Hi, I have a DVD/VCD player( Panasonic A300). It doesn't read the VCD copy I made on CD-R disc. I play that VCD on my computer fine. Is there anyway I can fix this problem?

-- Jeff Cao (caox@hotmail.com), June 28, 1999

Answers

You can try some silver on silver cd-r media available at www.cd- recordable but remember to buy the sample pack of two first. The sample pack is only 3.00 and includes two cd-r(silver on silver). If they do not work, well short of returning it(I hope) and getting a Philips or Sony or one with dual-lasers, nothing else can be done.

-- The Lone Ranger (rutger_s@hotmail.com), June 28, 1999.

Many DVD brands won't read CD-R. Panasonic is one of them. If your player is new, I'd return it and get a brand that does. I have a Pioner DVL-909, and it reads CD-R and CD-RW with no problems.

Kevin

-- kevin (delgadil@yahoo.com), June 28, 1999.

I have a PIONEER 515 and it reads everything ! some TOSHIBA machines wont read all discs either

-- DENIS THIRLWELL (DENISTHIRLWELL@HOTMAIL.COM), June 30, 1999.

Jeff, My panasonic DVD player (A110) won't play CD-r's either, but they will read CD-RW's. I copied a VCD of The Phantom Menace from CDR to CD-RW and it plays great.

-- Robert Spalding (robs@cet.com), June 30, 1999.

Hey Jeff. Everybody has a great response. I just wanted to add. I actually brought cdrw and regular burnt cds to the store to test videos and audio formats. I ended up purchasing a Pioneer (I forgot the number). The difference is the dual lasers, in playing burnt cds. Silver cds may work, but it's pretty much hit or miss.

If it's a vcd player, it won't exactly play burnt vcds. Try the silver cds or CD-rws. Nothing else can really help. Except EXCHANGE IT, baby.

-- xenia (xenia_jazz@yahoo.com), July 01, 1999.

Hi all,

I have found success using certain CDR's on my Sony CDP-360. I bought the generic ones from COMPUSA (you know, the ones that come in the sleeve of 50 for $19.99) - BUT! YOU MUST MAKE SURE YOU GET THE RIGHT KIND! There are at least two different variants; the ones that work have a bluish tinge on the recording side. The string "R-JMN" is also etched on the inner ring.

I have made audio cds and vcds without any problem.

Good luck!

-- chuck (cwilli01@hotmail.com), February 12, 2001.

Just to add on what Chuck said, make sure you distinguish the cds accurately, the CompUSA cds actually have 3 different colors, there's the silver-gold, silver-blue, and silver-silver. The silver-blue and silver-silver cds are almost identical. Found it out myself, brought the wrong set.

-- anonymous (sweetguy99@yahoo.com), April 17, 2001.

Hi, I have a Panasonic SA HT80 dvd player and i am wanting to transfer from my dv camcoder to my PC and burn a cd-r into a vcd, which my player states in the handbook that it will read vcd, but have had no joy so far, after reading this I will try either silver on silver or cd-rw disks. Unless anybody else can help to suggest something else, what about chipping my system, would that help ?

-- jeremy prudhoe (jprudhoe@memorex-telex.com), August 23, 2001.

The Panasonic SA-HT80 will -not- read CDR media but will read CDRW media. Proof: http://www.datavideo- tek.com/datavideo2/information_population/product_info/videorecorders/ vdr_3000/vdr_3000_compatible_players.htm#P

-- vorte-x- (vortexreality2050@hotmail.com), February 03, 2002.

I have also a Panasonic SA-HT80 and my don't read any cdrw. I tried it also with silver cd's, nothing... same story. I got immediately the message "cant read" in the display.

-- Vampire (ssdph@yahoo.com), March 23, 2002.

I have a sony dvd player and it wont play my burnt cd-r's either. I'll try those silver cd-r's.

-- Donny (donnyanddebbie@houston.rr.com), April 06, 2002.

I don't care what anyone says to try (as far as cd-r's) using in a panasonic dvd player. I have a panasonic and the book specifically states what can and cannot be read on my unit.

