scorpion

Thanks for the heads up! I also find it interesting that you have to press Alt key before you can get in to the menu.

Have you tried version 130, or 144?

Give this a try, and let me know if it works, or not. http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/securityviewe.html

I am walking in to a blind service call, and I have never touched one, or seen one. The setup appears to be a 9 Channel DVR that is located "somewhere". There appears to be 4, or 5 VCRs, and they have to " press a whole bunch of switches in order to record video". I am assuming that they have to multiplex to a specific camera to record to the VCR. One of the questions was stated as: We cannot view (or was it download) video. We can go back 10 days, and then we can access the video, and anything older, but not immeadiate video. This does not make any sense to me, but I wonder if there is a setup that would create this scenario? I do not know if this is through the panel, or through a remote software. Does this DVR convert video to AVI easly? I will have more questions after I have a look see. Thanks for the feedback! Hey Rory! Do you have a 99 cent menu for your expert advice?

This model DVR is being sold in Europe. I do not have any info as to where. I do know that Sec Cam Dir has a bunch of them. If the video is valuable then buy one from Sec Cam Dir and insert the hard drive in to the DVR and play the video. If the hard drive was overwritten with newer video over the older video then the DVR will not play the older video. Is it worth buying this model of DVR?

I thought putting in those "commercials" would be a way for the good companies to stand out, and to shut out what are called "trunk thumpers". I think this would band people together to buy from a manufacture, or from a dist. Is there some way for a manu, or a dist to set up what Microsoft has with Updates, and knowlege bases? It would be nice to be able to update DVRs in an easy fashion, or to allow the consumer to do it themselves. One could always password protect the site, and make it dealer only to lock out "trunk thumpers". I am suprised that a group of dealers have not all chipped in and agreed to pay X dollar amount per month and to do some kind of marketing for a large city, or a region. I agree a problem is the razor thin margins for products. When Walmart started price gouging TV prices it shook the industry to it knees. Circuit City was on the bad end of the stick, but even the mom n pop shops cannot compete with WM pricing anymore. What will we do if WM starts displaying higher end CCTV products with installation, and under cuts the market? The bottom is going to fallout from under the CCTV world soon. Yes, businesses will be effected, and some will go out of business, or change to other profitable products, but the consumer will be the one effected. I read on the forum constantly "help dealer went out of biz, and I need....". This will quadruple if the bottom goes out. A lot of us will not feel bad if the bad apples close shop, but guess who survives without any pain? The trunk thumper! No store front, no rent, no overhead, no payroll, no insurance, no business mortgage, ect. He just install speakers, or whatever while waiting for the next CCTV job. It would really hurt to see fellow forum names starting to drop from going out of business, or switching to other profitable products. How do we save ourselves? That would give the poster a true measure of how he can be of "assistance" to dealers, or to big reps.

I have an interesting idea! How about creating some TV comercials and leaving blanks space in the sound where a "local" CCTV shop could put their name and address in to the commercial. The same for radio commercials. I am thinking of the "generic" commercials that Ford, Chevy, and the others create, and then the local dealer adds their info to it. This would make a distributor push your product as the independant shops would love to appear more "professional". You could give territories to limit the "local" cctv shop, or you could set it up where it list all of the shops. Just like those promoted "as seen on TV ads" Available at your local X drug stores, Y mart, and your Z brand shopping store. Perhaps take a group of "local" dealers, and a percentage of the purchases gives them points toward the local area marketing. This would put the CCTV world on end! What do you think?

I must have missed that one! Sounds like I want to "friend request" that !

If you could locate an AVC 771 would you be able to install the hard drive to retrieve the video?

I wish I could help you, but what you are doing in above my job description.

I got addicted to Farmville in Facebook! Just kidding. End of the year where businesses have to spend the budget to get it back in next year's budget, and I am trying to play catch up. Thanks for keeping me in mind! I appreciate it!

You will have to forgive me. When I clicked on the link and went to the other post all of the info was "garbage" to me. I do not know what all that means. The DVR wraps the video with proprietary coding. You have to use the DVR to unwrap the proprietary coding. This is to protect an innocent victem from someone trying to photoshop their face in to the video. I am not a linux person and I do not know the short cuts they use for commands. I would tell you to put the hard drive back in to the DVR. I am wondering if you are trying to retrieve video that has been recorded over or something.

Do not chuck that DVR just yet! This DVR is will run forever! This DVR is like the car where you drain the water out of the radiator, and drain all of the oil out of the pan and you drive it to see how far you get, and you go farther then you expected. It is like the timex watch. It just keeps on ticking. Make sure you buy a good UPS so that it can filter the power line fluctuations. I would put this DVR on the "bullet" proof list. I have a few customers who I tried to talk out of installing them in their garage! We are talking about Florida summers here! They are still running. The power supply is not on a separate board as they do now adays. The power supply is the weakest point. In two years when it stops recording just power down the DVR, and remove the cable to the hard drive, and reinstall the cable. This will clear up some of the "dirt" on the connection, and the DVR will record again. (assuming that you do not have other problems). The only other known problem is to check the 42mm fan sitting on the chip. You will need to check that in about a year, and then every so often after that. You can buy them at a computer store if you need one in the future. How much did you pay for the DVR? (or did you buy it as a kit)? As for being repackaged. That is not a problem. There are various "flavors" for names. It is done for warranty purposes as they are world wide sellars of their products. If everyone had the same name then everyone would refuse warranty work as they would be afraid of repairing a device that you bought else where. Sec Cam Dir has a pretty decent tech support group although it has been a while since I have dealt with them, but back then they were knowlegeable, and did a good job. Does your DVR have an ethernet connection? Also to other who read this post: I would be interested in having any dead Avtech DVRs!

