Finalize DVD-R, is this possible?

[chiyoaiki]

Is it possible to finalize DVD-R that was written by DVD recorder on PC? If so, how to do it, which software should I use?

I don't own a DVD recorder so I have to try to do it on PC, however the disc was recorded by a friend who used DVD recorder.

Thanks.

[glockjs]

unless a dvd-r or dvd+r was finalized on the first pass it's garbage from what i've experienced.

anybody else wanna input?

[lordsmurf]

I think you need the DVD recorder to finalize it.

[Hardcoreruss]

I think you need the DVD recorder to finalize it.

You do

[tompika]

I think you need the DVD recorder to finalize it.

You do

Maybe but trying to close it with DVD Decrypter would not hurt
(right click Source drive)

[hech54]

Couldn't ISOBuster do something with it?....or is that just for SVCD's. Granted I've been experimenting with an un-finalized +R from a Cybercrap recorder with no luck either....

[chiyoaiki]

Will any DVD recorder do the job or it has to be the same model as the one which recorded it?

I have tried DVD Decrypter and RecordNow, but no luck .

What could I do with ISOBuster?

I could use extract tracks in Nero to save .iso files to my hard disk. If I burn the .iso files, will I be able to watch the DVD on a standalone DVD player? If so, how to burn the multiple .iso files to one DVD?

Thanks.

[hech54]

I recall one of my programs.....forget which one unfortunately...would make an .iso image of the un-finalized Cybercrap disc....but I'm assuming that would be an exact copy of an unworkable disc. UNLESS I burn the image to an RW.....Hmmm.

With my fudged up disc...my DVD Burner just spins and spins not allowing me to even look at the disc. The only thing that stops the madness is opening DVDDecrypter....then opening another program like ISOBuster.
I just don't know enough about ISOBuster yet...still reading.

[qpskfec]

This thread doesn't allow you to finalize the disc, but does show how to extract the data from the unfinalized disc so you can reauthor to a new disc:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=413561

[Alan69]

I think you need the DVD recorder to finalize it.

You do

Maybe but trying to close it with DVD Decrypter would not hurt
(right click Source drive)

Fairly sure the 'lead out' for a finalized disc must be done all at once, it's part of the deep error correction. If you write in open mode, you can't stick this lead out on later. Once multisession, always multisession, and if the recorder didn't close the disc it will never be closed. That is the whole reason for picking Disc At Once vs multisession, simple logic dictates that if you could write multisession then close it DAO later then that's what everyone would always do. You wouldn't have to pick it at the start.

Of course you can always take the files and make a DAO disc later, but you can't close that disc and make it like it was DAO originally..

DAO is more efficient, everything is precalculated and all the deep error correction is done at once for all files since the disc will never be opened again. Look up multisession specs and you'll find that there is more overhead, error correction is on a session or file basis. In other words, when you close a session and open a second one, you've used extra MB that would be used as data in a DAO disc. And once you've closed a session as a session you can't just tack on DAO, the way it's done is different from the start.

This is all from my understanding of how CD's work, but I assume it's the same for DVD and haven't seen anything to the contrary and a lot that backs it up. If your DVD recorder worked in DAO mode, then you'd have to record everything in a straight shot, no closing one file then opening another later. Fairly useless for general recording.

Alan

PS Actually I take one thing back, you may be able to finalize the multisession disc where it can't be written to again, can't remember that for sure or not. But even if so, it still has the multisession open and close data for the sessions, and will never be the same as a DAO disc. Just can't remember for sure and there may be some way to close the session/disc where another session couldn't be added. If so I've never used it though, it'd be pretty useless anyway since it's still not the same as a finalized DAO which is what most finiky players want.

[hech54]

This thread doesn't allow you to finalize the disc, but does show how to extract the data from the unfinalized disc so you can reauthor to a new disc:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=413561

I KNEW ISOBuster had something to do with it. I read "sort of" the same thing elsewhere once before but forgot where.
I'm not sure about me needing Womble..I'll give it a go without it first. I've proven myself to be Womble-Challenged on several occasions...

THANKS for the link qpskfec...much appreciated.

[lordsmurf]

ISO BUSTER PRO in UDF mode will do it. I've extracted data from formatted DVD+RW before.

[ZippyP.]

Fairly sure the 'lead out' for a finalized disc must be done all at once, it's part of the deep error correction. If you write in open mode, you can't stick this lead out on later. Once multisession, always multisession, and if the recorder didn't close the disc it will never be closed.

A DVD from a recorder can be written to or finalized at a later date. Not sure about using a different make/model though.

