Problem with some .DAT files

[yank200]

Hi, here is my problem:
I downloaded an image disc of a VCD, when I try to play the .DAT file with QT pro 5 (I'm on mac by the way), the only thing I get is a white screen, then almost no image and garpses of sound. It happens with a couple of disk images, not all of them. Those disk images were made with Toast. So I tried VCDGear to convert the .DAT to mpeg and I got this message:

"WARNING: Specified DAT file has an invalid DAT signature."

The mpeg I get at the end plays the same way as the .DAT file (white screen..).

The weird thing is that my friend whom I got the disk image from can play the .DAT no problem.
So I was wondering what does the error message mean?
Do you know any way to troubleshoot this issue? Or have you ever heard of it?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a lot.

[gregos]

I did the same thing on my Mac and had the same results
you did... I never had this problem when converting .DAT
files to .mpg...
I would appreciate also if anyone knows why I get an error
in Toast that says I need to encode/multiplex when trying to burn
a .mpg to a VCD... Some .mpg files work while others give me the
encode/multiplex error.... How can I fix the .mpg so it will burn to a
VCD in Toast???

Thanx,

[bilbogod]

Yank 200 - I've had that message before, but resolved it after passing the dat through Nero. Btw - I don't have a Mac so I wouldn't even know if the software is compatible or if this even helps. It's just a thought....

[yank200]

Thanks, no Nero is for PC only.
To go back to my problem, I realized that with the same VCD disk image (that I downloaded again), if I burn it directly with Toast, without first mounting it, the VCD itself would be playable. I could even play the .DAT with QT straight from the CD. I think it does some weird stuff with toast when making disc image of VCD. I tried to make a disc copy of the working VCD I just burnt, mounted it and again same problem...white screen. Cause...dunno...something with toast and finder??

[Lolsmurf2002]

I'm new to this board and found these topics about .DAT files. Like all of you i'm having the same problems. I wanted to make a back-up copy of a VCD so i can't scratch the original and it stays new. After making an Image file and mounted it and burnt with TOAST i could play it BUT only the first trailer of the disc. After this the DVD Rom player is searchin for the movie but can't detect it and the VCD player stops. When i wanted to check the files on the disc it gave me the message it was unreadable "read error -36". When i wanted to rip the movie off and copy this to my harddrive it did the same. Using VCDgear and try to convert .DAT to MPEG it gives me the message "invalid data signature". This is probably the same problem like everyone else has after downloading an Image file. Can anyone of you tell me why this happens when copying the disc. How do i copy the movie file? Are they encrypted? Please help i'm getting very desparate!!! [/img]