Any idea what Codec is being used for the G1W?

[Graham Wright]

Just picked up a G1W with a 32 Gig SanDisk Class-10 card, and set it for 5 minute loops. I drove around for a bit and after stopping and switching the car off, I pulled the TF card out and plugged it into my Mac. It shows 3 files, each multiple megs and MOV extensions but QuickTime says they are unrecognized or corrupted.

Final Cut Pro import does not show then as valid files, so I put the TF card back in the G1W and they play correctly on the G1W itself. This makes me think that they are being recorded in a Codec that I do not have on the Mac but from what I've read it seems to be standard H-264.

If it isn't H-264, does anyone know what Codec the G1W is recording with?

Any idea's why the recorded files are not recognized on the Mac?

Thanks!

 

[KCO]

I think it's h264 but I can not confirm the purchase did not arrive yet.

I recommend using MediaInfo because you can see in detail of the video information.

And is available for Mac https://mediaarea.net/es/MediaInfo/Download/Mac_OS

 

[Graham Wright]

Thanks - a useful program, but it shows the three file contents as basically empty, with no content. It's like the old days where you didn't close a CD or DVD session and subsequently had trouble reading that disc.

This is confusing as they play correctly on the G1W itself.....

 

[cheap_newbie]

i use viedo lan player or media player classic to play the video files on my pc, try them
should be available for mac too

it is true that the format of gw1 is kinda weird...some time when you try playing back a video file with these tools on the pc, the player says its corrupted....then you try the same again 10 seconds later or with another player, everything works fine...
maybe the codec follows not 100% standard

But all in all you can you can play back every video file of g1w with mentioned tools

 

[Graham Wright]

No, VLC was the first program I tried to play them on the Mac

 

[jokiin]

This is confusing as they play correctly on the G1W itself.....

perhaps upload a sample file somewhere so others could have a look, they should just be H.264 MOV files though

 

[cheap_newbie]

hmm ok... thats strange, vlc works for me(with the mentioned error sometimes, i edited my post with more details)

 

[Graham Wright]

perhaps upload a sample file somewhere so others could have a look, they should just be H.264 MOV files though

Here's the smallest file (19.8M) - http://www.grahamwright1.com/g1w/11160001.MOV

I'm confused by this, as they do play on the G1W itself.......

 

[cheap_newbie]

i checked and cant play your file, errors

your file also shows no methadata, my g1w files show methadata like resolution...fps....stereo etc.

how do you get it from g1w to your device?

 

[Graham Wright]

i checked and cant play your file, errors

As I said, the files copied from the card are not valid MOV-H.264 files, so I'm confused about what they are. Thanks for looking.

 

[cheap_newbie]

where did you get your cam? is there a chance that you got a fake?

 

[Graham Wright]

where did you get your cam? is there a chance that you got a fake?

Seller was estore009 on eBay, who I thought was a recommended seller for these.

 

[cheap_newbie]

your file also shows no methadata, my g1w files show methadata like resolution...fps....stereo etc.

how do you get it from g1w to your device?

can you describe? just taking out the flash card and playing back? the g1w is off when you pull the flash card?

 

[Graham Wright]

can you describe? just taking out the flash card and playing back? the g1w is off when you pull the flash card?

Stopped car, removed key from ignition, took camera down from the windshield, pressed the TF card to remove it. That took about 5 seconds from the time the power was shut off until the card was out.

Do you know how long the camera takes to close out the current file it's recording?

Even if I'd removed the card while the last file was still open, the other 2 files should have been closed out correctly and would have some content. Each of the other files are 38Megs and 76Megs in size.

Thanks!

 

[jokiin]

faulty unit perhaps

 

[cheap_newbie]

try to press the power off button of the g1w and wait until camera shuts down before removing the card....maybe thats the cause

anyway in the g1w thread was a small disussion about g1w models with different layout than before (black pcb)... maybe you got one of these and the changes on firmware and hardware are big enough to explain this

 

[cheap_newbie]

Even if I'd removed the card while the last file was still open, the other 2 files should have been closed out correctly and would have some content. Each of the other files are 38Megs and 76Megs in size.
Thanks!

wait jokiin is right, thats definitly a hint to faulty unit...the size of a 3min file from my g1w is 282mb

 

[cheap_newbie]

are you using original power unit for g1w?
if you use some kind 3rd party usb power unit it has to provide at least like 2A

 

[Graham Wright]

Found the problem - it's the Sandisk supplied SD adapter that I was using to read the files! I switched to a cheap third-party multi-format reader (SD, micro-sd, and CF) and copying the files to the Mac gives me H264 encoded MOV files that can be viewed with VLC.

To check I plugged the Sandisk card back into the Sandisk adapter and the file copy appears to work but the file contents are messed up somehow. The Sandisk adapter is going straight into the garbage!

Thanks for all your help and suggestions, and now I can start using the camera

 

[jokiin]

Very unusual problem but glad you worked it out