Wanted: codec for g64 files

March 20, 2008 8:47 AM

A friend gave me some video files, about 30Mb in size, that have ".g64" as a file extension, and I've been unable to play them - vlan has shown the top of a partial frame, and that's it. They're supposedly from a fairly recent CCTV system, but I've been unable to find out the manufacturer. Anybody got a clue for me?
posted by DreamerFi to technology (10 comments total)

I found this discussion via google. There are some ideas in there, but I don't know if any of them helped because the OP never indicated.

One that might help was to try GSpot to try to determine what codec is being used.
posted by owtytrof at 8:55 AM on March 20

Thanks, owtytrof... I found the thread before and tried the things mentioned there. Gspot won't identify the file, and they're obviously no commodore 64 emulator files.

(tried lots of other things as well that I didn't mention, I didn't want the question to run a few pages - I might try mailing the OP on that thread and see if he did get it resolved).
posted by DreamerFi at 9:03 AM on March 20

Have you tried looking at them in a hex editor? It's a long shot but the first block might have some useful information. Look for constants near the beginning of the files that might indicate a codec, manufacturer, or anything you can google for.
posted by chairface at 9:37 AM on March 20

Not yet - unless I get a reply from the discussion linked above, that's about all that's left to do - I'll also try to run it through "strings" on a unix box. But that's really getting into "desperate" territory - I'm still hoping for a "Ah, it is company X that builds that camera, and they have a tool..."
posted by DreamerFi at 9:39 AM on March 20

Well, crap. Best of luck, anyway.
posted by owtytrof at 9:47 AM on March 20

Maybe a silly question, but are they from your friend's CCTV system? It seems like going back to the source should help you figure out what they're from, and there might be an "Export as..." sort of option on that system.

Sorry I don't have anything more helpful to contribute.
posted by fogster at 9:52 AM on March 20

We looked into getting some CCTV and one of the issues (in my eyes) is their video formats are completely proprietary, requiring you to have their native software to decode the file. It always struck me as, particularly because we were looking at getting them for security purposes. Doesn't do me a whole lot of good to have this file that the police can't even open up if there's a breakin.
In reply to fogster, the CCTV software we've looked at doesn't have an export option, though I'm guessing some do. Obnoxious.
Thus, the issue becomes that unless your friend wants to give you the CCTV program or someone happened to write a 3rd-party program to decode these files, opening them might not happen.
posted by jmd82 at 10:00 AM on March 20

http://www.dvtel.com/UserFiles/File/support/documentation/M3510A.pdf

Looks like the manufacturer is dvtel.

(Google search term - "g64 cctv -glasgow filetype:pdf" - searching for PDFs is a useful way to find manuals)
posted by Leon at 10:00 AM on March 20

Leon, thank you - that is a solid lead! They don't have a download section on their website yet, but now the search is on!
posted by DreamerFi at 10:05 AM on March 20

It might be the geox codec, some newer cctv systems use it. Its mpeg4 based. Download here.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:25 AM on March 20