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  1. Member
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    About 3 years ago, I recorded a DVD in R+ format on my region-free Akai player/recorder. At that time, I didn't know it had to be finalized, and it didn't matter because I simply played it on the same machine. Now that machine has completely packed up and doesn't work at all.

    I now can't play this DVD at all, on any machine, because it wasn't finalized, and my Akai is completely unusable. Unfortunately, the content on this DVD is a movie which was shown on tv (where I copied it from), but has never been released on commercial DVD. In other words, this currently unplayable DVD is a unique copy of this movie!

    Can anyone help?

    Many thanks, Susan
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    Welcome to VIDEOHelp.

    See https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/recover-not-finalized-disk-t366616.html

    Hopefully the method I list in that thread will work for you, even with a different model of DVD recorder and a different DVD format. The tools are all free. Click on the name of the program (highlighted in red) in my post to go the tools section listing for that program. From there you can click on another link to download.
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    Thank you so much for your answer. I'll definitely check it out, try your suggestions, and post my results. Susan
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    To Usually_Quiet: I'm afraid I need more help (since I resemble a baby learning to crawl in the world of dvd manipulation). I've successfully used Isobuster to create a .tao file, and I THINK I've demuxed it using Vobedit. I managed to find some instructions for Vobedit, and created an Mpeg file (with .m2v extention), per the instructions. However, the next step in the instructions says to "click the Demux button and select the audio stream type for your recorder."

    1. How can I know what audio stream type to use? I'm hoping to create a file on my pc that I can burn to a DVD, using Imgburn, that my Pioneer dvd player can play.
    2. Will this cause me to end up with two files, the video on the .m2v file and the audio on whatever I manage to create next?
    3. Will I have to put the video and audio files together using Ifoedit?
    4. Will Imgburn then be able to burn this to a DVD?
    Tx, Susan
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    To Usually_Quiet: More info re what I've already done. I just checked the size of the files I've created. My .tao file from Isobuster is 31MB, but my .m2v file from VOBedit is only 14KB. Does that make any sense? Many (MANY) thanks, Susan
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    31 MB is too small, particularly for a 2 hour movie . The .tao file should be between 1GB and 4GB, as a rough estimate, depending on the recording mode you used. Something has gone wrong. Try again.

    To demultiplex:
    1. Run VOBEdit
    2. Click the "Open" button
    3. Under "Files of Type" select "All Files"
    4. Select the .tao file.
    5. Click "Open"
    5. After the file loads. click Demux
    6. Select "MPEG Stream" and click "OK"
    7. When it finshes, do the same for the audio. Select AC-3 for the audio stream.

    To re-multiplex and author:
    1. Run IFOEdit
    2. Click DVD Author on the Menu Bar
    3. Select "Author new DVD"
    4. Use the .m2V file for "Video"
    5. Use the .ac3 file for "audio"
    6. Click to highlight the .ac3 file
    7. Select a language from the dropdown list to the left.
    8. Choose a Destination for the DVD files
    9. Click OK

    This will produce a menuless DVD with only one chapter containing the entire movie. ImgBurn would be a great choice for burning the DVD files.

    I will check back in this evening to see how things went.
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    Thanks again! I haven't attempted this again yet, but will do so tomorrow and report back. Susan
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    This was just a variant that I had used on unfinalized disks from a Panasonic recorder.

    Insert the disk in the drive and run ISOBuster.
    In the right panel, choose the track that might be video and right click.
    Elect to extract it and opt for user data.
    The result is an iso file.

    Note in my pic, there were two short recordings made.
    Both are MB, while the other files are KB (track three and six are the actual video files).
    I found that anything in MB was video.

    The resultant .iso file can be opened in AviDemux if you want to save them as .mpg.

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    I use an older Panasonic DVD recorder with DVD-R and DVD-RW media and have never seen an unfinalized disc with multiple tracks, though it now appears that other recorders produce them. If we are talking about a 2 hour movie, it will definitely still be more than 31 MB in length. If there is more than one track, the movie will be in the largest.

