Video file not accessible

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Guest

I captured 19 GB of video from a camcorder through Movie Maker 2.1 through
USB directly to an external hard drive. I hit STOP, but before I could press
FINISH, somone pulled the plug. Therefore, the video data is there, and I
even made a copy on another drive. But there is no header information on the
file, so i cannot access it, nor can I import it into any application. This
is a crucial file. Help! Thanks.
 
The app I used to use when all else wouldn't open a file was MovieXone...
and then I'd save it to a new file... today I'd try VirtualDub.
 
PapaJohn: Thanks for the suggestion, but VirtualDub won't open the file
either. The Hex Editor shows me what I already know: a bunch of 0's at the
head of the file where there should be the identifying info for .avi. What
is that info and how do I put it there? Any suggestions? Fr. Walter
 
the info varies by the camcorder brand/model... and other factors. Maybe
take another good clip captured from the camcorder and clone the header onto
the file.

I don't know if that's possible...

Another point is that Movie Maker doesn't check the inside of a file once
its been imported and placed into a movie project...

Import a good 1-1/2 hour video (anything longer than the one you want to
use)... lets say it's videogood.avi.. and put it into a project file...
close Movie Maker and replace the videogood.avi file with your problem file,
giving it the exact same name of videogood.avi (in the same folder).

Open MM2 and try rendering the project to a new file... MM2 won't open the
file to check the insides... it'll take the data a render it to a new
file.... if you're lucky.

--
PapaJohn
Movie Maker 2 and Photo Story 3 website - http://www.papajohn.org

tips and tricks: http://www.simplydv.co.uk/simplyBB/viewtopic.php?t=4693

Online Newsletters: http://www.windowsmoviemakers.net/PapaJohn/Index.aspx
 
I tried your suggestion about replacing the file in Movie Maker, but I wasn't
lucky. It seems that VirtualDub has the solution, but it doesn't give
instructions on how to clone or otherwise put a header into a file. My next
step might be a data retrieval service. Do you know of any? If and when I
solve this problem, I'll let you know. Thanks again for your interest.
 
No, in VirtualDub I can't view the video, but in its Hex Editor I can see the
digital encoding of the data. The bunch of 0's at the beginning show me that
the information needed to identify and open the file is missing.
 
It's more a data problem than video problem. I'm interested in how you were
capturing, you say by usb, but you captured a dv-avi file? Are you sure?
Most usb connections wouldn't support this type of capture and would
probably produce a wmv file. Or did you have some sort of analogue>digital
convertor?
Can the file not be just recaptured?
If not, I'm a little stuck?
Can the file be seen by windows media encoder? Maybe use the windows media
file editor in it's utilities apps.??

Graham

--
Graham Hughes
MVP Digital Media
www.myvideoproblems.co.uk
www.dvds2treasure.com
www.simplydv.com
 
I fed live video from a Canon GL2 via firewire to be captured by Movie Maker
as a DV-AVI file on an external drive via USB 2. I have done this
succcessfully many times to produce a tapeless shoot. Unfortunately, by not
pressing FINISH I lost the information needed to open it in any application
anywhere, even though ".avi" appears after the name and the number of GBs is
listed correctly. I can even copy it to another drive, but I can't open it.
You're right that this is a data problem, but how do I retrieve it? Thanks
for your input.
 
PROBLEM SOLVED, but don't ask exactly how. Using Asaf's .avi patch (at
Grahams's suggestion) we somehow cloned some of the header from the good file
(made at PapaJohn's suggestion) on to the bad file. It still wouldn't open
anywhere, not even in Virtual Dub. But using its hex editor we put the bad
file side by silde with the good file. Then number by number we corrected all
the lines that appeared on the numerous error messages that kept popping up.
In Movie Maker we eventually saw the first frame, but it wouldn't play. In
Windows Media Player we moved the slider forward and it began playing the
rest of the file. Using Canopus ProCoder we made a backup .avi file, and all
is well. Sincere thanks to all !
 
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