Reading an unfinalized DVD

I'd previously ripped an old VHS tape on to DVD, only to not be able to finalize it (since I did not have a remote.) During the recording process, I simply played three VHS tapes (with plenty of gaps in between each tape). My intention was to later clean it up and split into multiple video files.

I had an old macbook with a DVD player

First step was to make sure the OS was up to date. (The old version running on there did not have the recent root certificates in the stock Safari, and it did not support any "supported" newer browsers.) Then it was time to install Homebrew. After doing that, I installed a few packages. I could have probavly got by with just coreutils and ffmpeg. I installed the following:

brew install coreutils
brew install mediainfo
brew install ffmpeg
brew install dvd+rw-tools

I also attempted to install libav to run the script from this blog. Alas, I had no luck getting that to install. Luckily, it worked fine to just use VLC to read the file. (More on that later.) I did use the code to copy the DVD to the local computer. I had to use "gdd" instead of "dd". Before copying, I had to figure out where it was. The mount command showed the list of drives. I also used mediainfo to validate it was the DVD (though that was fairly obvious from mount). The OS tried to launch a tool to read it, but I just dismissed it. (I had already tried that unsucessfully). I discovered it was /dev/disk2 and was able to read it to a file:

mount
gdd if=/dev/disk2 of=image.iso bs=2048 conv=noerror,notrunc iflag=nonblock

The process did spit out some errors, but it didn't take as long as I thought it would. Then I had to figure out what to do with the file. I tried a perl script to extract data and a few other things. Then I found the easy solution. Just load up VLC and have it play the file. The time was a little weird, but it played.

If I could play it with VLC, I should also be able to convert it. The "Convert/Stream" option was what I was looking for:

The first settings was the one I wanted (H.264/MP3 with the mp4 container.)

It did want to save it with the m4v extension. ffmpeg did not seem to like that. So I ended up renaming it. 

There may also be an easy way to split up tracks in VLC, but I was not finding it. I watched the video in VLC, and then noted the start and end times for each section. Then I used ffmpeg to extract the sections.

mv converted.m4v converted.mov

ffmpeg -i converted.mov -vcodec copy -acodec copy -ss 01:27:16 -to 01:31:36 fragment.mov

The -ss and -to times take the run time position in hours:minutes:seconds. I start with the converted.mov and then output the fragment.mov. I can watch these on the computer as well as upload to Google Photos. (I can even upload them via a Pixel to not count against storage quota.)

I also installed Handbrake for transcoding, but did not end up using it.

In the end, after a lot of fretting over not being able to finalize the DVD, it turned out to largely be a nonissue. I didn't need any special software on a windows computer. Using just freely available open source software, I was easily able to extract the VHS tapes I dumped to a DVD and make them in to digital files. If I wanted to, I could even make a finalized DVD on the computer.

The quest to digitize a VHS tape

 I have some old personal VHS tapes. I want to have them digitized so I could continue to view them. It seemed simple enough. Alas, it is not that easy.

Option One: Library

Some of the public libraries have "maker stations" with a VHS digitization station. Seems simple enough. Alas, they are not open frequently. (I stopped by to see the whole area closed.) You also need appointments well in advance to go there. Seems like an option once I can get time that matches the opening hours.

Option Two: Borrow a VCR and burn DVD

This seems simple enough. We have a DVD recorder. I just need to borrow a VCR, plug it in and record a DVD, then I can rip the DVD to digital files. I borrowed the VCR, hooked it into the DVD recorder, put in a blank DVD and recorded. It seemed to work. I was able to play the DVD on the DVD recorder.

Then there came the problem. I could not read the DVD on a computer. I pulled up the DVD manual and saw that you need to finalize the disc to be able to read it elsewhere. D'oh! Of course, the only way to finalize is use a menu from the remote. And we don't have a remote that works with it. (Why did manufacturers insist on functionality that could only be done with remotes?) 

To make matters worse, the manual does not mention the specific remote that works with it. We have a Sony dvd and universal remote that don't work with it. (We once had a universal remote that did work with it, but managed to lose that one.)

Finalization option one: Get a remote

Remote Option One:  Sony DVD Remote

This failed. We see it recognizes something (3) on the DVD player when using it, but that's it.

Remote Option Two: Sony Universal Remote

Didn't work. Did some googling and it looks like the TV remote was of the same vintage as the DVD player, but they never worked together. D'oh!

Remote Option Three: Phone remote App

I downloaded a bunch of remote apps on my find. After trying them I discovered that they are not supported on my phone. Did some more searching and discovered that IR is not very popular, but was in vogue a while back.

