Broken mp4 file--help?

[lackinglatin]

I recorded an MP4 with my Sony Ericsson Z740 (or something like that is the model... All sony's are the same almost on the hardware side as far as this discussion is concerned, I think). I accidentally left it recording for about an hour--when I finally stopped the recording, the phone shut down.

The file was saved, but corrupted somehow. It shows that it is an MP4, but it won't play anywhere. MediaInfo says it's an MP4 with a codec ID of 3gp5. All the video repair programs I can find seem to not work with mp4s (just freaking AVIs...).

It's a 201 MB file. It's really important to me.... What can I do? Where do I start? I am fairly computer savvy in general, so I'm not afraid to actually try and edit the code manually if someone is instructing me.

Something interesting I saw... Not only did the video save, but 5 other files saved next to it. The six file names together are:

MOV01878.mp4
MOV01878_Video_STTS.tmp
MOV01878_Audio_STSZ.tmp
MOV01878_Video_STCO.tmp
MOV01878_Video_STSS.tmp
MOV01878_Video_STSZ.tmp

What do I make of that?

It might also be worth noting that I'm using an 8gb microSD card, and that that's technically more than the phone manufacturer approved. I had been noticing some problems with recording that would cause my phone to shut down before, but the file I recorded had always functioned before--though they were never this large.

*sigh*

Desperate for help--Thanks for any ideas!

[lackinglatin]

bump?

[davexnet]

I think the reason you didn't get a reply is that the regulars around here know that the chance of a successful outcome
is very slim.
Most of the efforts in the past involved using a hex editor/viewer to examine the header/start of data and comparing to a
know good file.
EDIT - see this thread, one guy had some success:
http://forums.3ivx.com/index.php?showtopic=86104

[lackinglatin]

Thanks for that reply, that helps a lot. Read the thread you gave, gives me an idea of what I will need to do. Started looking into hex editing, also found mp4muxer based off of mp4 creator.

That program gives me this, when it tries to analyze (after notifying me of an error).

Quote:
ReadChildAtoms: of root
ReadAtom: pos = 0x0
ReadAtom: type = "ftyp" data-size = 28 (0x1c) hdr 8
Read: majorBrand = 3gp5
Read: minorVersion = 512 (0x00000200)
Read: compatibleBrandsCount = 5 (0x00000005)
Read: brand = vfj1
brand[1] = 3gp4
brand[2] = 3gp5
brand[3] = mp42
brand[4] = emp
ReadAtom: pos = 0x24
ReadAtom: type = "mdat" data-size = 210472869 (0xc8b8fa5) hdr 8
Skip: 210472869 bytes
Warning: In atom missing child atom moov
ReadChildAtoms: finished
FindProperty: no match for moov.mvhd.modificationTime
MP4ERROR: MP4File::FindIntegerProperty: no such property - moov.mvhd.modificationTime

:End quote

Can anyone tell me anything from this? Like what the problem probably is? Headers, or what? Also, if there are any crash courses in how mp4s are encoded and how the header for an mp4 works that you could recommend, I'd be happy... Otherwise, I'm just googling around like a fool.

I may be a noob in this field, but I learn fast. Any help greatly appreciated.

PS: "Skip: 210472869 bytes" reminds me that I should let you know that the file is, indeed, about 200 megabytes... So it's skipping the entire file there. I don't know exactly what an 'atom' is in this context, but I'd love to learn what that and moov mean here... and from "FindProperty: no match..." I gather that this is a missing part of the header that tells the codec something about the framerate or something? Which should be a clue to someone more knowledgeable than I?

PPS: The above is given as the "Dump" (with verbosity set at 5 out of 5). There is another field besides dump, though: Atoms. For Atoms, I get a tree with two branches (I assume these are two atoms):

Branch one is
>>"ftyp" 28 (0x1c) hdr 8

Box Type: "ftyp"
Pos: 0x0
majorBrand 3gp5
minorVersion 512 (0x00000200)
compatibleBrandsCount 5 (0x00000005)
brand vfj1

Branch two is
>>"mdat" 210472869 (0xc8b8fa5) hdr 8

Box Type: "mdat"
Pos: 0x24

[davexnet]

Perhaps this and their forum may help:
http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/
http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/mpeg-4files.html

[lackinglatin]

Thank you so much for that. Good explanation of atoms; still reading, and will check out the forums soon.

(Still open to other replies!)