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Troubleshooting DVD burning problems on my Macs.

Tchad — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:05:58 -0800

Help me burn these family movie DVDs on my Mac, please! I have a DVD of some family movies that I would like to burn some copies of. Problem is: It doesn't work.

I have put the disk into three different Macs I have and they spit it out. I have tried it in all three and they respond much like when you try to give cough syrup to a toddler.

Is there any way I can access the files or pull the files off?

I have tried to play it on my brand new iMac, my old G4 PPC Powerbook, and my ancient circa 2002 iMac.
None of them register it at all.
They recognize other media without a problem.

It is a Maxwell DVD+R. This should work. I have both played and burned DVDs on both the new iMac and the Powerbook before - is there a reason it isn't working this time? Everything else is fine.

I thought that I could pull the files onto a jump drive and then burn it one at a time.

It plays in some DVD players.

It is only video, there is no audio.

I would really like to have this done by Christmas, if I can.

Thanks!

How to recover data from a DVD+R?

CancerMan — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:31:17 -0800

I have a couple of old sporting events burned to a DVD+R. My DVD players and computers no longer recognize any data on them. Is there a way I can view what I recorded, or recover the data? Back in the late 80s and early 90s, I recorded a bunch of college sports events on VHS. Later, I copied those events to DVD+Rs using a Sony DVD/VHS converter. I don't know why I used DVD+Rs, but that's what I had at the time.

Recently I tried to watch one of the discs again and my new Blu-Ray player indicated there was "no disc." My iMac reads it as empty. A physical look shows that there was something burned onto it (dark area, not as shiny as the rest of the disc), and I have watched the event at one point or another. Unfortunately, I can't recall if I used the same machine that recorded it or not.

Half of the discs play as normal and I can watch them both in my Blu-Ray player and on my iMac. The other half of the collection apparently contain nothing. Is there any way to recover the data on those discs?

How can I burn these .Mod files?

windbox — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 12:45:51 -0800

I have some.MOD video files (each one about 2 hrs long) that need to be burned on to a disc, stat. Windows Media players burner says it will not fit, even though the file is only 3.7 gigs and the disc can hold 4.7 gigs. When I put a DVD-R in the drive and try to drag the .MOD files into the file, it won't allow it. How can I get these videos on a DVD-R ASAP? I know nothing of computers. Thank you so much. Also, is there a way to fit all 4 of these 2-hour long videos on one disc?

How do I track my DVD-Rs?

tommorris — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:18:20 -0800

Is there any good, free UNIX/Linux software you can suggest for keeping a searchable index of removable media? I have a large collection of backed up files on DVD-R (about five or six hundred volumes). I have been using a proprietary and rather crufty application called CDFinder. My Mac laptop has become rather less stable recently (and I haven't got enough money for one of them nice new MacBooks), so I've made the leap to a netbook running Linux. This is the one application I can't find a decent equivalent for.

Ideally, I want an application that will maintain a database of all the metadata about the files on burned CD/DVD volumes. That metadata will obviously include the file names, creation/modification dates, but also ID3 data for audio files and the equivalent metadata for videos, photos, PDFs and all the other stuff I haven't really thought about. Search speed isn't tremendously important - it doesn't bother me if it takes fifteen seconds to do a search.

One of the things I would like would be for the data to be in an open format, and for the search tool to be usable from the command line (so I can use it over SSH).

I have done some Googling, but all I can find are the sort of things record collectors would use to keep track of their albums. Not what I want: I basically want UNIX's metadata-aware 'find' or 'locate' commands for unmounted volumes.

I've been thinking about building something like this myself as a fun little open-source project over the Christmas holidays. If someone has a suggestion of an existing project that would do what I want that is free, open source and preferably not tied to any windowing environments (command line ftw!), I'd be greatly appreciative.

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

jasonspaceman — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:11:52 -0800

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?

Dealing with bad blank DVD-Rs

nanojath — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 11:10:40 -0800

Problems with DVD-R blank media. Help me parse my solutions. So, I've been burning a lot of data discs to DVD to free up hard drive space on my older G4 iMac. I just burned through a spool of Sony blanks and moved on to a spool of Memorex discs I got a "good deal" on... Immediately started having problems, with an error message I've never seen before (0x80020022) stating that "communication to the disc drive failed." 1 in 5 or less discs will start recording at all and those that do have verification problems. Memorex CD-Rs continue to work just fine in this drive.

I poked around online with this message and saw a lot of opinions fingering the media, with Memorex specifically mentioned. I ran this program and by this list came up with the media id RITEK F1, which that resource describes as being "second class."

Given that the problem started with the media change and the other details above, fingering the media as the culprit is pretty much a slam dunk, right? (If you doubt this assertion, please elaborate) Assuming this, I have a few questions.

1. That "branded" discs are of dubious origin that you can't verify without having some program scope an actual disc in the drive was news to me. Can you suggest a "gold standard" brand of disc that I can buy and be confident of the quality? Price is much less of an object than me not getting incredibly angry and wanting to smash my computer with a giant hammer every time I need to burn a DVD.

2. I'm probably going to need a new computer sooner rather than later, most likely a new iMac. How likely these discs will work any better in a new drive? Basically I'm wondering if I should keep them or call it a loss and get rid of them somehow (I foolishly bought a large stock due to a sale price, after a frustrating day and a half of experiments I have more than 90 of these left, 75 still on their wrapped spindles).

