Scruit

This is exactly what I am seeing on both 2000 and Vista - an uninitialized hard drive. The difference is the Aver USB Playback Console cannot see the drive on the Vista machine. Their next version will, they say. I am gonna pull the HD out of the DVR at some point and hook it up to my computer using a USB2.0 external HD bay. I'll report back on whether the playback software can read the Hard drive via USB without the DVR. If it does then that would be excellent news - in an accident where teh car will be towed I only need to recover the hard drive from the DVR, not the DVR itself. The hard drive can be removed simply by grabbing the hotswap drive tray. I can get the video off the hard drive at home using the playback software instead of having to hope the DVR is ok, or even having to buy an identical DVR to read the drive (and hoping it doesn't autoformat it!)

The hard drive is supposed to appear as an uninitialized drive, and the USB software finds this drive and has the ability to interact with it even though the OS doesn't. The problem is that under Vista the USB software cannot see the drive, even though it appears in Disk Management just like in 2000. Anything I do to change the filesystem (format, initilalize, change filesystem) could affect the DVR and make the drive unusable / force the DVR to reformat it again. If I wanted to simply take the HD from the DVR to use it in my computer as a new blank HD then I'd initialize it, assign it a logical drive letter and format it with NTFS. That would destroy the data and make the drive unusable in the DVR (until the dvr formats it again) I did get confirmation for Aver that the software doesn't work under Vista, but they're coming out with a vista version soon. For now I'm using my old 2000 laptop and it's working ok. I would love it if the menu would allow me to specify that when the USB cable is plugged in it automatically goes into USB backup mode - right now it asks you (OSD) to hit a button to go into USB mode, requiring I have my portable screen with me. Not a huge deal, but it would be cool to simply have a USB cable in the center console that I coudl plug into my laptop and start downloading. My next thing is to figure out how to get it to automatically backup the HD wirelessly... Hmmm, ISTR seeing a wireless USB port on the market that appears to your computer as a USB device, but it's actually sending data over 802.11. Then when I pull the car into the garage it will suddenly see the DVR HD and start downloading. Hmmm...

If I format the disk then it will wipe the data.

Aver Support response to question about the playback software & Vista :

Total cost of this whole thing (all news parts) was about $750. The install is all custom though and the wire routing is all different. ie I used to have a wire running up the inside of the C-pillar behind the trim to a rear-facing camera attached to the rear passenger grab-handle. That was fine in the maxima, but this car has side curtain airbags - not only could disassembling that area possobly cause a malfunction in the bag in an accident... but depending on the size of the full deployed bay the camera may either damage, or be launched by, the deploying bag... So my rear facing camera will be another tiny box (2"x2"x1" like the driver cam) and will attach to the window using suction cups like the driver cam) The install is not finished yet and it still has take 20 hours so far. But remember this is a no-drill installation (to preserve the car's value) and everything is routed in factory conduits behind trim and nothing is visible inside the car except the the cameras themselves.

No audio because the mic output from my camera is apparently not working..? The DVR didn't pick up any sound until I plugged in another sound source (line out from a CD player). Looking for a self-powered microphone that has a phono output... Ideas? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-s33VCHQ2g http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBM9Aaq7cAo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOquFMp5fO4

The quality is better right off the DVR before YouTube renders it down. Here is a still captured from the playback software:

Let me just add: The EB1304MOB allows me to dump the HD contents to my laptop and then use the client software to browse for the video using the backup copy on my hard drive and then export as AVI or MPG. I LOVE THIS!!! My prior DVR would only play back through the video out and becuase it was installed in my car I had to hook up the video cable that went ot my computer upstairs, then run upstairs and start recording, then run downstairs again and hit play, hit stop, run upstaurs and stop the recording, then downstairs again to shut down the dvr and take the key out of the ignition. Now I take my laptop out, plug in the USB, turn the key on, select the DVR HD and hit Backup, wait a couple minutes, then take the key out and go inside. After that I can browse/search the whole video history on my laptop with no delay or lag - very fast. Also, by converting digital to analog (video out) then bac to digital (tv capture card) you get a lower quality image than simply downloading the digital images directly.

I could have sworn that my laptop did not have an XP option. Maybe that's just Dell. Still, they do need a Vista version of thier software. Edit: I just went through the Dell builder and they only list Vista.

Just wanted to add my initial review of the EB1304MOB. The first unit I got failed very quickly, but the dealer sent a new one out the same day. Once everything was all plugged in the recording quality seems to be pretty good - example videos coming. The manual doesn't speak to how to connect the power in a manner that allows the unit to run/record one when the engine is running. After contacting tech support at Aver I got my answers but there were still not tremendously clear. The USB software doesn't work on my Vista laptop but works ok on my 2000 laptop. The speed of exporting video to AVI or MPG is surprisingly slow - It's taked 20 minutes to get 52% into a 5 minute video. Suggestions for Aver: 1) Don't have the DVR default to video loss alert becuase when the buyer turns it on the first time it's unlikely to have all cameras connected and they have to spend a minute or two figuring out how to turn off the beep! 2) Please be more clear about the power inputs. Can it run at 10v for short periods (1-5 seconds, during crank) or will it shut down? If it loses power unexpectedly then will it corrupt the hard drive? Is it ok to plug the power into switched ignition source and allow that to power the DVR only when the car is running? Is it ok for the DVR to be turned out by simply taking the power away, or do I need to stop the recording first? blah blah 3) Please label the screws for the hard drive and the mounting strips. I stripped the heads on a couple of the hard drive screws trying to use them for the mounting strips. They are the same size, just a slightly diff thread pitch. 4) Please release a vista version of the USB software. You're aware you can only buy Vista new these days, right? Nobody is buying XP or 2000 any more.

