Unrecognized File Type

Hi,

I'm trying to open a .mov file that was provided to me. The info properties say it's a QT file and it has the .mov extension. But I can't open it in any of my programs. When I try to open in QT player it says "This is not a movie file." When I try to open in FC it says: File Error: 1 file recognized, 0 access denied, 1 unknown. When I try to open in MPEG Streamclip it says: File Open Error; unrecognized file. When I try to open in Compressor it says: Error trying to open source media. I had the exact same type of errors with an .mp4 file provided by this same person. I'm told that the native format is HDV1080i60. It must have something to do with the way the file is being converted, but I'm not sure how to direct the person who is making the files for me so that I can get something my FC recognizes. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Shelley

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

The most likely explanation is that this is a file fragment. Enough data was copied over to flag it as a QuickTime movie, but it lacks sufficient media data to play. That happens when a save or copy process is interrupted midway, or the file/drive is corrupted.

To confirm, ask the original file handler to look at the file size on his original, presumably playable file. Then compare with yours.

If all of those above applications refuse to open it, as far as I know you're pretty much dead in the water. You have to find the original file.


www.derekmok.com

Derek's probably right, but it's also possible that your guy just did something stupid. No offense meant, of course; doing stupid things is a totally unavoidable part of life.

The only way to create an HDV-format Quicktime movie is on a Mac with Final Cut installed. No camera records Quicktime movies in the HDV codec, and that codec is only installed as part of the Final Cut application. If (and I'm just throwing out a for-instance here) your guy took some other type of file, like an MPEG-2 transport stream say, and just changed the file name from something.mpeg to something.mov, the results would be the same as what you're describing.

It's most likely a glitch, like Derek said. But since it's happened twice now, it might be worth making sure the guy who's sending you these files is doing what he's supposed to be doing.

But like Derek said, that file you have is just a waste of bytes. Throw it away; it'll never be anything more than noise on your hard drive.

Not really. The alphabet soup camera does.

[broadcastengineering.com]



www.strypesinpost.com

I stand corrected. I had no idea that JVC's ProHD format is just 720p HDV with a brand name.

Hi,

This issue is still unresolved. This thread is a week old so wasn't sure if I should stay here or start a new thread. I'll try here first and if I don't get a response will start a new thread.

Here's a recap on the problem:

I downloaded from an FTP site a 3.3 gig Quicktime File that was made using Final Cut 2. The original source is HDV 1080i60 and was edited in FC. When I try to bring it into QT won't import and I get a message that says Unrecognized File Type. The properties of the QT file say it is a 3.3 gig QT file. There are dashes where the dimensions are supposed to be. I cannot open it in MPEG Streamclip, my QT player, nor Compressor. They all give a "Unknown file format" or "Unrecognized File Type"

I thought perhaps something happened during the download since it took 3 hours to download 3.3 gigs. So I downloaded the file again. Same thing. Then another download attempt and same problem again. The person who uploaded the file said that the file opens fine in his FC2 system and even had another FC2 user successfully open the file on another operating system. He says as long as I have FC2 or later it should open. He's claiming I could be missing the HDV component from my QT but all the HDV settings are available in my FC sequence settings. I even launched my other operating system with FC3 and tried importing to that system and still the same "unknown file" message. I'm thinking something must be happening to the file during the uploading to the FTP site. Meanwhile I have a very testy client and still no way to access open this file and use her new footage. Any other ideas on what could be the problem here?
Thanks for the help.

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

Just get them to FedEx you a flash drive with the Quicktime on it.

> I downloaded from an FTP site a 3.3 gig Quicktime File that was made using Final Cut 2.

That last bit of information may actually be crucial.

In earlier versions of Final Cut Pro -- up to FCP3, if I remember correctly -- movie files exported from Final Cut Pro were sometimes designated "Final Cut Pro Movie Files". These files, by default, open with Final Cut Pro instead of QuickTime Player.

