I need to copy a video from dvd-r

Howdy Folks,

A neighbor let me borrow their hitachi DVDCAM #DZ-MV750MA; with a mini DVD-R. It has a video of my kids from last week, my daughter doing a solo. I thought it would be easy, but apparently not.:cry

I tried using w7 machine, only bit recognized on the disc is an .ini file; the disc bogged me down considerably, ie minutes to recognize the disc or allow right click options; usb cable allowed pc to recognize the camera & eject, but would not allow playback, or any sight of a video file.

About the same on XP pro machine.

One try gave me the message that the file was corrupt & unreadeable.

I'm embarrased to ask for help, but it is above my level, so I need to.

Thanks You!

 

Hi,

I'm just glancing at the guides from Hitachi and it looks like you have to use the camera to export the movies. Did your neighbor tell you differently?

How have you gone about this from the beginning. You use the camera and take the movie and it is recorded to what(the mini dvd-r)? Then you just took the dvd-r from the camera and put it in your PC?

 

I re-read your post and it looks like you did connect the camera to the PC. Check out this page paying attention to either Create a Video DVD-r and/or Export as Mpeg2 to PC topics.

Basically it looks like the disc you recorded the video on is staying in the camera and sending files over to the PC. When you are using the Create a Video dvd-r instructions it looks like it sends the file information over to the PC and then you eject the disc with the movie and insert a blank DVD and the camera burns the movie to disc.

 

Hi sach2,

Thank you for your help! I should have done a little research.

It appears I will need 'DVD-MovieAlbumSE' in order to import the video file. Though I did a quick search so far, I will try to use "DVD Movie Factory2", that I bought some years ago & see if that will help.

Thank you for your time & a nudge in the right direction. I will holler back if I come to an impass.

Tony

Looks like Ulead is the same manufacturer of the software, thats promising.

 

Try the software.

I did see something about finalizing the disc (in the camera?) and it may make the video visible to the computer. [Warning: I'm unsure if that would interfere with your software being able to download the movie. I don't think it should.] "It's a DVD camcorder. Finalize the DVD and then rip it to your PC using something like Handbrake or DVD Decrypter."

This poster couldn't get the software to install and in the last post says she manages to get a VRO file off the camera. She doesn't say how.

This software accepts VRO as input if you can get ti off the camera http://www.squared5.com/svideo/mpeg-streamclip-win.html

 

Thanks sach2,

No luck with my software recognising the file on the camera. I'm dwnlding, I believe the dvd moviealbumSE prog, albeit from panasonic, though it may not be able to work with the hitachi. Hitachi does offer a driver updater, so I'm hoping I can get it to work. I will have to assemble 3 parts of the movie album w/a .bat file I believe.

I'll keep plugging along, and I thank you for your support.

 

Still no luck...

The dwnld I found is looking for the installed (dvd moviealbumse), to 'update' it.
I'm continuing to search & try various methods to recognise the file on the dvd-r.

I'm accepting the challenge to do the work for myself and learn THAT process.

 

Good for you! You've picked a tricky one to delve into.

Is there an option to finalize the disc in the camera settings? Windows may be having trouble seeing an unfinalized disc. I believe all finalizing does is make the disc so no more can be written to it and make it readable to other devices. The camera should still be able to see the files after finalizing. [That is my basic understanding though I will take a look around later today]

You might want to look at Cyberlink PowerDirector as a possible means of transfer. I haven't read enough to get a good handle on whether or not it can download the video from the camera. Just putting it out there as a term to use in your searches. [The trial version puts a watermark on the first 5 seconds of video but that doesn't sound too bad.]

Edit: From this thread Power Director may not be that useful for downloading the video as he seems to use the MovieAlbum software for that purpose. Like I said I haven't read enough. And I just looked PowerDirector is a 680mb program. Eeks! I think we should look for something else.

 

Yes, you're right finalizing seems to be necessary. The hitch here is I need the dc power cord, as they cannot be finalized w/battery. I have called & messaged the hitachi store, though this seems to be fairly old.

I have the manual for the machine 190+ pgs.rolleyes
going to install movie factory on xp machine & see if there's better luck, than w7.
The battle goes on.

Thank you for marching along!

 

Seems I'm at an impass. Trying through several distributors, I've ordered a dc adapter cord, necessary for finalizing the dvd-r disc. I'll look for that Thursday to go on in the process!
What a run around looking for 'dvd moviealbumse', lots of dead ends, (it's not as easy as it looks!)

Cheers!

 

I did find a hitatchi link for the disk but it is about $20. It doesn't list your model number camera but it does contain the software which should be separate from drivers.

The answer to this post appears to come from Hitachi.

I don't know if you want to spend the money for that software or not. Finalizing the disc may be enough to let a PC read the file. Then it is a matter of converting.

 

Thanks sach2,

I will buy the software if I need to, I'll first see if I can work with it once I'm able to finalize the disc. Whatever it takes it'll be worth it, my girl @ eight, was so cool rapping 'the gingerbread man'!

Thanks for sorting through so much stuff to help me get this little project together! I like your style and admire your gentle tenacity, watching the complicated process you are doing with pongo, as well as others.

Keep on, keepin' on!

 

Thanks again to sach2 for the help and encouragement. I got the dc cord I needed, right on time, and was able to "finalize" the dvd-r disc. That made the video files available for me to work with on the pc. The file extensions are ".vob", so I have moved on to video converter(s), to further process the video files into useable/editable format.

I won't continue that work in this thread, I'll bang around and do that work best I can myself.

Many thanks to sach2, and MG, for support & encouragement!