You will be able to "see" them but you will not be able to do much else. There is no emulator program that will allow you to see video.

You might have to change the "Download unsigned active x" to prompt.

The detective must have a high school buddy that works at BB!! Pretty bad when they cannot figure it out in house! Pretty bad when the NBA people cannot figure it out!

I am not sure what you are trying to do. It sounds like you have a DVR without the network connection. It does have a DB pin where you can cannect to an AVTech Server to the DVR to get it on the internet. You will not be able to wire your computer to it, and control it. It does not have a PC mother board. You will not be able to use a mouse. It is not set up for a mouse, and if you could wire it up correctly it would not work with the menu. You can control the DVR using keystrokes but it is a pain. At the back of the manual is the appendix that show what keys do what control. Please note that the hard drive is not hot swappable!

Did you pull the hard drive out of the DVR and shove it in to a computer? It will not work. There is no emulator program so that you can read the drive. You will need to put the hard drive back in to the DVR. If you are a LE then you can bag it and tag it for custody purposes. You will have to know the type of media that is exceptable to the courts. If you are just a person off the street then hire a PI. They have a license, and they can get away with more stuff then you. They can provide an affidavit and appear in court. I would record from the monitor out with a VCR / DVD recorder / Plexor usb to a laptop / what ever medium you prefer. If the DVR has a DVD recorder built in it will not play in a general DVD player. It will play on a computer using the video player software. If you need the software it is readily available. What kind of DVR is it? AVC 777? You will need Video Server S to play the video. Some AVC 777 did not come with a network connection so you will have to use the monitor out to record video. Warning to others reading this post! The hard drives are not hot swappable! You must shut down the power!

This does not apply to your equipment, but here is my "general" wish list. DVRs If the menu requires setting it up with a mouse then provide a mouse with the package. I may have one in my kit, but the customer feels "cheated" if I take mine, and they feel put off having to go to the store to buy one. At least this will get them to the store to buy the battery back up system too! Have the DVR set to record right out of the box. It sucks thinking you have checked all of the boxes to get it to record only to find out it did not record video. I was tricked a long time ago because the DVR required that I also go in to time schedule and place S for schedule, or an M for motion, or to highlight with a color that represents motion, or 24/7 recording. It would be nice to get the installation finished and to do a dog and pony show to teach the buttons, and to show how to play past history even though much may not have been recorded after the set up. Please make the DVR menu easy to navigate, and to read. I can figure things out for myself, but the customer has to be comfortable with the equipment. The more intuitive the better. If I have to sit down with a manual for an hour and then try to explain to the customer how to operate it then it is going to be difficult! Video loop outs for the DVR! I do not need them most of the time, but every now and then it comes in handy. Full size remote controls. It appears to me that customers do not like "credit card" remote controls. They appear cheap, or they do not take the press of a button requiring to press it again. Spacing between the BNC connectors to allow easy cable removal for technical support, or to rearrange the camera order. A selection to silence relays. Such as for Private investigators who are hiding DVRs for covert ops. Nothing worse then silencing a buzzer, but a relay clicks to activate an alarm out. DVRs that do not format a hard drive upon insertion. Sometime I remove hard drives to "keep the video" and I install another temp hard drive. When I reinstall the hard drive the video may get wiped out. Bigger fans so that we do not listen to "jet engine" tiny fans screaming like a wind tunnel. Common voltages such as 19 volt, or 12 volts. It would be nice if the power jack would work with the laptop power supplys that come with multi tips. Great for testing, or replacing broken or lost power supplys. 12 volt would be great for a temp auto recorder for LE (law enforcement) situations, or for remote setups where you need to run off of batteries. (FPL charges $240.00 to provide power off a pole)! Screw on rubber legs. I hate the cheap rubber nubs that have weak glue holding them on. You push the DVR back on a wire rack shelf, and pop! There goes one of the legs, and now you have a teeter totter! Please print the mac address on a sticker rather than having to go in to the menu to read it. Camera privacy would be nice so that the employees will not see a camera on the monitor. Provide a hardware reset. (It is ok if you hide it from the general public, just let us tech know where it is). Make a pdf to show how to use it. Provide power supply schematics, and use common parts so that we can make repairs. Allowing the DVR to control the PTZ cameras through the menu buttons. (Some DVR will control PTZ by remote, but not through the front panel). PTZ presets through the front panel. I can match presets with a local control panel. When they use the controller it will have presets, and when they use a remote computer the presets will be the same as what they are used to from a controller. Remote audio would be nice. Easy conversion to AVI would be nice. Provide video alternatives for Apple computers (Active X issues). Put in the manual how to set up a computer to except unsigned active x so that "joe off the street" can get video over lan, and wan. (This should be fun for XP, Vista, and now Win 7).

The power supply boards are not available from any source. When you can find them you may find them priced starting at over $50.00, and $100.00 would be more the norm. As for repairing the board: This should be "easy" for any electronic tech. If they charge $50.00 per hour for repair then it may not be worth repairing. If you are good with the soldering iron, and you can get all the parts then replace everything. If you have the knowlege to test the parts individually then you can selectivly replace the bad parts.

Great! Everything works with Window 7. Note to others who are reading this post. Windows 7 has a "virtual server". In other words you can upgrade your computer with Windows 7, but still run Windows XP to work with legacy equipment! Best of both worlds!

This DVR is not the best for audio. I get so frustrated having to check the icon to see if it is properly lit for live verses recorded video.

Did you ever find what you are looking for?

What issue were you having? Perhaps you have an unsigned certificate, and you need to go in to tools > internet options, and go to the security tab > custom and allow it to prompt for unsigned active x. Do you connect to the DVR via the browser, but you have a small box with an x? What problems are you having?

Do you have a microphone hooked up to the DVR?