DVD recovery

[Dave2002]

I am trying to recover the content (video and audio) of a DVD of a concert which I was sent. There is no DRM AFAIK, so there should be no problem with that. I've only just discovered how to use Disk Utility on my iMacs to put the disk image into the file system (as a .dmg file) and then to be able to produce a new copy. I could, perhaps, ask for another copy, but if I could manage without that it might be useful. It looks as though the DVD has been scratched, or the surface is dirty - probably my fault. However, some scratches can normally be tolerated.

I've now tried to recover the image on two different machines, and although the recovery failed on both, it seemed to me that one managed to get a lot further than the other. Essentially I'm trying to remake the DVD to overcome any problems due to scratches and other errors. This particular one appears to have been made in a Sony DVD recorder, and the disc itself is a DVD+R.

For audio CDs there is the well known Exact Audio Copy and perhaps other tools which run on PCs, and which can recover the data. Is there anything similar for DVDs, and is there anything for Mac OS X? Other recovery methods sometimes involve slowing the drives down, but I can't see any easy way of doing that with the software/equipment I have. I could start to use a mild abrasive such as Silvo or Brasso, or toothpaste on the disk, but although I've had success with CDs that way, I don't particularly want to try on this DVD.

Interestingly, I can watch part, or indeed most, of the DVD - but I just don't seem to be able to get a reliable enough readout to be able to make the copy DVD.

Suggestions?

[Bryn]

If you have access to a Windoze machine, try the freeware DVDShrink. Despite its name, you don't have to opt for compression. I have not used it for a few years (not felt the need) but found it very effective when I did use it.

Beware of programs with a similar name but for Macs. They are not related to DVD Shrink and have a bad reputation.

[MrGongGong]

Handbrake?

https://handbrake.fr

[Stunsworth]

Handbrake?

https://handbrake.fr

That's what I was aging to suggest. It may be that the disc is too damaged for it to work, but it's worth a try.

[Dave2002]

That's what I was aging to suggest. It may be that the disc is too damaged for it to work, but it's worth a try.

Hi and thanks. I have been using Handbrake for years, but doesn't it only target mp4? In the worst case that might do, but surely what I should be doing is trying to extract the MPEG2 from the DVD. I'm guessing there would be some loss in going from MPEG2 to mp4, though it might not really be too perceptible, and then a new DVD could be made - which as I understand it now would require yet another conversion back to MPEG2.

[Dave2002]

If you have access to a Windoze machine, try the freeware DVDShrink. Despite its name, you don't have to opt for compression. I have not used it for a few years (not felt the need) but found it very effective when I did use it.

Beware of programs with a similar name but for Macs. They are not related to DVD Shrink and have a bad reputation.

I might give that a try. Currently I'm just playing the DVD in a Windoze machine (XP) to see if it'll go right through to the end. It seems odd that when viewing or copying a DVD that even a short portion with errors can abort the whole thing. Probably there are forensic tools which would overcome this issue, but I don't have access to any right now. I don't want to have to resort to playing the whole thing, and copying using analogue techniques just to get a good new digital copy. Maybe the Windoze software you mentioned will sort things out. Thanks.

[P. G. Tipps]

I do quite a bit of conversion to DVD from other formats including MP4. Yes, you need to convert to MPEG2 for DVD.

I use the free Devede app in Fedora Linux and have always found it reliable and relatively simple to use. Using the 'two-pass' option you can get the best quality video possible though be prepared to wait literally hours for completion ... around three is about average. I always use blank 'dual layer' discs to ensure capacity limits do not compress the video further. These can be bought relatively cheaply on the internet.

However, as we all know, what comes out at the end very much depends what we put in at the beginning, but given satisfactory input the end result is very much on a par with standard TV quality. If you want to convert anything to HD on disc you need to use Blu-ray.

[Forget It (U2079353)]

http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?/topic/6380-how-to-copy-a-disc-using-imgburn/

on
windows

[Dave2002]

If you have access to a Windoze machine, try the freeware DVDShrink. Despite its name, you don't have to opt for compression. I have not used it for a few years (not felt the need) but found it very effective when I did use it.

Beware of programs with a similar name but for Macs. They are not related to DVD Shrink and have a bad reputation.

I just tried accessing the DVDShrink site on a Win XP machine, but the site seems very dodgy, so I'm not sure that the site, or the software is OK. A real pain!

[Bryn]

I just tried accessing the DVDShrink site on a Win XP machine, but the site seems very dodgy, so I'm not sure that the site, or the software is OK. A real pain!

In what way "dodgy"? McAfee rate the site linked to at the same risk level as this very forum. Take note of the warnings re. scam versions, etc. at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Shrink#Legal_status . I take it you would not be using it with the intent of infringing someone's intellectual property rights. In particular, stay well clear of the bogus site which masquerades as a secure (i.e. https) version of http://www.dvdshrink.org/

[Dave2002]

In what way "dodgy"? McAfee rate the site linked to at the same risk level as this very forum. Take note of the warnings re. scam versions, etc. at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Shrink#Legal_status . I take it you would not be using it with the intent of infringing someone's intellectual property rights. In particular, stay well clear of the bogus site which masquerades as a secure (i.e. https) version of http://www.dvdshrink.org/

The site I found seemed to have all sorts of warnings about going to FAKE sites - to the extent that I wondered if it was indeed a fake site. Also, like some other sites I've seen, it was not by any means obvious which was the correct "button" to hit in order to activate the download. Finally, when I did press one, something started to download, but the name of the download site was totally different, looked odd, so I aborted. I really don't like sites which make a mess of things like that - though of course the best FAKE sites are the ones which look so close to what one might expect that one really doesn't suspect they they are downloading malware and trashing your machine as you do the download - and maybe they do even download the tools you think you want at the same time. Even better, have a delayed action, so you don't know you've been scammed till weeks later. Yuk!