Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Sony Handycam Disc Error

Nov 22, 2013 7:24PM PST

Hi, I have a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD508 and I'm having trouble getting video footage to play back or upload to my computer off a disc that inexplicably seems to have an error for some reason. I filled the second side of a DVD+RW disc. The first side plays back and uploads fine, whereas the second side only originally loaded two clips of about a dozen total. When I try play back on the camcorder itself it sticks and freezes at a certain point. I went back to the playlist and noticed that two additional thumbnails were added but they're both grey boxes with a question mark... At other times there are more thumbnails shown but there's still a big portion of the footage that's inexplicably "missing." When I play the video from the start and fast-forward to the part that's missing I only get bits and pieces of it and it eventually freezes up on me entirely. Also, when I attempt to edit the playlist on the camcorder I get an alert stating, "Cannot play back or edit playlist on this disc."

When I attempt to play back the footage on my Mac by connecting a USB the Mac DVD Player plays the footage up to a certain point and then an alert pops up that says "skipping over damaged area" and then it freezes up and won't play any of the remaining footage. When I attempt to upload the clips to iMovie it recognizes that the camcorder is connected as well but fails to add any files or footage. I've cleaned the disc with a special lint-free cloth and polish and I don't see any scratches but for some reason footage between around the 3 minute mark to the 13 minute mark is damaged on this disc.

Does anyone have any tips or has anyone else experienced this? I need to upload these files to my computer (and actually be able to watch them) so I'd like to be able to solve the problem myself, but I'm willing to send the disc out for repair as long as it means the footage won't be lost.

Thank you!

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Answer
Re: damaged disk
Nov 22, 2013 8:38PM PST

Usually, this is just lost. Can happen.
There's something to say for making a backup as soon as possible (that is, before the disk is damaged), but that's not always practical.

Kees

- Collapse -
Answer
I'd go more direct
Nov 23, 2013 4:28AM PST

That is, I would try playing with VLC Player with the closed session on a PC. The reading error could be the same old story of the laser dimming over time. These are and this really seems to surprise folk, limited life span products. I find most electronics to be at best, 5 year designs. Any more and either it's a great design or just lucky.

You wrote it's on DVD+RW so that brings us to another issue. That media is nice in that you can re-use but you press your luck with older recorders (anything over 2 years is older.) So use single or record once to move back a notch.

In parting there is ISOBUSTER and others like http://alternativeto.net/software/recovery-toolbox-for-cd/
Bob