well it happened like this doctor....
i was using both cameras (vholdr and contour) and had them recording at the same time, now i hit several big lumpy bumpy bits and as ive got an mp3 blaring in my lug holes i didnt hear the beeps to tell me what had happened. so i get back to download the footage and low and behold both cameras have the same corrupt file but at differing lengths of vid, the vholdr managed a 756M file but i cannot get anything from it,and the contour managed a 523m file and nothing will read it.
oh bother i thought! now the contour registers a corrupt file whilst the vholdr just turns its back and says "nothing to see, move along children". so is there a bit of software i can use to recover these files? i would like to recover them as it was over a seven mile section that i hammered for the footage and im buggered if im going to do that again for a while!
I read that virtual dub will do it, but that is as far as my knowledge goes. http://virtualdub.sourceforge....
VirtualDub (as far as I can tell, seem to be various versions) doesn't like ControurHD's H.264.
I Think SUPER may be able to save you though. If you set both Video and Audio to Direct Streme Copy it ought to be able to recreate the files for you.
I've only had to do this once so far, I'm pretty sure I used SUPER, if not it was something similer.
The actual data should be there and fine. Since the file wasn't properly closed, the headers are missing (the headers store info like the length of the video, bit-rates, resolution, etc). I believe SUPER can detect these things.
http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPE...
-Bean
well neither of the above can sort it out :( tell i li e super extracted about 5 seconds of the vholdr file! but the contour file is a lost hope so far. ive managed to copy it to my hard drive but nothing will open it , keeps coming up with 'file format error' ive been down the chkdisc and defrag route but to no avail. any other ideas anyone?
come on iceman surely you have an idea :)
I can't think of anything else. If the file's not too big you can send it to me and I'll take a crack at it.
I tend to turn my cam(s) off and on again every once in awhile on long trips just in case something happens it'll only be a segment of my ride that's lost.
The ContourHD's recording LED is bright enough for me to see in my rearview. If I ever have doubts I take a look in the mirror.
So far I've only had the camera lose one file (due to a non-ContourHD battery being in there along with a good bump).
On the other hand I road a 300+ mile trip last weekend using 3rd party batteries and had no problems.
-Bean
the file is 587M! having looked it up and not 523M that i thought. its a bit big to email,thanks for the offer,ill give it a while longer and see if i can find a way in and let you know if i find a way. :)
drag...I found a recovery tool on a auto race site that lets you recover corrupt files. Now I can't find it. Let me look at home though...
cheers :)
ive just downloaded another corrupt file! it happens when the battery jolts and switches off. now this is becomming a bit of an annoyance. is it possable to have the file write a marker every 30 sec or so, so that if the battery jolts off it has at least got a chance to recover some of the footage, by the way this is contour related as i dont seem to have so many occurances on my vholdr. but so far its seems like i get one corrupt file per ride :(
Hmm... I'm wondering if you're having an issue with battery fit. David, could you try and pad the back of your battery for me to see if that helps? This wouldn't be a permanent fix, just a test to see battery/casing isn't a proper fit. Post the results when you can and then I'll get with you directly to fix the issue permanently.
Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
I spent a bit of time today trying to find a solution to the corrupt files. I guess the one I had done previously was on of VholdR's avi's because I could not get anything to open a corrupt mov file.
btw, to get myself a corrupt file I simply let the camera record for a bit, then popped the battery without switching the camera to Stop/Off.
I tried every app I have installed, nothing. In fact I went as far as opening the corrupt file and a good file in a hex editor and tried to copy the video data in place of the other file's.
Perhaps if I knew more about the mov format.
The corrupt file clearly has garbage in the header area. I could not restore it though. I was able to get the file to open, and the length seemed to be correct, but there was no video or audio.
There is a guy who has figured it out and charges like $89 a pop to fix your files. Other then that, I don't think there's a software solution at this time.
Best thing would be to make sure the camera doesn't lose power in the first place ;)
-Bean
cheers for the ideas,
nate ill give that a go and let you all know.
bean your a star :) thanks for trying, my last line of attack is my friend who runs macs and see if hes got any info for us and if theres anything hes got ill post asap. once again thanks its sterling work your all doing :)
I figure sooner or later it's going to be Me who needs to restore a corrupt file. Half the reason I even own the cameras are in the event I get in an accident on my motorcycle. In which case, a power failure is likely.
