Emmerson DVD/VCR EWR20V5

WOW this system has a lot of problems. I am having the same exact problem. At first it quit recording/dubbing on ALL the DVD-R disks, except for Sony. It quit.....then I used a DVD cleaning disk.....then it worked.....now I keep getting the same recording error: "Cannot record on this disk" E4 54037380. Now the disks I have used up to this point were 1x-16x, so should I try a lower speed or is this unit a lost cause? And yea, I tried their 800 number too, and that was a waste of time. I haven't even had this unit a year yet. Any help on this would be great.

Contact the company. They have an upgrade disc which can be sent to you which might fix the problem. I just talked to a company representative about my unit which is having the same problem. Hope this helps.

My answer... the device is defective and all customer who have purchased this item should be refunded (at least in part) the total purchase price.  Maybe reinvest in more reliable brands such as JVC, Kenwood or Panasonic.

Ed S.

I have this same problem... called the 800 number and was told it must be something we did... but I find the same issue all over the web. No solutions. Anyone have a fix for this?

I am using the disks reccomended for the unit, and have bought too many to count trying to find the "right one".

I am so frustrated, as the only reason we bought the combo was to have the option to record DVDs. help!

if yoy dont hav firm ware up date you cant fix the machine. the machine if working will on work on 4x. like i said if the machine is not working you maybe able to fix it with the firm ware up date that lets it record on 8x only,
now if some of the people out ther has the firm wade update disk, they could shareit with all the people who dont, i had one but its been 2 years sence i used it, i will look for it and make it available for all

First I don't know the number to get firmware disk upgrade mentioned above - tried number on my unit and they said that it can't be used for any 16x disks!!!

I have had not problem with 8x -R disks and below speeds but only sometimes with the 16x disks and found that somehow the firmware gets "off" (mine is EWR20v5) since they (cust serv) said can't be used EVER on 16x but I did over 50 using that speed with no problem then BAM it stopped working - sometimes would record the 10hrs then wouldn't allow finalizing then got worse where wouldn't even record at all without the error message.

Way I fixed this was by thinking about how they work and did the following:
1) physically unplug the unit and leave for at least half hour (allows unit to bleed off electricity stored, etc)
2) Put in a 16x disk that DID allow it to be written to and finalized too (even if someone else's that they gave to you and not recorded on this machine) - play last item and then skip to end and play the end until finished.
3) You can try using pre-recorded disk that was 16x and purchased too
4) Now use the 16x disk and try recording something that is even a few min long to an hour - everytime I do above then try to record it doesn't give me the error message anymore.

So somehow it "resets" it to work -- see if this doesn't help ya'll.

Judy M.

I'm posting this because I've been getting a error message on my EWR20V5 also. I had the recorder for about 9 months and now everytime I put a DVD-RW in to record there is a error message about 4 seconds after hitting the record button. I bought 3 different disk cleaners for the recorder to clean the lens and after the cleaning the error message is still there. I called the 800 number and was told the year warranty only covers parts, not labor after 90 days, period. I have a Panasonic DVD recorder I use in my other room that I had for almost 2 years and I swapped the error disks from my Emerson and they recorded perfectly on my Panasonic. I've tried this on 11 DVD-RW disks. I tried these disks: HP, Verbatim, OfficeMax, Memorex, and Maxell. All work on the Panasonic and non on the Emerson EWR20V5. I bought the exact same speed disks that came with the recorder (Verbatim). After swapping disks between my Panasonic and Emerson,I know for a fact that it is not the disk but the recorder. If anyone have a solution please post. I paid over $150 for this thing.

had same problem w/ewr2ov4

you may be using a too high speed, even though you have used this dvd disc before, try brands tdk, excel, imation speed 24-8x, i hope this will help you.

ms noaa

I dug up a pack of Sony 1x-4x and works fine. These old units don't handle 16x very well. These units record live so they are not 16x burners. Just have to shop around on Internet and find 1x-4x media, maybe 8x will work have not tried it.