URGENT: File Format/Extension Issue

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gogatrs

gogatrs

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gogatrs
OK, at my racing today IRL, I record with a GoPro HD Motorsports Hero.
It's set to NTSC and .mp4 format, which runs fine on my Mac and PC.
However, it ran out of battery during the day, and I HAD to borrow another person's camera, not their battery. (if I take the battery out, it'll wipe the default settings/time and date etc. If I get the video up, you'll see why I HAD to record it :dopey:)
I checked, it was also in NTSC and mp4 format.
So it recorded the video, I get home, put the memory card in the Mac, view the videos recorded on my camera.
Then I attempt to view the ones recorded on my friend's camera with QuickTime and it says "QuickTime cannot view file format xxx (file name+extension)" or something along those lines.
I tried WindowsMedia player, and some VLN program that was recommended by GoPro on their website. It still didn't work.

Any ideas?
It's urgent because I need the video to show someone for critiquing by tomorrow evening.
 
First off, what exactly is the file format as xxx does us no good, although I assume mp4?

Second, was the program VLC instead of VLN? If not, try VLC.
 
TB
First off, what exactly is the file format as xxx does us no good, although I assume mp4?

Second, was the program VLC instead of VLN? If not, try VLC.
Click to expand...

Yes it was VLC.
And the xxx is "GOPRO001.mp4"

I've looked into the codec software, but I have no idea how to use that.
 
gogatrs
Yes it was VLC.
And the xxx is "GOPRO001.mp4"

I've looked into the codec software, but I have no idea how to use that.
Click to expand...

Go on your Mac and go to get info on the file, change the extension to .avi and see if it works.
 
Changing the extension will not do anything.

The extension just shows the video container(think it is also stored in a file ID within the video) but the codecs are the issue.
 
If codecs are the Issue, there's a codec pack called K-Lite that should solve that problem.
 
dice1998
If codecs are the Issue, there's a codec pack called K-Lite that should solve that problem.
Click to expand...

Yes, but how do you use those?
I don't think it's a codecs issue because I can view my camera files fine.
Did his camera save then in a different format? :boggled:

Is there a site I can upload it to that will allow me to view it?
YouTube wasn't working.
 
Tried converting and the codecs.
The converters I've tried all crash and the codecs don't do anything. :/
 
dice1998
Maybe the file's corrupted? :indiff:

I can't think of anything else..
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's what the person I spoke with over the phone thought.
He sent me a link to a corrupted file recovery program.

But when a file is corrupt, the screen on the camera will read "SoS."
Which I'm not getting...
 
Grayfox
How big is the file?

Have you tried on an other system?
Click to expand...

I've tried it on both my PC and Mac.
It's an HD recording, so it's quite large: 1.93 GB
There's a second one that I don't need quite as much that's shorter an is only 300 MB.
 
I cant see if failing on PC if you have K-Lite Standard or higher installed.

What kind of camera recorded it?
 
Grayfox
I cant see if failing on PC if you have K-Lite Standard or higher installed.

What kind of camera recorded it?
Click to expand...

GoPro HD Motorsports HERO.
What's K-Lite?
Is that a corrupted file recovery program?

The person at GoPro I spoke with over the phone emailed me links to two different corrupted file recovery programs.
I'll try that later today.
 
K-Lite is a very good codec pack for windows.

And their is really no such thing as a corrupted file repair program(since you can't repair damaged or missing data(which is called corruption) you can't fix it) all if anything these programs will do is see where the corruption lyes and get rid of that area by deleting it from the file

eg
Let say this is a file that contains the following data. "ABCDEFG"

Lets say B, D and F are corrupted data the program will do "ACEG" and save the file.

But the GoPro guys may have a program that "can" fix it but i doubt it.
 
Hmmmm.
OK, it's worth a shot I guess.

But will that mean some parts of the video will be missing? Or there may be no sound?
 
Last edited:
Well their are 2 streams in your file by the sounds of it.

A Video Stream and aAudio Stream.

These both contain data and you may have missing Video, Audio or both and it will skip.

Try K-Lite Standard Codec Pack first.
Use Mega if you must but Mega is more suited for older codecs or stranger codecs(Impluse Tracker, CDXA, ect)
 
If its a camera its possibly some specialised codec supplied by the manufacturer thats not a common one, in which probably only installing the software that came with the camera will fix it.
 
If VLC won't play it, k-lite won't help a thing. There are also a ton of packs that claim to be k-lite that are nothing of the sort, and will zombie your computer (if you don't know what that is, it doesn't matter, it's obviously not good) - so if you do go that route (and with m4a, you don't need to at all), scan the file before installing/unzipping.

File is almost certainly corrupted, but you may have to purchase video recovery software - that will also take a long time to complete (2 days or so with an average computer on a 2GB file as you mentioned) - some you can try to recover a small amount to see if it's working so you don't waste your time. You also don't want to use your computer while it's recovering the file, as I've had that cause issues before (this was 2 years ago, and I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the software, but it did work, albeit the last couple of minutes of a 2 hour video).

Also worth a shot - see if you can view it in Linux (you'll need the VLC player installed for that) - just run a Live CD of the latest/greatest Fedora release and see if you can view it on there. Let us know what happens.
 
Well, the file is gone now.
Accidentally formatted the SD card when I thought I had it on the computer. :banghead:
Thanks for the suggestions guys.
It was only an HD karting video of me going from 18th to 2nd passing a Canadian, and American national champion along the way. :crazy:
 
I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help, but I've been trying to figure out why it wouldn't work (via google research) to no avail :guilty:
 
dice1998
I'm sorry I couldn't have been more help, but I've been trying to figure out why it wouldn't work (via google research) to no avail :guilty:
Click to expand...

Trust me, I've been doing the same lol.
I never did get a chance to run the file recovery software. "/
 
gogatrs
You know this as a fact?
Pleas elaborate.
Click to expand...

Yes i know this as a fact as i have data recovery tools on my flash drive.

When data is deleted from a drive the only real thing that is deleted is the MFT entry for that file, so the drive appers to have free space even though the file is still on the drive.

What the data recovery tools do is scan each sector of the drive and look for files, folders, and older MFT entries.

Each file has its own hex ID code.

I think MP4 is "00 00 00 18 66 74 79 70
33 67 70 35".
 
OK, the recovery software worked.
I zipped the file and uploaded it to mediafire.

Can anyone reccomend me a free corrupted file recovery software?
 

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