-- Joe (jnaame@dandy.net), November 05, 2002.

i have the answer to all of your questions: the laser pickup, cant read either cdr or cdrw, and its not a question of color of disc (silver, gold, blue etc.) its a matter of the difference between DVD and CDr/CDrw. its not the same wavelength of DVDlaser and CDr(rw)laser. what you will have to do is change the pickup to a type that can read the both formats.

-- (kisstank@hotmail.com), November 11, 2002.

Hey, My family also has a Panasonic SA-HT80. My parents have tried cd-r/rw. With no luck I was wondering if the(kisstank@hotmail.com) person that wrote the message about changing the pickup of the laser so it reads both formats would mind sending me an e-mail about it.It would be much appreciated. Thanks my e-mail is 1kingmi@uvsc.edu

-- James Millen King (1kingmi@uvsc.edu), December 19, 2002.

I have the panasonic SA-HT80 also.. I can't play any copied discs.. And the last year I haven't been able to pay any of the bronze/gold colored DVD's that you buy/rent what so ever. But I can play the older silver DVD's just fine. It plays normal music CD's just great. I've cleaned the head and have taken it apart, but can't seem to get it to work with the gold cd's. Any suggestions? Email me pleasssse at Bugfan1966@yahoo.com I've been wanting to see the Matrix for 3 months now.

-- matt (bugfan1966@yahoo.com), December 25, 2002.

Just went out and bought a new CDRW 'cause my creative DVD wouldn't read disks burned on my old Mitsumi anymore. Never had any trouble previously but Verbatim 24X 700mb & maxell 40X 700mb can't be read in my creative 12X dvd /cd player.Just to finish me off I found an old kodak silver 12x which I have used previously on the old Mitsumi and after burning on my Lite-on 40x CDRW at 12x this cannot be read on the creative DVD/CD reader!!! My conclusion is the latest discs are not compatible with the Creative 12x DVD/CD reader

-- martin smith (mart434u@hotmail.com), December 28, 2002.

I've got a Samsung DVD-ROM SD 606F as my one and only CD drive on my computer (i.e I use it for everything) and it won't play any copied cds that I've tried. Is there any way I can fix that or is it something that can't be fixed?

-- scott m (i_mock_u_with_my_monkeypants@hotmail.com), January 11, 2003.

Did you check your book? Its supposed to say it can play it if it does. Go online to sony.com and check for an online manual. They will let you know if it is supposed to play cd-rw cd-r

-- Jeff Clements (jeffclements@hotmail.com), January 30, 2003.

Solution: I have a PANASONIC SC-HT80 and had the same problem. So I called Panasonic and a tech guy told me to try "VERBATIM CD-RW Highspeed" .... and it worked fine!!! They are a little more expensive about $2/piece here in Austria - but they will do the job!

-- Leroy (leroy@gmx.at), February 01, 2003.

I'd like to be e-mailed with info about changing these pick ups..

-- Dan Miller (DMiller3638@yahoo.com), February 20, 2003.

PANASONIC SC-HT80 I was able to play Verbatim CD-RW burned on a SONY DRU500AX at 4X.... Never been able to use CDR or DVDR...or play MP3 for that matter. I have seen mod chips available on sites in the UK that claim to open up MP3 support and make the box multi-regional... At least I can play the CDRWs now, I learned that from this forum...

-- Bill Schmill (BillSchmill@411.com), April 15, 2003.

I have an LG DVD Player Model:DV4700P. I've tried to burn with different speed and and I think it worked best with 8x. I manage to play burned audio cd on this player but not vcd using normal, cheap cd-r media (not neceassarily silver on silver one). Why? I still can't figure out why it can play audio cd not vcd? But I can play vcd burned on cd-rw media, but I don't think you will buy 10 cd-rws to burn 10 vcds (it's expensive right).

-- yui (y-u-i@yahoo.com), June 07, 2003.

