MrDRC

After posting here and getting some good suggestions for my needs (evidence for court) I ended up with 5 Hikvision cameras, two DS-2CD2632 Vari-Focals and three 2CD2032 3MP 4MM's. They are all feeding a DS-7616NI over POE. So far I am getting good usable footage although I am needing to bump my bitrate a bit more to get the pristine quality I want but my main question concerns Hikvisions video codec in the NVR. After exporting the files and attempting to import to Sony Vegas Pro I get an error stating the format is not supported. The files are all MP4's which should import but after running mediainfo I'm seeing atypical details on the files which required me to recode for Vegas to accept them. The recoding process seemed to deteriorate the video sharpness and wonder if Hikvision's codecs are proprietary and if so, what is the work around to maintain video quality when having to recode the files to a standard MP4 or any other standardized file that will play nice with Vegas Pro? Anyone have insight on this? Thanks, DRC Here is media info's file attributes: General Complete name : D:\Security Camera Lake footage\Secutiry Camera Footage\d1.mp4 Format : MPEG-PS File size : 13.2 MiB Duration : 29s 28ms Overall bit rate : 3808 Kbps Video ID : 224 (0xE0) Format : AVC Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec Format profile : Main@L5 Format settings, CABAC : Yes Format settings, ReFrames : 2 frames Duration : 29s 28ms Bit rate : 3 732 Kbps Width : 2 048 pixels Height : 1 536 pixels Display aspect ratio : 4:3 Frame rate mode : Variable Color space : YUV Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0 Bit depth : 8 bits Scan type : Progressive Stream size : 12.9 MiB (98%) Color range : Limited Color primaries : BT.709 Transfer characteristics : BT.709 Matrix coefficients : BT.709 Text ID : 189 (0xBD) Format : RLE Format/Info : Run-length encoding Duration : 27s 261ms

Well no you don't ......... Electronic signature and watermark WILL ALWAYS SHOW TAMPERED ONCE you have burnt off footage and it plays on PC you have another option ....... Save as AVI then you can edit on many video edit programmes I appreciate the info and I mean no disrespect but how will it show tampered when an original file is taken of the disk and untouched? Just copying it doesnt leave a data signature. You can easily parse out the original file attributes so I am confused with how it will show tampered. Of course the easiest way is to just give hard disk to other side. This is a civil case, not a criminal case, so police are not involved. Ahhhh...I didnt know such a tool existed as I couldnt find it on the main Hikvision site but now see its located on the European site. THANK YOU! I'll have to check it out and play with it. Hikvisions VSPlayer is just "ok" and I didnt look to see if it would convert the files. What I find odd is why Hikvision chose a proprietary AVC codec. Maybe they didnt want to pay a license fee to Main Concepts or Sony or whoever but proprietary codecs are always a pain. I will have to check out the untouched files on the HD's and see what format they are in. Its possible the linux based system in HIK's NVR's are converting the files as they are transferred off disk to USB. Lots to investigate about Hik's file format methods. Regardless, I am super pleased with HIK's camera quality, 7616 NVR and the feedback from all the knowledgeable members of this site. I have learned much from just reading and wish I was here before I installed a system at my main house (crappy TVL cameras). It cant touch HIK's camera quality and POE is a super clean way to install. I just need to up my bitrate high enough but thats easy to change and based on the system info I have enough bandwidth to do so. Thanks for the feedback. DRC Heres a screen shot from one of 2032's.

Pick and burn is absolutely an option on the 7616 NVR. You can pick whatever clips you want from the list of clips and export to USB. I am not altering the original clip in any way. I am only using copies of the original clips so the electronic time stamp is not changed. I know the difference between OSD and file properties advanced data info. Fortunately my situation is not a murder case or anything that serious but its serious enough. I am having a real estate dispute over a property line. In my jurisdiction I am allowed to submit illustrations based on combined video footage and submit original clips as support evidence. Anyway, my original questions remain unanswered regarding the hikvision codecs. Does anyone have any input?

I just posted my followup while you where posting and suggesting if the same thing was even possible. Just accessing the HD's directly with my laptop and getting the native files is doable I suppose. I was only using Vegas to make a better presentation of the evidence while the original files would still submitted as exhibits. Its easier to illustrate the facts for lawyers, judges and jurors if it flows better instead of random clips from 5 different cameras. The watermark/time stamp info does not disappear when re-encoding. Im just changing the codec from what I assume is a proprietary Hikvision codec so I can present the evidence more fluidly.

I'll also follow this up and ask if anyone knows if Hikvision NVR's re-encode the files when exporting to external USB drive? I was wondering if they are using a proprietary AVC or h.264 when exporting the video files and if in fact the files on the hard drives might be encoded differently.

Hi there, great forum here. A couple years ago I bought a Swann 4 camera system for my house that works just ok. Difficult to setup the proper triggers its either too sensitive or not sensitive enough especially when night time rolls around. Every moth and bug triggers the event recording which renders the system almost useless for playing back the alarm incidents. Would never purchase this type of system again. What I am looking for now is a camera/DVR combo system with 3-4 cameras for a lake house. My budget is in the 1500 US range but looking for a more reliable system that wont be recording every bug movement at night. This is a rural property with no internet but I have some neighbor issues and this is needed for evidence as much as anything. I need to have night vision to 60-70'. My main question revolves around off camera IR illumination and if that might be a better choice to avoid all the false alerts. Or, is there a better quality camera and system that eliminates all the bug movements as alarm detections. This is a small property and I really only need 3 cameras. Maybe a dome and two bullet cameras but I am open to suggestions. These boxed solutions from big box stores leave a lot to be desired and I am technically proficient enough to install, wire and handle a DIY solution. Any easy quick pointers that might help me out would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. DRC

Thanks for the good info. Are you recording on 7200RPM drives and if so how big and how many days of video are you able to keep with that kind of frame rate?

Thanks again for the feedback. On the camera side I can use a combination of narrow and wide view cameras strategically placed and still accomplish my goal. What camera would be recommended with a 6MM lens and decent IR night vision? Now I am looking at building a new machine. BI recommended build is i7 processor (I would think Xeon would probably work too and its a little more bang for the buck) with pretty high specs. That will eat up a good part of the budget. I believe I can probably built it including OS for $800 or so which only leaves $700 for camera's and misc items

Thanks for the great feedback. I will terminate my own cat5e cables as I have done plenty of cat5e crimps in the past. Its nice to be able to cut cables to length and not have to worry about drilling huge holes for the RJ45 connectors. I have all the crimp tools, cable, etc. Couple additional questions. I have been reading about baluns, etc. Is it necessary to have baluns with an IP camera connected directly to a POE switch? It would be nice to have a single cat5e run to each camera without additional baluns. I noticed those 3332 cameras have 2 connectors, are both used if you are running POE? Blue Iris is a computer based solution right? That is fine as I have an old dual core box with 4Megs of ram but I only have an XP Pro serial number left. All my win 7 serials are used. I could slap a couple of 2 TB drives in it and that should record plenty. BTW..this is rural property and I have no internet. This would strictly be local hard drive recording with playback/review as needed. I dont need live view from the internet as internet is only available via SAT and I am not going there. Maybe my budget is too high. I dont need 1080P playback or recording, I dont think anyway. I just want to be able to catch my neighbor screwing with my property for court purposes. Thanks all...