Help - robbed during lockdown

[epyscs]

Hey Guys,
I really hope you can help me! I am part of a boating club and we were robbed during the last 5 weeks of lockdown. They were good as they managed to breach an alarmed boatshed without triggering the alarm system open a roller door and steal a number of outboards.

We have cameras installed, but I have no idea how we can easily trawl 5 weeks worth of footage as it seems when the new NVR was installed, all the events were turned off and it was set to record full time. If anyone can offer any assistance how we could trawl through these videos that would be very much appreciated. The spec of the kit we have installed is as follows:
Dahua NVR5208
HDBW2341R-ZS dome cameras.

Any help appreciated...
Chris

 

[wittaj]

First off you better disconnect the cameras right now as depending on the size of the hard drive and other parameters set up, it may have already recorded over something 5 weeks ago.

That is one of the frustrating things about playback is without event tabs, you will just have to play it in fast forward and stop every time you see motion.

 

[epyscs]

First off you better disconnect the cameras right now as depending on the size of the hard drive and other parameters set up, it may have already recorded over something 5 weeks ago.

That is one of the frustrating things about playback is without event tabs, you will just have to play it in fast forward and stop every time you see motion.

Bloody good call... doing it now.

Thanks - you just narrowed the amount of footage to review to only 4 weeks now... But appreciate the comment.

 

[Flintstone61]

Doesn't that particular recorder handle both continous recording timeline, with motion events colored differently over the continous bar? ( i know his was setup wrong, But just askin)

 

[epyscs]

I believe it does, but we moved from the cams from being on the network and config'd for motion detection to go directly into the NVR when we upgraded. Seems in that process they got set to permanent record.

Any ideas on ripping through these videos appreciated.Attach files

 

[Mark_M]

I believe it does, but we moved from the cams from being on the network and config'd for motion detection to go directly into the NVR when we upgraded. Seems in that process they got set to permanent record.

Constant recording and motion is still achievable for more NVRs.
Hopefully there's a button; try ticking an option to search by motion.

Otherwise sit tight and have fun scrolling.

Best idea I hope is there's some sort of software that can search through the drive for you. Plugging the HDD into a PC and let it search through.
But I don't know what software could exist.

 

[alastairstevenson]

open a roller door and steal a number of outboards.

Dumb question for which apologies - presumably none of the camera scenes covers any items that were moved or removed during the intrusion?
That's the quickest way to narrow down the timing if so.

And as others have stated - even with continuous recording, provided the cameras are also submitting motion and/or smart events, the NVR should be able to highlight those.
On Hikvision NVRs, motion or VCA events can be found in a couple of ways :
By activating the red markers on the continuous timeline via a selection swizzler.
By using the iVMS4200 client to query the NVR for VCA (smart) events.
I'd expect the Dahua NVR to have equivalent capabilities.

 

[The Automation Guy]

We have cameras installed, but I have no idea how we can easily trawl 5 weeks worth of footage as it seems when the new NVR was installed, all the events were turned off and it was set to record full time. If anyone can offer any assistance how we could trawl through these videos that would be very much appreciated.

It sounds like no one was there/working for those 5 weeks? If so and the rollup door is capture in the footage, then it should be fairly easy to narrow down the time frame. Start at one end and view the camera footage that shows the rollup door. You can quickly skip a day at a time and look for the door position to change. So if you started at the beginning with the door closed, you can skip ahead a full 24 hours (or even more) at a time until you see the door opened. Then you can start moving backwards at until you find the door closed and can really key into the exact day/time the event occurred. Then you can go back and look at the other cameras and not have to skip around to find footage.

 

[looney2ns]

Alarm system obviously needs some fine tuning.

 

[Teken]

Alarm system obviously needs some fine tuning.

 

[epyscs]

It sounds like no one was there/working for those 5 weeks? If so and the rollup door is capture in the footage, then it should be fairly easy to narrow down the time frame.

Unfortunately we were in Level 4 Lockdown so there was nobody on site for the whole time. Also the roller door isnt in the footage as its directly lake facing, so we have very little ability to mount a camera, unless we attach it to a duck.

Alarm system obviously needs some fine tuning.

Certainly does... and they are coming to give it a look over asap. We will also find a way to install a camera in the boatshed too.

Frustratingly the NVR was set to full time record high res so we only had 4 weeks of footage to go through.


What we did find though (and worth mentioning for your all) is the SmartPSS software has a Smart Search function bottom left of the playback window that allows you to select a set of areas to monitor for movement and scan through only the interesting bits. Very handy and meant we could at least go through the footage. It seems it must have happened prior to the period we have footage and looks like the f*kers managed to bypass a magnet sensor on the roller door.

Cheers for the inputs guys!

 

[looney2ns]

Unfortunately we were in Level 4 Lockdown so there was nobody on site for the whole time. Also the roller door isnt in the footage as its directly lake facing, so we have very little ability to mount a camera, unless we attach it to a duck.



