Is there any way to get video off unfinalized DVD-RW?

[dwirta]

First off, I know the best thing to do is just finalizing the disc, but I am unable to do so because my DVD recorder will not listen to my remote. I even tried to program another remote to it, and still nothing. So, short of buying a whole new brand name remote (for reference I have a TOSHIBA dvd recorder), is there any way for me to just record what I what, and then use my computer to take the video files off the unfinalized disc, preferrably in AVI or WMV. Thanks, in advance.

[Cornucopia]

Umm, NEW BATTERIES?

Seriously, though, try ISOBuster.

Scott

[jman98]

ISOBuster, ISOPuzzle and maybe 1 or 2 similar programs MIGHT be able to get your video off the DVD-RW disc. You'll just have to try it. There is some chance that nothing can recover your video, but those programs work more often than not. However, there is nothing that can get the video off the disc and convert it to AVI or WMV at the same time. Get the video off the disc first if you can and then worry about converting it with a different program.

[dwirta]

I have tried so many batteries, and as for ISObuster, could you let me know how it works, cause I did download it, but it recognizes the DVD-RW as a blank disc. Am I doing something wrong?

[usually_quiet]

Nero may be able to recover recordings but I have never tried this method:

http://www.dvdrepairtips.com/unfinalized-dvds.html

I have successfully used ISObuster free to recover the data from unfinalized discs made by my DVD recorder. Here are my notes:

Overview of the process:

1. Download and install ISOBuster and VOBEdit
2. Extract the video tracks ISOBuster finds as a .tao file. The tracks containing video will be much larger.
3. Demux audio and video from each .tao file using VOBEdit. This gets rid of some unwanted elements in the .tao files, and prepares resources for IFOEdit.
4. Edit demuxed video and audio. Some DVD recorders lump recordings together in a single track, while others place each recording session in its own track. If there is only one track containing multiple recordings, an MPEG-2 editor will be needed to split the audio and video back into individual recordings. You can edit and author the video and audio you demultiplexed with an editing/authoring package that accepts it. AVIDemux can both edit the demultiplexed audio and video and convert to another format.
5. Author your audio and video files. IFOEdit is easy to use, but any DVD authoring program that can import separate audio and video files will work. If you don't need a DVD, use ImagoMPEG-Muxer to create an mpg from the demultiplexed audio and video.
6. Burn a disc with ImgBurn.

Recover the data with ISOBuster free:

1. Load your DVD
2. Open ISOBuster
3 A window will appear that says "During mounting of the disk only a session/track layout could be found ..."Find missing files and folders"" Click the "Cancel" button
4. Select the drive containing the DVD. (If you can see "Track 01" etc. in the left hand pane, it can likely recover at least some of your data)
5. Open the "Options" menu
6. Select "Image File"
7. Select "ISO/BIN/TAO" Tab
8. Uncheck both boxes
9. Close dialog window
10. To recover data from a track containing video, for example "Track 01", right click on "Track 01" in left-hand pane
11. Select "Extract Track 01"
12. Select "Extract User Data (*.tao, *.iso, *.wav)"
13. Choose where you want to save the data. (It will copy everything it can find as a .tao file)
14. Repeat steps 10 to 13 with all tracks that you believe contain video.

Demux audio and video

1. Run VOBEdit
2. Click the "Open" button at the bottom of the main VobEdit window.
3. Select "All Files (*.*)" from the "Files of Type" drop-down menu in the dialog window
4. Select the .tao file and click the "Open" button in the dialog window
5. Click the "Demux" button at the bottom of the main program window.
6. Select "MPEG Stream" in the Demux area of the Dialog window
7. Click the "OK" button
8. Click the "Demux" button at the bottom of the main program window.
9. Select audio stream type for your camera or recorder in the Demux area of the Dialog window
10. Click the "OK" button


Good luck!

[rcubed]

My Pegasus (TMPGEnc) Authoring v 1.6 and 2.0 could read the VR format the DVD-DVR's use before formatting. It's been a long time since I have used that method. I don't know if the later versions support that or not. Maybe someone has experience with the later versions.

rcubed