VCD Back to Harddrive

[Who]

Not sure if this the right place to post this but here it goes.
I have a vcd that is already burned to a cd how can i rip it back to the
harddrive and what if any program should i use?
Thanks in advance.

[vcdfreak]

Get vcdgear from vcdgear.com. Convert the .dat file in the MPEGAV directory to MPEG file and save in your harddisk. It's a bit tricky to use vcdgear at the beginning as the user interface is not quite friendly... Hope this helps...

[Greyhair]

Can't you just take the .dat file, copy it over, the rename it to .mpg?

[Who]

VCDGearworked great thanks again

[vcdfreak]

Can't you just take the .dat file, copy it over, the rename it to .mpg?

.dat and .mpg are slightly different. .mpg (vcd) compliant files will be converted to .dat when you burn into CD-R. It's OK to copy .dat files to harddisk. But renaming to .mpg is not recommended as many software can't read a .dat file format. Just keep the .dat file is adequate for many purposes. Many VCD software players can read it. When you burn a .dat file to CD-R, it's even more convinient. No encoding is requred!

[jarvizo]

windows media player will play .dat files - all you have to do is go to FILE -
OPEN - then select file using ALL FILES option (last one on the list).
to make it even easier set your folder options (from your start menu) so that windows media player is automatically used to open .dat files.
(that way you don't have to rename them or use other software to change them.)