Problem ripping standalone DVD recorder disc

[mojo]

I got a DVD of my lasik operation from the doctor... it plays on a standalone player, but in Windows software players won't play it, and DVD Decrypter thinks the disc is empty.

Windows thinks the DVD is blank! Nothing shows in an Explorer file menu.

I thought maybe it wasn't finalized, but none of those options in DVD Decrypter worked.

Any ideas? This is the weirdest one I have ever seen!

The media is DVD+R RW

[Bodyslide]

Let Imgburn see if it will read it....Also VLS or MPC might be able to play it on the PC

[mojo]

Imgburn also says the disc is empty if I try to extract an ISO.

Of coruse, if I try to write something, is says the disc is NOT empty.

[freebird73717]

Possibly try isobuster

[t0nee1]

See if you can open it with Shrink..

[SCDVD]

You might also try running it through FixVTS

[Megahurts]

mojo,

Don't give the doctors name. The MPAA might want to talk to him.

[Noahtuck]

Are you sure it is an RW ??
Regular write once DVD+R's also have the RW logo on them but are NOT rewritable.

Isobuster is usually the best solution to pull contents off a disc when it shows as having no content.

You might also try running it through FixVTS

And how exactly would he do that

Imgburn also says the disc is empty if I try to extract an ISO.

Of coruse, if I try to write something, is says the disc is NOT empty.

I got a DVD of my lasik operation from the doctor... it plays on a standalone player, but in Windows software players won't play it, and DVD Decrypter thinks the disc is empty.

Windows thinks the DVD is blank! Nothing shows in an Explorer file menu.

I thought maybe it wasn't finalized, but none of those options in DVD Decrypter worked.

Any ideas? This is the weirdest one I have ever seen!

The media is DVD+R RW

[Bix]

This happens to a decent amount of discs from standalone recorders.

[mojo]

Thanks for the advice, guys. ISO buster did recognize there were files, and after grabbing the TAO file I still couldn't do anything with it (the extracted MPEG files all were zero).

It is a DVD +R, not RW.

I tried reaming the TAO to ISO but still no luck.

Any other suggestions?

[lordsmurf]

It may be written UDF only, and some computers have issues for unknown reasons.

[mojo]

The disc shows as empty on both my PC at work and at home.

I tried DVD Shrink but it also thinks the disc is empty.

I suppose the only point of interest here is that if anyone wanted to distribute DVDs and make it REALLY hard for someone to rip, they should master them on a standalone DVD recorder. I'm pretty good with this stuff and I can't do it - and so far the experts here are stumped.

I really want to get the video off this disc, would still love any suggestions.

[SCDVD]

Just an idea, I don't have any reason to believe it will work but you might try to see if you can read the disc on a Mac or Linux based system. I have low expectations that it will work but it won't hurt to try if you have access to one of these systems.

[freebird73717]

While I haven't used it you might also try CD Roller. It's trialware so it's worth a shot.

[fritzi93]

In IsoBuster, you could try a scan for missing files/folders, and, if prompted, make a "managed image" on your hard drive. It'll scan quicker. The presence of *.bin or *.tao or other generic extension doesn't tell you much of anything, and re-naming is a long shot at best. The data is there, you just have to get IsoBuster to recognize what you have. Tried the help files? Good luck.

[EDIT] (I confess I don't know much about DVD recorders.) Anyway, you know for certain that the data is Mpeg2. Have you tried extracting and filtering only M2F2 Mpeg frames? I know you say you did extract MPeg files, but which specific option did you use? Have you expanded the directory tree upper left (will it do so?) and tried several entries?

Look here:

http://www.smart-projects.net/help.php?help=145

And here:

http://www.smart-projects.net/help.php?help=910

On this page is a basic rundown of extraction methods:

http://www.smart-projects.net/help.php?help=130

Isobuster isn't exactly easy to come to grips with, but it's very capable.

[jman98]

I suppose the only point of interest here is that if anyone wanted to distribute DVDs and make it REALLY hard for someone to rip, they should master them on a standalone DVD recorder. I'm pretty good with this stuff and I can't do it - and so far the experts here are stumped.

The fact that you can't do it means nothing. To be blunt, we have no way to know if you know what you are doing. It could also be problems with your equipment.

I'd be more impressed on "stumping the experts" if somebody other than you actually could take a crack at this. Of course I understand why that's not possible, but keep in mind that you are asking people to help you remotely and if some of us had physical access to this disc, we might be able to copy it or it might even look normal on a different DVD drive than you have access to. Also, someone suggested that you might have UDF problems and I can't rule this out. You tell us that you are "pretty good with this stuff" and maybe you are, but we do the best we can remotely given the information at hand. I've seen plenty of posts here over the years where someone will say something like:
I did X and B resulted when it should have been A
and then we find out that they actually did not do X at all but did Y and when you do Y B always happens. We get a lot of people who post misleading information here. Such posts may be accidental as the poster may just not know enough to correctly describe what happens. Don't get me started on the people who expect us to be mind readers when they post stuff like "I tried to make a DVD and it didn't work. Why?". So don't be so impressed that people working remotely under the assumption that you know what you are talking about and know what you are doing are unable to help you with something they don't have physical access to.

[jimdagys]

Why don't you just send the disk to one of the experts on this board and let them solve the problem? I'm sure they will make a free copy and send both back to you. Then everybody will know how to copy those kinds of disks.

[mojo]

I plan to have a Mac-based friend take a look at it this afternoon, so we'll see if that gets me anywhere.

Jman, I appreciate your skepticism, but sometimes we have to take people's word at things. As I've already stated, I've tried the disc on THREE PCs, all of which could not play the disc and read it as "empty."

I may not be an "expert" but I am reasonably familiar with DVD Shrink, ISO Buster and DVD Decrypter, none of which have been able to (as of yet) do anything with the disc. I've ripped, encoded and authored plenty of discs and been a member here since 2001, so I think it's not too much of a stretch for people to assume that I am at least not a nube.

Fritzi has some good ideas for ISO Buster, and since that program is the trickiest, and the most likely candidate to work, I look forward to trying them out.

Helping remotely is tricky, I know, but I am taking people's suggestions and reporting the results.

More to come, and thanks to all for continuing to pitch in!

[VegasBud]

mojo,

If all else fails, you can try Infinadyne's "CD/DVD Diagnostic with Video Recovery" product (see here). It's the data recovery part of their "CD/DVD Inspector" forensic software. At $70, it's not cheap, but you did say "I really want to get the video off this disc..." If you want to give it a try, download the evaluation version first, and see if it finds the files. If it does, then you have to pay the $70 to be able to copy the files to your hard drive.

[mojo]

SUCCESS!

I had ISO Buster make a raw img copy of the contents of the DVD to my hard drive... then ran the "file recovery" option. It found the VOBs and (after I paid for a license to use the "advanced features") extracted the VOBs, which I am now converting in VDub.

Thanks to Fritzi for pointing me to the ISO Buster site which offered the suggestions.

[fritzi93]

Thanks for letting us know what worked (many people don't). Congratulations. 8)

[freebird73717]

Glad you got it solved. And yes thank you for posting back what you did that worked. It can help others in the future.

[jimdagys]

Could you post several screenshots pointing out exactly what you did?