Corrupt AVI

[Ledoian]

Hi

I am posting this issue on behalf of a friend who had a problem while capturing video directly from his video camera onto Adobe Premiere.

I don't use Premiere at all, but I understand that once you capure video from a video camera, you need to save the captured file.

My friend was saving the caputured file (about 2hrs worth, 13GB) when is computer crashed.

Upon reboot, the captured file was there, but he has been unable to open it in any media player.

I now have the file on my PC and have tried everything from Windows Media Player to VLC. When I try to open it in Windows Media Player i get an error "Windows Media Player cannot play the file. This can occur when another program or operating system component encounters a problem but does not communicate the nature of the problem to the Player."

I have done a few searches on the internet, and have not come across any information that can help me, but I get the impression that the avi file headers or footer may be corrupt?

Can anyone help me out with any suggestions??

Thanks
Andrew

[setarip_old]

Hi!

The simplest solution would be to once again capture/transfer the video from the video camera...

[Ledoian]

Unfortunately, recapturing the video is not an option as it was a live event. My friend would have normally recorded onto DV tape by they were all full.

[mgh]

There are some possible tools listed at
http://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=12#12

[ammck55]

Unfortunately, recapturing the video is not an option as it was a live event. My friend would have normally recorded onto DV tape by they were all full.

The advice to "re-capture" was not intended to shoot the event over (impossible for live events, of course) but to simply capture the footage once more from the cam to the hard drive using the capture function of your friend's Premiere program. Read setarip's post carefully, that's exactly what he said.

Your comment on how your friend would have "normally recorded onto DV...." would lead us to assume that he has a Mini DV cam. If the cam is in fact of this format, capturing (once more) to an .AVI file on his pc will leave you with a file that even Windows Media Player can handle. If you've left something out and the file was captured in MPEG-2 format, you'll need an MPEG-2 compatible plug-in for Premiere, or utilize a frameserving technique. If that's the case, further research will be required on your/his part.

It might save you guys some time if your friend created an account here and asked the questions himself so you wouldn't have to interpret all this stuff and maybe lose something in the process??

ammck55

[Ledoian]

Hi ammck55

It is not a matter of simply re-capturing from the video camera. believe me, if it were simply a matter of transferring the video again, I would!

The major issue is that the video was captured directly onto the HD. The video wasn't recorded onto the camera, and then transferred. So the avi file that I have is the only copy of the recording, and the format my friend was saving to was the avi format.

I have emailed a link to this discussion to my friend so hopefully he'll sign up and post too.

[ammck55]

I am posting this issue on behalf of a friend who had a problem while capturing video directly from his video camera onto Adobe Premiere. The major issue is that the video was captured directly onto the HD. The video wasn't recorded onto the camera, and then transferred.
You appear to have supplied either false information, misleading information, or both. Please refer to Forum Rule 6 and the Announcement at the top of the Newbies homepage for further clarification.

Thread closed.

[ammck55]

Through PM's, it's been established that Andrew's file is indeed valid, I'll now re-open the thread and pass it over to the DV Forum. jggimi suggested it could be a Type-1 versus Type-2 DV issue.

I'm sure someone in the DV forum can identify and help you with this one, Andrew.

ammck55

[bb]

You should be able to play both, type-1 and type-2, in Windows Media Player. Thus I don't assume it's a type-1 vs. type-2 issue.

The file may be corrupt indeed. Try AVI repair tools, e.g.
http://www.risingresearch.com/en/dvr/
or DivFix. I don't know whether these tools can handle type-1, though. If it's type-1, maybe you can convert it to type-2 using one of the free type-1 <-> type-2 converters (see sticky threads).

bb

[communist]

Does it play in VLC (because that one even plays just about everything you throw at it). If it plays ok/good there you can try VirtualDub, then DirectStreamCopy Video / Audio to a new avi.

[setarip_old]

If you haven't already done so, try loading the file into VirtualDub - and post here a screen capture of the "File Information" box (from the "File" dropdown menu)...

[Ledoian]

Hi Guys

The file doesn't play in VirtualDub or VLC.

I don't understand the Type-1 / Type-2 issue though? Is it a different way to encode?

From what I've found on the internet, it could potentially be a corrupt header or footer issue? Is that likely?

[Death Knight®]

You can probably fix your AVI file with DivFix++.
It's worth for try.

http://divfixpp.sourceforge.net