faulty DVD-R will not finalize

joecass · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: United States

How do I finalize a recorded DVD-R when the machine won't recognize the disc ?
I recorded two important TV shows onto my Toshiba DVD recorder to a blank
Sony DVD-R disc (on a timer). Next day, turn the machine on, it gives a
'disc error' message, and won't load. So the disc is unfinalized, can't watch the
program material. I put the flawed DVD-R into several computers, there are
program files on the disc, but I can't find anyway to read them, or finalize the
disc. Any suggestions ?[/b]

jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

IsoBuster may be able to recover the contents of the DVD, but my understanding is that IsoBuster is not free and while you can demo it for free, you can't really do much useful with it until you pay for it.

Your disc may just be hopelessly corrupted. You need to accept this possibility. Sony media sold in North America is pretty crappy these days and as such not recommended. You'd do better to buy Verbatim or mail order Taiyo Yuden.

Finally, there are alternate ways of getting TV programs, although not necessarily in DVD format. You can probably find your shows on various BitTorrent networks.

orsetto · Member Joined: 31 Oct 2007 Location: NYC

joecass might have simply gotten a bum Sony disc, but in his case I think the trashed disc is more likely due to his Toshiba recorder than his Sony disc. Toshibas, while fine machines in many ways, are notorious for their very twitchy burners that flake periodically for no apparent reason and ruin discs by "semi-finalizing" them. I have seen so many reports of this mishap that make it about 50/50 whether it was a bad disc or the recorder acting up. The GOOD news, if it was the recorder, is many people manage to "repair" their semi-finalized discs by putting them into a different Toshiba. Find a sympathetic store with a display model you can use for a minute to try and "re-finalize" this disc before giving up on it.

The *only* oem mfr left still selling old-style, carefully-Japanese-made discs is Taiyo Yuden. If you can plan ahead and buy online, they are the last of the truly great DVD media. Get the TY Premium 8x while you still can, sooner or later it will be phased out in favor of their 16x which is not quite as stellar. I respectfully disagree with the slam against Sony media: like ALL other media (including the now-overpraised Verbatim which is currently in QC free-fall around the world), there are good and bad batches depending on factory location and date of mfr. I have the pickiest, most annoying g*ddamned burners of anyone on this forum, including a number of really old DVD recorders that won't burn anything currently on store shelves. For "archival" use, I hate relying on just one media supplier: I like to keep a backup copy on different discs. So in desperation one day I tried Sony DVD-R for my alternate copies and have never looked back: hundreds of discs in the last two years without a single reject or coaster on ANY of my hardware. I wish I'd known about Sony earlier instead of wasting my money on CMC-made garbage like TDK that fails 50-60% of the time. The only caveat I find with Sony media, whether - or +, is that the discs marked made in Taiwan work 100% of the time for me, and the ones marked made in Malaysia give me problems 2 out of 10. It is easy enough to check the wrapper for the country of mfr before you buy- stick to Taiwan in Sony's case. Note Sony Taiwan reliability is subject to change overnight just like Verbatim and TDK and all the other brand names did, so don't overbuy until you've tested them first.

joecass · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: United States

Thanks for the help...... Iso Buster would probably work - except it wants a registration
and a key to extract the video files from the disc. Not worth paying to rescue one disc.
I didn't think of doing a torrent search for the shows, good suggestion !
More importantly than all this, I'll have to repeat this process on the Toshiba to see if
it happens again. Normally I record shows onto the hard drive, then copy to -RW's
to watch later, and eventually erase the -RW disc. I ran out of -RW discs, so I used
an old Sony -R that was laying around. This is the first time I attempted to record
directly to disc to save time copying shows from the hard drive, so I'm kinda pissed.
As far as the Toshiba goes, I already replaced the DVD drive last year, so it shouldn't
give me any sort of problem. I agree that Toshiba recorders are finicky, but prior to
this happening, I used a Sony disc to archive an hdd recording and it worked perfectly.
Normally I use inexpensive Staples DVD's and have had no problems with them.
In case anyone's interested, I have three other hard drive machines..... Sony, RCA
and just picked up a Philips refurb 3575H. Recently I bought a Polaroid DRA01601A,
that was a god-awful machine. I wound up selling it on Craigslist. Now I'm trying the
Philips with the ATSC tuner, it seems to work well, but I'm having a hard time pulling
digital stations off my cable line.

wabjxo · Member Joined: 22 Sep 2007 Location: United States

On your Philips 3575, do you have it 1st on the coax, as descibed here?

Here's another post that might be helpful on system connections.
_________________
1-Philips 3575/3576 & Magnavox H2160 Features, Setup and Operation
2-How to Insert an Image in Your Post

DB83 · Member Joined: 26 Jul 2007 Location: United Kingdom

Did you record in VR mode or video mode ?

If the former, I could extract mpeg video from an un-finalised dvd -r(-rw) using ulead video studio.

You could also try mpeg stream clip.

Does not work for video mode tho.

If it's 'half-finalised' it's more likely to be trashed.

joecass · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: United States

I recorded the DVD-R in Video Mode, so it will likely remain unplayable but I'll keep looking for software that might extract the mpeg video.

