Is it possible to play afile that is missing the first 512kb

[SignedupGuest]

Is it possible to play a video file that is missing the first 512KB?

I did some googling for mpg (when that was my only option) and did not really find anything (expect binary boy but it did not seem to want to work)… Now I got two more files though both are avi. I found avifixp but just to piss me off, it does not work if its missing the beginning of the video…

Are there any solutions?

[Duchess]

All I can suggest is that you try loading the file into every piece of software that you have until one accepts it. That's what I do but I always try Womble MPEG-VCR first as that seems the most tolerant of bad files.

[SignedupGuest]

no luck...

I even now have yet another file this time it .iso

Over 5gigs for one video, yet I cant even see a single second of it... hmmm

[ROF]

If I'm not mistaken the first few bytes of a compressed video file contains the referencing info for the file. If that's missing or corrupt, the video file is useless.

How did you lose that 512K?

[Bodyslide]

It also could be that whoever made the iso, created it wrong. If that's the case the file would be useless.

[Cornucopia]

If you KNOW what the videos properties are supposed to be, you could try this...

Record/Create a valid AVI file of the same or greater size (5GB+), using similar settings--e.g. 29.97fps, 720x480, MSDV codec, etc...

Open both in a Hex editor to see where common byte boundaries are, then select the bytes that include the "good" file's header, and paste/insert it into the beginning of the "bad" file (keeping a backup copy, of course--another 5GB+).

Try opening the resultant file in the numerous editors and see if it's usable then. You may need to use a fourCC editor, etc to tweak the settings if they aren't quite right on the 1st try.

Once it's opened, export a copy of the resurrected file (another 4GB+?). This will then be usable in the usual ways.
Whew!

**Note**: You'll temporarily need about 5x the size of your file to accomodate everything safely. Make sure you've got enough free space.

HTH,
Scott

P.S. Use a "filetype" investigator to verify that you actually have the kind of file you think you have. These apps parse the bitstream/contents and pattern-match.