AVTECH, saving 18 months recorded data

[damai7788 0]

Hi All,

 

We are using Avtech DVR, 16 Channel KPD 679.

Our customer needs to save the recorded data for 18 month.

 

The problem is, transferring/backup data from DVR to local PC using Video Viewer, takes very long time.

5 minutes video need almost 5 minutes transfer time, for one camera.

It seems it is not possible to backup data this way, not enough time for 16 cameras.

 

What I have tried:

1. Plug out the DVR hard drive and install it into PC. We can read the content of the hard drive, but cannot play it from the PC. The extension of the files is .stream. Anyway to play these files?

If we can do this, then we can replace the DVR's hard drive every 2 or 3 months.

 

2. Backup to external disk via the DVR USB port. But DVR can only detect small size USB Flash Disk. External USB HDD is not recognized. Not sure about the transfer time too.

 

Is there any solution for this problem?

 

Thanks.

Anto

[Soundy 1]

You can either SUBSTANTIALLY reduce framerate, image size and compression quality... or switch to a real DVR (probably something PC-based) that will let you use external drives. 18 months is a LOT of video, possibly several terabytes' worth - best way to achieve that is a multi-drive RAID array that can be attached to via network, iSCSI, SAS or eSATA. And since you probably want some level of protection against data loss, you'll likely want something that will do RAID5, or better, RAID6.

[Leohuangdi 0]

Hi,

 

Try to use this program to do the backup connecting the HDD by sata cable to your PC:

 

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B_Tf3Yb1yhhROWI2ZWU2MmQtZTE3ZC00NjVlLTgwNjItNzBlNjk3ZmQzZDky&hl=en_US&authkey=CP2o9toI

 

Otherwise you can try to format an external HDD with FAT32 and connect to the dvr, if the model is supported could be working.

 

Leo

[SignLine 0]

Same here, been struggling for a while backing it up, endless cd's, can only use a small flash drive, why? Can't use an external hard drive, why? Doesn't make using the system very easy and all I'm trying to do is back up 6 hours of one day for 3 camera's, I have the avtech 4 channel mpeg-4 dvr.

 

Another thing is if there is a power cut the timer etc reverts back to Jan 2000, is there a backup battery in the machine or any other reason it loses date etc when the power cuts?

 

Then if you want to look at recordings from current year 2011 it's a nightmare as you can't navigate to it anymore.

 

I'll maybe try that download that Leo mentions, Damai did you try that and have any success?

 

I haven't ever updated the firmware, should I do that and does it make any difference to this backup issue?

 

Thanks!

[Birdman Adam 0]

So there is no CD-DVD drive, OR a USB connection for using external drives?? That is the best way to backup!

[SignLine 0]

There is a cd drive, most you can get is about an hour of each of 3 camera's onto a cd, it has usb but you can only use certain memory sticks up to 500mb, useless, can't get an external hard drive to be FAT32 as it needs to be or recognised at all, and as they are over 500mb it doesn't work with that either.

[damai7788 0]

Leohuangdi,

 

Thanks for your program.

 

I've tried disktool, it can read the DVR hard drive and list the data.

But i cannot play the data, cannot play almost all data.

 

There are data with 'SYSTEM' attribute and 'MANUAL' attribute.

I can play the manual data, but not the system data.

Almost all the data attribute is SYSTEM data.

 

My DVR recording mode is automatic, everytime it turned on, itu record all the time.

 

https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B_62HtPpTIKHMTAxYjc4M2YtMzIyMC00Nzk2LWI2NzYtOGFiYzZjYWM5MGNl&hl=en_US

 

Btw, my DVR had wrong date setting, 14 august 2011. Any problem with this?

 

Thanks.

[SignLine 0]

Hi Damai, that's a booger, I hoped that would work and help me out too.

 

Can you play those files in the videoplayer software that comes with the dvr's from Avtech?

 

When I backup to cd it also saves that player on the cd to watch them with if required, do you get that same thing and does that player play these files?

 

This should all be so much easier to do!

[Soundy 1]

Same here, been struggling for a while backing it up, endless cd's, can only use a small flash drive, why? Can't use an external hard drive, why? Doesn't make using the system very easy...

When people ask why they should pay thousands for a DVR when they can get cheap systems like this for a couple hundred... this is one example why. You get what you pay for, you really do.

[SignLine 0]

Hindsight is .....a curse! lol.

 

I guess you know you are right and now I'd have to agree, I only have small business so the DIY version I did for myself was the way to go, never realised backing up would be such a pain though, hardly ever need to but it's when you do it's a right pain in the backside.

[SignLine 0]

The link to your website doesn't work chief.

[Birdman Adam 0]

That really is true. Good DVRs allow easy use of large external USB drives, as well as a built-in DVD drive that can hold more data than CDs.

 

Being able to export the backup to a file format that everyday-players can read is a big deal. Its annoying when you have to use the included player.

[damai7788 0]

Hi Damai, that's a booger, I hoped that would work and help me out too.

 

Can you play those files in the videoplayer software that comes with the dvr's from Avtech?

 

When I backup to cd it also saves that player on the cd to watch them with if required, do you get that same thing and does that player play these files?

 

This should all be so much easier to do!

 

Under normal operation, we can backup the video to local drive. It comes with an 'avc' extension. It also gives us a player program to play the AVC files. Using this program, we can convert the AVC to AVI.

 

Using disktool provided by Leohuangdi, we can unplug the Hard drive from the DVR and install it to Windows PC. We can access the hard drive and play the video inside. But for my case, almost all data cannot be played, especially data with 'SYSTEM' attribute.

The error is 'The event file is not existing'.

 

Anybody use disktool before?

Got the same problem?

Any newer version of Disktool?

 

Another problem with disktool, we cannot fast forward when viewing in disktool.

 

Thanks.

[paparaaaapa 0]

Agree with senior that said you paid for what you get. Anyway, i guess the video that your DVR hold is MPEG4 eh? because i once backup for my customer too, and it took time like you got to watch it the same time you backup, really annoying. Now some of them applying compressions like H264 which is more faster in backup and retrieving, and also can record more. For the situation you facing now i think you can just ask them to get a new H264 player and at the same tiem you get the recent player to backup. So you would lose any data when you doing the back up now. Just my own POV.