Certainly does... and they are coming to give it a look over asap. We will also find a way to install a camera in the boatshed too.

Frustratingly the NVR was set to full time record high res so we only had 4 weeks of footage to go through.


What we did find though (and worth mentioning for your all) is the SmartPSS software has a Smart Search function bottom left of the playback window that allows you to select a set of areas to monitor for movement and scan through only the interesting bits. Very handy and meant we could at least go through the footage. It seems it must have happened prior to the period we have footage and looks like the f*kers managed to bypass a magnet sensor on the roller door.

Cheers for the inputs guys!

then you cover the area in front of the roller door, with appropriate camera(s).

Hopefully, the "security guy" actually has a clue as to what he's doing.

 

[Mark_M]

Unfortunately we were in Level 4 Lockdown so there was nobody on site for the whole time.

To clarify, New Zealand's 'level 4 lockdown' is the highest restriction.
However, an owner or maintenance (team) can enter a commercial building for essential work.

 

[Griswalduk]

Its no help now but you can fit a larger HDD or an additional HDD to increase capacity. Split the cameras across the drives so if 1 goes down the other cams are still running. Credit to @wittaj for first suggesting this.

4tb WD purples are reasonably priced right now. If the boat club is to be left unattended for extended periods for a small outlay you will have more confidence your footage will not be overwritten.

Also this dreadful experience should highlight any weak spots in your system ie camera blind spots, alarm and sensor types, weak points of entry, lighting etc. Remedy those and if they come again you'll be ready.

Good luck

 

[Teken]

At the end of the day which has been said countless times in the past. Having the proper amount and type of insurance is critical if one is to recover from such losses. All of the high tech gear doesn't make a person whole when it comes to material objects etc.

I would be interested to learn who has to eat the cost?? The storage facility, the owner, both??

 

[The Automation Guy]

It seems it must have happened prior to the period we have footage and looks like the f*kers managed to bypass a magnet sensor on the roller door.

Magnet sensors are easy to bypass. You just need a compass to find them and a stronger magnet to defeat them. A good alarm system is multi-layered because any one layer is pretty easy to defeat.

 

[d5775927]

Hey Guys,
I really hope you can help me! I am part of a boating club and we were robbed during the last 5 weeks of lockdown. They were good as they managed to breach an alarmed boatshed without triggering the alarm system open a roller door and steal a number of outboards.

We have cameras installed, but I have no idea how we can easily trawl 5 weeks worth of footage as it seems when the new NVR was installed, all the events were turned off and it was set to record full time. If anyone can offer any assistance how we could trawl through these videos that would be very much appreciated. The spec of the kit we have installed is as follows:
Dahua NVR5208
HDBW2341R-ZS dome cameras.

Any help appreciated...
Chris

Two ways I can think of:
1) Requires more skills and may cost money: Detect people | Cloud Video Intelligence API Documentation (never tried this, but it seems possible).
2) If you you know what is missing and there is a camera that covered that area, you can do a manual binary search on the date range (basically the same way people used to find a person in a phone book).
You need to find the day, an item or something that was changed as result of the robbery.

 

[Mark_M]

All I can suggest is more cameras, alarm sensors that work and maybe more sensors.
I see that NVR you have has 4 external alarm inputs and 2 relays.

I would suggest sticking PIR sensors around the inside of the building and connecting to the NVR.
Just something so the NVR has record of movement around, cuts down on search time drastically.

Then tell the NVR to continuously record but also record on alarm input (puts a red mark on timeline). Then do the same for standard motion detection on the cameras, this appears as a yellow mark on the timeline.
Result is 24/7 recording but with red/yellow marks on the timeline for events. You can also search only by events.

 

[Griswalduk]

I replied in another thread regarding alarm systems and provided documentation for the alarm i have installed. See post #6 in the thread

Alarm system controlled by home automation system

Hello I am looking for an alarm system (type tested system from a reputable brand) which can be armed/disarmed remotely, either with an input signal, over ethernet, wifi etc. I want to be able to arm/disarm the system from my home automation system which is currently running node red, but...

ipcamtalk.com

I don't know how common a feature it is but the alarm has the facility to take snapshots from 4 IP cameras upon activation. These are then pushed or emailed accordingly. They are stored internally on an SD card and can be accessed by a web interface or removing the card from the alarm panel and reading on a pc. See page 46/47 installation manual

The secure connect app is also free with no annual charges or subscription fees.

I know when i was shopping about i was told the hikvision cameras and enforcer alarm panels were integrated into their app and both worked together there but there was a charge.

any thoughts

 

[epyscs]

Hey Guys, really appreciate the continued ideas on this one.

I think we will certainly do the PIR route linked to the camera. A camera will be going into the shed and I have to admit, I almost want the scenario where they come again and some justice is provided.

But realistically, camera and a tweak to the alarm system will hopefully resolve. Yes we are insured, but its the second loss of these in 2 years now. So our insurer will not be best pleased.