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  1. My late father had some old family VHS and 16mm films transfered to DVDs about 10 years ago. He had a DVD recorder and player, and for some reason, possibly due to not knowing about the different formats, he recorded those in DVD+R discs.

    Now I'm trying to do backups into video formats for the cloud/youtube/whatever (who knows how long optical media will be readable), but so far no luck. I've got two computers with DVD drives - one only writes CDs but reads DVDs, the other one can burn DVDs. The one which has ability to burn DVDs shows up, at the DVDInfoPro tool, as able to read DVD+R. However, apart from weird noises and failed attempts to read the disc, nothing happens. DVD-R and regular DVD (both data and movies) work fine.

    The DVD+R discs read fine on two different regular TV players I tested (a DVD player and a blu-ray player), so I know the discs are fine. I've tested about 5 of them, all of them have the same problem.

    Any tips on what to do? Am I really going to need to buy a capture card just to rip the video content out of these discs???
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  2. There's nothing inherently wrong with DVD+R, for all practical purposes it has had the same compatibility as DVD-R since 2006. Any hardware made in the last ten years should have no trouble reading DVD+R. Most likely, your problem stems from some issue with the discs that is unrelated to them being +R. Several common possibilities come to mind, but it would help narrow things down if you can tell us more about these DVDs.

    Do they have any brand name markings on them? If so, what is the brand?

    You say they do play OK in regular standalone DVD players. When you put the discs into a player, what happens? Does a menu screen appear automatically? Does the disc just start playing automatically? Or does it just sit there doing nothing until you press a button on the player remote, like "Disc Menu" to bring up the menu?

    You say when you load them in your computer, the drives grind away and then nothing happens. Can you be more specific? What kind of computer: Mac or Windows? Does the computer spit the disc out after the grinding stops? If it doesn't, what happens when you try to look at the contents of the disc? In the computer drive list, does it show up at all? Can you double click on it, and see a VIDEO_TS folder inside?

    The primary difference between your father's dvds and other dvds isn't that they're +R, but that they were made ten years ago on a recorder. What I'm trying to learn from these questions is whether the discs have deteriorated from age or the recorder formatted them in a way that requires some extra steps to make a computer "see" them. Ten years ago, some popular recorders made DVDs that would be easy to play on regular standalone players but not in certain computers.
    Last edited by orsetto; 21st Sep 2016 at 21:42.
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  3. Thank you SO much for the response! Here are more details.

    1- Inserting it into a regular player goes to a menu created by the DVD recorder he had. It's a standard, non-animated menu. I noticed he split the films not in chapters, but in titles. There are no names or text, only numbers to pick and a slide with the very first frame of each title. Pressing the main menu button goes back to that menu.

    2- Both computers just try to read it awkwardly - I can't think of a better way to put it! They try to read for a second, stop, weird noises can be heard, it never fully spins. The driver shows the DVD as not inserted - so I can't see a VIDEO_TS or anything of the sort in it.

    3- The computer with a DVD-read CD-burn is a Lenovo Thinkpad Windows 7. The other PC has DVD+RW (no blu-ray), it was custom assembled for gaming, Windows 10 (although I first tried some time ago while I still had Windows 8, same results). Driver for the later one is TSSTcorpCDDVDW SN-208DB, I don't know what driver is used on the Lenovo (I can check tomorrow).

    The DVD recorder he used back then to do these DVD backups was probably manufactured prior to 2006, but I don't believe it to be older than 2004. I have no way to retrieve it, or to check the model. The discs were individually labeled, and I see the date when he recorded all of those: January 2006. The DVD+R discs are white, unlabeled, but I can read this on the transparent tiny center of the disc: DVD+R 4.7GB 16x and what appears to be "S-Mac" written in cursive. The cases where the DVDs were stored are custom, with labels he printed, and have no indication on the media used.

    Thanks again!
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  4. Member
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    were the discs finalized in the dvd recorder ??
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  5. Hmmm... this may be more difficult to solve than I had hoped.

    The fact that they auto-run a menu screen when loaded into a standalone dvd or bluray player eliminates a couple theories I had about the recorder. It would seem these discs were finalized and do include the PGC programming that Windows and Mac need to recognize video dvds, so that isn't the problem.

    There were a handful of early recorders that could only burn +R, not -R, and those recorders did sometimes create goofy discs that confused computers. But not to the extent of being unreadable and grinding away continually: more like they would show up in Windows but not be recognized by some software players. Since your drives never fully load these discs and you can't view the contents, I guess we can rule out that recorder issue as well.

    I've never personally run across DVD+Rs that would work fine in dvd/bd players but fail to read in computers: usually it is the other way around (players tend to be more picky about discs than computer drives). So I'm as stumped as you are. There's the possibility the discs have simply begun to deteriorate: the climate in Brazil would be conducive to that. But normally, degraded discs would exhibit problems in all devices you tried them in: I can't figure out why these would work perfectly in players but choke in both your computers. I suppose if all the discs are from the same brand and batch, its possible they might all have the same degradation in some specific area that does not bother a standard player but that Windows cannot get past. Such uniform, specific decay across multiple discs would be really unusual, however: I would expect at least a few to load on your computers and a few to fail on your players.

