AVTech avc785 doesnt record

[jabaroon 0]

Hi All,

 

Am very frustrated at the moment. Twice recently I have had cause to look back over footage recorded by my AVTech avc785.

 

The first time, entered the time frame manually to the previous day time and found that no matter what time I choose, the picture on all cameras was black.

 

I subsequently decided that the CTRL+ALT+DEL approach might be necessarry, do powered on and off the device.

 

For the next few days I deliberatley logged in randomly to Video Server E to check if things were recording....yes, all seemed fine.

 

Now, again today, I have cause to check yesterdays footage. Guess what?....Search for anytime in the past and all I get is a black screen on all cameras.

 

I cannot verbalise my frustration at AVTech.

 

Anyone any suggestions as to what is wrong?

 

Cheers,

Jab

[jabaroon 0]

Also noticed that the GB free in the top right of the screen was showing a mere 6gb remaining. However have overwrite on. Thinking about it, I seem to always have only something in the region of 5-6gb free....this doesnt really make much sense with overwrite on?

 

Anyway....decided to delete the HD totally and am now back up to 363gb free....

 

Any ideas?

[scorpion 0]

Hi All,

 

Am very frustrated at the moment. Twice recently I have had cause to look back over footage recorded by my AVTech avc785.

 

The first time, entered the time frame manually to the previous day time and found that no matter what time I choose, the picture on all cameras was black.

 

I subsequently decided that the CTRL+ALT+DEL approach might be necessarry, do powered on and off the device.

 

For the next few days I deliberatley logged in randomly to Video Server E to check if things were recording....yes, all seemed fine.

 

Now, again today, I have cause to check yesterdays footage. Guess what?....Search for anytime in the past and all I get is a black screen on all cameras.

 

I cannot verbalise my frustration at AVTech.

 

Anyone any suggestions as to what is wrong?

 

Cheers,

Jab

 

I do not know what is going on with this situation.

 

Is this a new machine under warranty? No? How old is it?

 

Question:

 

Are you going through the front panel, and watching a local monitor, or are you talking about using a computer to view the DVR using Video Server E, and having these issues.

 

A black screen to me as a video problem is a sign of an active X issue. I am not saying this is your problem, but your description is what I usually see as an active X problem.

 

If you are going through the front panel, and a local monitor then you may have a hard drive problem. How many hard drives do you have? One? two?

 

The reason I ask is the master / slave settings.

 

You could be having power supply problems as well.

 

You could be having vent problems, and the DVR is over heating, and the hard drive is cooking.

 

 

You could try removing the cable to the hard drive. If it is old, or there is a lot of dust then perhaps you have (micro size) dirt between the connection to the hard drive. Removing the connector, and replacing it may "clean" the contact, and make a better connection.

 

Worse case would be the send / receive IC that "talks / listens" to the hard drive is going bad.

 

___________________________________________________________

 

If it is a non hard drive issue then you could try a hard system reset.

 

http://scorpiontheater.com/reset.aspx

 

What do you think?

[scorpion 0]

Also noticed that the GB free in the top right of the screen was showing a mere 6gb remaining. However have overwrite on. Thinking about it, I seem to always have only something in the region of 5-6gb free....this doesnt really make much sense with overwrite on?

 

Anyway....decided to delete the HD totally and am now back up to 363gb free....

 

Any ideas?

 

This is ok, and this is common. It is showing you what space you have left on your DVR. Since you are in overwrite then you have "filled" your hard drive to the top. The DVR "opens" 6GB of space for recording new video constantly. You will always see the 6GB because this is what the DVR is opening up on a continuous cycle.

 

What do you think?

[jabaroon 0]

I do not know what is going on with this situation.

 

Is this a new machine under warranty? No? How old is it?

 

Question:

 

Are you going through the front panel, and watching a local monitor, or are you talking about using a computer to view the DVR using Video Server E, and having these issues.

 

A black screen to me as a video problem is a sign of an active X issue. I am not saying this is your problem, but your description is what I usually see as an active X problem.

 

If you are going through the front panel, and a local monitor then you may have a hard drive problem. How many hard drives do you have? One? two?

 

The reason I ask is the master / slave settings.

 

You could be having power supply problems as well.

 

You could be having vent problems, and the DVR is over heating, and the hard drive is cooking.

 

 

You could try removing the cable to the hard drive. If it is old, or there is a lot of dust then perhaps you have (micro size) dirt between the connection to the hard drive. Removing the connector, and replacing it may "clean" the contact, and make a better connection.

 

Worse case would be the send / receive IC that "talks / listens" to the hard drive is going bad.

 

___________________________________________________________

 

If it is a non hard drive issue then you could try a hard system reset.

 

http://scorpiontheater.com/reset.aspx

 

What do you think?

 

 

Hi,

 

Thanks for the reply. The machine is about 2 years old. I have only seen this problem happen twice in the last 2 or so months. I may have happened before, but I never spotted it until now.

 

It doesnt matter if I go through front panel or through Video E server, in both cases, all displays show black (no video).

 

I have only one hard drive and it is set as the master on the master (as far as I recall). This has not been changed since delivery.

 

Dont know about overheating. Its in a fairly well ventelated area with only a single HD (320gb). I can pull it out and give it a good dusting out maybe that would help?

 

Any other suggestions?

 

I think its pretty poor of Avtech not to flag an error in these situations. You would think for such applications, there would be some sort of write confirm process or sampling.

 

Cheers,

Jab

[scorpion 0]

I think its pretty poor of Avtech not to flag an error in these situations. You would think for such applications, there would be some sort of write confirm process or sampling.

 

Sounds like you should buy a commercial DVR if you need the added features?

 

If you had black video throught the LAN/NET then I could possibly see it happening, but the black video on a monitor? Hmmm?

 

I would say replace the hard drive as a test. If it clears up then the HD is the problem.

 

If the problem persist then the machine is toast.

 

Have you done a hard reset?

[jabaroon 0]

hi, thanks for the info. is there any way to test the hd?

 

also, any recomendations based on your experience for a better dvr in case I need to replace. Internet viewing is important to me!

[scorpion 0]

ICRealtime DVRs.

 

http://icrealtime.com/solutions/dvrs.asp

[dvrtiger 0]

I don't think it's a hard drive problem...in that case, dvr would say something like 'no HDD' or 'disk error'. You can test your hard drive by removing it from dvr and connecting it to a PC, and than you can try to run some diagnostics on it. More likely, something went wrong on the motherboard, bad filter caps around processor area or something like that, what made this dvr quite unstable. Also you should try hard reset as Scorpion suggested, it might be some error in nv memory also, so try this to recover it if it wasn't damaged.

[wemar001 0]

I'm brand new to CCTVs. Was just given a AVC 785 but unfortunately without a users manual. I've been looking online but to no avail with this particular model. Can anyone help?

Thank you in advance.