Reading the MP4 file on the SD card

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So this morning I went for the P2V+'s maiden flight. I recorded a 671MB video of the event through the on-board camera. So now I want to view that video. I put the micro-SD card in its adapter and plugged it into my laptop. Everything is fine so far. DJI00004.MP4 (I'm curious why it is #4) is 671MB large. So I try to open it with the default MP4 player and no go. Quick Time Player says it is not a movie (ha!), so I tried Photoshop CS6 (it will play other MP4s of mine, as will Quick Time Player for that matter). Nope no go there either ("Could not complete your request because the video file could not be opened."), so then I tried iPhoto, nope (The movie is in an unrecognized format). I also thought about trying iMovie, but iMovie is grayed out for this file!

So what now. I can resort to trying to download it out of the Phantom as the manual suggests, but there is no reason why I can't do the same thing with the card (I do that with all the other image and video files I have ever used).

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Tom
 
Is it possible that the video file got corrupted somehow? Did you stop recording via the app before turning power to the Phantom off? If the file is corrupted, I think there may be tools out there somewhere that will allow you to recover it.

I'd also suggest trying (yet) another video player to see if it can do any good. Personally, I like using VLC as it seems to play pretty much everything without issue.
 
I've downloaded VLC for my Mac and it is trying to do something with the video (how long should it take to do anything with a 680MB file?). There was a complicating incident that may be the problem. When I landed the Phantom on this its maiden flight it rolled over forward and ended up upside down. I righted it and went for another flight even though the iPhone said it had lost the connection. When I was down with that second (short) flight, I couldn't (or didn't know how) to turn off the Phantom. Whenever I pressed the battery button it would just flash at me and stay green. I ended up having to pull the battery to get to shut off (and even then the battery stayed green) until I pressed the battery button again. Could this have cause the micro-SD to be unreadable?

Thanks,
Tom
 
Using the same card try recording another quick video and this may complete the file you are having trouble with..

I had a similar problem a while ago and noticed the video became useable later for some reason..
 
At least on the P2V's shutting down the Phantom prior to ending recording causes a corrupt file. The way to recover the file was to place the card back in the camera, turn on the Phantom and camera, wait about a minute and voila a corrected file. Of course of anything else has written over the original file attempting to correct it, the file is lost.
 
First thing should be put that card back in and turn it on, it probably has't finalised it fully and might finish it even now.
It is not lightning fast at writing to the card as you will see when waiting to set off again after taking a still - especially RAW.
I reckon you need at least a minute between stopping recording and switching it off to clear any buffering.

The files are regular mp4 of modest size and should play in most common players e.g. windows media player or VLC with no issues at all.
 
Just curious slothead, did you take the file from the card onto your mac and then open it there?

If so, did it finish transferring to your mac?

If not, perhaps try doing so.

Hope it works out.
 
skysteve said:
Using the same card try recording another quick video and this may complete the file you are having trouble with..

I had a similar problem a while ago and noticed the video became useable later for some reason..

Success SkySteve! I went for another fly, captured two more videos and a still, and it finished the first video too! What really surprised me about the first video is that the camera never stopped rolling until I pulled the battery! So you guys that mentioned "finishing," you were absolutely right too! I love this place!

Now I need to figure out how to post the video (or parts of it that are worth looking at). The last two videos were taken on the outskirts of Washington, DC, and in at least one pan you can see the Washington Monument (this from a great distance and about 250' altitude).


Thanks guys,
Tom
 

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