I know a lot of the queries here have to do with ripping DVDs and turning them into VCDs. I'm kind of interested in going backwards. Is there anything for the Mac like VCD Gear, where I can take the .dat file on a VCD and turn it back into an .mpg file I can watch on my computer using the QT player? Many thanks.
Yeah. Either MacOS or OSX (any of the different flavours) is the thing you want. Confused? A little tip: Rename the .DAT extention part to be .MPG (after copying to your hard-drive, of course) Have Fun...
Okay, thanks for the tip, though I'm not quite sure it was necessary for you to be such a wiseass about it.
Oh, I am sorry, I meant no offense. Tell you what, seeing as you are not perfectly happy with the total service, just send the tip back, at no charge to you of course. It was an oblique (VERY) reference to an American satirical soap comedy called "SOAP!" Some humour doesn't cross the "Big Pond" well, it seems. Have A Nice Day.. _X_X_X_X_X_[small]Life is just more of the same:[/small]
Oblique indeed -- it sounded simply like the usual "oh, here's a newbie who doesn't know something I know" sarcasm I see on lots of message boards and newsgroups. I guess I could watch more "Soap," then again my viewing habits don't run to 30-year-old sitcoms. In any case, I'm afraid your advice was flawed. Trying to drag the AVSEQ01.DAT file from the VCD to my harddrive, OSX gives me the following error message: The operation could not be completed because some files cannot be read or written (Error code -36). But thanks anyway.
Could the VCD be faulty? I have seen some .DAT files that are almost impossible to copy due to various errors (CRC/read errors etc) BUT they will play ok - they are actually MPEG-1 system streams and players (hard & soft) seem more tolerant of errors in the stream. If you look closely at the VCD structure, you will see that the ACTUAL video+audio stream data is stored in a RAW format, which sometimes does not match exactly with the header file (the file you can see called AVSEQ01.DAT). I have just tried it out on a Blue & White with OS 9 and it worked ok (had to check my advice was correct), so the principle is correct. Maybe OSX? Have you tried it in 9.2 yet? Do you have access to a Windows machine (Yeah, I know, but sometimes you just gotta!!), try it in there. Sorry I could not help further. Byeeee
Well it helped me out! I'd just about given up. Then I found this forum and... well, the rest is history! Copied the .dat to HD and renamed to .mpg. Easy as that. Thanks! Simon
