Can't search through a .wmv file.

chancam7

I recorded a video with my webcam and my computer was shut off by pressing the power button not bu shutting down. The video is about 19 hours long and I need it for a court case so it would be best if it were searchable. I have recorded with my webcam before, but have never had this problem because I always stopped the recording before shutting down. Is there a way to make this video searchable so I can fastforward or rewind it? It is a .wmv file and I have tried sending it to Windows Movie Maker, but it won't load it because it says its not "indexed". I ran it through Windows Media Encoder, took a day and a half to complete; but the file I got out of it was about 3 sec. long and was still not searchable. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Qeldroma

Chancam7,

There may not be anyone here that can help you with this. I’ve personally have not had this experience, so I’ve not had this battle- so I recommend you take it to a video professional and see if they can recover it.

I will tell you what I think is going on and how I might handle it- but I would go with the above as a first option ESPECIALLY if this video is involved in litigation (it might be in your case too tempting to pull the tampering with evidence card).

I think what you are dealing with is a file that was not able to be properly closed and terminated. But …

First, I would check the size of the file I’m working with. .WMVs I’ve worked with generally run grossly about 2MB a minute, so 19 hours times 60 minutes an hour times 2 MB a minute means it is roughly between 2-3GB. If your file size is really no where near that, I think you have a lot of lost data.

If the file looks about right, you can try a video editing package that may not only be used to recover your package, but to select snippets and insert time markers (aka chapters) for cueing to the appropriate segements. You could transcode it to a DVD video format that you could run on any DVD player- just like a movie video.

However if you know little about video editing, I’m afraid it is a fairly steep learning curve and my suggestion of going with a professional is likely a must for you.

Sorry if I can't be of more help.

RichD

I have a couple of suggestions you may be able to try though these do assume that you can play the video back in some form.

I can't give you an example of the software, but im sure someone else here can, or google can probably help. Basically you can get some software that will capture your desktop to video. You could set it recording then playback the video full screen. this will re-record the video. You could then stop the recording properly and finalise it giving you a complete file which you should be able to use.

Alternatively, if you or someone you know has a capture card or Camcorder you could try exporting to tape (either VHS or DV) and then re-capture it. Not sure quite how this method would work but it may be worth considering.

darkflux

if it's not too late for a suggestion, you might try a little program called ASF Tools 3.1 . it will fix MOST wmv + asf files, and i've used it to fix many wmv's i've downloaded that downloaded incorrectly (server-side issues), or that just wouldn't let me skip thru them. the program WILL take awhile (esp. considering your file is most likely 1GB+), but no more than a minute per minute of video.

if that prog doesn't work for you, you might try the screen capture program like RichD mentioned. it'll probably cost you abit, but Camtasia Recorder is the best there is (i use it quite frequently)! and it may be worth it for the case compared to the price. the only catch is your PC needs to be "moderately" fast (read: NO CELERON/SEMPRON CPU's), and you should also have a video card on the PC you use, or else you may need to capture at a slower rate, or a smaller size picture...

anyways, good luck to you!