Car accident happened with dash cam. Video corrupted.

tbrownoak

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Hey guys,
New to the forums here looking to see if anyone can help with this issue I'm having. Tuesday my fiancé was involved in a car accident with my car that was equipped with a dash cam. I was able to get the files off the SD Card and check them out here on the computer. The AVI file that contains the accident was corrupted and wouldn't play at all in Windows Media player so after a little searching I saw the my VLC player would index the file and repair it. I can now view the video up to the moment where the truck is 3 feet from striking my car, but after that you just see a still picture, where the bottom of the picture just looks kinda glitchy. I would REALLY like to know if in fact the dash cam was able to actually record the moment of impact or anything else after the hit, but I'm not quite sure which is the best option out there for me. I've also tried EaseUS and DIVFix++, just to the point where I can view the video, but I get the same result, on 2 occasions it supplemented the missing video with video from other days. If anyone has a good recommendation it would be greatly appreciated.
 
It sounds like impact somehow stopped/corrupted the recording. Do all the other recorded clips play fine, check every single one or it could be an SD card is on the way out?
 
What dash cam? How old is it? Have you been checking the videos regularly?

Check to see if the last video of each trip is corrupt. If that's the case then the internal battery/capacitor may be failing causing the last file to not be saved correctly.
 
Since we are talking AVI files, it sound like a very old camera system, or very cheap, in which case the file repair of the venerable registrator viewer dashcam software might be able to fix it.
The program need you to point it at the broken file, and a functioning file from the same camera.

The problem today is where to download Registrator viewer ? its author Vadim died many years ago in a MC accident so have seen no support for a long time now.

But it all sound like the tune we have heard many times before, a un-supervised camera, often many many years old, and that just dont bode well for a dashcam, even higher tier cameras, or for that matter even current models.
You cant just install a dashcam and forget it, that most often lead to grief when you actually have a need for it.
 
Welcome to DCT @tbrownoak :)

Here's some threads and posts I've saved in my bookmarks. Some might be duplicates, something you've tried aready, or not applicable. Anyway it's all I know on the matter save this: There are expensive professional services who can usually recover what's on the card, but if a voltage drop or spike caused the cam to write incorrectly, then the lost images aren't there to be recovered. Those services want you to not do anything to the card (or whatever form of memory) before you hand it off to them.

As you can tell by the several threads, you're not alone in having this happen but it doesn't happen often. I hope something in there will be of use to you, and best wishes on getting the missing parts back (y)

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...ing-valuable-data-from-corrupted-cards.10557/
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...-file-completely-lost.7488/page-2#post-162528
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/repair-corrupt-dashcam-video.38695/#post-461665
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...pre-release-access.16310/page-102#post-483435
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/repair-software.41714/

Phil
 
It sounds like impact somehow stopped/corrupted the recording. Do all the other recorded clips play fine, check every single one or it could be an SD card is on the way out?
What dash cam? How old is it? Have you been checking the videos regularly?

Check to see if the last video of each trip is corrupt. If that's the case then the internal battery/capacitor may be failing causing the last file to not be saved correctly.
Here is the listing when I bought it off amazon. I know it’s an inferior brand, but it did serve it’s purpose. I bought this in late 2018.
Pruveeo D700 7-Inch Touch Screen Backup Camera Dash Cam Front and Rear Dual Channel with Rear View Reversing Camera
 
Welcome to DCT @tbrownoak :)

Here's some threads and posts I've saved in my bookmarks. Some might be duplicates, something you've tried aready, or not applicable. Anyway it's all I know on the matter save this: There are expensive professional services who can usually recover what's on the card, but if a voltage drop or spike caused the cam to write incorrectly, then the lost images aren't there to be recovered. Those services want you to not do anything to the card (or whatever form of memory) before you hand it off to them.