I'm sure a bad file's going to happen to all of us as some point... bad battery, user error, defective camera, hit by a car, whatever the case...
The sooner we find a solution the better.
-Bean
I just lost three videos of my trackday yesterday due to battery jiggles turning the camera off. No successful video at all from my sessions. Very disappointing, but I am positive that the new battery will resolve the issue. I will save my corrupt file that I didn't delete and hope that one of you smart people can figure out how to save them.
Joe
I'm really sorry Joe, that new battery should kill the issue. Your patience is a virtue!
Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
Well it finally happened to me as well. I was going up a mountain and lost a file due to power loss. Admittedly I was using a 3rd party battery at the time so I can't really complain. But finding a way to recover these files is becoming more and more of a priority for me.
There's some gnarly twisty roads, scenery and at least one deer in that file. Fortunately I've made it a habit to stop and start my recording whenever there's a boring part to the ride so it wasn't a total loss. Still annoying.
-Bean
out of cuiosity my vholdr is doing the old loose battery thing now . i only noticed this weekend when after a downhill run with the camera attatched to the frame ,of my mtb, i stopped recording and no beeps, it looks like ive got the same prob as with the contour. now the funny thing is that ive got 6 batteries (3 vholdr 3 nokia) and the only one that fits tight is a nokia ! all the others will stop recording if the camera recives a shock verticaly(if held upright). there is a gap between the bottom of the battery and the battery slot of about 1.25 mm,this is enough for the battery to disconnect and corrupt the file. im trying to find some heat shrink that will fit around the battery, so that i can cut a small o'ring and shrink it on to the bottom of the battery to stop the movement.
will let you all know if it works.
Just be careful of anything that may expand over time. I used electrical tape once and get a battery stuck. Said battery was destroyed during extraction. In fact, it actually caught fire soon after, I shit you not (do not puncture these things!).
I'll toy with a solution before my next ride. Not that I have come up with one yet heh
I tried once again to fix my corrupt file. Spent hours with a hex editor. I'm either missing something or there is some kind of unique data for each file that the camera writes I can't simply copy from a working file.
I'll keep taking stabs at it if/when I think of anything else to try.
-Bean
Not sure if I'm glad I'm not the only person with the problem or annoyed!?? Anyway, I have still had no luck recovering the file. I just got my contour on Friday, so should I look into a new battery? What are these 3rd party batteries you speak of?? Anyway, thanks everyone for researching this. I am trying to find something to help but I have no knowledge of .mov.
-LL
Just went out for another test ride, on a paved track and still can't get it to play. Something is f'ed. Should I return this thing? ugh.
I think I'm done. I just set the thing on my coffee table for an hour and the file is corrupt. Disappointed, to say the least.
out of curiosity have you got a 1050Mah battery? the 800Mah is the wrong size and will lose contact and turn the camera off, therefore corrupting the file! if youve got the 800 support will sort you out with the 1050 and that should cure it. if you turn the camera on (dont goto record) open the back to reveal the battery, wiggle the bottom of the battery, dose it shut the camera off? if so its the battery thats causing your unhappy camera( and unappy you :( ) if so email support and they will sort you out.
they are busiest at the begining of the week so be patient they will reply!
Dave.
Just wanted to let you guys know I'm still working to restore these files. I don't know if I'll succeed but if you have anything precious stuck in a corrupt file don't delete it. And if I fail, someone else may still manage to find a way.
-Bean
ive tried a couple of recovery programmes but they havent worked yet, so still trying as well.
as a thought, i know that the files have headers etc to indicate beginning and end file, would it be possable to have a header written every minute or so to give a point to reference so if the file gets corrupted you can recover some of the footage, or would this generate too much info on the file and reduce capacity on the card? if this was a possability it could be introduced as a firmware update.
also perhaps the addition of a small capacitor in the camera, that would store enough power so that if sudden power loss happens, the file is shut down properly just like when the battery dies, and give an audible warning so that we know its happened.
what do you all reckon??
