Video files recorded on my camera won't play

[sskkdeckman]

While on vacation I took some photos on my new Fuji z33 and about halfway, the camera seemed to be reading an error on the SD card. Upon returning home I noticed that all the videos and pics taken once the error notice appeared are not displaying. Is there a way to fix this? I tried every video file repair software I know of such as: DivFix++, AVImedic, ASF-AVI-RM-WMV_Repair, etc and nothing works. The problem probably has to do with those software are more for fixing downloaded files whereas my problem is with video files taken with my camera.
The videos and pics seemed to be recording fine at the time, and there is no difference between the faulty files and the working files except that the working files display a thumbnail. The video files are anywhere from 50 to 350 mb's in size.
Any suggestions in resolving this problem (about 3gb's worth of family vacation vids and pics!) will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Baldrick]

What are the video file details? Container(avi,mp4,mov) and video and audio codec. If you have no idea open a working video in MediaInfo.

And try open the video files in an editor like avidemux and see what it says.

[hech54]

Are you using a card reader or hooking the camera directly to the computer?

[sskkdeckman]

They are avi files--the format the camera records on. I've tried reading using a card reader or through the camera hooked up to the computer. That's not really an issue because the first few files work no matter what format or what software I use to play the files. Only the files that have an error aren't working--that is, all the pics and vids taken once I went over 2gb's on what was a 16gb card.

[hech54]

They are avi files--the format the camera records on. I've tried reading using a card reader or through the camera hooked up to the computer. That's not really an issue because the first few files work no matter what format or what software I use to play the files. Only the files that have an error aren't working--that is, all the pics and vids taken once I went over 2gb's on what was a 16gb card.

You still need to do what Baldrick asked. What kind of files? "AVI" can mean many things.
Did you try AviDemux?...it's free and an awesome program.

[sskkdeckman]

I'm not at my main computer right now but will post back with results once I can try out the software--probably Sunday. Thanks

[Cornucopia]

They are avi files--the format the camera records on. I've tried reading using a card reader or through the camera hooked up to the computer. That's not really an issue because the first few files work no matter what format or what software I use to play the files. Only the files that have an error aren't working--that is, all the pics and vids taken once I went over 2gb's on what was a 16gb card.

That's probably it right there. 2GB limit. Look at your manual. I'm guessing it says somewhere what the limit of compatible storage card sizes are...

If that's the case, you're probably screwed. You'd have a combination of hard drive corruption and avi filesize over limit (with screwed index pointers)...

...Just looked at the specs page - says movie recording is supposed to stop at 2GB.

Were you using a SD or SDHC card?

Scott

[sskkdeckman]

I suppose I should have checked the specs first; but I figured if it recognized the card (SDHC) then it would work. What I don't understand is-- even after it went over 2GB it continued to record and take pictures and store the files. The only problem of course is that those files couldn't be read. So there is no way to repair it then?

I will try the AviDemux and Mediainfo to see what kind of properties etc that the files have and post the results tomorrow.

Thanks.

[sskkdeckman]

So I tried both programs and on AviDemux it says "Could not open the file" and on Mediainfo it only displays the size of the file but can't seem to recognize anything else--there is no other info on the file.

When I try it on the video files that do open (taken with the same camera using the same video card) it displays codec info, date, etc but the files taken after 2GB's can only display the size of the file and nothing else.

Is this a hopeless situation?

[sskkdeckman]

I guess so?

[edDV]

The file format is most likely MJPEG in an avi wrapper. Could be h.264.
As suggested mediainfo should tell you.
VLC should play them.

[edDV]

Per DPpreview the Fuji z33 records MJPEG format.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0902/09021705fujifilmz33.asp

[sskkdeckman]

Thanks for the reply. Practically every player, even Windows Media Player, plays the video files recorded by the Fuji z33, it's just the vids and pics that recorded after 2GB's that aren't playing. Mediainfo shows the codecs, date, file size etc of the videos taken before the 2GB limit was reached, but for the pics and vids taken after 2GB all it shows is the size of the file and nothing else.

I use VLC to play all my vids and even it can't open them. There is an error with the file, it is not a codec issue.

[edDV]

Shoot some shorter vids and see if they play. Narrow issues.

[sskkdeckman]

To clarify, I was using a 16GB card and realized too late that the camera has a 2GB write capacity limit. It took vids after the 2GB limit was reached, but the files don't read on any player.

I'm trying to salvage the files taken after the limit was reached (it still seemed to take pics and vids fine) but it's looking less and less feasible. The size of each of the vids themselves are irrelevant.

(in other words--on a 16GB HCSD card all the initial vids and pics taken are fine and read on any player, but once I've taken enough vids to reach the 2GB or so capacity limit, all the files taken after that become unreadable regardless of how short or long the videos are)

[edDV]

To clarify, I was using a 16GB card and realized too late that the camera has a 2GB write capacity limit. It took vids after the 2GB limit was reached, but the files don't read on any player.

I'm trying to salvage the files taken after the limit was reached (it still seemed to take pics and vids fine) but it's looking less and less feasible. The size of each of the vids themselves are irrelevant.

(in other words--on a 16GB HCSD card all the initial vids and pics taken are fine and read on any player, but once I've taken enough vids to reach the 2GB or so capacity limit, all the files taken after that become unreadable regardless of how short or long the videos are)

Have you called Fuji support? It is an internal camera issue.