Help with copying DVDs. Thanks very much.

[seymoria]

Dear friends.

I have some old DVDs which are deteriorating due to their vintage but are very precious to me. When I playback the DVDs, they do run the video, but after about 20 minutes of playback, it gets blotchy / stuck and the crashes the software. I have tested on different drives and the same problem; they have probably gotten read errors / issues with them.

I want to preserve their video so I thought to duplicate them or copy them to my hard drive. They have .vob files about 3-4 GB each. But also during the copying, the process gets stuck due to bad sectors / read errors.

What I am looking for is if it is possible that I can extract or preserve some of the portion of the .vob files from some of the good sectors still remaining on the DVDs? I dont want to lose everything.

Is there some copying software which can breakdown the single .vob file into pieces (small files) during copying to my hard drive? In this way, I could at least recover some of the video data.

I hope you understand my problem and would very much like your help or advice in any way.

Thanks all and regards.
Amer

[redwudz]

ISOBuster is usually my choice for corrupted discs. Or you might try dvdisaster or IsoPuzzle. BTW, VOBs are always about 1GB maximum or they would be unlikely to play on any set top player.

I would also inspect the discs to see if they have any physical damage. If you see blotches on the dye side, then that is physical damage. No visible damage may be a problem with the reader (DVD drive) you are using.

[seymoria]

Thanks very much for your response.

The discs have visible fine scratches on the dye side but I think some fine scratches are inevitable on almost every optical media. The DVDs are behaving in the same manner in two DVD drives as well as my set top player.

I have downloaded both the freeware (DVDisaster) and the trial of ISOBuster. Will try them on my DVDs and let you know the results.

Best Regards,
Amer

[INFRATOM]

Try dvdfab to transfer it to your hard drive. How deep are the scratches? there are ways to polish the discs. DVD stores have polishing machines. Plastics can be mirror polished too but make sure you find out how or ask a professional to do it.
Large VOB's can be extracted to mpeg and be re-authored. Give us more info what the dvd is you could also run it through dvd rebuilder. I was used to capture sport create video_ts if it was oversize just ran it through dvd rebuilder.

[Captain315]

Before you go to a professional, I would suggest that you call the motorcycle shops in your area and pick up a can of Plexus. It is a spray can of plastic cleaner, protectant and polish. This item should be anywhere there is a DVD collection. It works where none of the others will at cleaning and repairing unplayable DVD's. I might also suggest that you stop by Walmart or some other store and buy yourself a microfiber cloth. This is the only cloth that I've found that will clean a DVD and not leave scratches.

[AlanHK]

Software: Isopuzzle is free and is very persistent.
It creates an ISO file and reads as much of the disc as possible into it, and keeps trying till you tell it to stop.
Plenty of tools can open ISO files, but only do so when Isopuzzle has been shut down.

Physical: give the playing surface a gentle rub with your fingers and toothpaste, and rinse clean, pat dry with soft clean towel. Don't flex the disc while you're rubbing, it can crack.

[victoriabears]

It is alittle worrying to see dvd's lasting less time than my 15 year old VHS recording.

[AlanHK]

It is alittle worrying to see dvd's lasting less time than my 15 year old VHS recording.

In the climate here I lose tapes to mould in 6-12 months.
DVDs at least can be copied with no loss.

[victoriabears]

Yes, I see, my vhs collection has been moved 3 times, once internationally and always stored in the unlit dry environment.

Amazing the difference these things make.