MP4 file. Won't open - Missing EOF?

Question

MP4 file. Won't open - Missing EOF?

Hi,

Short version; is there a way to 'manually' add an EOF marker to an MP4? (Even if it means losing a few (or more!) seconds at the end)

Longer verion; I have 3 videos I shot (MP4) on a micro SD card;

1. Works beautifully when opened in QT. ( or iMovie, or VLC)

2. I forgot to stop recording before powering the camera down. The file is there, both on the card and copied to the Mac, but it just shows 'MP4' rather than a still clip in finder view. QT says it can't open it. Imovie has it 'greyed out' when I try & import. VLC won't touch it either. 😟

3. A quick test video after I powered it back up again - was hoping that would 'force' an EOF onto the end of #2, but no such luck. 😟

The file is 1080p, ~8 minutes, ~1.2gb. I really want it back! Any ideas or pointers very much appreciated.

TIA,

Ian

Posted on Mar 23, 2015 8:16 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

mns579

Level 4

1,170 points

Mar 23, 2015 2:52 PM in response to Ian Anderson3

Short answer, No.

Generally in the last stage of making an MP4 the camera software builds a "container" to hold the data stream: a header, an EOF, and various other head and tail elements that make the data stream into something that can be played by QT, VLC, etc. You can't do it yourself, though there are data recovery services that specialize in this sort of task. Here are a couple with free demos:

http://aeroquartet.com/ (free diagnostic application, Treasured)

http://www.grauonline.de/cmsimple2_6/en/?Solutions:HD_Video_Repair_Utility (free diagnostic with 50% recovery if there's something to recover)

But you won't find any free solutions for the job. Sorry.

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Answer 2

Mar 24, 2015 8:24 AM in response to mns579

Hi mns,

Many thanks for the response & explanation.

I had a bad feeling there was more to it than just adding an EOF!

FWIW, I didn't have any luck with the second option, but the (web based version) of the first did the trick! It took a *long* time, somewhere around 6 hours, and initially at least kept 'failing' and telling me to try and restart it. I suspect this was more due to bandwidth problems at their end, but it did finally get there. Very nice was that I was able to check it out prior to paying them - $41 total for just under 13 minutes of HD video.

I'm very happy camper! Thanks again,

Cheers,

Ian

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Answer 3

mns579

Level 4

1,170 points

Mar 24, 2015 1:06 PM in response to Ian Anderson3

Good to know!

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