(Davguitarplayer) 1

Hi fellow spiceheads!!!

I am wondering if anyone can help me out. I am trying to download some security camera DVR footage for work and I downloaded the file but I am having a hard time finding a player to play it. The DVR downloaded it to an .h264 file. I have no idea what kind of file this is nor have I ever heard a video file like this before. I tried playing it in Windows media player, Quicktime, MPC-HC, VLC Media Player with no luck. I have also tried converting it with Any Video Converter. When I convert it to MPG it converts and I can sorta play it in Media player but it is very choppy and bad quality.

Can any of you spiceheads help me out? Has anyone ever tried playing this video file before?

Thanks!!!

7 Spice ups
2

Try Handbrake to convert it. It will convert from h264 to many popular formats. Its also open source :slight_smile:

Just select the source, and then select a preset, and convert it to something that is more manageable for you.

4 Spice ups
3

Also, I believe it is the same format as *.AVC. It just has multiple names.

4

Check out Media Info (free): MediaInfo . It will tell you all about the container, video codec, audio codec, and any other info regarding the file.

H.264 is a popular codec for video. Once you know the container, you might be able to just change the file extension to get it to play. MP4 is a popular container for H.264 videos.

5

try VLC, it plays everything, it’s my favorite video player now.

edit: just saw vlc in your list, maybe ffdshow codec pack would help.

6

In fact, if I remember correctly, iPod/Phone/Pad video is exactly that. H264 in an Mp4 container.

1 Spice up
7

You are correct. It just has a .m4v file extension and uses the AAC audio codec.

1 Spice up
8

Freemake (http://www.freemake.com) - best one I’ve found.

9

The CCCP Project can play pretty much anything.

1 Spice up
10

Do me a fav,rename the file extension to .mpg and try playing it again,I know my home DVR it works

11

I gave that a try and it is a no go :frowning: Thanks for your help though. I never knew trying to play a video file would be so hard.

12

Find the manufacturer of the DVR and see if they have any software on their website.

1 Spice up
13

Thanks Rodgers12. You da man!!! Thanks for help and figuring out to get that file to play!!!

14

A friend of mine is having the same problem. looking at the file that his dvr is saving
it only gives the filesize in MB it does not contain any codec information,
and more critically it does not give the length of the video file in mins and seconds it reports it as length 00:00
so vlc player does try to play it but because it is marked at 00:00 long it thinks it has played it and its finished!

So you have to use the chinese player which is pretty naff to say the least.

to verify the above information I am searching for a program that will allow you to alter the meta data for the file.
So if any of you guys know of a windows based program that lets you edit the raw file etc. please let me know.
Cheers Mark

15

The same problemm too…

16

I use AVIGenerator it’s what came with my DVR.

17

Just do a google search for it you’ll find it, it only takes seconds to convert a large DVR file.

18

I had the same problem. Now it works fine. Follow these two things , it will work perfect.

  1. Download the video converter from here.

http://bradshaw-vacuum-technology.com/videoconv.zip

  1. After the conversion if it failed to play then download h264 plugin too. it will work perfectly.

http://bradshaw-vacuum-technology.com/H264MediaPlayPlugins.exe

Good Luck!

2 Spice ups
19

After looking for a very long time and downloading lots of apps, this finally worked for me.

20

Great it work!!!