Archived unfinalized DVD-RWs--can i play them?

[mpmp0]

i had been archiving movies to DVD-RWs to watch at a later date and to erase. the DVD-RWs are not finalized. the DVD recorder that i used to do this died on me. when i put these DVD-RWs in other players or even my other DVD recorder, none of them recognize the DVD-RWs.

is there any way to access the movies on these DVD-RWs (i had no luck on my computer's DVD-RW unit either)? is there some player/recorder known for reading other machine's unfinalized copies?

or if i can find another of the same unit (it is an older Emerson) do you think that has a chance to play these DVD-RWs?

hoping for some good news or leads here, guys...

thanks.

[drjtech]

ISOBuster has a very good reputation for recovering VOB files from unfinalized DVDs.

-drjtech

[lordsmurf]

I've never been able to recover unfinalized video using ISO Buster. THe best choice is to find an Emerson, and finalize on that machine.

[samijubal]

Emerson is Funai. Just go to Walmart and buy the cheapest recorder you can find and it should be a Funai.

[showtaper]

I've never been able to recover unfinalized video using ISO Buster. THe best choice is to find an Emerson, and finalize on that machine.

I agree, I've had much better luck with CD Roller.....

[PuzZLeR]

Not sure what you can do about some other machine, but I would bet your best shot is to extract the data to your hard drive and re-author. A new set of blanks are cheap anyway today.

And I too have had zero luck with ISOBuster. Not once has it worked for me, even while it would "process" overnight. Zilch.

The best for this IMO is NeroVision. If it works, then it's worth a purchase.

-load your DvD
-select Make DvD (and choose either DvD-Video or Editable DvD, both have worked for me)
-on next page, Import Disc, then choose the drive
-you should see a listing of all your video files on the disc, choose the ones you want and an output folder and let NV do its thing

You should have your video rescued losslessly to the .mpg file format. Now you have been granted a second chance to re-author, burn and finalize properly and enjoy. (You can even re-edit and re-encode anything if you like as well.)

NV works so good for me that I've even stopped bothering to finalize anything from my DVR any more since I prefer to dump all my video on my PC for processing anyway.

[jman98]

mpmp0 - There's no free way to do this. All of the suggestions are going to cost you money and it's possible that none of them may work.

DVD recorder - I have no idea if samijubal is correct or not about Funai, but assuming he is, another DVD recorder may or may not work. It will cost you money to find out and if it doesn't work, your out the most money of all the options.

Many people report that ISOBuster doesn't work for them and worse, in it's "trial" mode, you can do absolutely nothing with it. You can buy a copy and hope it works. It may not.

CDRoller is also not free, but it also has a trial mode. Perhaps its trial mode actually works. I don't know as I've never used it.

[PuzZLeR]

Hey jman98,

Either we posted at almost the same time or you haven't tried NeroVision. Yes, it's payware, but it's just gotta be one of the most under-rated apps discussed on this forum for what it does.

[victoriabears]

what brand / and or model died on you, look on ebay and pick one up.

Would finalise the disc(s) in under a 10th of the time some of the software if it works

[lordsmurf]

How precisely would Nero Vision understand an UNFINALIZED disc? I wonder if some people are even reading this original post.

ISO Buster work really well at some things -- unfinalized media is not one of them.

[usually_quiet]

Perhaps the brand of DVD recorder used has something to do with whether or not ISOBuster will work.

I have used the free version several times to extract a .tao file (to my PC's HDD) from an unfinalized DVD-RW created by a Panasonic DVD recorder. It even works on a disc that failed while a program was being recorded. The only time it didn't work was on a disc that failed while it was being finalized.

I just rename the .tao to .mpg and PowerDVD can play it. To demux a .tao file for my editor, I rename it to .VOB, and VOBEdit can process the file. Not pretty, not what I would choose to do under normal circumstances, but it works.

[PuzZLeR]

How precisely would Nero Vision understand an UNFINALIZED disc? I wonder if some people are even reading this original post.

I lie not!

It's a little-known secret of NeroVision. Its ability to recognize my DVR's un-finalized discs is amazing. I honestly don't know how it does this, but it imports the content flawlessly if you follow my earlier post's steps.

So far I've only tried it on my Pioneer 520 DVR's burns, and those of an LG DVR from a family member when they had problems with it. The un-finalized discs from both were read and imported flawlessly.

