Problems copying from Terapin VCDs

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Maybe you folks can offer some advice. I'm using a Terapin VCD recorder to archive VHS tapes. I'd like to be able to make copies of the resulting VCDs, and to also copy the .dat files to my hard drive, convert them to MPEG 1 and trim them a bit and re-author.

Problem is, I'm unable to copy the .dat files to my hard drive. Windows 98 just refuses, saying the file cannot be copied. I've been advised to use VCD Gear to do this, and that program also refuses to copy/convert the files. Finally, I'm unable to simply copy the VCDs in Easy CD Creator. For the record, I'm working from finalized VCDs, burned on data CDRs.

I know other people are doing it this way, so I must be missing something. Any advice? Thanks for any help you can offer.

-- Stefan Lundquist (father_stefan@hotmail.com), March 20, 2002

Answers

A related thread.

-- Russil Wvong (russilwvong@yahoo.com), March 13, 2003.

EZ CD Creator sucks. Do yourself a favor and stop using it. I have no experience with Terapin, but it could be that they are doing something not in compliance with VCD standards during the recording process and that could be why you have problems copying the discs. Try using Nero to copy. You can get a free 30 day demo that is not restricted in any way at www.ahead.de. Just do a disc copy using Nero and see if that works. It is possible to forcibly copy the *.dat files from your CD-R to hard disc, but not through standard Windows tools. I had a somewhat similar situation a year ago and I was able to use the Unix "tar" command ("dd" should also work) to copy the file to my hard drive. If you are not familiar with Unix, this will be worthless to you, but maybe you have a friend who works with computers who will understand how to do this.

-- Jason (Jason.Shumate@equant.com), March 20, 2002.

the Terapin records with errors in the first few blocks on the disk. They claim it doesn't, and only affects duplication. But what a great unit. I always use CDRW. if you use either CDRWIN or Roxio V5 you can copy without problem. earlier easyCD will not work, and the early VCDCreator is poor. if you want to copy the dat file to HD should be no problem, I copy mine OK, possible CD reader error. To convert for editing use a program called DAT2MPG and then use TMPEGNC to edit and convert to VCD format - ROXIO can then be used to make a working VCD. there are other programs which you can edit without conversion such as cineplayer, but unstable and poor support.

-- Wayne (wmunce@holts.net), April 15, 2002.

although im 2 years late, it is so simple to copt trapin dats

simply open up mpegav and highlight the dats.............click on edit ---copy to folder and thats it.

-- Jason Scott Yeldell (jyeldell@prdus.jnj.com), February 20, 2004.


Actually, this is not an answer but a re-iteration of the question. I have not yet seen a complete answer to the problem at hand.

Some people seem to be able to use conventional means to copy the mpegav/music01.dat file to their local hard drives and some cannot. I am in the "cannot" category and I even have TWO of these Terapin devices now. (I found one for $50 at a local discount shop.)

One user reported some success using unix utilities but was not specific about how he accomplished it.

I am a Linux user and I still have Windows available on some machines as well though I haven't used Windows for anything for a very long time. I would like to be able to copy the video files from the Terapin VCDs but I haven't found a good way to do it yet.

--

Adding more to this, I attempted to use "dd" to copy from the VCD and it stopped with an immediate I/O error with 0 records copied.

If you have received any additional information from any sources, please share your information.

-- Daniel (xdesign@hotmail.com), May 27, 2004.



I finally got a partial answer from Terapintech support.

In much the same way that Macrovision is never publically aknowleged, Tarapintech has created the later versions of the TX-0002 to "comply with the DMCA" in that it intentionally creates flawed media. The intention is to allow playback but to disallow copying. To that end, it is effective, but it is flawed in that it violates international VCD standards. This is rather like the way CD publishers are attempting to push off these "copy restricted" audio CDs that fail to work on many legitimate CD players as well as computers.

To all of you struggling with your defective Tarapin device, struggle no more... it's useless unless someone comes up with replacement firmware.

-- Daniel (xdesign@hotmail.com), May 27, 2004.


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