My Samsung HR773 DVD recorder appears to have suffered an electrical failure: when I plugged it in, I saw a spark and smelled something burning. I removed its 160 GB Seagate SATA hard drive and connected it to my computer with a SATA-to-USB adapter. Windows can see a folder containing 84 MPG files, each roughly 600–1000 MB, along with IFO and MAP files that match my recordings, but none of the videos will play in any media player.
I have read that the recorder may use a Linux-based file system and possibly special encryption. I am not experienced with Linux or command-line tools, so I am unsure whether booting from a Linux USB would help. I would prefer not to buy another HR773 and copy each recording to DVD individually. Is there a practical way to recover or convert these files, or does the original recorder need to be repaired?
3 Answers
VLC is worth trying, but if it cannot open the files, they may use a recorder-specific format or encryption rather than merely an unusual codec. Encryption may be tied to the original recorder, so putting the drive in another unit might not work unless it has the same key. Since the failure produced a spark and burning smell, inspect the power-supply board for visibly damaged components. A repair technician or someone experienced with soldering might be able to restore the recorder, although board damage could be more extensive.
A bootable Linux USB could help if the issue is simply that Windows cannot properly access the recorder's file system. You can usually use the graphical file manager to copy the files without touching the command line. However, since Windows already displays the recordings, the drive is probably mounted well enough; copying them to another disk would not necessarily remove recorder-specific encryption or make them playable.
The main concern is that the recorder may encrypt the recordings, which could explain why the files are visible but cannot be played in Windows.
Before assuming the files are encrypted, inspect one with FFprobe. Run `ffprobe file.mpg` from a command prompt in the folder containing the recording. Even if it reports errors, it may reveal whether the file has recognizable video and audio streams, along with the codecs and resolution. If it identifies the contents, try remuxing without re-encoding using `ffmpeg -i file.mpg -c copy recovered.mp4`, then test the new file in VLC or another player. This will not bypass encryption, but it can help distinguish a damaged or unusual MPEG container from genuinely protected recordings.
VLC also failed to play them, and there is visible burn damage on the board, so I am not very confident that a simple repair will be enough.