I don't know if it will work with every machine's un-finalized burns, but if the O/P is desperate, and wants to try something, it can't hurt.

[victoriabears]

Wonder if its anything to do with rw as opposed to -r?

[mpmp0]

wow! first of all, thanks to all for taking time on your Sunday to post. with all of these posts, i'm heartened that one or more of the solutions posted will work.

i've printed this whole thread out and have downloaded ISOBUSTER already; i'm also looking for trial versions of the other software programs mentioned.

i've spent the day tinkering inside the still-flatlined Emerson and querying family members and friends about the brands of their DVD recorders. i'll expand that search to try and find someone with versions of the mentioned software.

will probably have a report by next weekend. i'll post then and let you all know what i've come up with.

many thanks again to all who have helped.

[lordsmurf]

If it's a capacitor or DVD burner issue in the Emerson (you've not said much about how it "died"), then the machine may be easy to fix!

[PuzZLeR]

If you still haven't found your solution with ISOBuster (and others mentioned) or a compatible alternative player or even fixing the original, then you may want to try NeroVision in Nero 8 here:

http://www.nero.com/enu/downloads-nero8-trial.php

Never tried the trial though, but if I remember, Nero has fully functioning software for a period of 30 days, so it should work.

And if they sell Nero 7 somewhere cheaper (not sure) that version of NeroVision has the same Import feature too.

Good luck. Hope you rescue your video soon enough.

[samijubal]

Funai recorders are sold under a variety of different names including, but not limited to, Funai, Emerson, Magnavox, Sylvania, SV. From my experience recorders from the same manufacterer that aren't too many years apart will finalize the discs from another unit.

[lordsmurf]

Try to finalize it in a Philips machine, as found at Walmart.

[samijubal]

Philips is another one that uses Funai. You could take a disc to a local store and see if you can find a recorder that reads the disc. If you can find a recorder that reads the disc , it should finalize it.

[midnightsun]

wow. I can vouch for NeroVision being able to recognize and import tracks from unfinalized -R's that Windows Explorer obviously can't see.

Amazing!

[mpmp0]

well, let me give the short version of where i am now--my Emerson EWR20V4 DVD Recorder is back from the dead--and i'm not quite sure why or how. i had it unplugged a day or so while i looked inside to see if there was something i could detect. i just pushed and wiggled things inside a bit and eventually plugged it back in--darned if it didn't come on. so i'm back in business. there had been some electrical spikes and outages in the area the week my unit went out--not sure if that was the issue or not.

things i found out because of my temporary outage:

the EWR20V4 is available on Ebay, Amazon and a few other places for around $80 refurbed. i considered that for awhile before my unit came back on and probably would have gone that route if my unit had not come back on (but this is NOT a recommendation of the unit--heck, this thing can't even use DVD blanks that are above 4X!!).

i downloaded Nerovision (a pretty big download) and tried it. i followed the instructions above but Nerovision would not recognize my burner correctly. it would only see it as a CD drive with the DVD-RW inside. i even tried leaving the drive open and loading Nero. Nero saw the drive as a DVD recorder--until i closed the drive door with the DVD-RW inside, then it saw it as a CD drive and wouldn't let me access anything on the disk. i did this after my recorder started working so rather than research and change settings within Nero, i just let it go.

on the other hand, ISOBUSTER (a much smaller download) saw the computer drive as a DVD-RW immediately. as soon as i told it to access the drive, an option appeared that asked me if i wanted to recognize any type of file on the disk. i said yes. after a minute or so, ISOBUSTER listed files it saw on the DVD-RW--a few VOB files appeared. i tried to extract them but the trial version does not allow that. but ISOBUSTER did recognize the files quickly.

botton line, i'm back in business. thanks again to all that posted. guess i better watch my archived stuff before this unit gets sick again.

[handyguy]

Unplugging things resets them this is what one should try first.

[victoriabears]

I think that ensuring discs are finalized before the dvd recorder goes cranky again would also be agood idea, it will take a shorter time than watching them all

[mpmp0]

to the latest two posters--

trust me, the unit was unplugged and plugged in before i posted on this forum. that has always been my first course of action upon experiencing problems since i purchased my first VCR.

and, yes, i had not thought of finalizing all of them--but that seems like the prudent course of action at this point. thanks.