How to repair a broken MOV video file?

[Matapan1969]

Is there any free software to repair broken / corrupted MOV video files?

Thanks in advance!

[sicknero]

I've never had a broken MOV to play with, but with other formats I've had some success by trying them in various converters until I find one that accepts it, and I can then save it albeit sometimes with bits missing. Sometimes it's even worth just trying different players, for instance Pot Player often handles videos that other players tell me are broken/corrupted.

Googling MOV in particular, I found a comment by somebody who said they fixed a broken MOV by using this method in VLC Player.

[George.J]

Certain media players like PotPlayer and VLC, have the ability to read incomplete/damaged files.

In case of incomplete downloads, PotPlayer works best, for instance you can watch the video while you are downloading it [in one thread], and the time keeps shifting as the download progresses, you can even seek the video without a hitch.

For corrupted files, you can either use VLC or PotPlayer, where you can skip frames that have been garbled and watch the remaining parts of the video.

[Matapan1969]

Originally Posted by George.J

Certain media players like PotPlayer and VLC, have the ability to read incomplete/damaged files.

In case of incomplete downloads, PotPlayer works best, for instance you can watch the video while you are downloading it [in one thread], and the time keeps shifting as the download progresses, you can even seek the video without a hitch.

For corrupted files, you can either use VLC or PotPlayer, where you can skip frames that have been garbled and watch the remaining parts of the video.

George and Sicknero,

Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried these players and many other players/converters with no success.
I know it's possible to repair the files (I used a trial version of a commercial software) but apparently no freewares are capable, unfortunately....

[sicknero]

I found this discussion on a Mac forum - http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=313611 - they mention "repair cycorder" which some people seem to have had success with. The d/l link is out of date but google finds it ok.

Thing is it's for Mac and also looks like some kind of command line program too, but it might be worth your while if the vid in question is something important to you.

[George.J]

Originally Posted by Matapan1969

George and Sicknero,

Thanks for the suggestions. I've tried these players and many other players/converters with no success.
I know it's possible to repair the files (I used a trial version of a commercial software) but apparently no freewares are capable, unfortunately....

Could you explain as to what happend when you tried to play the video file within PotPlayer/VLC, and if there were any error messages? They are not for repairing the mov files, but lets you play broken/incomplete files.

[Matapan1969]

Originally Posted by George.J

Could you explain as to what happend when you tried to play the video file within PotPlayer/VLC, and if there were any error messages? They are not for repairing the mov files, but lets you play broken/incomplete files.

VLC simply does not play, the others don't recognize a video file

[Matapan1969]

Originally Posted by sicknero

I found this discussion on a Mac forum - http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=313611 - they mention "repair cycorder" which some people seem to have had success with. The d/l link is out of date but google finds it ok.

Thing is it's for Mac and also looks like some kind of command line program too, but it might be worth your while if the vid in question is something important to you.

Unfortunately the link does not work (no file found) but thanks for for suggestions, some useful comments can be found in the forum