Cannot read/play CDR - please help urgently

Hi:

First hesitant post...I have to judge some video PSAs sent on CDRs by the competition committee. I cannot read these on my DVD player, Imac, Macbook or old G4. Shamefully I haven't used these before...They all say Maxell CD-R 80 min/700 mb. Should I be opening them in a particular application or they are not readable - PERIOD. (The latter would buy me some time to judge them!)

Thank you in advance.

Maxell usually makes pretty good quality CDs, and if they are used for a submission, they should be newly burned! It sounds like just a regular CD-R, so you should be able to view the files via the Finder. Since it is a CD-R, I suspect they probably just burned the video files instead of encoding them to be played on a DVD player. When you open the CD via the Finder, can you see a list of files, is it empty, or does the CD not even appear in the Finder?

Saffi said:

I have to judge some video PSAs sent on CDRs by the competition committee. I cannot read these on my DVD player, Imac, Macbook or old G4. haven't used these before...They all say Maxell CD-R 80 min/700 mb. Should I be opening them in a particular application or they are not readable - PERIOD. (The latter would buy me some time to judge them!)

Click to expand...

Do the disks so much as mount to the desktop of any one of the Macs you've mentioned? If yes, 2x-click the disk icon to display the contents (don't try to open any of the files though). R-click on any one of the file icons and Get Info. What is the file format?

Those Maxell CDR's are old stock, but they're good quality disks. I've used them repeatedly.

Hi Andre and hughvane:

Thanks for the quick responses - you guys sure are helpful! I did go into "info" of the files like you suggested. There were 2 folders "playdvd" and "Video TS." Info was scarce. Read "Kind: Folder, Where: Volume/080709_1449" And nothing much else except the date created. Seems like someone made copies to send them because the first 6 digits of "volume" are the same for the few I checked. (correct assumption?)

Thanks again. Please advise.

Sorry:

Clicking on the disk icon reads the following info:
Kind: Volume
Created: ___
Modified: wed, July 9th
Format: ISO 9660 File system (Joliet)
Etc.
Name: 080709-1505

I hope hughvane (or others) will have a better response, but I believe the Video TS folder means that this CD was burned as a VCD, which basically means it's a DVD, except it is on a CD (over simplification). I'm a brand new switcher to Mac (couple months), so I don't know the software very well, but there should be a video file in this Video TS folder that you can open. It probably has some weird name, but it should be one of the only files in this Video TS folder.

I wish I had a better answer... sorry!

Saffi said:

Clicking on the disk icon reads the following info:
Kind: Volume
Created: ___
Modified: wed, July 9th
Format: ISO 9660 File system (Joliet)
Etc.
Name: 080709-1505

Click to expand...

That file system tells us that the videos were made with Windows software. Most current operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and FreeBSD, are able to read Joliet-formatted media. You may be able to view them with VLC. http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

The only other workaround is to pop over to a Win friend's place to view the files on a Win PC.

There is another, unfortunate possibility - that the video files are corrupted.

Good luck in getting this sorted.

Thanks for your efforts..shall see what happens. I've already written to them...oh, as I write to you, they've replied. Here is their response.

"I think they were formatted for PC - someone else with a MAC had a similar problem.

I am going to find out if I can have the uploaded and then stored at a site for viewing. If not, I will have to find out what other options there are."

Saffi said:

"I think they were formatted for PC - someone else with a MAC had a similar problem.

Click to expand...

Precisely, it has happened in my own situation, and the solution was VLC.