faulty 'avi container' file

[dizzi]

HI, i am new to this forum and not sure where to post this message. I have a problem that i hope someone can help me with.

I am a scientist and I record videos of stuff to analyze later. Recordings are done by connecting a cctv camera to a PC, specifically through software called Multiviewer. This creates .avi files which are usually about 200-300 Mb. No problems there.

The other day, one of my really important recordings failed - there was nothing apparently wrong during the session, the file is here, and it has the correct size but when i open it in either Windows Media Player or VLS (on the mac) there is no picture and it looks either black or scrambled. If i bring up the 'file info' of these files, dodgy one is apparently an 'avi container' whereas the good ones are 'avi movies'. Should this be telling me something? Am happy to run some further diagnostics if anyone can suggest any.

I don't know much about video files and formats but am really keen to try to somehow recover this movie!

Any suggestions welcome. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

Try open it with a video editor like avidemux and virtualdub and see if it can read it all.
Open the avi with mediainfo and see if it can read the header and give you all the details about the file.

[jagabo]

There are some AVI repair programs you can try: DivFix, for example. I don't know if it will help with your current problem. It may also be possible to patch the AVI header, depending on what's wrong with the file.

[Cornucopia]

Using a RIFF viewer, you could also see where things OUGHT to be in "Known Good" movies (you probably set the video settings the same every time?), and use those as reference for patching. This is assuming a RIFF viewer can make some sense of the file. If not, then you may want to post a snippet of the very beginning, as seen with a raw text or hex editor...

(Hopefully, it won't be THAT bad)

Scott