corrupted .mp4 h.264 - challenging problem

[bluesky1]

Thanks for reading,

I have an unreadable .MP4 file made from my Samsung camcorder. The recording stopped abruptly and I believe it did not write certain 'code' at the end of the file that makes it playable.

I opened a working file and also the damaged file from the camcorder in a HEX editor and started to make some comparisons.

Toward the end of the code in the WORKING file I noticed some text in English followed then by blank lines, I think signifying the end of the file. These lines of code look like parameters or something that makes the file readable (It even contains the word Samsung somewhere toward the end in there too).

This sequence seems to start at the word 'moov'.

I've read about moov atoms here: http://atomicparsley.sourceforge.net/mpeg-4files.html

As interesting as this all is, it hasn't helped.

The code in the CORRUPTED video file ends abruptly (visually) and does not contain these parameters starting at moov and no blank lines of code - It just simply ends. Which is why I think the video is unreadable.

Things I have tried:

1. Tried copying the some, all, and different parts of code from the corrupted file and placing it in the somewhere in the middle of the good code, to see if it will somehow display some frames from the unreadable file. I'm not sure if I am saving the modified file in the HEX editor correctly, or if there's an extra step I'm missing.

Result = FAIL.

2. Copying everything from 'moov' onwards from the good file and pasting it at the end of the corrupted file.

Result = FAIL.

3. Using a QuickTime movie compiler/repairer using Java SE that was supposed to make sense of it and reconstruct the contents of my corrupted file. I found this from a guide somewhere online.

Result = FAIL.

4. Using some utils like 'All Movie Fixer' (or something to that effect) which 'seemed' like it was doing something because it took 2 hours for the program to complete the task.

Result = FAIL.

5. And some programs that apparently repair lost/damaged files to no effect! No luck there.

Hopefully this is an indication of how desperate I am. I would really like to restore this video. After researching this as much as I can there seems to be a big grey area in this topic. To add, lots of search results on this type of issue seem to lead me to website trying to sell me a miracle fix program.

Any help or ideas will be very greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[Baldrick]

PLEASE do NOT cross post. https://forum.videohelp.com/topic373901.html