Page 1 of Problem with Panasonic DMR-E50

Hi
I think that I`ve just done a wrong `un.I bought a second hand Panasonic DMR-E50 from the dreaded eBay.It came with a second hand Panasonic 4.7 gb DVD-RAM cartridge disc that the bloke said will need formating to wipe it clean.
In about 5 minutes I had the thing up & running,it plays CD,pre recorded DVDs & it also played the secondhand disc that came with it but when it came to formating the secondhand DVD ram disc,it just kept saying "format failed" & then the box would go into "recovery".Thinking that it was proberly just a knackered disc I went out today & bought a pack of five 4.7gb panasonic ram discs & on trying them the box just said the the discs were protected & not recordable.
It seems to me that there is a recording problem with the box itself & not a disc problem & thinking about it now,its strange that the bloke I bought it off did not format the disc before he sent it.
Any info or tips to point me to something I might be doing wrong before I insert it into the bloke I bought it off would be great please.

Cheers

I have the same recorder. I did have an issue with one Ram disc not formating! Is was just the one only though.

Have you formated the new ram discs first? Have to tried recording to DVD-R discs?

Try doing this quickly as if is faulty you need to contact the bloke who sold it to you and get a refund!

Hi
Thanks for the quick reply
I tried to format the new discs but the box would not let me,either the message would be that the discs were protected or not recordable.I have not tried DVD-R discs as I didnt want to but more stuff for it if it is faulty.

out of curiousity why do you need to format a RAM disc? on my E55 from memory I`ve never used the format option, what does it do(apart from the obvious that it wipes data, does formatting provide any function than just putting a RAM disc in and recording away?)

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out of curiousity why do you need to format a RAM disc?
Well it lets you wipe an entire disc in one go instead of chapter by chapter,it also is usefull when transfering single programmes and films onto your PC from a RAM disc.

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Well it lets you wipe an entire disc in one go instead of chapter by chapter

Yeah,coz that`s suuuuuch a chore..... :/ ;)

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Yeah,coz that`s suuuuuch a chore.....
Well if you delete it chapter by chapter your computer will still read it as a full disc,also you can format entire disc with about 4 clicks,try that with a dozen chapters,I reckon 48 clicks on the remote . :)