Remote Option Three: Dig up an old phone

This is a case of almost. I saw Galaxy S6 on the list of phones with the IR Sensor. Alas, I have the S6 Edge+. They decided to take it out of this (and only this one.) A couple others were "just too early" A Huawei Honor 5 (it was in the 6). A Samsung Galaxy S3 (it was in the S4). Then there were other old phones like the FirePhone that mention IR a lot, just not in the the ability to send it out.

Remote Option Four: Find a used one

This could be an option. It would help if I knew the exact model I needed. There are some off-brand universal remotes that could come quickly that say they work with the DVD player. There are also some that say they are the right remote, but would take longer to come. Will need to keep something in mind. May also check thrift shops for the particular vintage that may work.

Finalization Option Two: Get DVD+RW blank disks

According to the DVD manual, these are automatically finalized. Looks like you can get a 15 pack for less than $1 per disc delivered quickly. Will the computer be able to read these properly?

Finalization Option Three: Software to extract unfinalized video

This seemed easy, but turned out to be more challenging. I found a number of things mentioned. Isobuster seems to be something that can extract it. But, it is a pay product only on windows. CDRoller is another windows tool. I also saw https://markandruth.co.uk/2019/09/30/ripping-unfinalized-dvds-from-linux for doing it on Linux. This approach may work on a Mac. In either case, it looks like it takes a long time. I will also need to pull out an old computer with a DVD drive.

Option three: DVD to video camera to computer

In a previous project, I got a mac mini to take firewire input from a camcorder to process miniDV tapes. Could I connect the output from the DVD player to the camcorder to record the tapes there and read them on the computer. The input on the camcorder has smaller ("headphone size") jacks rather than RCA. I have some adapters. Would they work? I'd also need to find some empty spot on tapes. Could be a possibility. 

Option Four: HDMI to Computer

I learned that my DVD burner will send the incoming RCA input directly to HDMI. If I could pipe HDMI into my computer, I should be able to digitize just about anything without intermediary media. I saw some $10 gadgets that claimed to do it. However, they would require going to windows (and did not seem to work well.)  I'll need to look to see if I can find something fairly universal and reliable.

Where to go from here?

A functioning remote for the DVD player would be nice when playing DVDs. (Need to conserve bandwidth thanks to Comcast caps!) I will try some of the "read an unfinilized DVD" tools. Then probably go for an HDMI to USB thing and hope for the best.

The Soul of a New Machine

Computers at one time were complex machines that only large businesses could afford to buy. Mini-computers brought down the cost of computing and started to allow even greater numbers of companies to adopt technology. Initially these computers were doing simple "rote" tasks (such as mathematical calculations.) However, they gradually grew to take on newer and more powerful tasks. (Alas, it does seem that some of these early programs from the 1980s can still be found in the wild today!)
The Soul of a New Machine goes back to the early days of computing when Data General was one of the powerhouse companies in the mini-computer field. The company was started by engineers that left Digital to form their bigger and better company. They recruited the hot-shot engineers that lived for computing, and pretty much drove them to burn out while they were in their twenties. The corporate misadventures and drive could easily be mistaken for a late 1990s dot-com, or a modern day social media company. However, this was an early 1980s computer company. They were making hardware and low-level operating systems instead of high-level webapps and software. They were also hidden out in a suburban Boston office park, rather than a central San Francisco office building. However, the internal drive was still the same.
The interleaves the stories of the personalities with the technical details of what they were doing. (Much of the technical discussion is still at the underpinnings of modern computing. However, today, there are but a few dominant players, such as intel, with most computers being assembled by what would be considered "OEMs" in this story.) There is also a turf war over "outsourcing". However, in this case it was a separate office set up in North Carolina, rather than one overseas. Eventually, the Boston team succeeds in creating their glamorous machine. The Eagle helped to save Data General and spur the company to a billion dollars in sales. The book ends with the high note. However, data general was to hit hard times afterwards as they failed to make inroads in the micro-computer industry. They introduced a legitimate laptop in 1984 - but were ahead of the times with a 3.5 inch disk drive. The company was eventually sold to EMC, who shuttered everything other than the storage lines. The dg.com domain name was eventually sold to dollar general, pretty much ending any traces of the company. (Digital did not fare much better. They did manage to launch Altavista, one of the best early search engines. However, it fell behind google and was sold. Digital eventually ended up being owned by HP, who also sold off the domain name.)