Dave.
I reckon those are two excellent ideas. The header could just be overwritten each time so it wouldn't fill up the card anymore.
A capacitor would be great but I'd assume it'll have to wait for the next version.
-Bean
I've had the same thing happen while using the ContourHD in the handlebar mount on my Harley. But I can't seem to make it happen when not on the bike. Just talked to tech support and they're sending a new battery, maybe that'll fix it. The tech recommended VirtualDub which isn't available on a MAC so I tried DiVA, avidemux2_qt4 and MPEG Streamclip and nothing will open the corrupt files, which sucks I just got back from a ride through the hills in Kentucky and to the Harley Museum in Milwaukee.
I've tried just about everything as well. I'm pretty sure most of us have one or two files that can't be opened. Don't delete it!
There is one solution right now. But it's not free.
http://aeroquartet.com/moviere...
Treasured is free but only runs on Mac. The service of actually restoring the file is what you must pay for. Depending on the footage it may be worth it.
-Bean
My files are not bad from power loss. My files are bad if I start recording without a totally blank sdhc card. All folders and files must be removed each time I record a session.
OK. So I pulled out a HEX editor and opened up a playable file and a corrupt file. I also started a crash course on the Quicktime file format. There seems to be no header information in the bad files. From what I can tell the actual movie data is there but there's no size specified for it or any codec specification for it.
I think, if I can figure out how to calculate the size of the movie data (it's not just the file size) and copy a good header over to it, I might be able to get the thing to play.
Another thing that might be possible is to properly describe the movie data as an Atom Leaf and then, using QT Pro, add it to a good file as a resource. Anyway to do this is going to require some decently knowledgeable hex editing though.
Can't work on this today, in the middle of moving to Fort Lauderdale. If anyone else wants to do it the fix is going to require a program to calc the size of the mdat, write out a proper quicktime header for it and then copy the mdat into the new file.
Just got my contour hd yesterday and went for a trial ride today on my favorite trail on Frazier mountain. I too am a victim of a corupt file. I've read the posts about the cause being due to a "loose battery" however I have the 1050mAh battery which should be the "good fitting" battery...so now what? I just opened the back while the camera was on and recording and jiggled the battery...it never shut off, never stopped recording nor corupted any of my test runs. There must be another reason for this? The worst part about this problem is that it seems to be intermittent, so you will never know when it's gonna happen until your back in the comforts of your home ready to view your personal accomplishments and bam! You get the yellow triangle of death with an red exclamation point in the center informing you that you have absolutely nothing. I'm so bummed :(
Well used my contourhd for first pro shoot yesterday, positives easy use easy to mount, came away happy looking to purchase 1 or 2 more. Got home hooked the cam to both macs and a pc trying to open large 350mb to 750mb files shot on HD setting refused it maybe QuickTime file but refuses have done all things quoted above before reading this thread. Just for variation I decided to shoot the second half of shoot on SD those files are fine. And there are short HD files test shot before and after no problems.
So I'm wondering about aero quartet Treasured, has anyone used them? It sounds like the same problem, it'll probably be same solution. If no one has I'm prepared to be guinea pig, but if they've I see no point paying.
I also noticed some play on the rails in the sd footage leading to vibration. I can see me making mods to the flat surface mounts.
Flyingirish, that totally sucks, I'm really sorry about that. I'm unsure what happened if the battery didn't fall our or die. If you'd like us to take a look though we'd be glad to just send us an email.
Coolthinking, have you tried VLC?
Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
Tried VLC and failed to open just like all the rest of the suggested progrzms.
As I say if I right click on it and look at it's properties it doesn't show a still from the clip, or it's frame size, audio bit rate but It does acknowledge it's a .mov file like SD files but refuses to open, yet the short HD clips moments before where I'm demonstrating how to operate thecamera are fine. I can't afford for it to fail. It's a high vibration environment, 2 stroke racing kart, although mounted on a crash helmet I did expect it to be sufficently isolated. Currently I'm going to see how the SD footage works in my multi camera (8 cameras) workflow assuming that there's no problem, I'll buy a second, because it has so much going for it, and to see if it is peculiar to this camera or inherent, if it's the former I expect it to be exchanged if it's the latter I'll use them in SD. However I wouldn't buy a 3rd and a number drivers are looking for a recommendation.
coolthinking,
Hitup support and work through this problem with them, they won't give up and you'll be buying more then a third in no time! :)
Nate
VholdR Support
support@vholdr.com
Have the same problem with a crash video. The file is 130mb, but will not open. Tried just about everything listed so far... This file was the highlight of the trip we took, so I hope there is a solution.