    If your DVD players play .mpg data files, then you could just create one of those. However, creating a regular DVD file structure via authoring is more likely to be compatible with DVD players in general. To increase your chances fo successful playback, be sure to use good recordable media like Verbatim and a good burning program like ImgBurn no matter which form you decide to use for your rescued movie.

    If you want to make a playable DVD, demultiplex the .tao file, and use IFOedit to remultiplex and create the files for a menuless DVD. There are other authring programs that would work, but IFOEdit is free, simple to use and more tolerant of errors in the source files than some other programs. The only downside is it requires demultiplexed files.

    In my case demultiplexing with VOBedit also removes some things from the .tao files that don't belong in a .mpg, so I use it for that reason as well.
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    I'm getting close! I now have a pictorially-beautiful DVD which plays in my DVD player, but without sound. I had a problem in the IFOEDIT step, when IFOEDIT told me it couldn't read the .ac3 file created by VOBEDIT. I went ahead anyway, and I'm sure that's why I have no sound on my DVD.

    I just checked the properties of my .ac3 file, and it's 0 bytes long. Okay, even I can tell that would be a problem. Does it make sense that, on my original DVD, the sound would be on a different track than the video? I have two tracks, and only use ISOBUSTER on track 2 (which gave me the good video). Could the sound be on track 1? If so, where on track 1? I think I have just attached the screen picture of what my original DVD file structure looks like to Isobuster. If I goofed, here's a quick-and-dirty typed version:

    DVD+VR
    OPEN SESSION
    TRACK01


    ginger%20tree%20file%20structure.doc
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    The video and audio are always together in recordings. Both will be in the .tao or .bin file, and DVD recorders normally record sound in .ac3 format.

    I am not sure what went wrong when the audio was demultiplexed, but something obviously did. You could try again, and only demultiplex the audio. If that fails try the AVIdemux method. I have not used that program so I can't give you any guidance for it.

    As long as you have separate audio and video files, they should work with IFOedit.
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    I'll definitely try your suggestions. So close, and yet so far! Thanks yet again. Susan
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    Here I am back again, and things aren't looking good. I got very excited when I was able to use IFOEDIT to create what looked like a viable .mpa audio file. It was the only kind of audio file that didn't result in 0 bytes. However, when I went to use Imgburn on it and my .m2V file, I received a whole series of the same error: "Illegal Mode for this Track". I've checked in the Imgburn forum, and some other people have also had this problem, but I haven't found any explanation of what the error means or a solution. Has anyone come across this before? I'm only an inch away from admitting total defeat. Tx, Susan
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    Here I am back again, and things aren't looking good. I got very excited when I was able to use IFOEDIT to create what looked like a viable .mpa audio file. It was the only kind of audio file that didn't result in 0 bytes. However, when I went to use Imgburn on it and my .m2V file, I received a whole series of the same error: "Illegal Mode for this Track". I've checked in the Imgburn forum, and some other people have also had this problem, but I haven't found any explanation of what the error means or a solution. Has anyone come across this before? I'm only an inch away from admitting total defeat. Tx, Susan
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    I did a little research and IFOedit doesn't seem to work correctly with .mpa audio sources. I wouldn't give up yet. Time to try a different simple authoring program.

    Another fairly easy free one is is MuxMan ver 0.16.6. It is less tolerant of errors in source files than IFOEdit and the user interface is not as simple, but it offers a great multiplexer.

    1. Create a folder called VIDEO_TS for it to use as a destination for the DVD video files.
    2. Open MuxMan
    3. Open your video file, using the button to the right of the Video input box.
    4. Close the pop-up window
    5. Open your audio file, using the button to the right of the Audio input box.
    6. Close the pop-up window.
    7. Select English as the language and Normal for the extension.
    8. Open the VIDEO_TS folder using the button to the right of the Destination Folder input box.
    9. Click the Start button.

