hoped would be sufficient to prevent it dying in the same way, but it seems not (it's a common fault with the HT-DB120). Both had plenty of ventilation.

I've given up on all-in-one units, and bought a cheap DVD seperate and a modest Yamaha AV amp from Richer Sounds, together with Supercare. One way or another, they'll last at least three years!

aliEnRIK

If its the power supply thats killing them, perhaps have a look at a decent anti surge and conditioner like this one ~
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tacima-CS929-Conditioner-Frequency-Interference/dp/B000PS5700
But id personally for now take the unit OUTSIDE of the shelving and try to use it in free space to see if it makes any difference

fwor

Before assuming that it's faulty, you might want to do some research about +VR Mode, and whether your Sky+ and DVD recorder both use it.

It's not something I know much about, but it looks as though the Sky+ box or possibly the Sky transmission itself may be marked as "copy once", so the DVD recorder is getting upset by that.

There's lots more about this on the various AV forums if you google a bit. Here's one example:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/archive/index.php/t-946026.html

It suggests that you ~might~ overcome the problem by switching the DVD recorder from +VR Mode to VR-Mode - time to dig out the User Manual?

aliEnRIK

Thats a fair point Fwor
Sky does use copy protection (But I thought it was only through hdmi ~ HDCP?)

fwor

I must admit I'm not sure if Sky really do implement any copy protection other than via HDMI. However, there do seem to be quite a few little-known copy protection methods around - for example the SCMS mechanism built into the S/PDIF digital audio protocol, which I suspect hardly anyone is aware of unless they've used MiniDisc recorders at some point in the past.

Another point for the OP: Did you start using a different brand/type of DVD blank 2 weeks ago? The following suggests that DVD+RW's may cause problems in +VR Mode:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_formats