Thanks
--Rhino
http://www.downloadatoz.com/a/...
Has anyone tried this yet? It says it can repair corrupt mov files but I don't want to waste the money if it doesn't work. It says it has a 30 day money back gaurantee though. Any thoughts? I have some video that I DO NOT want to lose and I absolutely need it.
I've contacted them to see if they offer a trial.
~P
This works, but they gave me a quote of $85, and for the video that I wanted to repair, it was just not worth it:
http://aeroquartet.com/moviere...
I'm having the same problem and I know it has nothing to do with the battery. When I went riding last with my contour I had 5 files and 2 were perfect and the other 2 were corrupted. I'm also looking for a solution and will let you know if I figure anything out.
Ok so I guess I can't add. I meant 3 good files and 2 corrupted. And of course one that wanted was corrupted.
How do you know it is not battery related ?
The reason I think it is not the battery is due to the fact that if the battery is moving around then the camera should loose power temp. If this is the case I would have had to turn it back on in between the good video clips and the ones that were corrupt. Considering the sequence they are in I figured the battery was easily ruled out. Maybe I'm wrong just what seems logical to me.
I always know which videos will be corrupt. It's the ones when the camera if off when I go to stop recording. It has turned off by itself while recording due to losing contact with the battery for a split second with a specific vibration. Added some folded paper to keep the battery pinned, and filmed 4 sessions without any corruption problems.
But I'll keep an eye out for additional information. I will be instructor at another track event on the 12th, and will use it again. I'll report back if I have additional details.
Ok... That does make sense and now that I think about it I have no idea if the camera was actually off when I stopped the recording. Looks like I will have to do some more testing as well.
I also came home last night from my last track day of the year and have a corrupt file. I filmed one supermoto session previous and it worked fine. The file is around 600 mbs. I will watch this thread I and hope you smart guys come up with a solution.
Same issue here. Went over the handlebars on my MTB and lost the footage. Any movement on this from anyone?
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the latest news from me is that ive been trying to read the code for the files and ive identified the header but im struggling to find the bit which tells me the length of the file, its taking some time as im having to learn the code as i go along and also it is so memory sapping ,my pc is struggling:-( as soon as ive got it ill let you all know....
Hi I have only had my camera for a couple of weeks. I have it strapped to a roll cage mount on a sprintcar. The 1st time I used it the video files were fine. The 2nd time I used it all the files were corrupted :-( Not happy!!!!!!! I will test the battery & keep watching for a cure for my corrupted files.........
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OK so I've got home & checked my battery I have an 1050mah battery. After playing around it does seem that a jolt vertical will make the battery move & disrupt the power causing the video to become corrupt. Any solutions on how to stop the battery moving that won't void my warrenty???
some people have been using small amounts of epoxy on the end of the battery to hold it in place better,thats the best way forward in my eyes :-)
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After two motorcycle trackdays and only one 9 minute piece of footage to show for it, I've sanded down a toothpick and wedged the battery in place. Sounds mickey mouse but the battery won't move..top that with the duct tape over the front indicator lamp and microphone hole (Good sound with no wind noise) and maybe I'll get some results worth watching..I have a dozen corrupted files from the battery moving..
I've mounted to several vehicles using our camclamp mount and ball adapter(www.XVUSA.com/products) which is as stable of a mount as you will get, and had issues with older batteries. The camera would shut down when mounting it close to a motor, turned out to be high frequency vibrations. I got a new battery from VholdR and also one of those generic 1800MAH batteries off ebay and they both work fine. The slow steady thump of the off road vehicle suspension was never an issue with me.
~P
www.XVUSA.com