Need to enhance EyeMax video files

[Jerry Hofmann 0]

Hi,

 

Newbie here to this world of forensic video, but an old time TV editor and film/video colorist. so maybe down the line I can help others with film/video questions.

 

I have a client with footage copied to CD's from an EyeMax DVR. I don't have a PC here so cannot open the files, but figure they can be opened by any PC as there is a player.exe file also on each of the two disks. The issue is that I need the ability to transfer this file format (.ps is the extension on them) to QuickTime files so I can manipulate them a bit for a court case. Of course showing before/after enhancement side by side shots etc...

 

Anyway, does anyone know of PC or Mac software that can read and transcode these PostScript video files to QuickTime?

 

Big gold star to anybody who can help, and I'll owe ya a big one!

 

Thanks

 

Jerry Hofmann

[crirvine 0]

Mr Hofmann sorry to be the one to tell you the bad news but if it is out there the federal government has it and will not share it. I have been using these DVR's for over 6 years without ever finding software that does this for this file system. The only thing you can do is to use more cameras more storage and better res when setting up the system because what you see is what you get. Thats why this market should be done by people that are trained in the cctv market. If people are cheap and skimp on their install they should not whine if the VW is not performing like a CORVETTE.

[Jerry Hofmann 0]

I have a DVD of some of this footage that was transfered from one of the discs I have... There is a way to do it out there.

 

Jerry

[crirvine 0]

Well if you find who done the dvd you have please share the source.

[Soundy 1]

Umm... okay, big WTF to crirvine's first response there...

 

Jerry... I really doubt .ps stands for PostScript in this case... PostScript is NOT a video format and would make for very inefficient video files if you could convert it somehow. It's very likely that it's a more common format (M-JPG, MPEG, H.264, MPEG-4, etc.) and just has a different extension, probably to prevent what you're trying to do (ie. view it without their proprietary software).

 

So, there are a few options. Some player software like this will include an option to export to another format - if you can play it on a PC that has QuickTime installed, you may even be able to re-export it directly to QT format. If not, it can probably be exported to some other standard format that QuickTime will play.

 

I've also seen, with some systems, that the player installation also installs a codec (compressor/decompressor) that allows other media players and editing software to read the files.

 

If there's no PC available, you could try using a different media player, like VLC, which can play a LOT of different file formats. There's an OSX version of VLC available at http://www.videolan.org.

 

And worst case, you could use any of a number of file-upload sites to put the video and player online so I can download them, convert them, and send them back to you

 

One thing to keep in mind: any editing of the video may make it inadmissible as forensic evidence. Most proprietary or semi-proprietary formats like this, along with their bundled player, have embedded authentication data that the player can verify in realtime, to prove that the video hasn't been edited; converting to another format will likely destroy that data, meaning the video can be edited with no proof of authenticity.

 

Depending on your needs, it might be necessary to keep the video in its original format; to play it for the court, you may need to simply buck up for a PC laptop. Or, use something like Parallels or Fusion for the Mac, to allow you to run Windows within your OSX environment.

[coolie11 0]

On the Eyemax Server under the Search tab, use the Save option instead of Backup and choose AVI as the file type to be saved.

 

There are various software that can be used to edit AVI's.

[crirvine 0]

As I stated I am awhere you can save as AVI but most things are saved as a backup so you can see multiple views of the same incedent and this is what everybody wants to edit. I have been in contact with 2 large forensic labs that have had a interest in editing this and not got anywhere. And as always if you edit your video it may not accepted in court. What the FBI and other Government agencies do to edit video are by very trained people and with very special software tools. So as stated keep your systems more cameras tighter views more resolution more harddrive space and you will not have to modify the video.

[Jerry Hofmann 0]

I agree with all being said here. The CD's in question each have an .exe file and INF file on them, and I suspect it is a player which will only work on a PC... I'll see if I can't get them to open that way, then transcode them to something I can edit. I cannot get back to the machine that recorded the material because it's in the hands of the Police here in Denver.

 

I do understand that editing may or may not be accepted in a courtroom. That's up to the Lawyer. But we want to be able to look at them at least.

 

I'll follow up for sure here, and may yet have to take up the offer to transcode the files for me, thanks!