Newer versions of FCP practically eliminated the distinction -- movie files created with an Export function would have different OS icons, but you could change the default application for the file from FCP to QuickTime Player and back with no problems. However, older versions of FCP did have a distinction between the two.

I'm also quite suspicious of what your FCP2 operator has been saying. It shouldn't be possible to work with HDV at all in FCP2. No HD format could be touched by FCP until FCP4.5 ("Final Cut Pro HD", and even then it was only DVCPro HD. Unless you were confusing "Final Cut Studio 2" (which is actually "Final Cut Pro 6" with "Final Cut 2" (which literally means the second version of the software, ever). That's not a mistake you can make lightly; it affects our entire diagnosis. Like confusing your heart with your kidneys.

Even if there's a confusion with nomenclature as above, it still wouldn't make sense, what you see in QuickTime Player. If a codec is missing from your system, the normal behaviour of QuickTIme Player is to display the name of the codec, but not display the image successfully. Even if it's an Avid codec like DNxHD -- even if you don't have it on your system, it should show you the name. So I don't think that's the problem.

I suggest that you have your FCP2 operator export a file with QuickTime Conversion. Test that with only 30 seconds of footage, upload/download that and see if that fixes the problem. You guys shouldn't have been testing with a 3.3GB file in the first place until you've hit upon a correct solution.


www.derekmok.com

Do the 30-second test I mentioned. Try these two potential solutions with the short version of the file:

1. When the file gets downloaded on your end, add a .mov extension to it.

2. Before uploading, zip the file first. This is usually only necessary with FCP project files and less often with movie files, but it's worth trying.

Jeff Harrell's suggestion of sending a physical storage medium (eg. flash drive) is sound...but you should do these tests first. Because if something's fundamentally wrong with the way the sender's FCP2 system is exporting the file, then even a file sent on a flash drive can have the same problem. You'll lose even more time with no solution in sight if you wait for the drive to arrive only to find the exact same issue.


www.derekmok.com

Quote

Because if something's fundamentally wrong with the way the sender's FCP2 system is exporting the file, then even a file sent on a flash drive can have the same problem.

Agreed. Now that you mention it, that's absolutely right. If the operator is doing something wrong, you need to know it sooner rather than later.

Thanks for the quick feedback.

To clarify, it was FC2 Studio. He said he edited the video in its native format - HDV1080i60. So if he exported an uncompressed, self-contained QT movie directly from the FC timeline, and uploaded that QT file to the FTP site, then theoretically I should have been able to download that file and import into FC3 Studio with no problem, correct?

I have not been able to communicate with this person directly about exactly how he created this file (although I'm not sure why or how you would do it any other way). If I can be assured that the above process is the correct procedure for making the QT file, then I will double check to see if he followed that process, and if he didn't instruct him to do so.

P.S. I originally requested a physical medium with the file but believe it or not, the client didn't want to spend the money on shipping although now it's going to cost much more do to all the dicking around with the file

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

Quote

To clarify, it was FC2 Studio.

I don't want this to turn into a curb-stomping party, but Derek's point is a really important one: There is no such thing as "FC2 Studio." You're obviously talking about Final Cut Studio 2, but that's not really a thing either. That's just what's written on the box the software came in. Inside the Final Cut Studio 2 box was Final Cut Pro 6, and that's evidently what you mean, but it's harder to help you when we have to figure that out Sherlock Holmes-style from tiny specks of mud on your boots and nigh-invisible scratches on the tip of your walking stick.

Quote

So if he exported an uncompressed, self-contained QT movie directly from the FC timeline

If he exported an uncompressed Quicktime, then it's not HDV any more.

There are three relevant pieces of information that you can use to do a quick sanity check: The codec you believe was used, the total run time of the show, and the size (in bytes) of the Quicktime movie. If you know any two of these, you can really quickly check to make sure everything is as it should be.

