Sherlock

Thanks for the promp response. I actually managed to switch between PAL/NTSC this afternoon. The problem was that I was trying the do this operation with the cameras still connected and operational to the DVR. After disconnecting the switch actually worked - Silly me. Anyway, The playback problems remains. After contacting the seller a while back I didn't get much support and was a bit reluctant to under take the expensive currier charges then to find that warantee was made void by hardware resets, hdd testing, firmware upgrades etc... Is there a likely component on the motherboard that is failing? can I replace the motherboard/component. Still not sure whether it's a h/w or s/w problem. I'm going to follow up with a screenshot of what is displayed during playback. Maybe it will be familiar to you.

It's been a while - I still havn't gotten this thing working. Do I now assume that THE AVC 76x doesn't work with wireless cameras? Is there a new firmware version due soon? I've tried everything up to 2030 at this stage.

The camera and transmitter/receiver are in the images attached. The problem is the DVR always remains on PAL and won't swtich to NTSC even following the instructions. any idea why? [/img]

Ok! I'm narrowing this thing down to maybe being the wirelesss cameras. I bought these in the states online. they're 1.2Ghz professional security cameras. When I bought them I indicated that I needed PAL ones for my region more so than the DVR(it handles both I understand but the DVR won't allow me to switch between PAL and NTSC following the instructions in the manual. Thats with or without cameras connected.). It was mentioned that the wireless cameras play havoc with the dvr somehow. * Could this be the problem? * Is this causing the playback to have a blank screen and invalid jan 2000 date in the screenshot I posted earlier? * Can this problem be solved? (I got these wireless cameras because I couldn't run connections directly to the dvr. Realtime picture quality is really very good.) I can now download the recorded file to the PC over the lan connection. When I convert the DVR file to VSE and play this file a discernible small colidoscope like rectangular box in the left cornor of the screen is shown for a minute or so. On the player can stop,rew, pause, ff this file but still see this image.

So, if I already have one that has been used, I can't use it?

Anyone any idea what format a new disk should be before installing in the 761?

Thanks for this information. one last thing - have you any idea how to unformat a disk of size 250 G with XP.? (Also, the manual that came with the dvr said that the dvr only recognises fat32 formatted hds.)

Did you say that you formatted the hard drive with Fat 32? > Yes. Using FAT32Format utility. only way to format such a large disk for > fat32 in XP. > please see information below:- Another few questions that I have: Is this a computer that is off site, and it is using the internet to watch your video, or is the computer local to where the DVR is located? > The computer is on my own local network. How did you bring up this screen that you have given us a screen shot of?? > I can do this from either remote access via the lan pc or with dvr monitor(dvr panal control buttons) access. > the steps are. > i) select all recordings > ii) select any from the list of recordings. one with > iii) I select, for example, one with (s) beside it coming from the manual recording. > iv) I hit enter on and the screen shot shown is displayed. Did you go into a menu, and did you bring up motion search, or some other search request? The reason I ask is this: If you are not recording video due to a hard drive problem then you should not have any search options available in the search menu. Is this a screen shot of live video, or am I confused, and this is the file error that you said that you were getting? > I get a list when I press search so I guess something is being recorded. > This is not a live display. It is a playback of a selected item from search. > Yes, it would appear to me that what is being recorded is corrupt and the consequences include 1) incorrect playback date, 2) no playback shown, 3) can't backup stored recorded files. I believe i hava the latest firmware 2020...v18. Hope this information helps.

I've tried re-formatting the disk using fat32format(I'm working with XP) but the problem remains. I'm attaching a screenshot of what I see on playback. Any Ideas, Should I purchace a new HD? format seemed to work ok.

Considering the cost of postage I would try to resolve the problem locally first -> the problem with buying such stuff online I Guess. Another thing that may help -> I cant switch between NTSC and PAL on rebutting the machine using the instructions in the guide (via << and >> buttons). It always reverts to PAL regardless. Does this indicate any obvious problems? Thanks

I've tried several more things suggested in this thread. 1) Network backup of recored files. In this case the recorded files can be searched and selected from the AP software. Upon download selection of any of these files and after 97% is downloaded an error indicating that the file dowload failed. However, there is a file stored on the specified path on my laptop that can be converted into a .vse file that can be opened in the AP software player. The file plays with a tiny, scrambled strip of colours in the top left of the viewer display. 2) Regarding the date, The system date setup is working fine and I can set it to todays date. It's just the date on the playback (from either the web interface or monitor) is incorrect and no mater which file I try to play the same single datetime value is always shown for that file. If I re-format the hd as fat32 reinstall in the DVR could this work? Can we eliminate the possibility that some DSP processing is failling as there is some other problem given that the file date is incorrect in playback and the file can't be retrieved during network backup? Thanks for your help.

Hi Scruit, I did what you said regarding resetting date, wiping disk, restarting recording and waiting over 12 hours before playback but unfortunately without success. However, I did attempt the USB Backup that you suggected and got the following error message:- Cannot find file CH01 ->OK followed by Cannot find file CH02 ->OK followed by Backup successful. When I check the USB Key(formatted for FAT32) which was empty to start with, it's still empty afterwards. Maybe this information can indicate what may be going wrong. Thanks in adv.

I've thought of a few things while reading you're reply. 1) the Cameras are wireless. But of good quality without "vloss". 2) I have noticed that on the playback of the scrambled (s) recordings the date will be incorrect giving 2000-1-1. In the list given by the search menu the dates seem to be 2 days behind the current date.(and I believe these (s)ystem files are hourly generated. So there should be ones in the list for Eg. Now - 1 hour) Maybe something in the above will strike you as a known issue and eliminate my need for any other troubleshooting. Otherwise I appreciate the list you''ve sent me and I will start working my way through them. This will take some time. Thanks agian

Thanks for the quick response. I bought the DVR new online with seagate 250G HD installed. > I would try to remove the wires to the hard drive, and then reattach them. What does your video look like now? Yes. I actually tried removing the HD completely and re-connecting yesterday, without any success. > I would swap the HD for testing purposes. I will try this, check the HD against the spec. and maybe even reformat for fat32. > If that does not rectify your problem then in may be some "chip" that is supposed to put video to the HD that may be bad. I hope not, It never worked, and the machine is new (2 months old). Thanks again for you time.

Hello, I've recently bought and installed an AVC 761 DVR with 2 cameras only. I can see live feed from both cameras in either case where connected remotely or via directly connected monitor. However when I try to playback I'm getting a only scrambled/encoded like picture. I have tried numerous settings CIF mode and Frame mode to resolve this problem. My question(s) is(are), has anyone else had this problem and if so how did they resolve it? Is it required to have 4 cameras connected to the 761 rather than in my setup where I only have record enabled for the 2 cameras? (note:- I have only enabled recording on 2, also I'm only doing manual records and can see the houry system recorded files from the search option on the OSD.) Any Help would be appreciated, Thanks