I have the Panasonic SA-HT80 and I just bought the Matrix original DVD and it wont even play the darn thing... everything else plays just fine, I mean other DVD's, I havnt tried copies. Maybe changing the pickups, if someone could tell me how... Thanks

-- Ray (insurman@videotron.ca), June 08, 2003.

Yeah please can i be e-mailed aswell the info on CHANGEING LASER PICK- UPS.... would be great. can u include, Average price, websites for more info !!! cheers

-- Dean (imtheonlyhated@hotmail.com), June 18, 2003.

I hvae a toshibia dvd player. It is suposed to play dvd and audio cd but when i put cds i have burnt inti it, it wont work. Whats the problem?

-- Lucas Caldwell (ltc5@rogers.com), July 22, 2003.

Generally speaking to change a laser pickup would cost more than buying another (later model) dvd player.

-- Rob Wheeler (shotgun@hyper.net.nz), July 28, 2003.

Does anyone know how to make a Region 2 Panasonic SA-HT80 DVD home theatre sound system able to read CDRs and other region DVDs ?

-- mark dormer (MARK.DORMER@CITIGROUP.COM), September 24, 2003.

For the answer's to many of your question's go to www.dvdrhelp.com/faq. Good Luck to all!

-- Frank Rio (neo4real@mail.com), October 29, 2003.

I own the Panasonic SA-HT80 DVD player and I have to say that it's a piece of junk. Great sound system but the DVD player is worthless. It originally played DVD's fine (the type it was supposed to play - originals...not copies). It got worse progressively and eventually wouldn't play anything any more. kept saying "NO PLAY". Got it repaired by a technician - repair lasted about a year and it again got gradually worse and now, it plays practically nothing. Rapidly opening and closing the DVD tray about 100 times or so will sometimes get it to play.

This one was a waste of money and Panasonic's support sucks, too.

DAVE

-- David Fuller (dafuller@tycoint.com), November 06, 2003.

I am in complete agreement with Dave's comments regarding the SA- HT80 DVD System. Bought mine only 2.5 years ago and it has turned out to be the biggest waste of money I have ever had the misfortune of spending. Almost a year to the day after purchase I started getting the NO PLAY error. Frist of all I assumed the laser head was dusty so bought a cleaning disc which did originally fix the problem. However now it just happens with almost every DVD I try and watch NO PLAY NO PLAY NO PLAY NO PLAY NO PLAY is all it ever bloody says. It absolutely drives me mad. I was always a great advocate of Panasonic products but after this fiasco I will never buy one again.

-- Richard O'Neill (richard.oneill40@ntlworld.com), November 30, 2003.

I have the SA-HT80 which I brought second hand for fifty bucks coz it didn't read dvd's. I agree that it's a piece of junk - noisy, slow clunky transport, some remote control functions only work occasionally etc - But I managed to fix mine. If you take a deep breath, relax, unplug the unit and open it up. Get down to the laser assembly and you'll see a tiny potentiometer either on the ribbon cable feeding the laser ass'y or on the assembly itself. Turn it one way a sixth of a turn, test it, if it doesn't work turn it the other way the same distance. You're basically adjusting the current running through the laser. If you do get it to work it will only be temporary but mine's been good for a year now.

-- Simon Tait (bugfat@hotmail.com), December 14, 2003.

I HAVE A JVC XL-R5000BK CD COMPACT DISC RECORDER. I BOUGHT IT THREE YEARS AGO. I USED IT LAST NIGHT. ALL OF A SUDDEN, WHEN I WAS GONNA RECORD SOMETHING, THE CDR SAYS NO DISC...EVEN THOUGH THERE ARE DISCS IN IT. I'VE TRIED MANY DIFFERENT DISCS BUT IT SAYS THE SAME THING: NO DISC. FOR SOME REASON, IT'S NOT READING IT. ANY IDEAS?

-- MIKE KULYK (AYOSHERS@YAHOO.COM), December 22, 2003.

I have had vey bad experieices myself, Lots of wasted time and wasted money. I just bought new DVD players (Samsung) for my two adult sons for Xmas and then discovered that it will not play all our DVD+R movies that I made for them over the past months.

