DVD-RW (Region 2) Can't be Read in US - recorded from TV in UK

[GMob]

I have searched for something similar to my problem, but couldn't find anything. I am not sure if this is the correct Forum for my question/problem.

The Basic problem is none of my Region-Free DVD players will read several DVD-RWs I have from the UK. These were recorded on a DVD recorder (do not have that brand info) in the UK onto DVD-RWs. I was told They played fine on a DVD player in the UK before being shipped to me in the US. The person who sent them is unfamiliar with file formats and was doing a favor for me by sending them.

My computer "explorer" changes the DVD drive to a CD Drive when any of the DVD-RWs are placed in it. Cannot read it, it just then says "Insert CD"

No programs (editing, Decrypter, etc.) will read any data from the disk and I can't even figure out if there is still data on the disk.

My DVD players read "No Disc" when inserted.

I am baffled (and kinda dumb, too) by this. All of my DVD drives/players have never had a problem reading any different region DVD.

Could it have something to do with the discs being DVD-RW? Could they have been erased during shipping (Have never experienced this before and I get a lot of imports)

Could it have something to do with the file format that it is recorded off-the-air in the UK?

Is there a program that can read any disk, letting you know if it is blank or what kind of files/data it contains? I tried a program "DVD Identifier" and it identified the DVDs correctly by manufacturer and capacity, etc. but didn't tell me anything about the data on it.

Thank you and any help would be appreciated.

[jman98]

Possiblities:
1) Your friend is an idiot who doesn't know what he is doing and sent you blank discs. In other words, he didn't record anything on them.
2) The discs aren't finalized, which is why you can't read them. MAYBE you could get lucky and finalize them with something like Roxio or Nero - no guarantees though.

Being DVD-RW should not be a problem. The discs can't self-erase, but I suppose if they got jostled a lot they could get damaged. I doubt that has happened here though.

You said "The person who sent this is unfamiliar with file formats". That's your problem. I have a friend who has a DVD recorder and he records stuff in 4 hour mode to save money/discs. Then he copies it from a standalone DVD player to his recorder in 2 hour mode. My brother and I have tried to explain to him that from a quality standpoint this is a bad plan because all he is doing is making a high quality copy of a low quality video file, but he doesn't get it. I doubt your friend is probably smart enough to do what it takes for you to see the programs. You probably don't want to hear that, but it's probably true. That's the worst thing about standalone DVD recorders - they made it really simple for people who don't know what they are doing to make DVDs.

[GMob]

1) Your friend is an idiot who doesn't know what he is doing and sent you blank discs. In other words, he didn't record anything on them.

She checked the disks in order to label the cases before shipping and the media was on them. Since it was all at her kindness and expense, she assures me they were not blanks. BTW, she did not record them herself. A friend recorded them then put them on DVD-RWs for her as a favor. So all she did was watch them and check them for labeling the cases (the discs were not written nor labeled).

2) The discs aren't finalized, which is why you can't read them. MAYBE you could get lucky and finalize them with something like Roxio or Nero - no guarantees though.

Would she have been able to watch them if they were not finalized? She said she played them on a regular DVD player, not a computer (not sure if that makes a difference)

Being DVD-RW should not be a problem. The discs can't self-erase, but I suppose if they got jostled a lot they could get damaged. I doubt that has happened here though.

She also used bubble wrap so I don't think bangin around in shipping would have harmed them. Could they have gotten erased instead?

You said "The person who sent this is unfamiliar with file formats". That's your problem. I have a friend who has a DVD recorder and he records stuff in 4 hour mode to save money/discs. Then he copies it from a standalone DVD player to his recorder in 2 hour mode. My brother and I have tried to explain to him that from a quality standpoint this is a bad plan because all he is doing is making a high quality copy of a low quality video file, but he doesn't get it. I doubt your friend is probably smart enough to do what it takes for you to see the programs. You probably don't want to hear that, but it's probably true. That's the worst thing about standalone DVD recorders - they made it really simple for people who don't know what they are doing to make DVDs.

Again, she didn't do this herself, she was just being very nice to me by sending them after she watched them. She is hoping the person who recorded them for her will email a response regarding the file format of recording off the air in the UK and what format it records to DVD in. I understand your recording example, but these are discs that were viewable before shipping. All I could think of is the difference in recording off the air formats in different parts of the world, and whatever format the file is when recorded to DVD-RW after that. But that does not explain why the discs themselves would show No data on them, or even show unreadable data, something. And why would my computer drive go from "DVD Drive" to "CD Drive" when these discs are insterted?


Thanks for the input.