    Hang in there, and see if more people reply to this thread who may have encountered similar issues. Something tells me its probably related to how the recorder burned them: they might simply be off spec in a way that Windows refuses to recognize. The good news is that they DO still work fine in both your DVD and BluRay players: worst case, your idea to capture them from the analog outputs of the player into a USB device will at least let you copy the videos. Inconvenient and time consuming, yes, but better than them not being playable at all.
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  6. Member darkknight145's Avatar
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    "He had a DVD recorder and player, and for some reason, possibly due to not knowing about the different formats, he recorded those in DVD+R discs."
    You may not know this but most of the early DVD recorders could only record to DVD+R discs.

    Maybe the problem your are having with the discs is that they are already corrupt, PC based DVD players can have a lower tolerance to corrupted media than stand alone DVD players, especially when you are trying to extract files.
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    The TSST Corp CDDVDW SN-208DB appears to be a slim drive, and presumably the one in the Lenovo Thinkpad is also. I'd try the discs in a desktop with a full sized DVD drive. Different drives vary in reading abilities, and I have no faith in the slim drives for durability or anything else.
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    Did you try using DVD Decrypter to read the disks? If there are errors on the disks, using IFO mode could pick out portions that are ok.
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    might give isobuster a try also - https://www.isobuster.com/
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  10. Originally Posted by pjcrown View Post
    Did you try using DVD Decrypter to read the disks? If there are errors on the disks, using IFO mode could pick out portions that are ok.
    Originally Posted by october262 View Post
    might give isobuster a try also - https://www.isobuster.com/
    Ordinarily these would be great suggestions, unfortunately the key problem OP has is that the discs refuse to mount at all in both computers. The drives keep grinding away without ever stopping to let the discs become openable.

    ricarleite, the above software utilities are often suggested for "rescue missions" involving problem dvds. In some cases where Windows won't recognize a disc, the disc can still be opened and worked on from within these utilities directly thru their own "File>Open" interface, bypassing Windows. It is worth a try: download one of them and see if you can get to the disc data that way. But if your drives still grind continually and these utilities can't see the disc either, we may be out of digital options.

    Originally Posted by Kerry56 View Post
    I'd try the discs in a desktop with a full sized DVD drive. Different drives vary in reading abilities, and I have no faith in the slim drives for durability or anything else.
    Excellent point re slim drives vs full size: try these discs in as many desktop computers as you can. One might be able to mount them. If at all possible, test them in an Apple Mac as well: the Mac DVD Player utility is somewhat more tolerant with off-spec recorder dvds than many Windows players. If you can play the disc in Mac Disc Player, odds are very good that other Mac dvd software will be able to recognize and extract the videos. Macs use slot-loading slim drives, but seem to get different read performance out of them than typical Windows tray-load slim drives.
    Last edited by orsetto; 22nd Sep 2016 at 11:16.
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  11. Thank you guys very much for the assistance! A few notes here:

    1- Yes, both are laptop drivers. I do not own a fully functioning desktop anymore, but I will give it a shot at a friend's when I get the time. Problem is, I've got about 50 of these discs to backup, around 100 hours of footage - and doing at someone else's place isn't a very suitable option.

    2- I've tried a few programs, and I think DVD Decrypter was one of them. The problem is: the programs and tools fail to even realize there is a disc inserted. It seems the problem takes place at a hardware level. I will give the isobuster a shot, but I'm a bit too afraid to completely corrupt these discs somehow - those are the only copies.

    3- I had the opportunity to test one disc at another regular blu-ray player last night. It worked perfectly. On all regular players, DVD and blu-ray, the discs load straight away, no noises, no skips, I can even fast forward and there are no skips or loading problems.

    4- Not sure if climate deterioration might not be a factor, I live in a region where the general temperature and humidity is close to what you can find in the US or Europe (sans the snow). The country is quite big, I assure you, and what you witnessed in the olympics is a stereotypical fraction of how and where we live. The discs were stored in regular plastic cases vertically, away from the light, and were very rarely played or handled (maybe 2 or 3 times in these past 10 years). Humidity was not too high.

    OK so, what I'll do next is:

    * Try isobuster.
    * Find a desktop drive and attempt reading the disks there.
    * I'll also try to take a photo of the menu screen, just so we can rule out the possibility of the discs not being finalized.

    My last resort, absolutely last and final resort, if everything fails, is to record straight out of my HDTV screen - well that's how my dad managed to get the 16mm film into VHS in the early 80s (and then to a DVD). He had to restore the film frame by frame, re-create the sprockets individually with duct tape, a scalpel and a ruler. Took him years. I guess he had no forum to ask for help back then
    Last edited by ricarleite; 22nd Sep 2016 at 11:46.
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  12. If you discover the discs DO mount properly on your friends desktop PC, that doesn't mean you'd have to do your entire project on their computer: it just means you should buy an external full-size USB dvd drive with separate AC power supply (preferably the same brand as your friend's internal drive). That should enable you to do the work with one of your laptops.

