I need help/advise

[jasonmccoy]

Recently I purchased a progressive scan DVD/VCR recorder. I love everything about it except...After I create a 8hr DVD from TV shows, VCR clips, ect. I can not play the DVD-RAM on anything except the Panasonic component I created it with. I tried using DVD-R but it does not allow me the same amount/robustness of editing functions. NO other format is compatible with the Panasonic recorder I have. Help/Advise? I really would like to play my newly created/edited DVD-RAMS on other devices; specifically computers at my University/College.

[Rat]

You're not going to have much luck. DVD-RAM is indeed much more flexible in what it can do, but it's not as common a format as -R or +R, and not in any way compatible. If you want to play them in a computer drive, you need to buy a drive which is specifically compatible.

Cheers,
Rat.

[richardm]

Just to confirm what Rat says. DVD-RAM is a handy format but you'll be hard pressed to find other machines that can read it at the moment. I'd be surprised it that didn't change, though, because it's nice being able to do things like watch the start of a recording while the end finishes (although I suppose there are other ways of achieving this).

Your best solution is to become a sanctimonious copyright bore and tell your friends that swapping DVD recordings is theft. That will throw them off the scent and get you off the hook ;)

[cesium]

At this point the only truely standardized recordable dvd is DVD-R, and DVD-RAM formats seem to change from recorder to recorder.

Because of the complexities and the many formats of DVD-RAM, there are no stand-alone DVD players for your tv which will play DVD-RAM.

[teddygrahams]

There is some "standard" to it since I am able to read dvd-ram's on my PC. I can extract individual sections (titles), but this isn't my preferred method. I have a hdd/dvd, which allows the editting on the HD.

Without a HDD for editting prior to disk burning, the device is not as useful.