[psx_pirate]

UK = pal ... US = ntsc .... a pal dvd will not play in a US ntsc player .... also if they are region 2 coded (do dvd recorders actually region code the disks ???) you will not be able to play them in your region 1 player or on your region 1 dvd rom in your pc (you could look for a rpc1 firmware hack for the dvd rom drive to make it work in the drive ... you will also need to overide the software players region coding ... look in the tools section for apps that will do this)

[thevoelk]

Try seeing if ISOBuster can pull the files from the disc(s).

[HyperYagami]

UK = pal ... US = ntsc .... a pal dvd will not play in a US ntsc player .... also if they are region 2 coded (do dvd recorders actually region code the disks ???) you will not be able to play them in your region 1 player or on your region 1 dvd rom in your pc (you could look for a rpc1 firmware hack for the dvd rom drive to make it work in the drive ... you will also need to overide the software players region coding ... look in the tools section for apps that will do this)

that's not the reason. even if it's not R1 and not NTSC, you should still see the files under Explorer, which the original poster couldn't.

[TBoneit]

you are sure that your dvd player can rad that format of disc
-RW?

Just beacuse they are PAl should not keep a person in NTSC land from seeing disc contents. Could they be in VR format?

You are lucky someone will send you disc like that, There are shows airing in England I'd love to see here, example one of the channels is showing season 8 of Midsomer murder and they're into season 9 over there. But at least it is showing here just delayed. OTOH I've only seen a couple of episodes of rising damp shown here and I've never seen Man About the House or the two sequels George and Mildred or Robin's nets shown here, Nor Have I ever seen Steptoe & Son shown OTA here. I did get some on DVD for my uncle who wanted to see MATH & Steptoe as they became Three's Company and Sanford & Son in there USA incarnations.

[aedipuss]

you might have a disc written in one of the rw drag to disc UDF formats. packet written discs can sometimes be painful to read if you don't have the same software they were written with. isobuster is probably your best bet. if it can't find any data, there isn't any left.

[GMob]

UK = pal ... US = ntsc .... a pal dvd will not play in a US ntsc player .... also if they are region 2 coded (do dvd recorders actually region code the disks ???) you will not be able to play them in your region 1 player or on your region 1 dvd rom in your pc (you could look for a rpc1 firmware hack for the dvd rom drive to make it work in the drive ... you will also need to overide the software players region coding ... look in the tools section for apps that will do this)

My Comp DVD Drive is set for Region 2, and even before when it was set for R1, it would still read the Discs from R2 or R4. The TDK DVD-RW media has the "2" label which I assume is Region 2.

Just beacuse they are PAl should not keep a person in NTSC land from seeing disc contents. Could they be in VR format?

What is VR format? I will re-try one of my DVD players that I first tried because that just jogged my memory about it having an error message possibly with a "VR" or something similar when it spit it out. My other DVD player I always use kept saying "Blank".

you might have a disc written in one of the rw drag to disc UDF formats. packet written discs can sometimes be painful to read if you don't have the same software they were written with. isobuster is probably your best bet. if it can't find any data, there isn't any left.

I can also try this program. Thanks (to Voelk, too for suggesting ISOBUster).

[Noahtuck]

My computer "explorer" changes the DVD drive to a CD Drive when any of the DVD-RWs are placed in it. Cannot read it, it just then says "Insert CD"

If you record a dvd on a standalone dvd recorder & try to put it in a dvd drive in your PC it will do this exact same thing when not finalised, i have done it alot.

2) The discs aren't finalized, which is why you can't read them. MAYBE you could get lucky and finalize them with something like Roxio or Nero - no guarantees though.

Would she have been able to watch them if they were not finalized? She said she played them on a regular DVD player, not a computer (not sure if that makes a difference)

They will play perfectly fine in the dvd recorder they were made on without being finalised, they will not play in a standard dvd player or pc without being finalised.

#1:you should still be able to see the files on the disc in your pc.

Region coding (1-2-3-4 ect.) makes no diff.

Format (ntsc-pal) see #1

VR see #1

If they have been finalised. my $$ is on that they were not finalised.

IsoBuster is a good tool!! i have used it before to get files off disc's that i could not get to finalise.

you might have a disc written in one of the rw drag to disc UDF formats. packet written discs can sometimes be painful to read if you don't have the same software they were written with.

He stated they were made on a standalone dvd recorder so this would not apply.

[GMob]

Soon as I get home I will try this ISOBuster tool. Have no idea if they were finalized.

I appreciate everyone's help. It's kinda hard explaining when several people were involved and I only have contact with the person who watched/shipped the discs and not the person who recorded them; that would be of a lot more help in providing information on exactly what and how they recorded them. If I get any further info, I will post it.

