Go Video VR4940 broke; DVDs left un-finalized. Useless?

[brooksvideo]

My Go Video VR4940 suddenly stopped recognizing all discs, whether blank, burned or pre-recorded. I am left with many un-finalized discs containing material I need. Is my only option repairing the VR4940? I know that these discs won't be recognized by other DVD recorders or by my computer. I'm trying to avoid an expensive repair to a well-used (and already replaced) machine. Then again, I haven't yet got a repair estimate, and I have no idea what's wrong with the deck. Maybe it's something simple. Is there any good news out there?

[ScoeyBako]

I see there has been no reply to this 8-year-old message. That's sad, since I have exactly the same issue with exactly the same model GoVideo VR4940.

I wondered if, barring any PC-based DVD re-authoring fix, that someone with the knowledge could answer a related question:

Would it be necessary to use the EXACT model of GoVideo DVD recorder to finalize my disks? Or, would I be able to just find any GoVideo DVD recorder and use it to finalize disks made on my GoVideo VR4940? OR, are their other brands/models of DVD recorder that can finalize disks recorded using a GoVideo VR4940?

One of the recordings I am trying to salvage is a self-made documentary of the Jerry Garcia memorial held in Golden Gate park on the polo grounds the day after Jerry's death. I got some great interviews and b-roll from the Haight-Ashbury scene the night of his death, including an interview with a young lady who grew up in the house the Dead lived/played in on Ashbury. She had some stories. Anyone who helps me finalize these disks will get a copy of this video, on disk or digital download, for their trouble. I will retain all IP rights, but you can make copies to give away, or sell as a bootleg, but only to buy tickets to deadhead-related bands' shows.

Anyway, that and many other disks which I never finalized are now sitting dormant until someone can help me.

[ScoeyBako]

Great news! Isobuster solves the problem!

Here is the solution: https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/288291-Rip-Video-from-un-finalized-DVD-on-my-PC-HELP!

If reading that information does not help, if you need further assistance, I would be glad to help. Send me a PM, reply to this thread, or use that videohelp isobuster thread to ask for clarification. I'm "evaluating" a copy of isobuster to see if I want to pay $40 for it.

[usually_quiet]

The thread probably received no answers in the past because nobody knew enough about this machine to provide any.

ISOBuster's paid version should be able recover the video for you by itself with less effort on your part, but perform steps one and 2 below using the free version before buying to find out if it can see data on the disc before buying it. Newer trial versions have adware. You can download old trial versions of ISOBuster without the adware from VideoHelp's page for the software. Look under "More download options:". I have 2.8.5 and wrote instructions below for that version.

The recovery method below using the free version of ISOBuster, plus Mpg2Cut2 (free) or Womble MPEG-VCR (a $19 MPEG-2 editor) worked for me. There may be other editors that can be used, if you want to experiment.


1. Open ISOBuster
2. Select DVD drive (If you can see "Track 01" in the left hand pane, it can recover at least some of your data)
3. Open Options menu
4. Select "Image File"
5. Select "ISO/BIN/TAO" Tab
6. Uncheck both boxes
7. Close dialog window
8. Right click on "Track 01" in left-hand pane
9. Select "Extract Track 01"
10. Select "Extract User Data (*.tao, *.iso, *.wav)"
11. Choose where you want to save the data. (It will copy everything it can find as one big .tao file, which is a type of disc image)
12. Rename the .tao file to .VOB.
13. Open Mpg2Cut2 or MPEG-VCR and drag the VOB file to it. Click through any error messages.
14. Edit the VOB file to separate into individual videos as clips.
15. Re-author the clips into a new DVD using DVD authoring software. AVStoDVD is easy to use if you only need a basic menu.

Note that some DVD recorders create a track for each recording session and in that case, someone might have to process more than one track to recover all the video that is on the disc.