    If that fails Rejig has an interface for authoring that is identical to IFOedit's. It is not as good as Muxman but try that one next if muxman fails.

    Test play the resulting DVD video before you burn to test audio playback. Also look to see if the speech and lip movements are properly synchronized. It is possible to correct that if there is an obvious problem.

    I converted an .ac3 audio file to .mpa format and used it to test both these alternative authoring programs. In both cases, the DVD files worked for playback using my computer and everything was properly synchronized.

    [edit]I just remembered that not every DVD player will play .mpa audio. If there is sound when your computer plays the movie, but not when using your DVD player, then I'll help you figure out how to do the audio conversion, but it is better not to convert unless absolutely necessary.
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    Oh wow! You have so much useful information for me! I'm about to try your new suggestions. I feel silly saying thanks yet again, but thanks! Susan
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    I used Muxman instead of IFOEDIT, and it worked just fine. I was able to play (and hear!) the resulting VIDEO_TS.ISO file on my computer. However, I cannot burn it to a DVD using Imgburn. When I tried to burn only the .ISO file, it wrote only 6KB to my disk. When I tried to burn the VIDEO_TS folder, Imgburn returned the same old "this mode is not supported....." error message.

    Since I'm able to play and hear this just fine on my computer, there must be some way of burning it to dvd. Do you know of any other free (besides Imgburn) which might do the trick?

    Yet again, THANKS. Susan
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    muxman doesn't generate .ISO image files, as far as I know. It just creates the standard .IFO, .BUP, and .VOB files for DVD video in the folder selected as the destination. Another program would be needed to make an ISO image using those files. Did you use ImgBurn to create the .ISO?

    The bulk of the membership of VideoHELP considers ImgBurn to be the best DVD burning application available, free or paid. I can't think of any that are easier to use or more reliable.

    I generally use "Write files/folders to disc" from ImgBurn's EZ Picker window, instead of creating an ISO image, and then burning it. I have never seen the error message, and I don't know what might be causing it. Please list the steps you are using within ImgBurn in more detail.
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  19. Member
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    Susan,
    I've had very good luck with a little program called DVDAuthorGui. It's a Windows-based GUI for the dvdauthor package. Here's what you do once you have DVDAuthorGui installed and opened on your machine.

    1. Click "Add Title." Select your video file and click Open.
    2. Select your audio file and clck Open again.
    3. Click Author and give it a folder name (which it will create).

    It will get to a point where it says it is muxing title 1 and then it will look like it freezes, with the exception that your hard drive will be very active. This is normal. The muxing tool it uses does not give a progress report, but does a good job of doing the muxing. 4 GB of video should take about 10 minutes or so to mux, give or take a few minutes. Once the muxing phase is over it will begin the authoring process, which does give you a progress report of sorts. Once the program is done, it will give you a log. Review the log to be sure there aren't any weird errors, then test with your normal computer DVD playing software. If this works OK then bring out imgburn and burn again, preferrably to a rewritable disk as you can reuse for testing. If the test works OK in your DVD player then burn to a regular DVDR.

    Hope this helps. I've had good luck with DVDAuthorGUI, although there are a few things that I will bring out IFOEdit or PGCEdit for that DVDAuthorGUI doesn't handle well. For basic DVD authoring though, it's good and best of all it's free.

    CogoSWSDS
    Old ICBM Coordinates: 39 45' 0.0224" N 89 43' 1.7548" W. New coordinates: 39 47' 48.0" N 89 38' 35.7548" W.
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  20. Member
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    If you want to try DVDAuthorGui, go ahead, but I don't think authoring caused the problem.

    I did some research on the error message you are getting. The people reading the error logs posted by those experiencing the problem seemed to think the media used was the cause, or the movie was copy protected, or the wrong mode was used for burning. I think we can rule out copy protection, so that leaves burning mode and media.

    I think you know not to use a CD or CD-RW, so that leaves using poor quality DVD media, or using ISO mode to burn DVD files in data format intead of an ISO image of those files.

