LVW 5045 Not Playing DVDR

Consumer Electronics
#1

Hi,
I have scowered through a lot of threads and I cant find what I’m looking for. I apologise if this is a repeat thread.

I have had a 5045 for just over a year, acually my warranty ran out 17 days ago (my luck). I have had a great year with the unit and all of a sudden Im having a hard time reading my previous dvdr collection. All of the discs have been viewed at one time or another with the 5045 and now they wont work or work badly. I seem to be getting a message often that says be sure to finalise discs after burning or something to that effect, and a small symbol of an unlocked lock appears in the top left corner of the screen (not described in the manual). These are all nero burnt DVDRs and as I said worked perfectly before. Ive read a few threads that suggested it may be the media degrading over time. I always have used Sony media and never had a problem. Also even newly burnt discs dont function. I am hoping this isnt a drive issue. The only other thing that may help is the fact that I updated the firmware to 204 around the time this started happening. I then reverted back to the old firmware but it hasnt helped. actual store bought movies dont seem to have a problem.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Also if the drive is bad is it expencive to replace??

Cheers
Brad

#2

No, there are many threads explaining how to do it. You could try cleaning the lens first. There are also threads about it.

#3

bradwould,

I can sympathise with you. I have an LVW 5045 that is just a few days past the warranty and now it has problems copying programs off the hard drive.
Sometimes it will copy them alright but will fail the finalise process.
I tried it this morning and it did copy and finalise 3 separate programs on one disc. On playback the programs kept freezing. I’ve used a disc cleaner and it did help when I originally had the problem but appears to still have issues.
I’ve bought Sony DRU-700A from ebay hoping that I’ve read the other threads correctly and the parts will swap out with some minor adjustments.
Will post my success (or failure…no think possitive) here when I get it done…hopefully next weekend.

#4

Just though I’d give an update. I bought a cheap Maxell Dvd Lens Cleaner at W**mart :slight_smile: for 12 bucks or so. Popped it in and ran it. Took 10 secs. So far so good. 5045 seems to be recognizing all my dvdrs again but one (I’ll assume its a bad disc). I’m very happy. Thanks for your suggestions…and I’ll keep you updated if it goes bad again.

#5

Hi

I am also having an issue of a unlocked lock symbol and then it tells me invalid media. It used toplay this disc but now it fails to read it. I have just updated the firmware. Can anyone tell me what the symbol means?

Thanks
John

#6

Your recorder sees the disc as one needing to be finalized and is not. If it is finalized it should play on another player. A lens cleaning could help. what is the media?

#7

To determine if any disc is bad just try it in another player. A disc isn’t bad if other players read it and is probably bad if other players don’t read it. My suspicion is the disc isn’t bad and the burner may be beginning to fail and may eventually need replacement. Cleaning may help for a while but will likely stop working eventually as it has in other posts I’ve read.

#8

Good test is to plug in another DVD drive and give it a test