As you can tell by the several threads, you're not alone in having this happen but it doesn't happen often. I hope something in there will be of use to you, and best wishes on getting the missing parts back (y)

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...ing-valuable-data-from-corrupted-cards.10557/
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...-file-completely-lost.7488/page-2#post-162528
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/repair-corrupt-dashcam-video.38695/#post-461665
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...pre-release-access.16310/page-102#post-483435
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/repair-software.41714/

Phil
Thanks for the links
 
It sounds like impact somehow stopped/corrupted the recording. Do all the other recorded clips play fine, check every single one or it could be an SD card is on the way out?
All of the other clips play flawlessly from start to finish. I wasn’t sure if the shock of the impact is what caused the unit to get screwed up.
 
Pruveeo D700 7-Inch Touch Screen Backup Camera Dash Cam Front and Rear Dual Channel with Rear View Reversing Camera
Checking on what I could find the camera has an internal battery. Quite likely it my have failed and is not saving the last file properly. To confirm this check the last files of previous trips. If they're corrupt that should confirm a camera problem and indicate there's nothing to recover from the card.
 
That is why dashcams have a little internal power source, in case it get cut from power in a violent event, some modern cars will even automatic cut all power in case of a event too.
When the internal power source fail it is most often due to it being a small lipo battery, the other option capacitors can go bad too, but far - far more rare than lipo batteries going bad.

Dashcams with batteries are generally advised against for this reason, and also if you google / youtube lipo + fire, they can be that kind of hazard.
 
But as DT MI say, if you look at older drive sessions on the memory card, and the last file in those also being corrupted, that is generally indicating a broken internal power source.
 
Checking on what I could find the camera has an internal battery. Quite likely it my have failed and is not saving the last file properly. To confirm this check the last files of previous trips. If they're corrupt that should confirm a camera problem and indicate there's nothing to recover from the card.
Is it possible do you think if I put the sd card back into the dash cam and power it up the unit might repair the file and allow me to view it there?
 
Is it possible do you think if I put the sd card back into the dash cam and power it up the unit might repair the file and allow me to view it there?
I would say not likely, impossible if the camera initially failed to record anything. That said you probably have nothing to lose by trying. Before you try something like that copy any/all files you might need to your computer in case your recovery attempts corrupt the entire card - it has happened.

Have you checked the last files from previous trips to see if they were recorded correctly?
 
I would say not likely, impossible if the camera initially failed to record anything. That said you probably have nothing to lose by trying. Before you try something like that copy any/all files you might need to your computer in case your recovery attempts corrupt the entire card - it has happened.

Have you checked the last files from previous trips to see if they were recorded correctly?
Yes, all other trips recorded good from start to finish. Never experienced this type of issue with this unit before.
 
So the camera records in 3 min clips, the first 2 min are perfect. It’s just the moments right before impact I get the frozen screen.
 
Yes, all other trips recorded good from start to finish. Never experienced this type of issue with this unit before.
Well, based on available evidence I would have to surmise that, as previously mentioned, the shock of the impact had something to do with the corrupt file. I know it's not the purpose of your post, but that alone would be enough reason for me to look for a more robust camera. A camera that doesn't record when you most need it to is just slightly better than no camera at all.
 
Well, based on available evidence I would have to surmise that, as previously mentioned, the shock of the impact had something to do with the corrupt file. I know it's not the purpose of your post, but that alone would be enough reason for me to look for a more robust camera. A camera that doesn't record when you most need it to is just slightly better than no camera at all.
Yeah, sitting here in the ER right now thinking about it, I’ll definitely be buying a more dependable one. At least in the video it shows the other driver coming head on right before impact. So at least as far as evidence we’re good. I was just hoping to actually catch the impact and short aftermath.
 
Tell me about it ( me having a rear camera fail when i got rear ended a few years back )
Totally my own fault as i knew something was wrong ( rear camera on a too long too poor quality USB wire )
But thank god the guy took blame just fine so i just lost out in the sense it would have been cool to have toe footage of the car behind me getting shunted into me by the phone junkie in the big 4 X 4 ( or what ever reason he did not see traffic in front of him stopping )
 
Here’s the last image it got. Sorry for the image size, said it was too big in landscape
 

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BTW. I hope the fiancé is alright (y)
 
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