[e-nation]

I recall one of my programs.....forget which one unfortunately...would make an .iso image of the un-finalized Cybercrap disc....

i can't help it... i'm laughing out loud here... what is Cybercrap?

So, has anyone solved this problem of "closing" an "open" DVD?
I burned a DVD today (i start 'em before leaving for work in the morning, this way when i get home, i have a nice little present waiting for me), but i was booted into a HDD which i haven't been using for a while (i have several HDD's which i use for different, unique applications) and apparently i unexpectedly had Nero Vision Express set to "burn on the fly", or whatever you call the setting in that app in which it writes data bit by bit to the DVD as it's encoding-- i normally wouldn't do it that way, but it had already started, and since i didn't have to sit through it, i let it go.

when i got home, i see an error that the disc burn process didn't finalize properly. so that's how i've arrived at my "open session" dvd. i apologize if i'm not using proper DVD jargon-- being so used to talking about CD-r's

any suggestions? anyone care to share a success story?

[ckwok1]

Is it possible to finalize DVD-R that was written by DVD recorder on PC? If so, how to do it, which software should I use?

I don't own a DVD recorder so I have to try to do it on PC, however the disc was recorded by a friend who used DVD recorder.

Thanks.

I don't think it is possible in general. Finalize a DVD-R needs to:
o create the necessary VIDEO_TS.IFO files
o close the session.

Software on the PC can help you to close the session.

But in order to create the VIDEO_TS.IFO file, some information about the titles recorded are necessary such as the location of the video on the disc, title name, ... etc. They are stored on the DVD but there isn't a standard. That is why you need the same model of DVD recorder in order to finalize a DVD-R.

[slacker]

So

Tools -> Drive -> Close (Track / Session / Disc)

in DVD Decrypter does NOT work?

[e-nation]

going off of Phil Collin's ISOBuster commentary above, i've achieved some success. My "open" DVD has the Video_TS folder, and VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.IFO, VIDEO_TS.VOB, VTS_01_0.BUP, VTS_01_0.IFO, and all of the other VOB files containing the movie. unfortunately, ISOBuster is having trouble w/ VIDEO_TS.BUP and VIDEO_TS.VOB, so i'm not sure if i can drag/ drop the files into a Nero DVD Video template and have the disc play in my set-top player or not.

anyone have experience w/ playing a dvd w/ those files missing? maybe i can learn something here... what is the purpose of each of those files? i'm guessing that some of it is the menu, and some is the table of contents?

[SCDVD]

I recall one of my programs.....forget which one unfortunately...would make an .iso image of the un-finalized Cybercrap disc....

i can't help it... i'm laughing out loud here... what is Cybercrap?

Cybercrap is a more appropriate name for a cheapo recorder called Cyberhome.

[Guitarman]

Is it possible to finalize DVD-R that was written by DVD recorder on PC? If so, how to do it, which software should I use?

I don't own a DVD recorder so I have to try to do it on PC, however the disc was recorded by a friend who used DVD recorder.

Thanks.

To do it on a PC, you will need a DVD authoring program that support editing of VR discs. If not, it will need to be done on the recorder it came from. Part of the finalizing is the creation of the menu structure, which will not be present if un-finalized. This is especially true for DVD-R's in Video mode. Most recorders (with different menu options) have you choose which menu you want on the finished disc during the finalization process.

The reason for this is that the VR mode most DVD recorders record in allows for multiple recordings at different times on one disc (multi-session) without the need for finalizing between sessions. Since the recorder has no idea how many recordings are going to end up on the disc, it does not write the final menu structure until the finalization is done.

A recorder that has a fixed menu, like the ILO R04 or HD04 may show you a menu before finalizing, but only in the recorder. It does this because there are no other menu options to choose from during finalizing. On most, you will see a menu item for each recording on the disc and one black one. The blank one represents the empty part of the disc. Only after finalizing will it set the menu and remove the blank item. This is why when using a DVD+RW, the only disc type that does not need to be finalized before playing it in another player, will always have the extra blank menu item.

Here is a good article on DVD VR.
The Pluses and Minuses of VR and DVD[/b]

[jackle74ph]

unfinalized dvd-r/DVD-RW from dvdcamCORDER SONY,HITACHI & JVC or any DVDRECORDER can be remake at NERO RECODE 2 just import it .
dvd-rw can reused, it will eject but insert it again and click erase or ok botton, dvd-r you need to have a 1 blank DVD-R/RW/+R/+RW, BLANK DVD ARE NOW very cheap...

