Best way to save video for police --LaView (Hikvision)

[bguy]

I have a LaView LV-KN988P84A4 system. It's re-branded Hikvision 1080p POE NVR and cameras. So the system seems to have the same features as the Hikvision NVRs, and I'm guessing it saves files the same way. I know how to save video from the NVR both from the console and with the client. But the video only seems to work with their proprietary player. VLC just shows the first frame. What is the best way to give someone video that's playable? I'm sure with all the Hikvision out there someone has a procedure.

I can make it playable by re-encoding it with Handbrake, but I'm concerned I might be losing some quality.
Personally, I wouldn't want to run a random player.exe file, and I would hope the cops know better.

I'm sure if they really need the files for evidence, they would probably want the original output from the NVR. But I'd still like an easy to view file for everyone else.

As a side note, is there any better software for viewing files from multiple cameras at the same time?

Thanks, Bradley

 

[nayr]

cops will figure out how to open the file if they really want to see what it contains, just give them the raw.. you wont be the first, nor the last to give them a vendor specific video format.. they have seen dozens of hikvisions by now.

they want it unmolested with any watermarks intact, they will tell you what they want and it'll be the raw files more than likely.

for public consumption, put it on youtube.. they take the raw files too.. and if it goes viral you can buy more cameras!

 

[Fruit]

Download and install the DSFilters V6.1.2.2 from their site and VLC/Windows media player will work with your backup files.
http://overseas.hikvision.com/us/Tools_82.html#prettyPhoto

Hikvision tools (from the same link) has a built-in player that can do multiple cameras if i recall correctly.

 

[bguy]

Thanks, DSFilters does allow VLC to play the saved files. It's still kinda of buggy, but I figure it's the way the stream was saved from the cameras. It freezes sometimes, and won't play past some points.

The tools doesn't seem to have a regular player, just one called "Local Playback". It looks like the program used to access the cameras/NVR, and I couldn't find a way to open a saved file. It asks for a drive, but not a sub folder. So I think it's looking for a raw file of some sort. I put a saved clip in the root folder, and it still says "No camera found."

The reason for my original question was my house overlooks our street, so the cops keep asking me for videos. This time I just saved 1.5 hours for 3 of the cameras, and burned the files to DVD. It was 30 mins before and after on the cameras that caught anything. I like the "let them figure it out" philosophy. I did review the time, and gave them the times of the incidents. But it was still dark, so the video was crap.

 

[code2]

Thanks, DSFilters does allow VLC to play the saved files. It's still kinda of buggy, but I figure it's the way the stream was saved from the cameras. It freezes sometimes, and won't play past some points.

The tools doesn't seem to have a regular player, just one called "Local Playback". It looks like the program used to access the cameras/NVR, and I couldn't find a way to open a saved file. It asks for a drive, but not a sub folder. So I think it's looking for a raw file of some sort. I put a saved clip in the root folder, and it still says "No camera found."

The reason for my original question was my house overlooks our street, so the cops keep asking me for videos. This time I just saved 1.5 hours for 3 of the cameras, and burned the files to DVD. It was 30 mins before and after on the cameras that caught anything. I like the "let them figure it out" philosophy. I did review the time, and gave them the times of the incidents. But it was still dark, so the video was crap.

Unless its a major crime why even bother giving them video? My question would have been how do they even know you have video. Usually they would say hey something happened last night any chance you have the video on it if its nothing major i usually say sorry it only save 24 hours of video then records over it and leave it at that.

If you're that determined to turn over video use the 4200 client on the computer it saves as as mp4

 

[bguy]

Well, why not give it to the police? It's to hopefully help neighbors that I know, and also try to stop people from coming to our street to steal things. Would you want to help if your friends got things stolen? But the easier it is to supply footage the better. To be honest, about all it gives them is a timeline, and a general description. Another reason to do it, is I'm learning the ins and outs of the system. The time to learn is not when something major happens.

I'll have to check out the 4200 software. Thanks

 

[jasauders]

Handing over footage wherever possible can certainly help. A year ago I realized something in my car was "off" when I went to leave for work. Back feeds showed two guys going through our cars at night. In total they went through around 100 unlocked cars that night. Out of everybody that called in, I was the only one with footage. Thing is, my rear camera (where the cars were seen) only caught a poor shot due to (at the time) poor lighting. The front camera caught them walking through the intersection. Too blurry to identify. But... when the cop saw the footage, he noticed one had a limp. He arrested 2 guys for the *same* thing a year prior. Upon further checking, they just got released a week before this incident. The rest is history. They're back in jail. So any little bit can help. Even my grainy distant shot provided just enough of an identifier to allow the investigation into a specific direction, and it just so happened that the cop I spoke to was *the* cop that arrested them years prior which helped them focus on where to go.

On the note of footage, yeah I'm sure they run into these proprietary formats all the time. It's the nature of the beast. That said, giving them footage in a format that's, well, "normal", can certainly help. Out of 3 situations I've dealt with video footage and cops, 2 of them were a bit frustrating as the investigators worked with installing whoknowswhat proprietary player just to play the videos. And I can't lie, they're not wrong. It's a frustrating step.

My current system records in MKV, which I thoroughly enjoy and works on a ton of media players. If I had a system that recorded in a proprietary format, I'd still keep that around since the original footage in its original format (regardless of what type it is) would likely hold more water in court. But for the initial report, if it were me, I'd try to get an AVI/MKV/MP4 or something more common to them first. But that's just my 2c.