Fixing an unfinished video recording

[Tygron]

So... don't really know how to explain it and a quick google didn't help.

Basically the other day I was recording something and the game crashed. Since the recorder I was using records kinda runs with the game or whatever the game crashed and the recording never really... stopped. So now the file is unplayable. I assume all the data is still there it just doesn't have a "video ends" line in the code or something. I was wondering if it were possible to put that in there.

[Myperson54]

Alright, I've done some searching, and I have two questions:
Do you use a Mac?
How large is the filesize of this video? Does it say "0 kb"?
If so, then this link may be of use. There are a few fixes here, though they deal with sdcards and external cameras. Shouldn't be too dissimilar. Give it a readthrough.

EDIT: Alright, this board seems to have a few solutions for fixing .avi files, regardless of OS, I think. They're using... Hex editors? Aren't those meant for Gba hacks? Well, check that out if you're using .avi anyways.

That's all I have for now, but I'm gonna keep searching, and I'll edit this post when I find something new.

[RobbieThe1st]

You can try playing it in VLC. VLC can play just about anything, seemingly no matter how damaged it is. It also often offers to repair it for you.

also, hex editors are useful for all manner of things - a hex editor just lets you edit the raw data in any file. If you can figure out what it means, you can change it to whatever you want.

[Tygron]

I'll have a crack at the Hex editor thing. I figured it'd come to that. VLC is actually what i'm using to play the file. Gives me the VLC logo in the middle and does nothing. The file is 151GB but the file doesn't even attempt to play. Thanks guys. I'll see what I can do with this.

[Tygron]

None of those seem to work and I even looked up more AVI repair programs. None seem to work at all. Oh well. Looks like i'll have to re-shoot.

[RevZ]

If Daum PotPlayer can't play an AVI file with broken container footer, it's irrecoverable. If it can, you're in luck as you can also convert it using Handbrake and it should (read SHOULD) convert it frame-by-frame until it hits a snag, then export the result.

EDIT: If using Fraps, you may want to segment the video output to prevent things like these from happening again. I personally set mine to 30 second segments due to the sheer file size that 1920x1080@60Hz recording gives, uncompressed.