[rperlberg]

going off of Phil Collin's ISOBuster commentary above, i've achieved some success. My "open" DVD has the Video_TS folder, and VIDEO_TS.BUP, VIDEO_TS.IFO, VIDEO_TS.VOB, VTS_01_0.BUP, VTS_01_0.IFO, and all of the other VOB files containing the movie. unfortunately, ISOBuster is having trouble w/ VIDEO_TS.BUP and VIDEO_TS.VOB, so i'm not sure if i can drag/ drop the files into a Nero DVD Video template and have the disc play in my set-top player or not.

anyone have experience w/ playing a dvd w/ those files missing? maybe i can learn something here... what is the purpose of each of those files? i'm guessing that some of it is the menu, and some is the table of contents?

There's an excellent explanation of the DVD file format on these pages:

Logical Structure

The VIDEO_TS Folder

[reddster]

unfinalized dvd-r/DVD-RW from dvdcamCORDER SONY,HITACHI & JVC or any DVDRECORDER can be remake at NERO RECODE 2 just import it .
dvd-rw can reused, it will eject but insert it again and click erase or ok botton, dvd-r you need to have a 1 blank DVD-R/RW/+R/+RW, BLANK DVD ARE NOW very cheap...

Wow, thanks a million, jackle74ph! It works for me. Didn't know why I did not think of this earlier. I got an unfinalised disc that kept being rejected by my dvd recorder so i Nero Recode it and save in my hard drive, afterwhich I then burn it onto a fresh dvd-r , like you said..

Cheers!

[coolguy094]

So

Tools -> Drive -> Close (Track / Session / Disc)

in DVD Decrypter does NOT work?

YES! Thank you for this...

Our ooooooold video processing software randomly stopped finalizing discs, so we have ten customers calling us complaining that there is nothing on their DVDs that we sent them. I tried to follow the steps in the link that qpskfec posted, but with no luck. I was able to extract .iso files out of the unfinished disc using isobuster, but when I went to use these to create a new video file it seems like the data was no good or unusable.

The solution to my problem was using DVD Decrypter to close the disc as stated by slacker; a solution that seems too simple to work, but worked great for me. I am now able to play the DVD in windows media player, and more importantly rip the DVD to an .avi file using AoA DVD Ripper for immediate internet transfer.

THANK YOU VIDEOHELP.COM!!!

[lordsmurf]

Location: your mom

we have ten customers calling us complaining that there is nothing on their DVDs that we sent them

rip the DVD to an .avi file using AoA DVD Ripper for immediate internet transfer

You're a service that uses crap Chinese software?

[coolguy094]

Location: your mom

we have ten customers calling us complaining that there is nothing on their DVDs that we sent them

rip the DVD to an .avi file using AoA DVD Ripper for immediate internet transfer

You're a service that uses crap Chinese software?

Lol, exactly. Im actually in sales for a small business, so freeware is king. And AoA DVD ripper works pretty well for what we use it for.

[nerys]

I have a dvd recorder that I made a few discs on. I CAN NOT close the disc on the recorder since the remote is "bad" and a replacement remote costs more than another dvd recorder.

of course I now have a new dvd recorder with working remote but I would still like to close those old DVD-R I recorded since they are from VHS and the VHS tapes are degrading now so a new recording will NOT be as nice. (I know I already tried)

any suggestions? is it possible another samsung recorder even if not the same model might work?

they are 15+ year old videos and precious to me

just need a way to close of extract the data. the isobuster link above for extraction is bad does not work any longer (archived??)

[usually_quiet]

I have a dvd recorder that I made a few discs on. I CAN NOT close the disc on the recorder since the remote is "bad" and a replacement remote costs more than another dvd recorder.

of course I now have a new dvd recorder with working remote but I would still like to close those old DVD-R I recorded since they are from VHS and the VHS tapes are degrading now so a new recording will NOT be as nice. (I know I already tried)

any suggestions? is it possible another samsung recorder even if not the same model might work?

they are 15+ year old videos and precious to me

just need a way to close of extract the data. the isobuster link above for extraction is bad does not work any longer (archived??)

It s a good idea to look for information in recent threads instead of those dating from 7 years ago. There are a number of newer threads on this subject, and at least one or two in the past year or so.

[nerys]

and links to those threads please?

I did a search and this is the thread I found.

[usually_quiet]

and links to those threads please?

I did a search and this is the thread I found.

If you couldn't find any other useful threads on this subject you didn't look very hard. I would have to work just as hard as you would to find them. I'm willing to help the clueless but not willing to help the bone lazy.

[victoriabears]

if you know which brand of dvd recorder was used, see if a friendly local electronics store will finalise them for you