Playing "Video Now" disks on a PC with Media Playe

[rbrucecarter]

There are some titles on Video Now disks that have not been released elsewhere. I have the player, but I would like to view them on my PC with Media Player or Winamp. I'll worry about burning to DVD later - for now I just want to be able to view them on a PC. I've downloaded VCD stuff - isobuster, vcd gear, etc - all don't do it. Isobuster at least shows the tracks, but none of that "mpeg" stuff the how-to guides talk about for VCD. Can somebody give me a really simple, step-by-step set of instructions on how to do rip and view these Video Now disks? Sorry if this has been answered elsewhere, but with 545 pages here and dozens of other forums, I can't find it.

[Cornucopia]

You just needed to search a little harder.

Yoda13 said it best:

for black and white videonow conversion discussion:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=643854#643854

for color videonow conversion discussion:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1242142#1242142

Good luck.

Scott

[rbrucecarter]

No - I found that thread. It does not seem to contain any information about VIEWING EXISTING VIDEO NOW DISKS! It seems to be all about burning something to a CDR that can be viewed on Video Now. I could care less about that. I just want to view the Video Now disks. If the information is in that thread at all - it is badly fragmented and spread out among a bunch of superflous material. A simple "how to view video now on a Windows PC" would be VERY welcome at this point.

[Cornucopia]

Sorry, those were later threads

Here are some links that might help:

From mastersmurfie--http://www.geocities.com/mastersmurfie

and another ( ?zocher? )--http://www.wsu.edu/~zocher/

and the PVDtools--http://pvdtools.sf.net/format.txt

Since the format on disc is Redbook CD Audio, you can rip it just like any audio disc--I would use EAC, CDRWIN, etc. This would give you a BIN+CUE.
Or you could use EAC to rip to WAV files, then open in CoolEdit (etc) and save as headerless PCM files--2 mono files from the original stereo stream, Left for Audio and Right for Video (or vise-versa). A combination of those tools and/or hexediting should do it.

Remember, you'll have an 80x80, Greyscale, 15fps ( or is it 18? ), etc. It's format is listed on that second link. It's all there, just in bits and pieces.

Scott

[rbrucecarter]

What about color? I have seen the PVD tools page - no explanation of how to use them. They seem to run in a DOS box and disappear in an instant - they do nothing. I wish the author had included a readme file about how to actually use the darn things!

Same comment about the format text file - nice - but how do I view the darn files????!!!

I'll try the tools on that first page, but I still need somebody to tell be everything between inserting the VN disk and a picture appearing in a window on the desktop. I am NOT a video guru or something!!!!

[Cornucopia]

What about color? I have seen the PVD tools page - no explanation of how to use them. They seem to run in a DOS box and disappear in an instant - they do nothing. I wish the author had included a readme file about how to actually use the darn things!

...

I am NOT a video guru or something!!!!

Ahh, there's the rub.

To use command-line tools, you really need to open up a separate command prompt box and manually type in the executable filename from there, then it won't "go away". You may also see more explanatory info, as many CLI apps will give their HELP info if started with no qualifiers/switches/options.

Scott

[rbrucecarter]

I have tried everything you suggested - the DOS files either present a blank box or still disappear when I do a file / run from the start men. EAC supposedly extracted a track of the video now disk, but none of the tools did anything.

I need to be spoon fed here - what do I do? Download what? Run what? Type ___ in what command field? Save in what format? These little web sites and programs, frankly - SUCK. You would think that a program named Video Now View would do just that - start up the CD drive with a VN disk in it - a window appears on the screen - and the disk starts to play. But - no - I get nothing and confusing options.

Please spoon feed here - I'm not getting anywhere with the comments I have been given? How can I play the darn disks on my PC. Include EVERY step, from putting the disk in the drive to viewing on the PC. Those two I think I can do. Linking to the pages I've been given or suggesting the utilities I have been given so far is useless. I am no closer now than when I started!

[Cornucopia]

Unfortunately, you have reached the cutting edge. The number of people using VN devices is very small compared to DVD or even VCD. Smaller still is the number of people who want to do something non-consumer-standard with them, such as viewing on a different device (what you want)or creating their own content (what users of VideoNow want/use). Smallest is the number of people who can reverse engineer this stuff and code a tool to help with these procedures. They are hackers (in the VERY GOOD sense of the term), and have "hacker" user interfaces.

Sorry, you've just got to take this in stride...

Here's a hint for audio (may not be exactly right)

1. Rip track to (stereo, 16bit, 44100Hz) WAV file with EAC.
2. Open WAV in CoolEdit, Do "Channel Adjust/Mix" and get a copy of just mono left channel (saving as) and just mono right channel (saving as). Make sure both are headerless PCM.
3. Re-Open each--Assuming NOT 16bit, 44100Hz, mono, but 8bit, 44100Hz, stereo. Do a similar "Channel adjust mix" and get one of the channels (not sure which) as 8bit, mono, 44100Hz, saving as WAV.

You will have 4 files, 2 will be the 2 corrupted parts of the video stream, 1 will be a timing file(?), and 1 will be the audio stream.

This one should now be a playable audio file.

Video is more complicated still. I will defer to mzocher mzocher@wsu.edu or GregSmith https://www.videohelp.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=85541 or mastersmurfie https://www.videohelp.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=70416 or thyrson https://www.videohelp.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=130993 or VideoNowDude https://www.videohelp.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=130886

Good luck. I'd like to help you more, but my interest in this has mainly been academic as I don't even have a machine. (The thrill of figuring something out).

Scott

[rbrucecarter]

I do appreciate your help! I sort of figured I was trying to do something strange. But until Nickelodeon decides to release some of their better shows on DVD - VN decode or VHS is it. It may be easier to record it on VHS and burn that to DVD. Now THAT I can do!

[Cornucopia]

Not only easier by far, but much better quality! (video...VHS=~320x480x16bit@29.97fps vs. VNColor=216x160x8bits@18fps vs. VNBW=80x80x4bits@18fps and audio...VHS=~14bitxstereox44100Hz vs. VN=8bitxmonox44100Hz)

Scott

(who likes a techie challenge!)