Intellipix G4HDE files in .dav format, issues converting.

[SecurityTech 0]

I have a Intellipix G4-HD-E DVR which saves the video files in a .dav format. I have some footage that I need to forward to authorities. I have been unable to find any video format converter which will convert the native .dav format to .avi, .mpg, etc. There IS a "player" provided by the manufacturer here which is a simple, no frills player, but it does have a convert to .avi option. After using this, I have a pink band at the bottom of the video and cannot determine why. The player successfully converts from .dav to .avi and I have tried converting to other formats, with no change.

 

I have a test video sample which shows the pink band

. Even in this test video from a friends house, is it clear. My codecs are up to date. I currently am using AnyVideoConverter, and Divx plus.

 

Any thoughts ?

 

In closing, Mike from Shore View Security who is a member here, was accurate about the G4 DVR, very good unit.

[FranciscoNET 0]

Hi,

 

I know that it might be too late for your reply given that you asked your question a few months ago. But I will post this for future reference and in case if another member is facing a similar situation like yours, and even for your self to reference in the future.

 

When dealing with stand alone DVR that records in a proprietary format, whether its .dav .dvr , etc and the user wants a format in standard industry format that is as crisp and clear as the video shown in a proprietary format, I like to use a freeware program called CamStudio. Install CamStudio in your Windows based PC, then copy the *.dav proprietary video file into the computer, then use the manufacturer's windows based video player for your *.dav video file and open up the file to confirm it plays. Open up CamStudio, go to the settings, select your quality and prefer codec to encode your videos (it will detect any codecs you have installed in your PC as available codecs, if you have crappy ones only, then download and install K-Lite codec pack which is another freeware, comes with great codec for high quality video processing), now, back to CamStudio, press then Record button, the mouse cursor will change to an X cross so you can select which portion of the screen to record, just drag the X cursor matching the video dimension as shown by the proprietary program, after letting go of the mouse CamStudio will begin recording the screen only your selection area, immediately press play on your proprietary program to playback the video.

 

What this will do is the following:

as the proprietary video is being played back through the proprietary software, CamStudio is recording it, when you are done, just press the Stop button on CamStudio, then save the video. Your saved video will be saved in a *.avi format that can be opened even from Windows Media Player. The format will be so standard that even Linux users will be able to open it, in essence, it will be just like any other regular video files and best of all, this will eliminate the pink band on the button of your video caused by an apparent bug in the *.dav to *.avi conversion process.

 

I have helped numerous people export videos into *.AVI format matching original video quality and resolution.

 

Resolution will be in terms of screen selected pixels, so make sure the original video is sized appropriately to allow at least 704x520 recording if they are full D1 files, otherwise you can just re-size for 352x288 if the original is CIF quality (most proprietary software size up correctly when playing back the video, so this will certainly not be an issue most of the time)

 

When I install CCTV systems, I always like to think for the future scenarios the customer might be faced, not only the "shininess" that the customer is seeing on day 0, that is why I make sure that the DVR server I am installing does not record into a proprietary format, I make sure that the format that it is always recording is either *.avi or *.mpg and the ONLY trans coding that I will ever have to make for selected video files is when transcoding the *.avi to *.vob files to they can be played back naturally in any standalone DVD players (just like any regular DVD video "movie").

 

Manufacturers that only design their stand alone DVR's to record in any of the "stupid" formats like *.dav, *.dvr and others are only giving customers "future headache", its a design flaw in part from the manufacturers and in this area is where I see many CCTV installer failing miserably. When I first got into the CCTV business a few years ago, I immediately recognized the dangers of dealing with these types of formats (and the potential trouble this could caused the installer if they fail to retrieve/convert the format to a standard industry format) and chose not to use them. This decision of mines have not resulted in any quality loss of the videos and the videos are already in a *.avi format when ever the customer needs them, (if the cops does not need a "DVD Playable disc", then its just a matter of dragging the videos to a windows CD recorder software, and just hitting "burn cd" and in 2 minutes the CD-R is ready, If I had to go to the place to assist my customer in this task, my stay will never be longer than 10 minutes, thats the beauty of installing systems that records directly in a standard video format straight from the get go.

 

As of now, I have yet to find a Stand Alone DVR that records directly to *.avi or *.mpg standard format without having to go through a conversion process in order to get them into this format, for this reason, I have resorted to building my own PC based DVR server each time I have a new job as this is the only way I get to offer a DVR that goes according to my strict policy of "no proprietary videos what so ever". If you or any one knows of any stand alone DVR that records directly in to *.avi please let me know, if would be a great choice addition for my business.

[rory 0]

Maybe try a newer player from the manufacturer: (Dahua in China)

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/upload/General_Player_Eng_IS_V2.11.1.R.100521.rar