    Post the log.

    [Edit] Click "Help" then "ImgBurn Logs" to find your log file.
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  21. Member
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    I'm using Sony Accucore +R disks, which I know aren't the best. I've ordered Verbatm, but they haven't arrived yet. However, I've had recent success backing up other disks (i.e., ones I haven't needed to use Isobuster on) onto the Sony disks (using DVDFab).

    I'm going to try two things today:
    1. Erase my current Ifoedit output, and rerun the Muxman step, trying to capture any log, etc. it may produce. That way, I'll know for sure exactly what my Muxman output is.
    2. I'll try DVDAuthorGUI also.

    After both, I'll try burning at a slower speed, which was suggested in the Imgburn forum (I've been using 12x). According to the label on the Sony disk pack, the disks should handle 1-16x speed, but I just noticed something of potential interest in my Imgburn log:
    20:06:20 Destination Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: SONY-D21-00) (Speeds: 2.4x, 4x, 6x, 8x)
    I was burning at 12x--maybe that's the problem???!!!

    I don't usually do "emoticons", but the occasion merits one, at least: I'm determined to be able to change this to soon!

    Here's a copy of my Imgburn log.

    ; //****************************************\\
    ; ImgBurn Version 2.5.0.0 - Log
    ; Friday, 25 September 2009, 20:16:22
    ; \\****************************************//
    ;
    ;
    I 20:05:47 ImgBurn Version 2.5.0.0 started!
    I 20:05:47 Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 3)
    I 20:05:47 Total Physical Memory: 2,086,892 KB - Available: 1,342,796 KB
    W 20:05:47 Drive D:\ (FAT32) does not support single files > 4 GB in size.
    I 20:05:47 Initialising SPTI...
    I 20:05:47 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
    I 20:05:47 Found 1 DVD±RW/RAM!
    I 20:06:17 Operation Started!
    I 20:06:17 Building Image Tree...
    I 20:06:20 Checking Directory Depth...
    I 20:06:20 Calculating Totals...
    I 20:06:20 Preparing Image...
    I 20:06:20 Checking Path Length...
    I 20:06:20 Contents: 7 Files, 2 Folders
    I 20:06:20 Content Type: DVD Video
    I 20:06:20 Data Type: MODE1/2048
    I 20:06:20 File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
    I 20:06:20 Volume Label: The Ginger Tree 1 and 2
    I 20:06:20 IFO/BUP 32K Padding: Enabled
    I 20:06:20 Region Code: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
    I 20:06:20 TV System: NTSC
    I 20:06:20 Size: 3,126,290,432 bytes
    I 20:06:20 Sectors: 1,526,509
    I 20:06:20 Image Size: 3,126,919,168 bytes
    I 20:06:20 Image Sectors: 1,526,816
    I 20:06:20 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:00:02
    I 20:06:20 Operation Started!
    I 20:06:20 Source File: -==/\/[BUILD IMAGE]\/\==-
    I 20:06:20 Source File Sectors: 1,526,816 (MODE1/2048)
    I 20:06:20 Source File Size: 3,126,919,168 bytes
    I 20:06:20 Source File Volume Identifier: The Ginger Tree 1 and 2
    I 20:06:20 Source File Application Identifier: IMGBURN V2.5.0.0 - THE ULTIMATE IMAGE BURNER!
    I 20:06:20 Source File Implementation Identifier: ImgBurn
    I 20:06:20 Source File File System(s): ISO9660, UDF (1.02)
    I 20:06:20 Destination Device: [0:0:0] MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-851S 1.50 (E (ATA)
    I 20:06:20 Destination Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: SONY-D21-00) (Speeds: 2.4x, 4x, 6x, 8x)
    I 20:06:20 Destination Media Sectors: 2,295,104
    I 20:06:20 Write Mode: DVD
    I 20:06:20 Write Type: DAO
    I 20:06:20 Write Speed: 12x
    I 20:06:20 DVD+R Reserve Track: No
    I 20:06:20 Link Size: Auto
    I 20:06:20 Lock Volume: Yes
    I 20:06:20 Test Mode: No
    I 20:06:20 OPC: No
    I 20:06:20 BURN-Proof: Enabled
    W 20:06:20 Write Speed Miscompare! - Wanted: 16,620 KB/s (12x), Got: 11,080 KB/s (8x)
    I 20:06:20 Filling Buffer... (40 MB)
    I 20:06:28 Writing LeadIn...
    W 20:06:37 Failed to Write Sectors 768 - 799 - Reason: Tracking Servo Failure
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (1 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (2 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (3 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (4 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (5 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (6 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (7 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (8 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (9 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (10 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (11 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (12 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (13 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (14 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (15 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (16 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (17 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (18 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (19 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    W 20:06:37 Retrying (20 of 20)...
    W 20:06:37 Retry Failed - Reason: Illegal Mode For This Track
    E 20:06:42 Failed to Write Sectors 768 - 799 - Reason: Tracking Servo Failure
    I 20:06:42 Synchronising Cache...
    W 20:06:45 User opted to skip the 'Close Track/Session/Disc' functions.
    E 20:06:45 Failed to Write Image!
    E 20:06:47 Operation Failed! - Duration: 00:00:25
    I 20:06:47 Average Write Rate: 0 KB/s (0.0x) - Maximum Write Rate: 0 KB/s (0.0x)
    I 20:16:22 Close Request Acknowledged
    I 20:16:22 Closing Down...
    I 20:16:22 Shutting down SPTI...
    I 20:16:22 ImgBurn closed!

