Picasa destroyed h.264 videos from my phone when generating thumbnail

[ncfoster]

So, I took some videos of my kids that I was going to use for a contest submission (deadline today). As a rule, I import all of my photos and videos into my computer through Picasa (Windows 7 x64). I was playing back one of the videos in Picasa, and it crashed on me. It may have been due to something else running Pot Player, in particular (though I believe it was idle). It may have been the fact that it was high defintion video, and my computer isn't exactly a speed demon.

In any event, it crashed Picasa. These files were part of a larger folder where I had downloaded a bunch of photos and videos. So, I used the "Move to new folder" function from the context menu. This moved those videos to a new folder, but it also tried to regenerate the thumbnail images. For whatever reason, something in this process seems to have rendered the files useless. They maintained their length, but they playback without video or audio.

These files came from my HTC Rezound, and as best I can tell, they are h.264 files. They have the MP4 extension. I desperately would like to save these files, but have limited time. I am relatively technical, but most of what I see in the way of tools is not intended for H.264 files.

AND OF COURSE, I deleted the files from my phone, and recovery of these files was fruitless. This will definitely make me more careful about backing up video files ASAP, but for now...any help appreciated.

[poisondeathray]

First try something like VLC or SMPlayer to test the file integrity - these players do not rely on system installed codecs so they can be used to see if the files are ok

[MOVIEGEEK]

Can you play them with MPCHC or VLC? EDIT I see poisondeathray beat me to it.

Can you import them to a video editor such as Windows DVD Maker?

[ncfoster]

VLC seems to be giving me the same results.

[ncfoster]

Cannot open in Windows DVD Maker.

[poisondeathray]

VLC "Same results" as in not playing properly ?

Does mediainfo (view=>text) say anything about them (pick a few random ones)?

It sounds like you might have to resort to file recovery software

[ncfoster]

Same results, as in plays back a file with the correct length, but no discernible content.

Mediainfo output for the main file I'm trying to restore:

General
Complete name : C:\Users\Public\Pictures\Hula Hoop videos\VIDEO0035.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom
File size : 81.4 MiB
Duration : 2mn 11s
Overall bit rate : 5 177 Kbps
Xtra : WM/MediaClassPrimaryID

Video
ID : 2
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : Baseline@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : No
Format settings, ReFrames : 1 frame
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2mn 11s
Bit rate : 5 002 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Variable
Frame rate : 30.000 fps
Minimum frame rate : 29.654 fps
Maximum frame rate : 30.540 fps
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.181
Stream size : 78.6 MiB (97%)
Title : VideoHandle
Language : English
mdhd_Duration : 131867

Audio
ID : 1
Format : AAC
Format/Info : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile : LC
Codec ID : 40
Duration : 2mn 11s
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 128 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 96.0 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : Front: L R
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz

[poisondeathray]

Is the filesize correct? or is there a discrepancy? e.g. mediainfo says the file should be 81.4MiB, what does windows explorer say?

Did you try rebooting?

Do you have access to another computer? Can you put a few on a USB stick and try playing on another computer?

[ncfoster]

Yes. Filesize is accurate. Copying to another computer now, but these files played fine at one point, and all stopped working at the same time. Similar files that didn't suffer this fate will still play.

[ncfoster]

Sorry. Neglected to say that one of the first things that I did was reboot. Then, I tried to install the shark codecs to see if it made any difference, not that I expected it to.

[poisondeathray]

If other computer behaves the same when playing back, you can try remuxing(re-wrapping) the affected files with yamb

Otherwise it really sounds like you might have to try file recovery software. There are a bunch out there, I'm not up to date on which ones work well - maybe others can give suggestions

[ncfoster]

Sadly, I already tried the file recovery angle. Fail on all fronts. Heading to the basement to see how the files work on another computer. Thank you for your help.

[poisondeathray]

But which recovery software did you try? Some work better than others

[ncfoster]

Failed on the other computer as well. I tried Recuva, and a couple of commercial programs that I would have had to pay for if they would have found anything recoverable. All reported some variation of unrecoverable for the files in question.

[poisondeathray]

Another thing you can check is open the file in a hex editor.

If the values are mostly zeros, then the file is largely unrecoverable and you are wasting your time - for example if your file transfer was interrupped this might happen

If there are "normal values" (e.g. open an unaffected file to compare), then there is a chance you might be able to recover

[ncfoster]

There is a section of a lot of zeroes, but by no means is the file mostly zeroes.

[poisondeathray]

Sorry - I don't know enough about file recovery, indexes to be helpful here

I know that certain types of recovery software will attempt to re-index the damaged file, so certain portions might be playable and recoverable . I'm pretty certain that none of them (at least the good ones) are free

Did you try re-wrapping the file (e.g. with yamb) ?

[ncfoster]

I tried to run yamb, but I am not sure what I am doing to get the desired result. Just opening the file and running it generated an equally unplayable file.

[poisondeathray]

Yes, it was just a long shot with free software. It's just trying to repackage it, for example if the mp4 container was damaged (but video and audio streams are ok), there was a slim chance it might make it playable

[ncfoster]

Well, it isn't worth spending any real money on the files, and they will lose most of their value soon, so...if you have any last ditch suggestions, I'm listening, but I am guessing that these will just be casualties.

[AeroQ]

You can try to preview your damaged files with MP4repair.org.
http://mp4repair.org

At least it will tell you whether it can be recovered and show you still frames inside the clips (if possible).

-- Benoît