Convert 'dat' files

[hitpro]

Hi all. Ok, I'm at wits end here. I have these files on my computer that I extracted from a site and I'm having a problem saving them as a 'viewable' video file. What I mean is I watched them (maybe streamed), then I went to my temp. internet folder and saved them. Here is ONE problem. Although the link says it's a 'wmv' file, it saves as a 'dat' file, and I can't watch them again. Here comes the real problems. lol

-I tried re-naming the 'dat' extension to 'mpeg'....nothing
-I tried to convert the 'dat' to 'mpeg' using VCD gear....error "Could not locate mpeg stream"
-I tried extracting the 'dat' to 'mpeg' in ISObuster....got a 0MB 'mpeg' file
-I tried converting 'dat' to 'bin' using ISObuster....did it, but Nero only lets you burn one 'bin' at a time. And I don't really know if it will be an mpeg once it's burned
-I tried extracting the video from the 'bin' files in ISObuster....got a 0MB 'mpeg' file
-I tried DVD Decrypter in iso mode....invalid or unsupported file
-I tried DivxtoDVD....no good


How can I convert these files to 'mpeg'? Once I get them in that format, I will burn them to CD.

Here is one of the 40 files. The others are the same path, except for the file number.(ex. 215-1, 215-2,etc)

mms://a0009.m.akastream.net/7/0009/3...5/70-215-1.wmv

I don't know why VCD gear is not working. Everybody seems to think it will work. Someone had mentioned that since I didn't get the files straight from a VCD myself, there can be problems.

I would appreciate it if someone can advise me or try them out for themselves and point me in the right direction

thanx

[LT. Columbo]

i see your problem. when i "rip" a vcd to my pc it copies the files as .dat files also. i rename them to ".mpg" not ".mpeg" and it becomes a normal .mpg file that i can work with just as it was before i burned it. not sure if the same would work with ".wmv" though.

[hitpro]

I forgot to mention that I tried to rename it to 'mpg' too. With no luck. And the funniest thing is why would it save as a 'dat' file if the original extension is 'wmv'?

O woe is me. lol

[LT. Columbo]

i really don't know about this, but what happens when you rename it to .wmv? i haven't mucked with temp file multimedia....

[hitpro]

Windows media player says that the file has an extension that doesn't match the file format, and if I want to play it anyway. I said yes, and it doesn't play.

[LT. Columbo]

you should maybe try Media player classic or VLC player. both are free. VLC has it's own codecs so maybe you might get something out of it...

[hitpro]

EUREKA!!! I did it.

Thanks LT. Columbo.

I used VLC and it worked. Funny thing, I had VLC for months on my memory stick. I used it occasionally at work and I downloaded it to my stick but never installed it at home. Well, I did... and it worked. One thing, the mpegs can't be rewound or forwarded using the mouse. Is there a way to re-encode them to make them have that ability? It's upsetting for me if I miss something in the video, I have to start it over again.

[LT. Columbo]

glad you have made progress. if it's a true mpeg i don't see why you can't encode it.

[tryvid7]

vlc also dont work

Hi all,
I got exactly the same problem (to open a dat file that has been saved from a mms), I downloaded vlc as described and tried to open the .dat file but it does not work. I tried changing the file extension to .wmv, .mpeg, .mpg but still no success...should I do something extra in vlc?
thanks

[paglamon]

A MMS is probably 3GP.