cheap chinese nanny cam avi files

[fesman]

Hey all,

I am having extreme issues getting into some video files from a nanny cam I installed at an elderly family member's house. She's got 24x7 nurses and there's been a few issues so I wanted to be able to check on her. I got a cheap plugin usb camera with good reviews from Amazon that used an android program called HDMiniCam to remote view, download, etc. the video which was stored on a local microSD card. I have the card and have months of videos all in an AVI format. It worked fine until a few updates passed now I can't access any of the videos via the app. I've asked the developer for assistance, but they look to be in china and I doubt I will hear anything back. Some answers I need will be on these videos which have legal implications for her best nurse who was fired I believe unjustly and now my family member's landed in the hospital just days later. I cannot figure out how to convert or play them. I've been working on it for days now...I have tried ffmpeg, but I'm new to it.....I ran across this thread on this forum which failed:

https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/336751-%5BSOLVED%5D-H-264-%28-264-Extension%29-to-well-ANYTHING

Here's the result of that command:

C:\Users\sarah\Desktop>ffmpeg -f h264 -i test.avi testout.mp4
ffmpeg version git-2020-01-01-7b58702 Copyright (c) 2000-2020 the FFmpeg developers
built with gcc 9.2.1 (GCC) 20191125
configuration: --enable-gpl --enable-version3 --enable-sdl2 --enable-fontconfig --enable-gnutls --enable-iconv --enable-libass --enable-libdav1d --enable-libbluray --enable-libfreetype --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-libopus --enable-libshine --enable-libsnappy --enable-libsoxr --enable-libtheora --enable-libtwolame --enable-libvpx --enable-libwavpack --enable-libwebp --enable-libx264 --enable-libx265 --enable-libxml2 --enable-libzimg --enable-lzma --enable-zlib --enable-gmp --enable-libvidstab --enable-libvorbis --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libmysofa --enable-libspeex --enable-libxvid --enable-libaom --enable-libmfx --enable-ffnvcodec --enable-cuvid --enable-d3d11va --enable-nvenc --enable-nvdec --enable-dxva2 --enable-avisynth --enable-libopenmpt --enable-amf
libavutil 56. 38.100 / 56. 38.100
libavcodec 58. 65.100 / 58. 65.100
libavformat 58. 35.101 / 58. 35.101
libavdevice 58. 9.102 / 58. 9.102
libavfilter 7. 70.101 / 7. 70.101
libswscale 5. 6.100 / 5. 6.100
libswresample 3. 6.100 / 3. 6.100
libpostproc 55. 6.100 / 55. 6.100
[h264 @ 0000021a0ad43680] missing picture in access unit with size 2363902
[AVBSFContext @ 0000021a0ad636c0] No start code is found.
test.avi: could not find codec parameters
Input #0, h264, from 'test.avi':
Duration: N/A, bitrate: N/A
Stream #0:0: Video: h264, none, 1200k tbn
Output #0, mp4, to 'testout.mp4':
Output file #0 does not contain any stream

C:\Users\sarah\Desktop>

I downloaded Media Info and basic/tree view just showed very basic file info, really unhelpful general, file name, and file size, that's it. I attached a sample file. I'd be willing to pay to get these converted or buy software I just need to get the info from the videos! Any help or ideas are much appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Fred

[Selur]

The file you uploaded is just a bunch of 0s, no real content whatsoever.
(To reproduce: open the file in a hex editor)

[fesman]

Thanks, I should have known to check that! You get what you pay for these days! Thanks for checking on it for me

Fred

[lingyi]

Might not be the cam but the SD card, especially if it's a cheap knockoff. Is the video at the start of the card or towards the end. If it's towards the end, it's almost certain it's the card which has a much smaller capacity than claimed.

Note that even if it'a brand name card it could be a knockoff. Any more that a few dollars cheaper than a card from a reputable seller may be a fake. The same hold true for hard drives. If the everyday price from a seller is less than a drive on sale, buyer beware. The margins on most consumer electronics is too small, maybe 3-5% max for anyone to seriously undercut the market.