• Sony Cameras

  Corrupted XDCAM file

  Posted by Scott Larson on January 28, 2011 at 2:16 pm

  Ive got a file that was imported through the xdcam viewer and converted to a .mov file that wont open. Quicktime says it “is not a movie file”. I cant get anything to open it and the original card it came off of has been formatted. Its about 500MB so the file contains something. Its quite a good bit of footage I need to recover, any ideas?

  thanks

  Scott Larson
  cameraman, Tokyo, Japan

  Craig Seeman replied 15 years, 6 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Craig Seeman

  January 28, 2011 at 4:10 pm

  First BIG MISTAKE is not backing up the BPAV.
  You should have used ClipBrowser with CRC on to copy (CRC check confirms the copy).
  Then backup BPAV to something else (I prefer Optical Disc)
  Then wrap BPAV to MOV.

  You could import the MP4 from the BPAV as an orphaned file and ClipBrowser would create new metadata or XDCAM Transfer could wrap to MOV again.

  I’m sorry but I can’t understand why someone would throw out camera masters. No one would ever do that with tape. Why should files be any different? You should always have camera masters some place.
• 

  Scott Larson

  January 31, 2011 at 7:01 am

  well unfortunately the .mov files were put onto my computer and the camera guy took the cards home and had a job the next day and erased them. the data is there, on my computer, as i said the file is over 500MB, I just need to know if anyone has any suggestions on how to open it.
• 

  Craig Seeman

  January 31, 2011 at 2:42 pm

  I wish you had posted more complete information because I’ve faced with either making mistaken assumptions or spending time asking you a lot of question in what might be an urgent matter for you.

  Do you have Final Cut Pro 6.0.2 or higher installed on your system?
  The XDCAM EX codec is installed with that version and up.
  If the answer is no to the version I’d recommend updating or upgrading Final Cut.

  Do you have other files from the same shoot and if so do they play?
  If yes you know you have a damaged file. If no please answer the previous question.

  Have you tried copying the file to another hard drive that is formatted for Mac?
  I just want to confirm that the hard drive itself isn’t part of the issue although Macs do read from Windows hard drives.

  Now for the Business questions.

  Can the camera person confirm that he was able to play the file he gave you?
  If yes, it’s possible the file became corrupt at some point after being copied.

  Did the camera person make a copy of either the original BPAV or wrapped MOV?
  If so, have him confirm that he can play it and have him to get you that copy.

  After confirming that you do have the codec installed with FCP (and there’s also the potential of a bad install) and exorcised all the other options you may have to resort to a file rescue service. This service has specific expertise in rescuing XDCAM EX files
  https://www.aeroquartet.com/

  Now the general lecture.
  A professional camera person hired specifically to shoot and hand over the files, should always hand over the master files. In this case it would the BPAV unless rewrap to MOV was specifically requested. They certainly may wrap to MOV as the customer requests, of course.
  A professional camera person, except when being required to hand over the recording media directly (SxS or SDHC card) should make a copy that they should retain. Since even a verified copy given to a client might become corrupted after the fact. This is how I’ve always operated. I can only comment on the circumstances as you described but if I were the client, I’d consider the camera person negligent in this case.

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