Need to unfinalize disks. I had them finalized and they will not unfinalize so that I can use the disk again.

A finalized disk cannot be unfinalized. Purpose of the finalization process is to make the disk more readable/compatible with other players.

If you want to make copy a finalized disk should copy and be playable elsewhere other than the originating machine.

You could finalize the disk with the same recorder, this enables the disk to be read in another players.

hi its geoff
yes you can. i dose say that no more recording can be done after the disc is finalized (thats true, you first have to unfinalize the cd to write more files on it.but you can initialize the disk at any time but you lose the recorded content(it frormats the disk) then you can use the disk over and over again. remember finalizing and unfinalizing requires you to plug the mains charger into the camcorder it assumes theres not enough power in the battery to do the job and will need the mains every time.but initializing only requires sufficient battery power .

go to settings and select disk finalize. usually you can view a unfinalized disk on the machine that makes it but not on other machines. I adds indexes etc. just to completed the recording

Yes, you must finalize to view the dvd in a stand-alone dvd player.

No, battery doesn't have to be charged but the camera does have to be plugged in to do finalizing.

After, finalizing the disk, and you are in fact using DVD-RW (re-writable) disks, yes you can un-finalize them within the Canon camera to record more video.

I have used the same 3 rewritable disks on my Canon over and over again to record many hours of footage.

i had same problem, the laser is going bad. soon it will not read any disks.
and had many disks not finalized. so i bought a new one (jvc) and it does read the other disks not finalized. hope this helps

Try playing the problem disks on your PC. If they wont play and the "Finalised" disks do then try recording a further brief clip on the problem disk. If that works then attempt to "Finalise" again. Can you play the problem disks in the Camera by the way?

I don't know a direct "solution," but you should be able to USB your images from the unfinalized CD to your pc.

no Sir there is nothing to do now because there will be no tracking of data apart from another pioneer dvr-225. Try inserting the disc in a similar dvd player! Please vote me solved Patrick

If you can find software to read UDF (universal disk format) you may be able to recover your pix. Whatever you do -- DO NOT reinitialize or finalize the disk. Your existing pix will certainly be lost if you do.