idleloop's site

tools used for previewing

IMPORTANT NOTE:
In brief: nowadays, most multimedia incomplete files can be opened with VLC

Infos shows down refer to the incomplete files created with an old app called KaZaA, and how them could be managed with my app "dat_view" (of no use now)...

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tools that you can use to preview incomplete files

.mpg .mpeg	these files aren't usually problematic: any viewer will show these movies... the only problem is when you haven't downloaded still its beginning... the begining of this files is important: it contains the compressor, format, length and other useful and fundamental parameters.
	advice: with the dat_viewer, you can see if you have the initial part of the file. Usually just a few kB are enough for pre-viewing these files. If you copy the file with the option "fill with hex..." or "data without gaps", you will obtain better results, 'cause the resulting file contains just correct data, without stranges things in the gaps (which can be part of other erased movies, or just garbage which could disorient viewer programs). Results depends on both "copy mode" and viewer program used. Experiment...
	tip: if you do really need to preview a .mpg file for which you haven't got still its beginning, you can try some tricks: usually it's possible to preview its contents by appending the .mpg file (obtained by copying the file with the option "fill with hex...") to another good .mpg file that you know that has the same dimensions (height and width in pixels) and that has been compressed using the same method (MPG3, INDEO...). You can try several files to append the mpg to until you success (or no ;) ... How to append the data at the end of a movie?: in MS-DOS (open a command window): `copy /b good_movie_name.mpg + incomplete_movie_name.mpg merged_movie.mpg`
.avi	The point with these files is that usually any viewer program needs both beginning and end to show the movie... however, there are various tools that let you repair and preview incomplete .avi files: Virtual Dub usually allows u to open almost any incomplete avi file. Still the better program to try on first place!! AVIPreview by AJ is a good windows app: lightweight, fast, and seems to work with incomplete portions of data, allowing you to see the image and to hear the sound. Unfortunately, it only can show the first block of good data... hope future releases shows all ! Avi Preview (command line tool) will construct a repaired avi file from an incomplete one which uses DIVX3 or DIVX4. (here another link for this one, with graphical interface). Very useful if u haven't got the beginning of the avi file. DivFix is a program which also reconstructs incomplete avi files. (more links for this one: 1 , 2 ). A last advice: sometimes u can "see" more parts of an incomplete avi with some tools than with others... if dat_viewer shows more good data blocks than the ones you've seen, try another copy method (without gaps, filling gaps with 0's...), or another tool. This advice is a common leitmotiv for every file movie you try to preview.
	advice: with the dat_viewer, you can see if you have the initial part of the file. Usually just a few kB are enough for pre-viewing these files. If you copy the file with the option "fill with hex..." or "data without gaps", you will obtain better results, 'cause the resulting file contains just correct data, without stranges things in the gaps. Results depends on both "copy mode" and viewer program used. Experiment...
.mp3	these files aren't usually problematic: any player will play these music files...
	advice: if you copy the file with the dat_viewer, with the option "fill with hex..." or "data without gaps", you will obtain better results with these programs, 'cause the resulting file contains just the correct data, without stranges things in the gaps (which can be part of other erased mp3 files, or just garbage which could disorient the player program).
.zip	Usually, winzip or any other zip manager needs the end of the file in order to open its contents... but here is a great zip repair utility. (here, its web page).
	advice: if you copy the file with the dat_viewer, with the option "fill with hex..." or "data without gaps", you will obtain better results with these programs, 'cause the resulting file contains just the correct data, without stranges things in the gaps (which can be part of other erased zip files, incomplete files from other sources, or just garbage which could disorient these repair programs).
.rar	The original program for manage rar files let u extract files from incomplete RAR's. It'll function better with images, text, and son on, if you select option "keep broken files" after right-clickin' and selecting "Extract files..." on the appropriate rar file.
	advice: if you copy the file with with the dat_viewer, the option "fill with hex..." or "data without gaps", you will obtain better results with these programs, 'cause the resulting file contains just the correct data, without stranges things in the gaps (which can be part of other erased rar files, incomplete files from other sources, or just garbage which could disorient these repair programs).