Help! I'm desperate

JustAddWater

Hi,

I have a VERY important video that was taken on a video camera recently. Only the first 3 videos came out OK but the rest of the files are unplayable

However, I notice that the size of the file is roughly equal to the length of the file so I think the video may be there but the file may or may not have closed properly during recording

The files do not play in any player inc super, VLC etc... VLC does not give any error, just a blank file but it does give the file length
They're in MP4 format if that helps

Also, while I was using the camera, everything appeared fine, everything was working and the record light was on. Everything looked as if it was OK. Hmm...

If I can't recover these videos, I think it'll be time to pack my bags........

Please please please help!

sirgandi

Ok don't panic... have you attempted any conversion?

JustAddWater

No, not yet
How or what would be the best way to try that?

Bit late for panic!

Thanks

sirgandi

Was I right in reading that you have the Super converter? If so, drop one of your troubled videos into it and try doing a conversion to H.264 or whatever, just to see if it will. While you're at that I'll rack my brains for you - I do a fair bit of work with video conversions etc.

JustAddWater

Damn. I got an error message

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13154434/encoding.jpg

I tried with and without direct show

sirgandi

OK you could try opening it with a program called MPEG Streamclip. Its a free download. Worth a shot...

JustAddWater

Nope

Streamclip asked me to open anyway and when I did, it found 0 audio/video clips

sirgandi

Right, sounds like the headers are corrupted.
Its a very trick one. Have you tried reloading the vids into the camera and closing them off again?

mp22

http://download.cnet.com/DivFix/3000-2194_4-75449932.html?tag=mncol;2

This will attempt to repair the headers.

sirgandi

It's worth a shot, not sure how reliable it would be mind you.

JustAddWater

sirgandi wrote: »

Right, sounds like the headers are corrupted.
Its a very trick one. Have you tried reloading the vids into the camera and closing them off again?

How do I do that? Just put them on SD back into the camera? The camera can see the files but can't do anything with them

Sorry for the stupid question!

mp22 wrote: »

http://download.cnet.com/DivFix/3000-2194_4-75449932.html?tag=mncol;2

This will attempt to repair the headers.

Thanks for this, but it wants an AVI input file. My format is MP4. Any suggestions?

Thanks

sirgandi

Yeah thats all it should take to get em back into the camera. If you want to, you can pass one of the clips to me to look at via dropbox - unless the content is sensitive in which case, hold onto it.

JustAddWater

sirgandi wrote: »

Yeah thats all it should take to get em back into the camera. If you want to, you can pass one of the clips to me to look at via dropbox - unless the content is sensitive in which case, hold onto it.

They're not sensitive videos, just important ones! I've sent 2 via PM. Thanks

sirgandi

Ok so I checked out your video. Unfortunately I was unable to demux its streams, also on checking what stream content there was, the only reading I could get was a 32kbps mpeg audio stream that was disarmed.
This is different to the audio stream on the good file so I'm guessing its a false reading.

I'm guessing the raw data might be there, but whatever makes video digitally readable looks to be missing.

I'm sorry I couldn't help mate - I hope you have enough footage to keep everyone happy!:pac:

JustAddWater

sirgandi wrote: »

Ok so I checked out your video. Unfortunately I was unable to demux its streams, also on checking what stream content there was, the only reading I could get was a 32kbps mpeg audio stream that was disarmed.
This is different to the audio stream on the good file so I'm guessing its a false reading.

I'm guessing the raw data might be there, but whatever makes video digitally readable looks to be missing.

I'm sorry I couldn't help mate - I hope you have enough footage to keep everyone happy!:pac:

Damn Thanks for your help. I will keep trying everything and anything I can

I might call samsung and see if they can help. Someone there must know!

Thanks for your help

JustAddWater

Quick update. I managed to use Video Repair Tool to attempt to fix the problem

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/13154434/VRT.jpg

Using the above parameters I managed to get a file that was not playing at all, to show a time of 2:54. The first 2 mins are blank BUT i recovered the video for the remainder of the file. No audio

It's not a fix yet, but it leads me to hope the video is still in that file and it just needs help to come out!! Even full video but no audio is much better than nothing

redstarmark

I had a problem like this before where my video files became corrupt and the file extension was showing as .doc on my mac, Final Cut wouldn't even import the files and nothing would read the files. Anyway I changed the file extension to what it was supposed to be .mov and this worked perfectly.
I hope this might help you.
Ps I didnt read the rest of the thread so I am sorry if I am repeating what someone else had written.

forsaleireland

use this too it's free bloody classic,plug ur camera into ur pc open format factory

http://format-factory.en.softonic.com/download

go to video then all to avi,add file,browse to your file or whatever add file,press ok,press start

this is a gem of a programme even if the file won't play on vlc this will change it to avi and playable on anything once ya have the codecs installed

any questions on this gimme a shout