Trying to create AVI from restored ISO?

[Emma99999]

I have several DVDs I am attempting to convert into AVI format. (These are all concert recordings made by a friend using the same camera and same DVD-creation software.) I downloaded Freemake and had no trouble with the first few - all converted to AVI and then uploaded to YouTube without a hitch.

When I came to the current disc, I ran Freemake and noticed no problems - it took just as long as normal - but when I looked at the finished AVI file, I noticed that the recording froze at a certain point and the rest of the video was just that still image. I checked the DVD itself in a media player (should have done that first) and can't play past that portion. I'm guessing the disc is scratched, though I don't see anything significant on it.

From advice on this forum, I downloaded IsoPuzzle and ran it on the disc. At about 97%, it stalled out, but I let it keep retrying and it slowly ticked up to 98.9%, but at that point (more than six hours later) I was not going to be able to access the computer any longer, so I stopped the program.

It did create an ISO file, and later when I ran that ISO with Windows Media Player, it was fine - the video briefly garbled during the damaged portion, but then resumed completely normal playback. (The damaged portion is even in a non-essential part of the recording.)

However, if I open the ISO with VLC, or attempt to convert it to AVI with FreeMake, it still stops when it reaches the damage.

I tried to simply burn the ISO to a new disc and re-rip it, but the file is too large to fit.

I also tried - with several screen recorders - to simply record the video as I played it in Windows Media Player, but either the playback quality was lousy, the file size was too massive to continue after a few minutes, or both.

I could try IsoPuzzle again, but I simply don't have access to a computer for as long as it would apparently need to run to finish the file. Besides, the video the way it is now is acceptable, but it only plays in Windows Media Player - I need an AVI copy, to upload to YT and then burn myself a backup.

Any ideas would be great.

[Baldrick]

I'm moving you to our video conversion section. You are not making/authoring a new dvd.

Have you tried extract the content from the iso with for example isobuster(free version). Extract the video_ts folder.

[Emma99999]

Sorry about the wrong section, first post here.

I have been able to extract the files from the ISO with WinRar, in the form of VOB files in the VIDEO_TS folder. Tried running FreeMake on said VOBs, still no dice. (Unless there's a program better equipped to convert those to AVIs.)

I'll try isobuster the next time I'm going to be able to run the computer for a while - would you recommend using it on the disc itself or the mostly-recovered version I created with IsoPuzzle?

[Baldrick]

You can try both from the iso and if it fails from the disc itself.

[Cornucopia]

I'd recommend ISOBuster (paid version, sorry), doing a "Managed Image" (*.IBP, *.IBQ, I think it is). This is where you use MULTIPLE drives to tag-team the disc reads. Yes, it re-reads the disc multiple times from each drive and using as many drives as you throw at it until it finishes with an Image with no remaining corresponding read errors. Could take days...weeks...more. But it will give you the BEST chance you have at recovering the material. Would be even better/faster if you had multiple copies of the disc, but I find that unlikely in this case.

The idea behind it is that different drives utilize different read strategies & error-correction algorithms.

Kind of like a median or time-averaging noise filter.

Scott

[davexnet]

How about looking carefully at the disk to see if there is a light scratch, or scuff mark.
I've had good luck with similar minor damage using something like T-cut, a very mild polish
meant for restoring the finish on cars.
Shake the container well. Put a small amount onto the affected area, rub it with your finger for a
minute or two, (I've used a circular motion without issues) wash it off and dry with a soft towel.

[Kerry56]

You said the dvd-video ISO had damage in a non-critical area. Have you tried cutting that section out with something like VideoRedo TV Suite? There is a fully functional trial available for that program. It won't open the ISO directly, but you should be able to mount the ISO in a virtual drive and access it that way.

[jagabo]

You can use the free Mpg2Cut2 to trim out the bad parts of your VOB files and save what's left as MPG files.

[Emma99999]

Extracted VOB files (from the copy, not the disc) with isobuster, then converted said VOBs into AVI with Freemake - plays fine all the way through (except for the same garbling in the damaged section). Thanks so much for the advice, everyone - and will keep the notion of simply removing the damaged section in mind in case I run into this problem in the future.

[Cornucopia]

What I was saying though was that if you worked on the actual disc itself, you might be able to even recover that "garbled" section using Managed Image.

Glad to hear that you are somewhat satisfied anyway.

Scott