So I copied them all over again to DVD-R disks. Then I discovred after that it only reads the Gold DVD-R disks and not the Silver DVD- R disks. So I have another large stack of $1.40 coasters. (Both of the new Samsung DVD Playres behaved identical).

My 1 year old Samsung DVD player reads both DVD+R and DVD-R (both gold and silver) just fine. So I can only conclude that things are getting WORSE rather than BETTER.

What irritates me is that this is potentially a format war going on at the expense of the customer, where reading certain kind of "enemy" formats is now being disabeled, or simly that the manufacturers are just cheapening down their prodct to increase their profit margins - BOTH are at the direct expense of consumers.

I can express my anger in many places and make sure I never buy products from these manufacturers again and from the dealers who let these shoddy products go for sale in their stores. These limitations have to be CLEARLY posted on the products - For example, it has to say "Plays DVD-R Gold (not Silver) DVDs and does not play DVD+R DVDs" Only with truth in labeling can consumers make the right choices, since we can no longer assume things work like they used to work and there are serious limitations.

At least in the VHS versus BETA days you know when you bought a VHS player you could not play your BETA tapes. This is more like you bought a VHS player that could only play certain brands or colors of VHS tapes.

So its BUY AT YOUR OWN RISK these days.... Or just wait until this matures and don't buy antying until the DVD format wars and DVD product compatability issues are settled.

And Complain, Complain, Complain and return these shoody goods to the places that sold them to you and ask for produts without these hidden limitations.

-- Send No Spam (sendnospam1969@yahoo.com), December 31, 2003.

I also bought the Panasonic SA-HT80 3 years ago thinking it was the best thing i ever bought. WRONG! It only plays original DVD's. THAT's it. I bought a DVD burner thinking i could watch copied movies. WRONG! the piece of shit only has good sound. THAT'S IT. The speakers are pretty good, just a little on the large side. So now i'm stuck with a big clunky piece of shit that only plays original DVD's, i cant even play burnt CD's, CD-R, CD-RW, MP3, DVDR, DVD+R/DVD-R, DVD+RW or DVD-RW. ZEEEEERRRROOOO FORMATS!!!!! JUST PLAIN OLD GAY DVD'S. THIS WAS SUCH A WASTE OF MONEY. AND BACK IN 2000 IT WAS AROUND $1000. SHIIIIIT. someone help me out here, i wanna play burnt DVD's and CD'S, MP3 would be nice too. alan_a9@hotmail.com

-- ALAN (alan_a9@hotmail.com), April 13, 2004.

That's right HT80 is able to play the original DVD's ONLY, but... The one HT80 which I have now (to replace laser pickup, because it won't read ANY discs) was able to play DVD+R recorded on PC... Funny isn't it? Well... If someone have HT80, all You have to do is sign up for some DVD rental... Or try some kind of Timelife shops to buy Your own DVD collection...

-- Krzychu M. (korpik@o2.pl), November 19, 2004.

Got a HT80 for about 3 years now, paid a shitload back then, turned out it didn't play dvd- rs, cd-r, mp3 , nothing! called panasonic got a very unfriendly support, basically, "tough shit", 2 months later the newer HT70 came out, supposedly played everything, called Pana again ,asking for a laser upgrade or whatever to get the ht80 up to ht70 standards " can't be done" externally it's the same bloody machine! anyways, ow after 3 years of playing dvd-rs i made with toast on a mac using princo dvdr media 4x it starts to hickup 55 mins into a movie... can you elaborate on cleaning & adjusting laser pickup? really do not want to chuck out mre money as this is still a piece of crap but i paid money for it, want to use it until it really dies...

-- Bonzorino (bonzo@anonymous.to), December 12, 2004.

There really isn't any way to adjust a modern laser pickup, and using a cleaning disc can damage your player.

If it's three years old, just junk it. New ones, especially the cheap ones from China play almost anything.

-- Bryan (gryps-innocens@gryphon.zzn.com), December 13, 2004.