MOV file corrupted - but why?

rickray · Jul 30, 2017

So after a full day of flying, my last and final flight (and ironically my best) came out on the card as a DJI MOV file but cannot be opened. It is corrupted. It has 3 Gb of content but can't be opened. Nothing was unusual about the flight, and the recording was shut off before landing. The card did not max out before landing. Does anyone have any insights into why this might happen, and more importantly, if there are any solutions to fix it?

finlayson · Jul 31, 2017

The basic problem is that the MOV (and MP4) file formats are 'fragile'. Basically, the files need to be 'finalized' (have updated indexing information added to them) before they can be used. Sometimes, the camera system does not do this properly (especially if power dies suddenly).

In any case, I have (free) software that can repair many of these corrupted files:
Repairing Corrupt DJI Video Files

erkme73 · Jul 31, 2017

Have you tried putting the card back into the MP and turning it on, wait a minute, then turn it off again? On the original Phantom units (which didn't finalize the video file if power was turned off) the file would be unreadable/corrupt in all players unless/until it was put back into the Phantom and power cycled. The record date/time will be wrong, but the file will be completed and should play on any player.

The MP has a routine which will automatically finalize the video being recorded if you hit the power button on the battery, but if it shuts off before the video is completed (i.e. you pull the battery before the shut-down sequence is complete), or you pull the card while the video is still recording, the file will be left open. In either case, the fix is the same - just put it back in and power cycle the unit.

That's worked everytime for me.

mlash · Jul 31, 2017

Same here, just put it back into the mavic and turn the mavic on and then off again. The .mov has to have a "write-in" and a write-out" if you don't stop the video on the mavic before you turn it off it will not do a "write-out" and it will think that the file is corrupt. By putting it back into the mavic it does the "write-out" so it can prepare for another video. I used to have to do this a lot because I kept on forgetting to turn off the video after I landed.

rickray · Jul 31, 2017

Yes, this is absolutely the right solution. I put the card back, turned it on, ran a few seconds and it became a usable file. Thanks!

erkme73 · Jul 31, 2017

Glad to know it was a simple fix. FWIW, I often forget to stop the current recording before I press the power-off button on the battery. Yet, I've never had a corrupt file. I attributed this to better programming in the MP, where the firmware will recognize the shut down request, but will first stop the recording and finalize the last video file before executing the power-off sequence.

The only time I've had corruption is if I yanked the card, or pulled the battery while the recording was in progress. Thus, I think the odds of having a corrupt file due to normal forgetfulness (leaving the recorder going when pressing the power button) are pretty remote. Now, the Phantom 1 & 2 were horrible with that. There was no communication between the camera and the power off sequence.