As far as the Philips, even putting it first in the cable line doesn't help...
only able to get 3 or 4 stations. On this same line, I have my LG HDTV
and LG HDTV tuners hooked up, both get all available unscrambled digital channels with no problem. However, both these units have 'settings' for
STD, HRC and IRC digital cable scanning. The IRC setting is what gets me
everything, including HDTV channels from the major networks.

On the previous Polaroid, it had twin tuner inputs for analog and digital,
and scanned 55 digital channels..... except it wouldn't hold a picture long enough to watch or record. That's why I got rid of it. With the Philips, using the 'antenna' setting, I get about 4 stations from an indoor amplified antenna, but the picture also fades in and out, not suitable for recording.

I read all, and I mean all the posts in this forum regarding the Philips before I bought it, nobody mentioned a weak tuner, everyone said the
ATSC tuner was great, better than their TV tuners, etc. etc. I even have
two signal amplifiers, one right from the cable co., and one I bought last year on line that boosts cable frequencies +15db. None of this helps the
digital signal strength on my system as far as the Philips goes.

louv68 · Member Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Location: Minneapolis, USA

The free version has worked for me in the past. You don't need to register it if you'll be using it's free capabilities.
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic349749.html#1839247
_________________
-The Mang

joecass · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: United States

louv68 · Member Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Location: Minneapolis, USA

Seriously. I've used the free version a few times in the past to recover unfinalized or unreadable video DVD's.
The last time I did this was a few weeks ago using v2.3, and the screen shot I made was during that session. Unless the free version has since been crippled to no longer allow it; follow the few steps I gave in the post I linked to.

Just drag and drop to the HDD as shown. I hope it works for you too. Good luck.
_________________
-The Mang

louv68 · Member Joined: 10 Feb 2004 Location: Minneapolis, USA

joecass,

Out of curiosity, I just attempted to extract video off another DVD to see if it was possible, using the unregistered/free version.

This is version 2.3.0.1 and it works! I don't know why it doesn't work for you???

I made screenshots of each step, so maybe you could try it exactly as shown.

1. Expand ISO and select VIDEO_TS in the left window pane.
2. Select all files in right window pane.

3. Shrink the IsoBuster window slightly to allow you to Right Click and add a destination folder (I added one on the Desktop)

4. Drag the files to that folder and as you'll see, they are being extracted with no message to pay having popped up.

If it doesn't work, PM me your e-mail and I'll send you the file I downloaded here at Videohelp.com
_________________
-The Mang

joecass · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: United States

the file structure from the Toshiba DVD is not the same in the left hand window pane as what you show above...... I have the same version of
ISO Buster, so it should work, but doesn't. When I right click the options of the highlighted files, every extraction procedure brings up the pop up
to pay for the program. BTW, there is only one .ISO and one .BUP file for the whole disc, even though there are three .VOB files shown. Maybe the disc was defective when being recorded, that's why this procedure doesn't work. Thanks very much for your help.

LCSHG · Member Joined: 25 Jan 2005

joecass

Your Quotes

May 8,08
I put the flawed DVD-R into several computers, there are
program files on the disc, but I can't find anyway to read them, or finalize the
disc.

May 28, 08
BTW, there is only one .ISO and one .BUP file for the whole disc, even though there are three .VOB files shown

Can the vob files be trsnsferd to a PC. If So and they are valid. A program as PowerDVD should be able to play them. If not I might assume the files on the disk are corrupt.
----------------------------------------------------------------

Orsetto ---Quote

Toshibas, while fine machines in many ways, are notorious for their very twitchy burners that flake periodically for no apparent reason
-----------------------------------

I would very much agree with this

I use 11 liteon /ilo units they will all play an un-finalized disk burned on one or the other unit.
Also any unit will finalize a disk burned on any other liteon/ilo

Some units will recognize a un-finalized disk burned on another unit but will want to format the disk to its liking which is ok as it can than be played and recorded as needed.
I do not like to use 3rd party software as to often it results in lost files

Recently a friend had a similar problem. The files were transferred in a PC the disk was not recognized in the liteon/ilo 04 units but were in a ilo05 made by Cyberhome and a disk recorded that could be played in most any player

All this may not help but when its said that a disk must be finalized in the machine that did the burn. Is not necessarily so.

I would try a similar unit or any unit firdt
I hope that the use of software and a PC has not damaged any files

joecass · Member Joined: 28 Jul 2007 Location: United States

LCSHG: thanks for the info, but I don't have access to any Lite On or Ilo
recorders..... Power DVD will not read the files, because any computer I pop the disc into reads it as a "CD" with audio files, rather than DVD video. In the Iso Buster examples posted above by louv68, the file structure on the left window pane shows a valid .VOB file, whereas on my unfinalized Toshiba disc, only the "Video_RM" is present on the left. There is no "Video_TS" folder in the main tree structure. Bear in mind that the Toshiba I use is an older model probably dating back to 2004 or so.
I've also tried inserting the unfinalized disc into three other hdd/dvd recorders I own, all report a 'disc error' message and will not read it.
I also tried using Sonic My DVD present on my laptop, which has a
"finalize DVD-R" function in its Tools Menu, but as before, the computer
won't read the disc as a DVD, it shows up as a CD instead. Maybe I can find an 'unlocked' Iso Buster file on-line, that's probably the only program
that will work in this case.