DVD-RW what do I need to be able to read and convert?

[MiamiCuse]

I have a DVD-RW disc which is a recording that was done by a sewer line service company. They did a video recording of my line and the resulting recording was given to me on a DVD-RW disc.

I inserted this disc into my regular DVD player (a Yamaha DVD player that is about 8 years old) and I can see the video on my TV without any problem.

I inserted this disc into my computer (an IBM ThinkPad T43P) which has a CD-RW DVD-ROM drive and I was not able to see anything. It actually does not even recognize that there is a disc present.

Now I can play regular DVDs on my laptop using the InterVideo WinDVD software, but this software does not see the content on the disc at all.

My intention is to somehow get it onto my computer in a publishible format such as AVI, MPG so that I can make this video available online to some plumber friends of mine out of state so they can review it and make some assessments on how to make the repair. But right now I can't even get my drive to recognize it has a disc with content.

A friend of mine says the problem may be that I cannot read a DVD-RW on my drive it has to be a DVD-R and I should re-record it. Well, I paid $700 for the video inspection and they are not going to come back out and re-record it on a DVD-R disc.

Another friend said this may be that they did not "finalize" the disc and the disc is actually corrupted. But I can play it on my DVD player...in any event I don't have the luxury or redoing this process, I have to work with the DVD-RW disc I have.

I downloaded a bunch of software, DVD-decrypter, DivX Player etc...none helped to even recognize the content of the DVD.

Any idea how I can go from this DVD-RW video to some sort of a popular format that I can publish online?

Thanks in advance for any advise.

MC

[Baldrick]

Try on another computer/dvd drive.

[jman98]

MiamiCuse - Welcome to the forums.

It is just about a miracle that your old Yamaha player will play a RW DVD whether it is DVD-RW or DVD+RW. Lucky you.

The disc is surely finalized as your Yamaha would not play it if is was not finalized. And it's only DVD+RW discs that can sometimes (NOT always) be played if they aren't finalized.

The problem is likely with your ThinkPad drive. Try another computer or drive as Baldrick suggests.

It does you no good after the fact to know this, but it was less than optimal for the company to give you a DVD-RW given that RW discs are more likely to have problems being read than DVD-R or DVD+R. All things considered, DVD-R is the safest choice when you don't know for sure what it will be played back on. The good news is that since your Yamaha DVD player played the disc fine that it surely can be ripped and copied to a DVD-/+R disc or converted to another format, but you're going to have to find another drive (maybe on a different computer) to do it. Laptops may have inferior drives on them to keep costs down.

[tomlee59]

RW media has the lowest reflectance of any media, so drives have more difficulty reading the weaker signals that they produce. Find a friend with a DVD burner that can read the disc and have him/her make a copy of it onto a high-quality DVD-R. That will solve your problem.

[MiamiCuse]

Thanks for all the advise...I tried it on a few other drives on friends computers, same problem.

But this may be due to these are all laptops, I don't know anyone with a true "desktop" computer LOL.

Can I somehow play the DVD on my DVD Player, and send the signal to my laptop and record it?

My DVD player has an S-video out, RCA out, and Component Out. My laptop has a S-video jack that I have never used, but I think it is an OUT and not IN.

Is there a way to do an S-video out to a USB in?

I have Camtasia Studio software so I may be able to record if I can get it to play on my laptop screen.

Unless the DVD-RW to DVD-R conversion is a typical service I can actually pay someone to do it locally.

[guns1inger]

If you can play it on a laptop you can copy the files. No need to try to record it again. Again, there is no conversion needed. All you need to do is have the file copied from the DVD-RW to DVD-R. If you have a local computer shop they may do it for you, although I wouldn't try a major chain, just a corner dealer.