copy avi file from scratched dvdr

[octeuron]

i have a few movies (in avi format) backed up on a dvdr and recently tried to copy one of them onto my harddrive but got the dreaded "cyclic redundancy failure" message at about 90% of the filecopy.

i looked at the dvdr and sure enough there is some minor scratch on the disk. (the other movies that were on the disk copied just fine btw, it is just this one that i cannot copy)

the interesting thing is that the movie in question will actually play with vlc directly from the disk. i fastforwarded to approximately 90% into the movie and it does freeze at a certain point however it is just for an instant and then the movie resumes and plays out to the end without any issues.

is there any software that wil copy my file and ignore the damaged sector?
i tried to use vlc to stream it but not too sure how to go about this properly.. is that possible?

[guns1inger]

You have a couple of options :

1. VLC can be used to save a video : See here for a guide
2. Try ISOBuster or Unstoppable Copier
3. Try to buff out the scratch with something like brasso and a soft cloth.

[octeuron]

before i read your reply i tried a product called anyreader and the job it did was unacceptable. the output file was really bad in the sections that were scratched and was simply unwatchable.

yet when i play the file with vlc directly from disk, i do not see any of those errors (only very simple ones) thats why the idea to simply save the stream is compelling.
i checked out your link and tried it out and it seems to work except that the output file was much worse quality than the original.
do you know if it is possible to simply stream/rip the avi in same exact quality as the original? so without any transcoding i guess. i did not see anything about this in those vlc website instructions.

thanx

[guns1inger]

I don't know how successful that will be, only because VLC does some error checking and compensation to hide the glitches, and just streaming the files means it will ignore this and send the damaged data through untouched. Therefore there is a good chance that a file streamed through VLC will playback as badly as the recovered files. That said, you lose nothing by trying, so give this ago.

This uses VLC 10.0.5 (Goldeneye)

1. Open VLC
2. Click on Media -> Convert/Save
3. Click on Add and select the problem file on the DVD
4. Click on the Convert/Save button
5. Select a Destination for the new file
6. Click on the Configuration button (the one with the tools on it next to Profile)
7. Choose your preferred container (best to stick with whatever it currently is)
8. Click on the Video codec tab and then tick Keep original video track
9. Click on the Audio codec tab and then tick Keep original audio track
10. Click Save
11. Click Start

As there is no encoding/trancoding happening, just data being copied, the process should only take as a long as it would normally take to copy the file from a DVD to your HDD - a minute or so. However as VLC will be trying to copy every bit of data, and not just play over glitches, it may well stall or fail when it hits the scratches.

Please let us know if this works however, as it could be a good work around for damaged media.

[octeuron]

I don't know how successful that will be, only because VLC does some error checking and compensation to hide the glitches, and just streaming the files means it will ignore this and send the damaged data through untouched. Therefore there is a good chance that a file streamed through VLC will playback as badly as the recovered files. That said, you lose nothing by trying, so give this ago.

This uses VLC 10.0.5 (Goldeneye)

1. Open VLC
2. Click on Media -> Convert/Save
3. Click on Add and select the problem file on the DVD
4. Click on the Convert/Save button
5. Select a Destination for the new file
6. Click on the Configuration button (the one with the tools on it next to Profile)
7. Choose your preferred container (best to stick with whatever it currently is)
8. Click on the Video codec tab and then tick Keep original video track
9. Click on the Audio codec tab and then tick Keep original audio track
10. Click Save
11. Click Start

As there is no encoding/trancoding happening, just data being copied, the process should only take as a long as it would normally take to copy the file from a DVD to your HDD - a minute or so. However as VLC will be trying to copy every bit of data, and not just play over glitches, it may well stall or fail when it hits the scratches.

Please let us know if this works however, as it could be a good work around for damaged media.

so i tried your above suggestion and (like you thought) it did stall when it arrived at the damaged area.
it did however create a playable file that was good right up unitl the damaged area however when it stalled it did not resume so that even the undamaged area after the scratch was cut off.

thanx for trying to help though that was the closest i got so far.

this is probably a noob question but is it possible to use screen capture software to encode a movie?
i was thinking that since vlc can play the file without stalling (simply skipping over the problematic section) that maybe i can use some sort of software similar to what people use to make tutorial videos or video-game recordings and just capture the screen in real time?

[guns1inger]

Yes, it is possible to screen cap a playing movie. I would only screen cap the parts you can't transfer directly, so that you minimise how much of the file has (potentially) lower quality. You can join the two parts later.

[octeuron]

Yes, it is possible to screen cap a playing movie. I would only screen cap the parts you can't transfer directly, so that you minimise how much of the file has (potentially) lower quality. You can join the two parts later.

have you done this before? can you recommend a screen capture program?

what is the limitation of using a screen capture device to convert a movie?
is it possible to have a good quality screen capture of a movie?

and if yes then why would people use programs that take 7 hours to convert a movie when they could just play the dvd and screen capture it? (surely there must be some sort reason... perhaps lagging, low fps, or huge file size? otherwise i cant imagine why people would not do it)

[guns1inger]

For starters, screen capture won't give you 5.1 audio, extra features, commentary tracks etc. It is also a second generation and the quality will be influences by how good the player is. It also means you cannot use the system at all while capturing. I have used screen capture to grab video in a few cases when there was no other option. I used the freeware camstudio, captured it with no compression (big file) then re-encoded it to something more portable.