    Here goes another afternoon--no-one can say I'm not stubborn! Couldn't do it without you guys!!!!!!!!!!!

    Susan
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    Everything looked good until I spotted this:

    W 20:06:37 Failed to Write Sectors 768 - 799 - Reason: Tracking Servo Failure

    That looks like a mechanical problem with the drive. Have you succeeded in burning any other video DVDs lately? It looks like it couldn't even get as far as writing the lead-in.
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    Yes. Just yesterday I was able to burn two dvd's using DVDFab with Imgburn, even using my non-great Sony +R discs. However, I have ordered decent discs (not yet arrived), and will buy a drive cleansing disc. I HATE it when non-living things are smarter than I am, and will succeed in using this software/hardware!

    Susan
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    I'm stumped. Hopefully somebody else will have an idea.

    I haven't worked with it before now, but .mpa (MPEG Audio) is pernitted under the standard governing DVD. I would think that your DVD recorder produced DVD compliant MPEG-2 video and mpa audio. I take it that there weren't any problems getting properly finalized discs from that DVD recorder to play on a regular DVD player.

    Mechanical problems with the DVD burner have been pretty well elimnated. It can burn the media you are using well enough using other DVD files.

    By all accounts, muxman is as good or better for authoring than dvdauthor. (DVDAuthorGUI is a GUI front end for dvdauthor.) I could not find any reports of muxman producing odd results with .mpa files, but maybe you should try DVDauthorGUI, if you haven't already.

    [Edit]The only other thing I can think of to try would be to convert the audio to DVD-compliant .AC3 using ffmpegGUI, which I have not used before

    Well, at least you can watch the movie on your computer now.
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    I reviewed the audio specification for NTSC DVDs and found the following:

    Audio:
    48000 Hz
    32 - 1536 kbps
    Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.

    mpa is MPEG-1 Layer 2, which means that to fully comply with the DVD standard, you need to convert the .mpa audio to either .ac3 or .wav, then add the converted file as an additional audio track, or use it as the only audio track. PCM audio uses more disc space than .ac3, so .ac3 may be preferable.

    ffmpegGUI can convert .mpa to .ac3. AftenGUI can convert .mpa to .wav (PCM). Belight can convert .mpa to either .ac3 or WAV. All these programs are free and have received very good ratings from VideoHELP's membership. ffmpegGUI and AftenGUI have simple user interfaces, while Belight offers more options and complexity. I haven't used any of them myself. I can make some educated guesses but perhaps if you start a new topic in the Audio forum here https://forum.videohelp.com/audio-f33.html on converting your audio correctly, someone else will offer more expert guidance for the optimum settings to use. If you decide to start a new thread for audio conversion, include a link to this one.