3. Any bright ideas on getting rid of 90+ "second class" blank DVD-Rs? I can't return them at this point. I wouldn't want to sell them or give them away to charity if it's a good chance they will just cause someone a bunch of trouble. Are they destined for the landfill?

Can't burn DVD+R's on a Mac

Silky Slim — Sun, 25 May 2008 07:35:23 -0800

For the life of me, I can't seem to burn a dual-layer DVD+R on a Mac. I've been downloading large movie files lately, and burning them to DVD.
My MacBook's internal optical drive was handy for burning them onto 4.7 GB DVD's.
The problem started when I downloaded larger files that wouldn't fit on a DVD. The optical drive on my MacBook (running OS 10.5) is supposed to support the burning of 8 GB DVD+R discs, but every time I tried burning, I got an error; either when starting the burn or in the middle of it. I don't remember the exact error message, but it had to do with the drive failing to calibrate the laser.
I assumed it was a problem with the drive, so I now tried burning from another machine: an Intel iMac running OS 10.4 with an external FireWire Pioneer drive. I tried burning 4 discs, and every time, at exactly 50%, I got an error; "unknown error" in the finder and "buffer underrun" from Toast 8.0. Reducing the burn speed to 6X didn't help.
To date I have been unable to burn a DVD+R successfully.
Perhaps, like with everything else, "The Media is to blame"?

Best Reliable Live Recorder?

jeffderek — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 05:21:15 -0800

Looking for a more reliable recording solution than straight to DVD. Will this work or should I be looking at something else? I manage a bunch of conference rooms for a major government installation. I have a room that seats about 200 that regular gets used as a lecture hall type of environment, and my users want to record the events that are in there. The people who set this room up before I got here installed a consumer grade DVD Recorder for this purpose. The only downside is, at least half the time the recorder spits the disk out as a "bad disk" in the middle of the session.

I realize this recorder probably just has issues. However, I feel like any DVDR might act the same, and I'm looking for something more reliable. I think that recording to hard disk (as the unit linked above does) might be the best way. Afterwards, I'd like to be able to easily edit blank space off the beginning and end and burn to DVD, which I believe this does.

Money really isn't an object, I'll buy it now if I have the money for it or I'll wait til the next budget year if I don't, Its more important to me to get the RIGHT thing than the cheap thing. One more caveat, I don't have anyone who can man this thing during a recording. I'm not looking for a full featured video editing system, just a basic hit record and run away system. It needs to be simple enough that I can say to a user "Just hit this record button when you start"

Its also not a huge deal, but I'd love RS232C integration, which this unit has.

Thanks!

I really love sharpies, for what it's worth.

pullayup — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 19:50:51 -0800

I always use sharpies to label burned cds, and it's never been a problem, even after years. How about all of youse? How about DVDRs? Is the expected lifespan of the media really meaningfully shortened? Are the people who are selling special markers and Lightscribe, etc. just out to make a greasy buck off of my paranoia?

Can I recover data (pictures) from a bad DVD-R?

bingwah — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 08:51:57 -0800

Can I recover data (pictures) from a bad DVD-R? I burned a bunch of my pictures to a DVD-R (Memorex brand which I now hear sucks).

I stupidly didn't check the DVD before deleting the pictures off my hard drive. That hard drive is long gone now. All I have is the DVD.

Basically I can see the reference to the pictures on the DVD but when I go to click on one it freezes my computer.

Would a data recovery place be able to get these pictures off the DVD or are they gone forever? Any reccomendations for good data recovery shops?

The search for dual-layer discs

hodyoaten — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 20:15:39 -0800

Is there some reason that dual-layer DVD-Rs are hard to find? I can't find them at my tiny city's Office Depot and (rolling eyes) Wal-Mart, and I'm not sure whether this is just a fluke or if big box retailers simply don't carry them.

What kind of DVD burner should I get?

dobbs — Tue, 21 Sep 2004 18:34:06 -0800

Copying DVDs. A friend of mine was recently burgled and lost his rather pricey DVD collection. I now fear for my own. At present, I do not have a DVD burner of any type. What are best? Computer kinds or TV kinds (ie, those double dvd decks I sometimes see on eBay)? Is there a reason to avoid either? I would for the most part just be copying DVDs and really not backing computer shit up. However, I'd like to copy the entire DVD (menus, extras, etc.). Thanks! With those double decks, is it as easy at it seems? The computer method seems to be more hands on/time intensive. Yes? No?

Also, if you have comments or links on DVD+R vs. -R, I'd appreciate it. Googling gives me nothing but blank media sales.

And I have OS X if that affects your answer.

DVD authoring software?

muckster — Tue, 04 May 2004 13:23:19 -0800

DVD authoring software? I'm itching to try out this brand-new DVD burner, but it looks like the software that came with (RecordNow) is a bit on the simple side. Seems like there are tons of options out there -- Alcohol, Adobe Encore, DVD Maestro, Easy CD & DVD, Ulead DVD Movie Factory, and on and on. Can anybody point me toward something that's flexible, functional, and doesn't have an insane learning curve?

For CDs, I like Nero, btw--it seems to have the right balance between tweakable and accessible.

I'm looking for a Windows answer, but there's no reason MacHeads couldn't add their recommendations here, too.

Thank you much.