Author Topic: Renaming mp4 file kills video  (Read 4673 times)

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kdaube

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Renaming mp4 file kills video
« on: 2018-06-05 09:06:16 »
Dear all,
I had moved from my Android phone (FairPhone2) some short videos to my pc.
At the original location (D:\somewhere) I checked and they were fine.
Copied them into the data base - still ok
Renamed them to something more useful than VID-123456789xyz.mp4
Now the poster image is gone and running them in any video display software (Windows Media player, VLC) the have just the length and some sound, but no image.
You can test with [link=http://www.daube.ch/zz_tests/Sample-FP2.mp4]this file[/link] (just rename to Sample-FP2a.mp4 when in the data base.

When renaming in the Windows explorer no such effect happens.
How can I get the video function back?

Klaus Daube

Edit:
There is a difference in lenght after the rename:
original    50'044'287
renamed     50'044'510
=> Hence it is obvious that T+ does something to the file besides the rename (which imho is in the directory and in the DB-entry and should not influence the file itself).

Other findings:
Moving the file within T+ into another folder has the same effect of destroying it.

Daan van Rooijen

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Renaming mp4 file kills video
« Reply #1 on: 2018-06-05 14:46:29 »
Hi Klaus,

I'm sorry but I cannot reproduce this. And, frankly, I don't think there is anything in ThumbsPlus that could cause this.

Could you right-click on an .mp4 file and choose 'Configure File Type', and then look what it says under "Load file using"?

Or, if this dialog says that this filetype is 'Equivalent to' another filetype (for instance: equivalent to .mpg), could you look what the 'Load using' value is for that other filetype (.mpg) ?

At this point, I would suspect that you have an unknown program running in the background that interferes with the handling of video files. It might be malware but could also be some type of filetransfer utility, or something that's part of a video player or editor. Have you installed anything of that kind recently?

You write that renaming the file causes it to lose the image and change the duration. I have downloaded your test file. If possible, could I also download the changed version?
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kdaube

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Renaming mp4 file kills video
« Reply #2 on: 2018-06-06 05:49:42 »
Thanks Daan for your help.

File Type Configuration says:
  Extension: mp4 MPEG Level 4 video
  Equivalent to type: (none)
  Load file using: None
  Edit file using: Association VLC.mpeg4
  Print file using: None
  Linked (associated) file extensions:

With these settings I have a poster image and I can SHIFT-click to view it in VLC.

But as soon as I rename the file the poster image disappears and I get the VLC icon. Nothing has changed in File Type Configuration.
I can view this file with SHIFT-click in VLC, it has the same length/duration as before, but there is no image viewed.
Renaming it back does not cure the symptoms.

"At this point, I would suspect that you have an unknown program running in the background that interferes with the handling of video files."

Task Manager shows the processes listed on image-1
I suspected WSHelper.exe (Wondershare Studio) which is a download helper for videos - and removed it for my next tests.
=> still same behaviour of TP.

"I have downloaded your test file. If possible, could I also download the changed version?"

[link=http://www.daube.ch/zz_tests/Sample-FP2a.mp4]See here[/link]

Daan van Rooijen

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Renaming mp4 file kills video
« Reply #3 on: 2018-06-06 06:46:59 »
I think something that ties in with Explorer is causing this. There's a discussion about a similar case [link=https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/74adc717-7778-45d6-a779-573eaab9cd30/mp4-file-corruption?forum=w7itpromedia]here[/link] -- in that case it was wmpnetwk.exe (Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service) that was causing the corruption by adding a number of tags to the videos, which seems to be what happens in your case as well. For an explanation of how you can see and manage the services running on your PC, see [link=http://www.thewindowsclub.com/open-windows-services]here[/link]. If you see wmpnetwk.exe there, please stop or disable it and see if that solves the problem.
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kdaube

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Renaming mp4 file kills video
« Reply #4 on: 2018-06-06 08:43:43 »
Hi Daan,
If you see wmpnetwk.exe there, please stop or disable it and see if that solves the problem.

Great success: after stopping this service the video stays intact after renaming it!
So i will prevent this service from starting, because for me it has no value. I do not share anything with anybody.

There's a discussion about a similar case here ...

I will try the method to fix the currupted videos - if no success, it's not the death of my country...

Thank You very much, Daan, for your help to find the source of my problem.
Klaus

Daan van Rooijen

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Renaming mp4 file kills video
« Reply #5 on: 2018-06-06 11:44:37 »
> Great success: after stopping this service the video stays intact after renaming it!

Excellent! I hope you'll manage to repair the corrupted videos.
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kdaube

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« Reply #6 on: 2018-06-06 12:20:35 »
Daan,
On [link=https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/74adc717-7778-45d6-a779- 573eaab9cd30/mp4-file-corruption?forum=w7itpromedia]social.technet.microsoft…[/link]
provides a manual editing method to cure the files. It worked on some of my files only. But further down in the discussion someone in Grenoble (France) offers a program, which does all what is needed: MP4XtraAtomRemover. It works perfectly!
And of course i have disabled that darn service.
So we can close our discussion here. Thank You again for Your help with the right pointers!

Klaus