Anyone else have problems loading videos onto their PC with a Panasonic DVD recorder?

I can't believe how much effort I have to go through to get a video off a DVD that's been recorded on one. The only software that seemed to do the job was NERO, Smartripper couldn't even see the DVD, Auto GK listed it as Mpeg1 NTSC and crashed, as for Ulead Movie Factory I can't believe I paid money for that.

What disc format are you trying to extract from (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM...)?

I've tried DVD+ and +RW, same problems.

Does the fact it's a RAM drive make any difference, I would of thought that video was standardised completely now. I can watch them okay.

I tend yo use mainly DVD-RAM or DVD-R rather than any other format.

There is Video mode and VR mode when using DVD-RW discs.

Video mode is so they can be played back on normal DVD players.

There are several different recording layouts. Only one is exactly the same as DVD-Video format.

I tend to use DVD-RAM as the disc format is similar to a HDD, you can simply copy the files off.

However if you have more than one recording or have edited it then you can run into problems.

Hope that helps.

Thanks.

I'll check the menus in more detail, see what is lurking. Both my PC drives are RAM drives as it happens.

Just to be clear, the video on a DVD-RAM disc is stored in the .VRO file.

If you have more than one recording on the disc they are just one after the other in the one .VRO file.

Unlike DVD-Video .VOB files the .VRO file can be the full size of the disc ie about 4GB.

I only have the free ones that came with my recorder, just bought 200 DVD+ discs. Used one RAM disc before and was quite impressed being able to play and record on it at the same time.

What with hard drives and Sky+ being so popular it seems RAM discs came a little too late to the scene.

Might give one a go, see how easy it is to copy to my PC.

Hi stvn, but ram discs were available about 6 years ago, before the advent of hard discs on dvd recorders.
Dave

I've got an EH60D with HDD. I mostly use it with my basic Sky box - it works well and can be triggered to start and stop from the Sky auto view facility.

I started off dreaming that RW discs would be the easiest way to offload Pana HDD to PC but I seemed to have loads of problems. The -RW discs seemed to start giving problems after a very few uses - I bought a load of imation discs from Argos and managed to create a whole new set of beer mats after a single transfer!! I couldn't get the Pana or PC to erase or reformat them. They went back.

I bought an external RAM drive for my PC and started using RAM discs - no problems with High Speed copying and the aspect ratio stays at 16:9. As was said earlier you do get one big *.VRO file with no split between the dubbed programmes. Occasionally if I fill the disc up during a dub session I get problems at the programme breaks and maybe only 3 of 4 get transferred to the PC - so I don't fill them to the brim - I stick at 3 hours.

I use VideoReDo to split the VRO and get rid of the ads. I store them on an external hard drive - I don't burn DVDs but the latest version of VideoReDo includes a DVD burning utility. I love VideoReDo - it works really well - it's good value for money and everytime I've needed their support they email a REAL solution back to you in hours - minutes sometimes!

RAM's are hard to find on the High Street but I only use them for transfer so I don't need dozens. They've been much more successful than RW route.

It's even easier if you get hold of a copy of Panasonic's Movie Album SE.

You get a menu which lists the individual recordings just like on the Panasonic Recorder.

You then select the file you require and simply export to your pc hard drive.

File is saved as a .mpg.

This can be imported into any dvd authoring software package you may already have.

What a star - Panasonic Movie Album SE has been downloaded and installed! I always thought there must be a 'decoder' for those pesky VRO mega files. Thanks very much - never seen this bundled with my Panasonic kit - must has been after I bought them.

Downloaded it via a link in here -

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/bbs/pri...d.php?t=123349

I think it is supposed to be for use with their DVD Camcorders. Seems latest versions are only in Japanese.

I've recently used my Pany EX75 to transfer series 3 of Doctor Who onto my PC, via a couple of Sony DVD-RW disks. Each program was recorded to the HDD, edited and then copied to the DVD-RW, usually 1 or 2 episodes on a disk. The copy function wrote the episodes to the disk in fast mode and automatically finalised the disk.

I then used DVD Decrypter to pull the episodes of the disk to the HDD, finally using Nero Recode to convert to to iPod format. I've done this on my laptop and my desktop PCs both worked fine.

I have not had any problems so far, I've only got the last 2 episodes to go.


I did have trouble a while back trying to do the same with a film that I had recorded from my Sky box over the Scart lead, I couldn't get my PC to read that one, haven't tried recently.

Is there any way to get mpeg type movies from PC to Pana - the other way is easy - a prog maybe to write to DVD-RAM in a Pana format.

I would like to do edits using on my PC using VRD then reload them back to Pana for watching or burning.

Yes you can do this with Panasonic DVD Movie Album. It lets you import files onto DVD-RAM discs.

If the MPEG2 file is of the correct format it can do the process without re-encoding.

Hi Hal

You win again - never thought about it - you told me about Movie Album earlier but I thought it was really just a player - and that I'd need to use VRD to do 'real' editing.

Now I can see that I don't need to take the stuff off the DVD-RAM - I appear to be able to edit it on the RAM disk - just like Pana have always said I could!

....

I've just put the edited disk back in the Pana - AND IT WORKS - what a star - again!

Just put me straight - to get rid of the ads using Movie Album - I just divide it at the start of the ad - then divide and the end of the ad - then recombine - and work my way though?

Please confirm that there is no mark start end like in VRD.

A slightly quicker way probably is to chapter edit... by marking chapter points at the beginning and end of ad breaks then erasing the created chapter.

Alternatively, you could work non destructively and use playlists.

Thanks for all that Hal and Gav - I can now create markers - delete the stuff I don't want - and change the name of the file etc.

I'm getting to grips with Movie Album and it's better than I thought.

Thanks again