Can corrupt (?) AVI videos be repaired?

mark-perry wrote on 9/9/2022, 11:05 PM

I've got a few racing downloads and find they play OK on a PC but sometimes my Laser media player or Panasonic dvd (media) player won't play it...or be it the Laser says problem with the video but only the audio can be heard. Also it can only FF at x4 opposed to a normal x32.

I'm not sure if their corrupted or fragmented because they play perfectly fine on a computer but obviously my 2 dvds 'usb media' players have problems with them could indicate the above.

I found some repairs for corrupt MP4s or a TS file.

I've tried Wondershare but the AVI doesn't play, Any Video Converter does it but either pixels the picture or the audio's crap so i have increase the rate so not to lose the quality.

I usually watch them on a TV rather than a laptop or tablet phone.

My main intention is if I can fix and retain them as the AVI source as just that then problem solved. I've found other specific file type repair tools but found it very hard to find on specifically for AVI.

Comments

AAProds wrote on 9/10/2022, 12:40 AM

@mark-perry

Could you put one of them up on Google Drive or Dropbox for us so we can have a look at them. There are options for fixing AVIs, depending on what type they are.

I'd try opening one of them in Magix and if that's successful, export it as an MPEG 4. That'll fix the compatibility issue. Otherwise, Handbrake and AVIdemux come to mind. Even Virtual Dub if you want to get techo.

mark-perry wrote on 9/10/2022, 12:56 AM

here's 2. (but there's quite a few to work thru). The Brazil one wont play but Watkins Glen will. There's tons of them probably created a decades ago and some do and some don't etc, i'm not sure if they were created by the same person and i don't know if they were created into or converted to the AVI format.

https://we.tl/t-c89tatZN2d

link dead in 7 days

Former user wrote on 9/10/2022, 1:42 AM

@mark-perry Hi, MS2023 played the US highlights one ok but the Brazilian one gave me this -

Neither DaVinci Resolve (Free) or Vegas would load either of these files, there might be a setting in Vegas that would allow it to load but i didn't try,

Handbrake converted the US highlights one no prob, I don't have time to try the longer US one but i'm sure that would convert too.

mark-perry wrote on 9/10/2022, 1:59 AM

hmm! i never noticed that green area in MEP before maybe it was a result from how it was created, that was purely uploaded for its small size

here's another (short) 'no player'

https://we.tl/t-3bjhhV4yOf

dead in 7 days

AAProds wrote on 9/10/2022, 2:30 AM

Batch-convert them all with Handbrake into MPEG 4 (x264), 25FPS, 720x576 4:3. Boost the audio gain to max (20). Pipe up if you need a hand with that.

If you want a pure smart-copy, use AVIDemux Video-Copy, Audio-Copy, AVI Muxer (unfortunately, that does not have an easy batch-convert option). Then you can open them in MEP with no issues. They are 388x284 Divx format files, which is quite an old format. That would explain why they can't be opened by some programs (or the original encoding was dodgy). Plenty of blast-from-the-past racing driver names in there!

mark-perry wrote on 9/10/2022, 3:53 AM

yea there's PAL NTSC in thier original formats then various size captures 480, 288 etc, etc then finally the fan recreations sourced from both standards, real fun indeed but also for me a cataloguers dogs breakfast working out when who which TV channel it came from but that's another story!

i'll have a try tomorrow, i sussed they were created around ie the 90s 00s or whenever oh well the early days of digitising. anyhow dinners calling and thanks for the initial help.

johnebaker wrote on 9/10/2022, 3:13 PM

@mark-perry

. . . . AVIs . . . they play OK on a PC but sometimes my Laser media player or Panasonic dvd (media) player won't play it.. . . . .

This could be, given the dates you mentioned, the old type 1 vs type 2 AVI file formats in which the audio is muxed into the video stream (Type 1 / A), when it should be interleaved with the video (Type 2 / B) which normally play correcly on all devices.

Try using DVDate to convert the AVI files that do not play to type 2 (B)

HTH

John EB

Forum Moderator

AAProds wrote on 9/10/2022, 8:44 PM

@johnebaker

John, these are not DV files. DVDate can only transcode them into DV, which results in a DV-sized file (220mb>4gb) with PCM audio. I'd suggest that this is not the best way to fix these.

mark-perry wrote on 9/10/2022, 10:57 PM

Yep just off-air tv sources. I don't know how they were captured authored or converted.