How to get old DVDs to play one last time? at DVinfo.net

David Harrison · April 15th, 2024, 09:05 AM

Hi,

Years ago I copied a bunch of VHS tapes to DVD having been led to believe they would last forever unlike VHS which at "best" would get mildewed after a while. Later experiences with recording to DVD worked well but the first bunch I did worked well for a while and then began to 'break down' or something. Even though there are no obvious scratches or damage they got so they would freeze up and just quit playing. I could remove them and run water over them then resume play from last stop and for a while that worked ok but there are still a few where that trick won't get them to play through to the end. I'm recording them as mp4 with Active Presenter playing them with VLC media player. Can anyone suggest a trick to get them to play through one last time???

Thank you for any help with this!

David
Maine, USA

Pete Cofrancesco · April 15th, 2024, 10:45 AM

The only tricks I can think of is using different dvd players and software. Different hardware and software deal with errors or missing or corrupt data differently. Some will skip the missing part where as others will not play it. So you might try a consumer dvd player and use an analog to digital converter to capture it to the computer. Like wise there are ripping software like MakeMKV that might be more forgiving. No guarantees.

Note commercially created dvd are made by a more robust process an aluminum plate is pressed making it more permanent. Consumer burnable media is printed with a coating that is heated with a laser that writes the data. Sun light, heat or age can degrade this coating.

Andrew Smith · April 15th, 2024, 06:41 PM

Yup. Play through a DVD player and capture the composite video coming out via some sort of digitizing hardware. DVD players will be more tolerant of dropouts.

If you know of an hour:min:sec location for the show stopper failure spot, you can always get creative with skipping past that bit in order to resume playback of the disc. Not a perfect solution, but enables you to still capture what you can.

Andrew

April 15th, 2024, 09:05 AM	#1
David Harrison New Boot Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Buford, GA Posts: 11	How to get old DVDs to play one last time? Hi, Years ago I copied a bunch of VHS tapes to DVD having been led to believe they would last forever unlike VHS which at "best" would get mildewed after a while. Later experiences with recording to DVD worked well but the first bunch I did worked well for a while and then began to 'break down' or something. Even though there are no obvious scratches or damage they got so they would freeze up and just quit playing. I could remove them and run water over them then resume play from last stop and for a while that worked ok but there are still a few where that trick won't get them to play through to the end. I'm recording them as mp4 with Active Presenter playing them with VLC media player. Can anyone suggest a trick to get them to play through one last time??? Thank you for any help with this! David Maine, USA

April 15th, 2024, 10:45 AM	#2
Pete Cofrancesco Inner Circle Join Date: May 2004 Location: USA Posts: 3,005	Re: How to get old DVDs to play one last time? The only tricks I can think of is using different dvd players and software. Different hardware and software deal with errors or missing or corrupt data differently. Some will skip the missing part where as others will not play it. So you might try a consumer dvd player and use an analog to digital converter to capture it to the computer. Like wise there are ripping software like MakeMKV that might be more forgiving. No guarantees. Note commercially created dvd are made by a more robust process an aluminum plate is pressed making it more permanent. Consumer burnable media is printed with a coating that is heated with a laser that writes the data. Sun light, heat or age can degrade this coating.

April 15th, 2024, 06:41 PM	#3
Andrew Smith Equal Opportunity Offender Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Posts: 3,064	Re: How to get old DVDs to play one last time? Yup. Play through a DVD player and capture the composite video coming out via some sort of digitizing hardware. DVD players will be more tolerant of dropouts. If you know of an hour:min:sec location for the show stopper failure spot, you can always get creative with skipping past that bit in order to resume playback of the disc. Not a perfect solution, but enables you to still capture what you can. Andrew