malfregeot 0 Posted June 26, 2009 I am the new director at a Child Advocacy Center. We coordinate and provide services for sexually abused children... including recording interviews to be used in court of the children so they don't have to repeat the experience again and again. When I started at the center we already had an American Dynamics 9 channel EDVR. Of course I have nothing else besides the manual and no contact to help. I am the only staff person. My problem: I can't get the recordings of children from the EDVR onto a CD or SD card. I can get it to transfer 90 seconds onto a 2GB SD card, but it won't transfer more than that. I can get it to transfer 10 minutes onto a 700MB CD but not more than that. I need to be able to transfer interviews that are 30-45 minutes. Does anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong? I'm not sure this was the best system for my needs, but it is what I have to work with and we don't have money for anything else! Please help! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted June 26, 2009 Does this DVR give you the option to export in different formats? What format is it using by default? What size files is it creating on the SD or CD? Are they getting filled, or is the machine just stopping at that amount of time? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
malfregeot 0 Posted June 26, 2009 It allows 4 types of export: CD JPEG, CD AVI, SD JPEG, and SD AVI. I know enough to know that JPEG is a still image, so I haven't chosen that. After I choose one of the AVI options I am brought to a menu screen with the following options: *Video Mode (where I can choose Full or CIF) *Audio Mode (where I can choose Right, Left, or Disable) *Time (where the SD allows me to from 10 seconds to 90 seconds in 5 second intervals and the CD allows me to go from 10 seconds to 10 minutes) *Save (where it starts the transfer) I can't imagine the 2GB SD getting filled after 90 seconds, but I'm not certain. The manual for the EDVR indicates it will transfer up to 30 minutes onto a CD. It doesn't indicate any limit on SD cards. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted June 26, 2009 Hmm, do you have the exact model number of this DVR (so I can look up specs and a manual, unless someone else here comes along who is actually familiar with it)? It might be indicating that a CD will hold up to 30 minutes' worth of video, but it needs to be in separate 10-minute exports. Will it let you save multiple times to the same disc? Another option might be, if the DVR is networkable and has a computer client application, you could access it from a PC, pull the video off to there, and then burn it to a disc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
malfregeot 0 Posted June 26, 2009 It is an American Dynamics ADEDVR004032 EDVR (9 channel). I hope there's a way to pull off the full 30 minutes because otherwise the courts won't use it because the defense attorneys will claim it has been edited! I'm not positive, but I think it is networkable, I just have no idea how to access the client application or pull the video off. I really appreciate your help so far. Just having someone to discuss this with makes me feel less helpless! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted June 26, 2009 It is an American Dynamics ADEDVR004032 EDVR (9 channel). I hope there's a way to pull off the full 30 minutes because otherwise the courts won't use it because the defense attorneys will claim it has been edited! Hmm, would it be acceptable if you overlapped a bit? Like, have one clip end at 10:00 (ten-minute point) of the interview, then start the next one from the 9:30 point, to prove continuity? Just looking at the overview specs for this, it says it records in M-JPEG (Motion JPEG) format... on those export menu options, does it say JPEG or M-JPEG? If the latter, try using that for export - you'll probably find it goes faster as well, since the system doesn't need to re-encode it to AVI. Even if it just says JPEG, you could try it anyway, to the SD card, to see if it's actually using M-JPEG video. I'm not positive, but I think it is networkable, I just have no idea how to access the client application or pull the video off. The spec sheet states that it IS networkable and does have Windows- and web-based clients... you should be able to just point a web browser on a networked computer at it to at least view the video. Whether that will also let you export, I don't know... The remote client should be available from American Dynamics: http://www.americandynamics.net/support/downloads.aspx I haven't been able to find a manual for the unit, but I did find some release notes on a firmware update, that includes this: EDVR v1.53A update from v1.44A Extended Video Clip Export Duration The maximum export duration has been extended from 10 to 30 minutes. Please note that the export is limited by the capacity of the target media and not the duration of the clip. For example, if you have a 10 minute clip but the size of the clip exceeds the capacity of the CD, you will get an error message “CD Capacity Not Enough†Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
malfregeot 0 Posted June 26, 2009 Thank you! Thank you! I still haven't quite figured out the network thing... apparently the Client wants me to have a user name and password that I don't have... but that is not a big deal! I was able to complete the firmware update and just burned a 23 minute forensic interview of a child onto a CD! Only being able to burn 30 minutes isn't perfect... but it is a heck of a lot better than what I had and should cover more than 75% of our child interviews!! Amazing! Thank you! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Soundy 1 Posted June 26, 2009 The system's manual should list the default username and password... as long as they haven't been changed, that's all you'll need. Have you tried the "JPEG" (M-JPEG?) export option? Maybe check with your legal counsel to see if overlapping the clips would be acceptable. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
