how to retrieve mp4 files that will only play in VLC

[bunnystar]

So while I have branched out into the more integral foundation of finalcut pro and mini-dv i am trawling through some recent mp4 footage shot on sony m1 cybershot. unfortunately most of my files seem to now be corrupt and can't be opened in finalcut pro, quicktime or i-movie but they will open in my VLC player. is there any advice out there on how to convert these files back to a usable/editable format from VLC? i wish to edit this footage in finalcut but will revert to i-movie or anything really if i must. the error that i am getting when trying to open reads: "QuickTime cannot open the file: "M4V01208.MP4" the movie contains some invalid data (-2010)" If someone could assist with this i would be eternally grateful as there is some rather priceless footage in there!

[blessed_heretic]

I have had a similar problem, and was forced to improvise a solution as follows:
use VLC to "open file..." (shift-command-O)
on the screen that pops up, browse the file you want to open on OS X's media apps
check the box that says "advanced output", then click the resultantly enabled Settings button
under the output options on the new window, browse the file path you want to save your soon-to-be MPEG-4 file
choose MPEG-4 as the encapsulation method, and check both the video and audio boxes, and set them to mp4v and mp4a, respectively.
next you need to set the bitrates, and these will vary based on your camera. I set mine to 1024 video and 128 audio/2-channel.
no matter what I try from here, I can't seem to get any audio out of my clips, so if you manage to with any settings, please tell me what you did! I have OS X 10.4.3 on a G4 ibook
sorry i can't help you with the audio. you could use an external audio recorder to get it from VLC to Final Cut Pro, but that wouldn't be very good quality.

[fkuehne]

Our MP4-file-creator is a bit buggy at the moment. That's why there is currently no way to create QT-compatible files. Especially, we don't create a MooV-box inside those files, which is bad for QT.

This is a known issue, but won't be fixed in our forthcoming 0.8.4-release. I've got no idea actually, whether somebody is working on it or not.

[Guest]

Just an idea, if you can encode the video output to be read. What i once had to do because of a problem close to this. VLC would play where quicktime wouldnt.
Since VLC has no sound output, so i used an opensouce sound recording app, Audacity, downloaded the additional library for mp3 output. Then re-combined the video and audio using iMovie.
Be sure to record in a silent area if you try it this way, its very good at picking up background noise. The sound output will also become "mono".

[Salsa]

"I can't seem to get any audio out of my clips"

I'm in the same boat as you. My cameras saves MPEG4 video clips in .asf containers and I want to get these files onto my video iPod. I convert to mp4v and mp4a, but QT wont play any audio. My camcorder creates files using the G.726 codec for audio and VLC doesn't seem to want to convert that to AAC.

A friend of mine has a different camcorder (Aiptek) that must use some other codec for audio because VLC converts the file to mp4a/v QT without any problems.

"Our MP4-file-creator is a bit buggy at the moment. That's why there is currently no way to create QT-compatible files."

So, are you aware of any other programs that will convert these files for us? Thanks.

[fkuehne]

@ Salsa: as pointed out on the other thread, ffmpegX might be a solution for this.

[Salsa]

Yes, thank you. ffmpegX did indeed work.