Most production codecs have a fixed data rate ? HDV is 25 megabits per second, uncompressed 1080i is 1.2 gigabits per second, and so on. If your file is 3.3 gigabytes, then it's either 23 seconds long (if uncompressed), or about 19 minutes long (if it's HDV). If what you're expecting is a half-hour clip ? for example ? then you know from the outset that this can't possibly be it.

Obviously these people are sending you garbled files. It's great that you're trying to help them figure out why they're coming through garbled, but if the problem really isn't on your end, then there's only so much you're going to be able to do. If I were in your position, my next step would be to say, "Hey guys, how about YOU try downloading this file from your OWN FTP server, and see if it works on your end. Because I'm getting nothing but static over here."

Sorry to be confusing. My dyslexia kicking in. I meant to say Final Cut Studio 2 (with FC5)

>If he exported an uncompressed Quicktime, then it's not HDV any more >

I'm not exactly sure how he exported the file. All I was told is that is was edited in its "native format HDV1080i60" and I would get a file of this "native format" which turned out to be a
Quicktime File with the .mov extension. The info properties did not reveal the dimensions of the file. It was supposed to be a 45 minute video He could very well have exported it using QT conversion with the HDV1080i60 codec. But even so, I should have still been able to open this file, right?

>If he exported an uncompressed Quicktime, then it's not HDV any more.>

Please pardon my ignorance, but I thought exporting as an uncompressed QT file kept the native format in tact and that was the purest export option. What is the default codec for exporting an uncompressed QT instead of the Quicktime Conversion option where you can choose a codec?

Geesh. The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know! How did you guys get so smart?

Shelley
MacBoo Pro 2015
16 GB Ram
OS X 10.13
Premiere Pro CC

> Please pardon my ignorance, but I thought exporting as an uncompressed QT file kept the native
> format intact

Shelley, your terminology is all over the place, unfortunately. That's why we have to clarify.

Final Cut Studio 2 is a package that includes Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro...and Final Cut Pro 6. Not "FC5", as you said. Now we have to figure out whether he's using Final Cut Pro 6, or Final Cut Pro 5. Final Cut Pro 5 was part of a package called "Final Cut Studio" (FCS 1). Please clarify this. It matters.

"Uncompressed" is not a term you can throw around in a generic sense. There is such a thing called "Uncompressed HD"; it is a specific codec -- such as "Uncompressed 10-bit HD".

HDV is, by definition, compressed. Heavily compressed. So if you're talking about using "Export - QuickTime Movie" to produce a movie file with identical settings to your timeline codec, frame size and frame rate, etc., then the term I'd recommend is "full-quality QuickTime movie". Not "uncompressed".

There are so many unknown factors at this point that it's hard to get at what's wrong. Ask the other guy to export 30-60 seconds. Don't use In/Out points; create a new timeline and copy/paste contents over. Try both "Export - QuickTime Movie" and "Export - Using QuickTime Conversion", and make sure he labels the files properly. Test files should be called, for example:

titanic_v415_031010_test01_export_qt_movie.mov
titanic_v415_031010_test02_export_qt_conversion_hdv1080i60.mov

Ask the other guy to screen-capture every one of the dialog boxes as he goes through the process. It's the only way to know what settings he's really using. Try sending it using multiple methods -- FTP site, Fetch vs. Cyberduck, YouSendIt.com. Zipped vs. unzipped. You gotta narrow down your list of potential culprits or you'll never find what's wrong.


www.derekmok.com

No, uncompressed means uncompressed.

A 45-minute file in HDV format would be around 8 GB. Bit less; call it 7.9 GB. You got a file that was less than half the size it should've been. No wonder it was unreadable.

Remember, HDV like many codecs has a constant data rate. If you know the length of the program, you know to a very high degree of precision how many gigabytes to look for.

i had the same problem due to the QT update 7.7. here is how i solved it (thanks to a posting somewhere, don't remember where, but THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

follow these instructions:

[www.digitalrebellion.com] .html

all the best,
littlebear, vienna