Help with DVD Player

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 2 Apr 2006 7:15 am

I'm old fashioned and don't understand the modern tech equipment. We have a 2 year old Emerson DVD and Video Cassette Player/recorder. It will play movie rental DVD's fine. We recently recieved a DVD from a church group in Texas and when I insert it in the player an error message comes up saying "Disc Error Please eject the disc--Playback feature may not be available on this disc" The DVD contains no writing or anything about it's region codes or anything. The DVD will play fine on my computer. Do I need a newer updated player ?? Thanks.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 2 Apr 2006 9:26 am

There could be several issues. 1, the format that the DVD is in is not compatible. 2. The type of DVD (DVD Plus or DVD Minus or even a DVD-RW) can be an issue with some DVD players.

But most likely it's not in a format that the particular model standalone DVD player will play.

Marc Friedland · Post by **Marc Friedland** » 2 Apr 2006 10:59 am

Bill,
Jack is right.
Commercial DVDs that one buys or rents from video stores seem to be made in a format that is recognized by virtually all DVD players and computers. DVD's that are burned by people using a home DVD recording system have to designate whether it is a +R or -R format.
I have an expensive fancy DVD player/recorder that recognizes both formats, but many players only recognize one or the other. This is even true for computers, as my computer will only recognize +R discs, whereas my daughter's computer only works well with -R discs.
I have no explanation as to why this is the case, but just accept it as so. Hopefully it will change in the future so that all players can read all DVD discs.
-- Marc

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 3 Apr 2006 2:38 am

Thanks, Guys---Looks like I will be getting a newer player. I see a lot of the new ones lists several compatible formats. Incidently, I found from the church group that the DVD's were of the -R format.

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 3 Apr 2006 4:59 am

Here's something on the two DVD types that I found in the local (on-line) paper.

DVD-R and DVD-RW. The first recordable format, allows users to write to a disc only once. The DVD-RW feature allows for re-writes but to play the discs on a standard DVD player or a computer, the disc must be finalized, meaning it can't be recorded to again.

DVD+R and DVD+RW. The most recently developed formats are the +R and +RW. The plus sign indicates the recordings on +R or +RW discs do not have to be finalized before viewing. You can write over what you've recorded on RW or watch an already recorded disc and add more to it later.

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 4 Apr 2006 1:26 am

I just ordered a JVCDR-MV5S dual recorder from Amazon--It shows that it plays several formats, MP3's , etc.--maybe that'll solve the problem. Thanks everyone.