This one arrived with a note that began: “Two other services already told me this is impossible.” A broadcast crew in USA had been recording a 90-minute live panel with a Sony camera in HEVC. Halfway through, a venue power cut took down the camera mid-write.
The problem
On the CFA card, the recording existed as a single 78 GB .RSV file — Sony’s temporary “recording-in-progress” format. RSV files have no standard index, use Sony’s internal chunk layout, and no consumer or NLE software on earth will open them. Standard repair tools simply refuse the file. The clip contained the only existing recording of the event.
What we did
- Received the full 78 GB file over a secure resumable upload (took a while — the file is bigger than most people’s entire photo library).
- Mapped the RSV chunk structure to locate every video GOP and every audio packet across the whole file, includes 4 audio tracks.
- Remuxed all video frames, audio streams, everything into standard MP4 deliverables without re-encoding a single frame, it s a 90 recorded minutes.
- Sent a free preview of the full repaired footage to the videographer for a review in 4 hours.
✓Result
90 minutes of broadcast-grade HEVC footage fully recovered, 4 audio tracks in sync throughout, delivered within 1 days of upload. The client confirmed the preview before paying — and yes, they told us the “impossible” verdict from the other two services was wrong.
What exactly is an RSV file?
RSV is the scratch format several Sony professional cameras use while a recording is in progress. Think of it as scaffolding: the camera builds the real file structure inside RSV and only at the end “publishes” it as a proper clip. Cut the power mid-build and you’re left with the scaffolding and no building. The video data is usually 99.9%+ intact — it’s the structure around it that’s missing, and that structure is exactly what we rebuild.
Takeaways
- RSV, DAT, MDT and similar “temp” formats are usually very recoverable — don’t accept an “impossible” verdict from a tool that simply doesn’t support the format.
- Power cuts mid-recording are one of the most common causes of unfinalized files; a UPS on venue power is cheaper than a recovery.
- Never re-record over the card containing an RSV/DAT file — the temp file may share clusters with new clips.