[nwo]

You are lucky someone will send you disc like that, There are shows airing in England I'd love to see here, example one of the channels is showing season 8 of Midsomer murder and they're into season 9 over there. But at least it is showing here just delayed. OTOH I've only seen a couple of episodes of rising damp shown here and I've never seen Man About the House or the two sequels George and Mildred or Robin's nets shown here, Nor Have I ever seen Steptoe & Son shown OTA here. I did get some on DVD for my uncle who wanted to see MATH & Steptoe as they became Three's Company and Sanford & Son in there USA incarnations.

Try http://www.Play.com they sell most of them on dvd with free shipping worldwide!

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/6-/Search.html?searchstring=Steptoe+%26+Son&searchtype=r2title

[hech54]

Soon as I get home I will try this ISOBuster tool. Have no idea if they were finalized.

I appreciate everyone's help. It's kinda hard explaining when several people were involved and I only have contact with the person who watched/shipped the discs and not the person who recorded them; that would be of a lot more help in providing information on exactly what and how they recorded them. If I get any further info, I will post it.

Also....the only version of ISOBuster that will do this for you is the PAY version.

[GMob]

Soon as I get home I will try this ISOBuster tool. Have no idea if they were finalized.

I appreciate everyone's help. It's kinda hard explaining when several people were involved and I only have contact with the person who watched/shipped the discs and not the person who recorded them; that would be of a lot more help in providing information on exactly what and how they recorded them. If I get any further info, I will post it.

Also....the only version of ISOBuster that will do this for you is the PAY version.

LOL I found that out, damn. At least I now know the discs are not Blanks. They are indeed in VRO. Is there a guarantee it will work cause I won't ever need the program again after this. They won't even let you have one free "Try" with a file. Is there any freeware program or trial program out there?

[TBoneit]

You are lucky someone will send you disc like that, There are shows airing in England I'd love to see here, example one of the channels is showing season 8 of Midsomer murder and they're into season 9 over there. But at least it is showing here just delayed. OTOH I've only seen a couple of episodes of rising damp shown here and I've never seen Man About the House or the two sequels George and Mildred or Robin's nets shown here, Nor Have I ever seen Steptoe & Son shown OTA here. I did get some on DVD for my uncle who wanted to see MATH & Steptoe as they became Three's Company and Sanford & Son in there USA incarnations.

Try http://www.Play.com they sell most of them on dvd with free shipping worldwide!

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/6-/Search.html?searchstring=Steptoe+%26+Son&searchtype=r2title

Thanks for the links I'll be checking it out later when I get done with the e-mail.

[hech54]

Soon as I get home I will try this ISOBuster tool. Have no idea if they were finalized.

I appreciate everyone's help. It's kinda hard explaining when several people were involved and I only have contact with the person who watched/shipped the discs and not the person who recorded them; that would be of a lot more help in providing information on exactly what and how they recorded them. If I get any further info, I will post it.

Also....the only version of ISOBuster that will do this for you is the PAY version.

LOL I found that out, damn. At least I now know the discs are not Blanks. They are indeed in VRO. Is there a guarantee it will work cause I won't ever need the program again after this. They won't even let you have one free "Try" with a file. Is there any freeware program or trial program out there?

It will also be painfully slow too.
I've only had a few times where I needed to use ISOBuster....thank goodness....but I left it run overnight. It worked for me but don't hold your breath while it is working...you'll be dead.

[GMob]

Haven't used that pay-to-use program - painfully slow doesn't sound like fun waiting for 8 files... hoped to find a free program - all I wanna do is just view them, don't even have to watch them again.

Any other thoughts on getting these VRO files to simply play?

[energy80s]

Sounds like they were recorded in VR mode - this is not compatible with standard DVD video and will not be recognised by your computers DVD-Rom drive. However they will play using Power DVD. Incidently, most standalone DVD recorders use VR mode with RW discs as it allows for frame accurate editing and they will play back without finalisation. So its also possible that they haven't been finalised either.

Oh and if you want good deals on UK DVDs I would also go with Play.com they are based in Jersey in the Channel Isles (the island that New Jersey in the USA is named after!) and are very cheap and reliable.

[GMob]

Sounds like they were recorded in VR mode - this is not compatible with standard DVD video and will not be recognised by your computers DVD-Rom drive. However they will play using Power DVD.

THANK YOU SO MUCH. I'm able to watch the DVDs using a trial version of PowerDVD. Cool!!

Thanks for the play.com advice too.

[energy80s]

Glad to be of service!