    If you find they DON'T mount in your friends' desktop drive, then there is just something way WAY off in the way that recorder burned these discs, and you probably will not be able to extract the videos digitally via PC. You'll have to resign yourself to 100 hours of analog capture with a USB video stick attached to the line outputs of one of your standalone players.

    The fact that the discs play perfectly in yet a third standalone player means they're basically OK, just burned in such a way that PCs have a very rough time identifying and mounting them. It happens: recorders sold prior to 2006 were ridiculously non-standardized, some of the biggest names made very strange dvds.

    I'm fairly sure now your discs were finalized, and aren't corrupted, or they would not be playable in the three different standalones you tried. Unless they are +RW instead of +R: +RW is not usually finalized, because it is supposed to be cross-compatible with everything (sometimes that compatibility is not so great). There's also a small chance these +R discs were burned in "recorder editing mode" which is unpredictably compatible or not with some standalones and PC players.

    All this speculation is kinda moot due to the fact the DVDs won't mount at all in your computers: no matter how screwed up, a disc usually does settle down and appear as a volume in Windows Explorer, allowing Windows or a dvd utility to open it and examine the contents. Weirdly-formatted video in itself should not cause two different laptops to go comatose: at some point they should at least say "Disc Unrecognized" and stop churning.
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  13. It happens: recorders sold prior to 2006 were ridiculously non-standardized, some of the biggest names made very strange dvds.
    I wish I could remember the manufacturer. My father did not live with us, and I only have a fuzzy memory of the player he used to record it - which he purchase for this purpose only. He wasn't too tech-savvy, and may have bought a cheap, unreliable one. The fact all discs work fine on regular players is a miracle.

    There's also a small chance these +R discs were burned in "recorder editing mode" which is unpredictably compatible or not with some standalones and PC players.
    The way these discs are edited, I can deduce my father left some VHS tapes rolling, and pressed a button to indicate when a new title was supposed to begin. There is a roughly one second gap between a title ending, and a new title starting, which indicates the amount of time it would take for someone to press a button on reflex only. I presume he edited it "live" (only stopping occasionally to switch to another tape, as some titles begin with a clear cut and vary in quality), and at the end pressed some other button indicating he was ready to finalize that disc. The menu was most likely automatically generated by the player. There are no chapter selections, only different titles, so I guess he pressed the wrong button and thought it was good enough, or did not know the difference between chapters/titles.

    Does it look like something that may have been recorded in this "recorder editing mode"?


    at some point they should at least say "Disc Unrecognized" and stop churning.
    They do, eventually. Maybe I wasn't clear about that. Using outside tools show up as no disc being inserted, Windows shows it up as invalid. I'll try to present a screenshot.

    You'll have to resign yourself to 100 hours of analog capture with a USB video stick attached to the line outputs of one of your standalone players.
    I'm fine with this, but I really didn't want to spend too much on a capture device. Is there a cheap way to get the video signal out of a DVD/blu-ray player into a digital device such as any of my computers?


    Additionally, I believe he did not set an specific region code, and I've tried to change from 4 to 1 and back, with no avail - so that's also not the culprit. Two of the players I tested read region 4, the latest one is unlocked for all regions.
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  14. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Probably a Cyberhome.....my dad has one.
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  15. You don't need to worry about the region code: all recorder-burned dvds are usually coded as Region 0 i.e. region-free or universal region. I've heard of exceptions once or twice but its incredibly rare.

    The one second pause or hesitation between titles is inconclusive. All recorder-made dvds stall for a second or two between the end of one recording and the beginning of the next, regardless of disc type (standard video dvd or proprietary "recorder editing dvd"). The menu running automatically when you load the disc in a standalone player is almost always a sure sign the disc has been properly finalized as a standard video dvd. Proprietary "edit format" dvds usually don't show a menu screen in anything but the original recorder.

    There are several reasonably-priced USB capture sticks available, but they can be a tricky purchase. The most recommended by VH members is the ATI 600 TV Wonder, but it is discontinued and getting it to work with Windows 7, 8 or 10 can be difficult if you don't track down exactly the right software and drivers. It sells second hand for about $30 US. The most recommended brand-name device in current production is the Hauppauge USB Live 2, at approx $40-$50 US. Some people report issues with it involving poor VHS tapes, but since your source is digital dvds already made from the tapes I don't expect this would be a problem. The most popular device ever sold is the EZ Cap, but it has been ripped off so many times by so many Chinese bootleggers that its impossible to tell the real (good) version from the (bad) fakes. From time to time, a thread turns up here on VH where someone updates us on the current website of the legit, genuine EZ Cap. Unfortunately the "real" EZ Cap has become overpriced compared to the Hauppauge, so its a tough call.
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  16. Thank you so much... I guess the Hauppauge USB Live 2 is the way to go, if I can't have those discs to work.

    I'll search for a topic regarding video captures here at this forum; if someone has a link and can direct me I'd be grateful.


    Thanks everyone!
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