:wave It means a lot to me!:wave

 

You're very welcome. Good work tracking down the cord.

I think you may have trouble finding a software that edits VOBS directly. If you find one that works I 'd be interested which one you found.

One thought is that if you have any immediate problems editing the video in a software that is supposed to work you may need to use something the DVDdecrypter to copy the files from your Disc to your HD. I don't know that Hitachi DVD files are encrypted but I just thought I'd mention it in case your ran into immediate problems with everything you tried.

If you can't find a decent software to edit VOBS then you may have to convert to something like Avi before editing. I like autoGK for that process. It produces a very good quality Avi although it does take quite a while.

I'm not familiar with a converter that can convert DVD files to Wmv files but I know they are out there. If you convert to wmv then Windows Movie Maker could be used to edit the files. Here is a guide using free software. The poster there is making a video for using on a phone screen so you would not select the custom video size or bitrate he did. Probably just pick a video quality percentage of 75-90% and let the program fill in the other boxes.

Once converted it will be much easier to find software for editing. Of course, you will have to convert your edited avi back into DVD format for playing on your home DVD player. DVDFlick would do that for either file type.

 

Not as of yet, but I may look if I can't maintain a decsent video quality.

No immediate problems, the .vob's were able to go right to the HD.

I will check out your suggestion "autoGK.." at some point.

I searched (google), with much runaround avoiding toolbar downloads, and finally, DUH, MG has all kinds of stuff. MG has "Any Video Converter"! Though the 1st draft has a bit too much degradation so far. I will have to experiment quite a bit to learn enough to get an acceptable quality. That's what I'm in it for though, to learn how to do some cool stuff for my family!

Thank you for your expertise & leading me through!

 

It may be worth going through dlb's posts here at MG and look for one's relating to encoding. He has tested a lot of the software available and often posts lists of his recommended software and critiques of how it works.

He has lots of posts but most don't relate to video editing so shouldn't be too hard to scan through several pages to find some recommendations.

 

Thanks again for your timely input. I was able to find a recent pertinent post from dlb!

His review of "Format Factory 2.5(0)", was perfect, and worked nicely.

My current challenge is to learn some basic editing, currently trying Ulead's "DVD Movie Factory 2". I am struggling just to get files opened to get started after they've been converted.

I've got to do that for work myself. Some research is in order. I'll fumble through for a while, before I quit and try another program.

Thanks for your helpful direction sach2!

 

There is little point in struggling through simple things. To which format did you convert the files? Most likely Avi. If Windows Media Player doesn't read the files than it is most likely a missing codec problem. You can test if it is a codec problem by getting Gspot and opening the converted file with it to see if the codecs are installed on your system. Not a great interface but it will show if both audio and video codecs for the file are installed.

Or try VLC video player and see if the files play (it has self contained codecs).

 

I apologise, I wasn't clear. I can view them with the installed dvd player, and yes the files are .avi's now. I haven't gotten them opened in an editor yet. The one I have is years old so may not be compatible with W7. I may just move onto another freeware for this simple project & a begin there. We had to finish up our Santa work for the kids, so I will get back onto it now, & let you know how I get on.

Thanks sach2!

 

Ok, not too bad...moved on to another MG download from "NCH Software", 'VideoPad Video Editor'. Must be a very good interface for me to pick it up, and I was able to complete a workable DVD after a couple hours. That's a success! However, I've managed to get distorted video quality.

I'm not sure if it was mistakes, or buttons I pushed in trying to figure out the tools, or settings I neglected to adjust properly initially.

Results were; overall sound was ok, little skipping, not bad.
Video had a lot of lagging/skipping interspersed with some good flowing sections.
Most of the settings were greek to me. Though now I know I can go back and try again from my original files, and see if I can obtain better quality.

I'll make another draft between today & tomorrow!

 

I've noticed this thread has calmed down some,which I have read and thought to say in all the "conversations" not once was a freeware program mentioned which I use regularly once conversion is completed to create a near perfect DVD (very watchable video/movie with no lags or errors to mention) called ImgBurn using the build option and aiming to the folder in question,though I have no idea why the Audio folder is always empty.

 

Here is a thread about the empty audio folder. I think most burning software puts it there in case you have an old DVD player that won't recognize a DVD disc if the folder is missing.

I believe the regular audio track is incorporated in the video files and the unnecessary audio folder was there for future technologies.

 

Hi noprob!,

Thanks for your interest. I understand imgburn is used quite a bit, so I've dwnlded it. I gave it only a couple of minutes to try the interface. Though it may be simple, my initial try is confusing, though I will almost certainly use it for back-up and other writing tasks I'm sure.

I have video files (two segments), from a half hour school performance with my kids. I initially needed help to retrieve the files and got great help to succeed in that.

I needed then to edit a few bits that weren't part of the performance, & I added a title page, with much trial & error. I used a couple of progs, previously mentioned. Though the final playback leaves something to be desired. Video skipping & mismatched audio/video. Kind of stinky since my daughter did a cool solo/lead rap of "I'm the Gingerbread Man". Funny as hell! So eventually I hope to produce a disc of better quality to share with family & friends.

Any experience you have will be given grateful consideration!

Thanks

 

I use ImgBurn version 2.4.2.0 because it just works. (on XP Pro SP3)

it still mystifies me but does basic archiving and using the build option allows a nice viewable dvd from a good source.

The constant updating of any given software seems to be a never ending spiral and drives me bonkers. :tas

If it works and does it's required programing why update? :confused

anyway enough rambling,the thought struck me that perhaps someone else may have video taped this same performance with better quality footage to edit?

sorry not able to help out much more then this post.