Pulling data from an unfinalized DVD

[Antares]

Alright !! I will install Mpg2Cut2 and redo it.
Thanks again !
I'll be back (to inform you).

[Antares]

I've made a new trimmed video with Mpg2Cut2 and this is the resulting Mediainfo:
eneral
Complete name : E:\Mijn video's\DVDBlokken\Blokken2004Twee.MPG
Format : MPEG-PS
File size : 1.57 GiB
Duration : 23mn 3s
Overall bit rate : 9 752 Kbps
Video
ID : 224 (0xE0)
Format : MPEG Video
Format version : Version 2
Format profile : Main@Main
Format settings, BVOP : Yes
Format settings, Matrix : Default
Format settings, GOP : M=3, N=12
Duration : 23mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 8 820 Kbps
Width : 720 pixels
Height : 576 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 4:3
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Standard : PAL
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Interlaced
Scan order : Top Field First
Compression mode : Lossy
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.851
Stream size : 1.42 GiB (90%)
Audio #1
ID : 189 (0xBD)-128 (0x80)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 23mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -80ms
Stream size : 63.4 MiB (4%)
Audio #2
ID : 189 (0xBD)-129 (0x81)
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Mode extension : CM (complete main)
Muxing mode : DVD-Video
Duration : 23mn 3s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 384 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
Compression mode : Lossy
Delay relative to video : -80ms
Stream size : 63.3 MiB (4%)
Menu

On my TV the size and quality of the new video seems to be the same as before.
I still kept my previous file (made with Nero) and tomorrow I will check if there is in fact a difference in size and quality playing it on my TV.

What both video's have is a relatively long white striped line above the video and a straight, shorter one below the video. This appears also playing it on my laptop. Is this normal ?

I don't have a zoom function on my TV but I can choose three different modi of which one gives a horizontally stretched, slightly distorted, image. The other one produces a smaller normal image.

See ya !


p.s. I forgot to tell you that on my laptop (Windows Media Player) there is in fact a difference in size between both video's.

[usually_quiet]

I've made a new trimmed video with Mpg2Cut2 and this is the resulting Mediainfo:
<snip>
On my TV the size and quality of the new video seems to be the same as before.
I still kept my previous file (made with Nero) and tomorrow I will check if there is in fact a difference in size and quality playing it on my TV.

What both video's have is a relatively long white striped line above the video and a straight, shorter one below the video. This appears also playing it on my laptop. Is this normal ?

I don't have a zoom function on my TV but I can choose three different modi of which one gives a horizontally stretched, slightly distorted, image. The other one produces a smaller normal image.

See ya !


p.s. I forgot to tell you that on my laptop (Windows Media Player) there is in fact a difference in size between both video's.

The statistics from MediaInfo look fine.

Symptoms of overly low bitrate are a lack of detail and macroblocking or "pixelation". Scenes with rapid movement are the most likely to show defects when the bitrate is too low. The effects of low bitrate are less visible when there is not much motion.

The white lines you describe sound like overscan. Overscan is supposed to be hidden from view, but for some reason shows up fairly often in DTV transmissions. It is part of the original broadcast picture. Nothing you did caused it. Cropping could remove it, but if it is next to the picture you might loose a few lines of the picture too. Lines have to be cropped in multiples of 4.

Too bad your TV does not have a zoom function. If you can't tolerate letterboxing, you will have to re-encode to remove it, but be aware that if the recording is from an SD channel, credits or subtitles may overlap the letterbox bars and you will loose those by cropping. You need to crop 72 pixels from the top and 72 pixels from the bottom, resize to 720x576 for anamorphic widescreen, and set the aspect ratio flag to 16:9. Use bitrate settings as close to the original as possible. Keep the original GOP settings, use PAL for the video standard, with 25 frames per second, and don't deinterlace.

If I were you, I would just live with the letterbox bars and make life easier. Sometimes the color may change slightly after cropping or resizing. The color almost always gets too red when I do it. I have to add a little green to fix it. It may take a few tries to get the color just right.

[Antares]

I think, for now, I will follow your advice to accept the letterboxing.
This cropping thing is so technical I'm afraid that it would get me busy for a very very long time.

Again I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the time and effort you've put into this issue.

If I still need some information in the future I know who to turn to.

[WaltJNU]

Regarding the thread's original subject, I also had a TV DVD made 'blank' by the most recent recording not finalizing. I had several previously recorded episodes and was adding another but at the end my Magnavox VCR/DVD screamed 'Cannot write to this disc E 3 28031100' and purged everything. But unlike the experience of two previous posts here, I found that CDRoller recovered everythiny. So I thought someone else might find this info useful.

The program wasn't speedy, my disc must have been badly damaged. I had to let it run overnight. But I got back two big VOB files, which the software split into MPG files. One episode was split into two MPGs. I pasted it back together from the command line (copy part1.mpg/b + part2.mpg/b whole.mpg/b). When I burned a replacment DVD-RW, it worked in a player but not a recorder. I then burned a DVD+RW which worked on both. But I couldn't record anything new to that disc anyway. So one more burn to a DVD-R, which also worked for both. The replacement DVD has no menu, which I found disconcerting, but you can jump betwen episodes with the skip button.

All in all, acceptable and nearly automatic recovery by a complete novice. So others who run into this nasty DVD bug where the last write doesn't complete and blanks the whole DVD might want to consider CDRoller as one possible solution.

[hdiesen3]

I see this thread is recently visited so I hope for a reply. I also have a DVD which was not finalized.
How come that Todds1 (above) used the Isobuster freeware version and could grab an ISO image of the DVD with this program without having to pay ?
I have installed the freeware version too. What steps do I have to follow to get this ISO image without having to pay.
When I select the recovered files and ask to extract objects the program says I have to pay first to get more options.
I believe this is not the right way ?
Thanks for the advice.

This thread may prove helpful: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/310357-Unplayable-DVD-because-it-wasn-t-finalized-properly

I wanted to thank you for this link, and your responses on this site.
I paid for CDRoller, and I went back-and-forth with a very rude tech person for about three days...Of course, his solution was "something is wrong with your system." When I tried Isobuster, I followed their steps and created the image file (took ALL day)...it said there were errors, and that I had to purchase to do anything with the files they created. Then, I came to this site and found your instructions. After that initial try with Isobuster, it wouldn't recognize the disk. However, I went into the image file created by Isobuster previously (the ibq file). When I opened that, it recognized the track, and I followed your steps. I now have a movie I thought I had lost forever. Now...onto trying it on the wedding footage I thought was lost. THANK YOU!!!!!!

[natkuhn]

I had precious and irreplaceable video of two of my son's piano recitals from 2007 and 2008. The Hitachi camera which I'd shot it on could initially read the DVD but suddenly no longer could, before I had a chance to finalize it. I had thought I might have to contact Hitachi, or pay a lot to a data recovery specialist. Then I found this thread, got Isobuster, and instantly recovered the files. (I also used mpegstreamclip, which I have used for a long time).

Many, many thanks for your help--he's graduating from high school and I'm putting together a DVD of his piano performances going back to 2001 and up to the present... it wouldn't have been the same without those to.

[DR-VIDEO]

Actually it's an old thread, but this guy explains you everything within 20 minutes... and it works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD1_3PpZrhU