 

Jerry

[Soundy 1]

.EXE is an extension for an "executable" file on PC operating systems like DOS and Windows. The .INF file, I'm guessing, is named AUTORUN.INF - that's a file Windows looks for when you insert a CD, and if it finds it, it will follow the instructions contained therein, usually to run an installer or some sort of demo program.

[Jerry Hofmann 0]

Thanks, Ill get it to a PC and see what capability the .exe gives me. If I can export it to a standard video format of any kind, I'm done.

 

I'll be sure to post back after I've seen the PC .. it's a playable disk I'll wager, taken from a multimedia environment aka Director, and the player likely doesn't have an export feature, but ya never know.

 

I sort of figured this DVR brand was popular enough for you all to have encountered this before. I'm surprised that it apparently hasn't. Odd situation here though with only having the files. I've worked in digital video since there was only analog (35 years), and never seen a disc like this.

 

Thanks

 

Jerry

[Soundy 1]

Actually, it's fairly common for DVRs to export video in their own format (usually whatever format they're recording in, to eliminate the need for transcoding), and include a small player if it's something that slightly non-standard. I've worked with both Vigil and Capture DVRs that do this; the Vigil uses an Aztech variant of Motion-JPEG, and Capture uses their own "Minibank" format. The Vigil includes its player and an AUTORUN on the CD; if the player isn't installed, it will install it and its codec and launch it to play the video, or if it is already installed, it will simply launch the player. The Capture does something similar, if memory serves (I haven't played with their exported video in a long time).

 

Both CAN export to other formats like AVI, but that takes time as the video has to be converted to the chosen format first. Others like VideoInsight record to common codecs like WMV (Windows Media), DivX and MPEG-4, and exporting simply copies the selected video file(s) to the disc. Either way, simply placing the files on the disc is the standard way of doing it.

 

The other benefit to this practice is that it doesn't limit you to burning a video disc... you can export to hard disk (internal or external/USB), network drives, flash drives, even a floppy drive if necessary.

 

You'll find few if any DVRs that will actually produce an "authored" video disc, like a DVD that you can simply plug into your home DVD player. The main problem would be the time required to transcode the video to the proper MPEG-2 format. The frame size itself matches 4CIF/D1 (704x480), but for DVD it's very strict, so anything smaller or larger than that would have to be resized. With CIF video, that would be a waste of the time it would require; with megapixel video, you'd lose most of your resolution and quality and that would defeat the whole purpose of going megapixel. In any case, if you've ever authored a DVD on your home computer, you know how much time can be consumed just in converting all the video to the proper format.

 

Also, MPEG-2 is a much more inefficient type of compression for this sort of video, so it would take a lot more space than the video's existing native format (DVRs are generally optimized to balance quality and space requirements). And naturally, there's the quality loss that's inherent in converting from one compression scheme to another.

[Jerry Hofmann 0]

Thank you so much for your reply Soundy!

 

I'll let you all know how this goes.

 

Hopefully I can return all this sharing of information. I think I can share some maybe. Google me.

 

I know all about video except these timelapse machines, but am encountering them by folks walking in the door here, and it's not the first time now. So I figure I should know some of you smart guys!

 

Ain't the Internet great?

 

Jerry Hofmann

[Soundy 1]

Thank you so much for your reply Soundy!

 

I'll let you all know how this goes.

 

Alright, keep up posted!

 

Hopefully I can return all this sharing of information. I think I can share some maybe. Google me.

 

Is this what I'm looking for? "Jerry Hofmann is one of the most respected FCP experts in the world..."

 

I don't have occasion to do a lot of video editing, but if I did, I would probably buy a Mac just so I could use FCP. When I was doing IT/tech support at a digital-arts school, I decided to take advantage of all the toys at my disposal to try making a video for a friend's band. I started playing with Premiere (I think it was v3 at the time) and with no training got absolutely nowhere. So I sparked up FCP 1.0 instead and grasped it immediately, and even got a video about 70% done before the project got sidetracked and the project files lost. C'est la vie.

 

I know all about video except these timelapse machines, but am encountering them by folks walking in the door here, and it's not the first time now. So I figure I should know some of you smart guys!

 

Ain't the Internet great?

 

Jerry Hofmann

 

Indeed