    I still can't be sure converting the audio will solve your problem, but at least all you have to loose is one more DVD and a little more of your precious spare time.
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    I am totally awed at your ability to discover/know all these things! And your willingnessto take the time to help me. I will definitely try converting my .mpa to .ac3 and will report back! Susan
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    Thanks, but I don't know nearly as much as the majority of the regulars answering questions at VideoHELP. I have learned just enough to type the right questions into Google, and make use of the archives and FAQ's available at VideoHELP and a a few similar sites.

    For example, the info on the NTSC audio specification came from "DVD" under the "WHAT IS" heading at the top left-hand corner of VideoHELP's pages.
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    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    I reviewed the audio specification for NTSC DVDs and found the following:

    Audio:
    48000 Hz
    32 - 1536 kbps
    Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.
    The bitrate is below the standard for DVD. From what the OP has stated earlier, "hours" were recorded onto one disc. The OP didn't state what bitrate he set in the recorder, but "hours" would likely record as MPEG-1, not MPEG-2 DVD. Considering the recorder was having problems anyway, one could only guess what it wrote to the disc.
    Last edited by sanlyn; 20th Mar 2014 at 18:27.
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    Originally Posted by sanlyn View Post
    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    I reviewed the audio specification for NTSC DVDs and found the following:

    Audio:
    48000 Hz
    32 - 1536 kbps
    Up to 8 audio tracks containing DD (Dolby Digital/AC3), DTS, PCM(uncompressed audio), MPEG-1 Layer2. One audio track must have DD or PCM Audio.
    The bitrate is below the standard for DVD. From what the OP has stated earlier, "hours" were recorded onto one disc. The OP didn't state what bitrate he set in the recorder, but "hours" would likely record as MPEG-1, not MPEG-2 DVD. Considering the recorder was having problems anyway, one could only guess what it wrote to the disc.
    Your explanations make no sense. Digging this old thread up now to offer them makes even less sense.

    There are no bitrates provided in this thread for the video or audio the OP recorded, and the OP never said how many hours she recorded on the original DVD. If there were only 3 or 4 hours of video on the disc (it looks like she wanted to recover 2 PBS Masterpiece episodes) that is not going to be a problem.

    Plus, no DVD recorder that I have heard of is able to encode video as MPEG-1. The ones I am familiar with usually use half-D1 resolution MPEG-2 for their recording modes that put between 4 and 8 hours of video on a single-layer DVD. Some still use full D1 MPEG-2 for their 4-hour mode. Those recording modes fall within the DVD standard even if they aren't used by most of the members at this website. To top it all off, the OP's recovered video (but not the audio) was successfully authored, burned on a DVD, and played on a regular DVD player.

    The OP was having some trouble with the audio, which was MPEG-1 Layer 2. I'm not sure why her DVD recorder uses MPEG-1 Layer 2, when most others use AC3, but MPEG-1 Layer 2 audio is permitted as the only audio track for PAL DVDs. However, an NTSC DVD cannot have MPEG-1 Layer 2 as the only audio track.

    Her DVD recorder apparently died three years after she made the recording, so it was was likely fine when she recorded the disc.
    Last edited by usually_quiet; 16th Aug 2011 at 00:00.
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    Originally Posted by usually_quiet View Post
    However, an NTSC DVD cannot have MPEG-1 Layer 2 as the only audio track.
    Originally, MPA audio wasn't part of the NTSC DVD spec, but I believe that the DVD spec document was updated to allow MPA audio on a NTSC DVD.
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