Hmm... So the Hard drive in the DVR appears as an uninitialized disk to the operating system and the USB software is able to make sense of it still. Does that mean that in the even of an accident that dmaged the DVR but leaves the hard drive intact I can just connect the Hard Drive using a USB external drive bay and the software can still recover the images? That would be sweet. I have it mounted in a way that I can just reach into the trunk, unlock the drive bay and take the whole drive with me. That would be great for securing the evidence in an accident where the car will be towed.

Appears to be a vista issue. I was able to connect using a Windows 2000 laptop.

Ordinarily, maybe. But this DVR specifically calls for the above steps of connecting the USB cable to my laptop and running the software, selecting the HD and viewing the video that way. The usb port on the DVR is a mini-D type. You can't plug a memstick into it.

Is it common to get a DVR that is DOA right out of the box? My AverMedia EB1304-MB gave me "Checking HD" message on the screen and then turned into a paperweight. The dealer is sending me another one out today (charging me a second time too, until they get the DOA back). I have the worst luck, I tell you. Last year it was a Furnace motor dead out of the box. last month it was a set of rotors for my wife's car that were warped out of the box. I'm starting to get paranoid here.

No problem at all. I'm desperately trying to figure out if it was me that burned up the last DVR because if it was, and I do the same thing again, then I'm only gonna wind up burning this one up too. For the life of me I simply cannot figure it out. I plugged in another DVR in it's place and that one worked fine.

A car battery, becuase it's a mobile DVR and the instructions say connect it to the car battery. Tech support said conencting to a switched ignition source is ok, but needs fuse to protect from spikes. So far I've not had the engine running, so the voltage was 12.34v. I want the voltage regulator and fuse in place before I fire up the engine with theis thing attached. I actually have a 5A 12v voltage regulator that I'm going to put a 5A fuse on inline with, and the output from the voltage regulator will be the input to the DVR.

Wish me luck... The replacement DVR is here and I am installing it... Step 1: No HD or cameras - just connected power and video out so I could configure date/time etc. No problems so far. Power is connected to the car battery. Step 2: Installing hard drive, one from the recommended HD list. No problems. Hard drive formatted ok. Step 3: Power up cameras etc via the power pass-through... Er... Well.. It's late and I don't have the time or energy to install the 5A inline fuse, so I'm gonna pack it away tonight and come back to it tomorrow. I don't want to start going gung-ho with only the 15Am cig lighter fuse on it.

Just got the DVR, but the manual is not very clear on where to connect the power to the car. Am I right that I can just connect the DVR to a "Hot in Run" circuit and the DVR will shut down cleanly on power loss? My previous DVR was a residential unit, not mobile, and if the power is lost suddenly then the hard drive gets corrupted...

So even after buying a supposedly dedicated mobile DVR it looks like I'm still going to have to use my custom power controller. Apparently I still have to do power conditioning, coltage/curent cleanup, stop-record and shutdown for it. It's really turning out to have been a waste of money buy this so-called 'mobile' DVR. The only other thing this 'mobile' DVR does differently than an off-the-shelf residential unit is shock/vibration handling. I modified my prior residential unit with vibration insulation ont he hard-drive mounts. Yeah, complete waste of money at this point.

Finalized all the camera and power wiring in my car for the DVR. I plugged in my old DVR instead to make sure everything was working OK - everything great. Sees the camera, records, plays back etc. No problems. Powe is a switched ignition 12v source. Plugged in the EB1304-MOB. Behaves exactly the same as it did on the bench. It's not voltage or current.

http://support.aver.com/faq.php?categoryid=5

Just to add... I plugged my old DVR into the same power/camera/hard drive as the DOA AverMedia unit. Worked great, no problems. Huh.

Power supply supplied with the EB1304net is 4amp. Your camera would have drawn 0.3amp leaving 0.9amp for the unit. Whoever gave you the info that 1.2amps would be enough could be to blame. Needs 4amps max if it's passing power through to 4 cameras and a hard drive. Doesn't need 4 amps if it's just powering itself. The DVR alone consumes 520ma continuous current. Powering the DVR plus hard drive and one camera is 1.36a, and the camera was self-powered. When I was experimenting with my previous DVR over this last year and I discovered that the starter cranking would cause the DVR to reboot due to low voltage/current... It certainly didn't fry it.

I checked the hard drive before (used it in my prior DVR) and afterwards (plugged it into my computer) and it's fine. Checked the cameras bother before and after - they're fine. Power supply is fine too. I have no clue. Stuff happens.

Yes, I checked that. It said it was "Checking HD" which suggests that it was aware that the HD was there. After that it powered off. Now it's a paperweight. I tried it without the HD attached (drawer closed and locked - same thing. It's a hotswap hard drive so it should run (just not record) with no HD installed.