Extracing files from a DVD-R to PC then burning to a DVD.

October 13, 2008 11:11 AM

My parents have a bunch of DVD-R discs that apparently were not finalized in the original camcorder, which is no where to be found. How can I get these to DVD?

I am aware of ISOBuster but from there, I am not sure what to do after that. I realize it can extract the data from the DVD-Rs but I am not sure which files to use and how to get what it extracts to my DVD burner so they can view the videos in the DVD player.

Any help or tutorials you may know of?

posted by jasonspaceman to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Best answer: If you manage to get Isobuster to read the disks, you can extract the .vob files from there. These will play in VLC media player, where you can see what is worth keeping vs. what isn't.

I have a feeling, though, that copying the info from the disk will be the first and biggest hurdle.
posted by Solomon at 11:26 AM on October 13, 2008

Yes, what happens when you put the discs into a computer? Anything that it can play can in theory be extracted. If it won't read them at all it'll be much harder, perhaps impossible, to get the data off.
posted by katrielalex at 12:06 PM on October 13, 2008

Response by poster: I can copy the files but I am not sure exactly what to do with them in order to get them burned to a dvd. Is there any conversion that I should know about?
posted by jasonspaceman at 12:26 PM on October 13, 2008

Why don't you give us more information about the files.
posted by crapmatic at 12:37 PM on October 13, 2008

If it's not at videohelp.com, it may be nowhere to be found.-
posted by dhartung at 12:37 PM on October 13, 2008

Response by poster: I was able to extract a mpg file from a DVD-R. It is 238 MB. It has audio and video. When I try to play it back, it seems to be layered .... like each individual clip plays then it starts over again with the next clip ... in succession. The file wont open up in Quicktime. The only program I could get it to play in was Ultra Video Splitter ... which I found at download.com.
posted by jasonspaceman at 1:00 PM on October 13, 2008

Best answer: When I was presented with an unclosed DVD from my father-in-sin, he failed to close the disc, and I didn't feel like/couldn't figure out how to close it. Therefore I ripped it to an ISO file, and re-burned it, ensuring that the settings were set to Finalize the disc. It may be a belt-and-suspenders sort of thing to do, but it worked, and even played in a regular DVD player.
posted by Xoder at 4:07 PM on October 13, 2008