mp4 "unknown format"

[daresound]

I have recently recorded many videos with my sony ericsson c905a which are saved as MP4s on my memory card. These videos were immediately playable after recording, but minutes later became unplayable, when attempting read "Currently Unavailable"
I moved the files to my PC and found that no mediaplayer can play them either (VLC, E.M. Total Player...) - they freeze, or do not attempt. Converters DivFix and Pazera free MP4 to AVI converter do not recognize the file type. Nor does ConvertXtoDVD. These videos are positively originally MP4, as are the tens of other videos i have recorded and Work, but these have become altered in some way. How can i salvage/repair these videos?! they are very important. I have also reformated my memory card, updated phone software.

[davexnet]

Have you tried PC Inspector Smart Recovery ?
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/smartrecovery.html

May be worth a shot. Based on your description above, it's hard to tell what went wrong, but something got corrupted somewhere.
If you'd like someone to take a look at one of the files, post it @ mediafire.com and put the link in here.

[daresound]

http://www.mediafire.com/file/d66guk6i5gi1dhq/MOV00485.MP4
http://www.mediafire.com/file/x6icncg189efr87/MOV00478.MP4
I uploaded two, it appeared that the first time failed.. as photobucket fails when uploading

Strangely when i attempt to download it on my own it says that it's a txt file...
it will be a life saver if i can salvage these files (not just these 2) within 12-24 hours (presentation in 30)

[Ethlred]

They are corrupted. The first might just be missing the header but the second is nothing but FF from one one to the other. You might want to get a hex editor for future use. Then you can look at the actual data. By looking at files that function you tell when a file has been turned into garbage.

In the future you might want to copy the files FIRST and not try to play them from the flash card. Might try a different flash card as well.

Ethelred

[daresound]

How long do you think it will take me to do 20 videos? Estimated time of operation

[davexnet]

Do what to 20 videos? Evaluate them? It involves looking at each one in a hex editor.
As mentioned by Ethlred, the second is shot, but the first may contain valid data. You should compare
it to a similar sized working file to see what is missing. Or post such a file here, as before, so we can
compare the good Vs. bad.

[Ethlred]

Hard to tell when you don't give any details.

Do what? Reshoot? How long are the videos assuming you have already shot them? What are you trying to do with them?

My impression from what little you have said is that you shot some stuff you have to put together REAL SOON NOW for a presentation. If the videos were on that flash card that produced the stuff you posted they are likely gone forever. Perhaps a good file finding utility could salvage some of the data. Doing it by hand and eye would be futile without some knowledge and tedious and time consuming if you do. The idea would be to search for MP4 headers and then try to find the end of the file. A hopeless task if the files are heavily fragmented.

Ethelred

[daresound]

you guys are really helpful right now, i appreciate it.
Yes i recorded these files, and they will no longer playback.
I want to repair these files so that i can use them in my presentation. I have already reshot substitutes, but if it's within reasonable parameters i want to fix the originals. here is a working video

http://www.mediafire.com/?6u64b13a6hiu91e

most videos are under 2mb, some under 1mb, rarely up to 10mb

[Ethlred]

I tried replacing the first 45 bytes of the header of MOV00485.MP4 with the first 45 of MOV00121.MP4 because those were a bit different, mostly blank in the corrupted file. It didn't play after the change.

I don't know enough to fiddle successfully except by accident even with file types I have more experience with. X264 mp4 for instance. That is a phone file you have. Different headers and there seems to be some metadata at the end.

That is about it for me.

Ethelred