AverMedia EB1304MOB USB playback cannot see the DVR HD?

[Scruit 0]

I got the USB playback software installed on my laptop (Vista) and my EB1304MOB DVR is in the car and all fired up and working ok.

 

I can playback the recorded video through the video out by using the remote control, but I'm having a hard time getting anything to playback using the USB software.

 

Here's what I'm doing:

 

- I plug in the USB cable

- DVR screen says something like "USB BACKUP?" I say Yes.

- DVR screen says something like "USB connected"

- I run the USB playback software, select Open File, (HD)

- The list of hard drives is blank - doesn't even see the laptop hard drive.

 

If I go into computer management I can see a new uninitialized disk for 238Gb (250GB hd in the DVR) so I know the USB is connected.

 

 

So what gives? If there something in Vista that is stopping the playback software from seeing the hard drive?

 

Failing that, I'll have to ask Aver on monday.

[photys 0]

Its not direct connect.

The USB connection is for a USB memory stick or powered external hard drive.

[Scruit 0]

Its not direct connect.

The USB connection is for a USB memory stick or powered external hard drive.

 

Ordinarily, maybe. But this DVR specifically calls for the above steps of connecting the USB cable to my laptop and running the software, selecting the HD and viewing the video that way.

 

 

The usb port on the DVR is a mini-D type. You can't plug a memstick into it.

[photys 0]

Apologies.

Didnt know that.

[Scruit 0]

Appears to be a vista issue. I was able to connect using a Windows 2000 laptop.

[Scruit 0]

Hmm... So the Hard drive in the DVR appears as an uninitialized disk to the operating system and the USB software is able to make sense of it still. Does that mean that in the even of an accident that dmaged the DVR but leaves the hard drive intact I can just connect the Hard Drive using a USB external drive bay and the software can still recover the images? That would be sweet. I have it mounted in a way that I can just reach into the trunk, unlock the drive bay and take the whole drive with me. That would be great for securing the evidence in an accident where the car will be towed.

[Scruit 0]

Aver Support response to question about the playback software & Vista :

 

 

Ticket Subject : EB1304MOB Cannot connect via USB

 

Reply:

Dear Customer,

 

Thank you for supporting AVerMedia.

 

Currently our software does not have Vista support. Our next release update

will have Vista support and should correct the issue you are having. We are

expecting the update to be released in mid-October. We do not have a specific

date when it will be made available.

 

We hope this helps. We look forward to your continued support.

 

[cachecreekcctv 0]

Yah, has to be OS problem, as my laptop with XP , accesses the hard drive on all 1304's I have needed to access. Never had a problem yet.

[CollinR 0]

Yes you must initialize the disk before you can use it. Then you should format it to NTFS 64k cluster. Then Windows will play with it.

 

 

This is in Administrative Tools > Computer Managment > Disk Managment.

 

I think you already know that though.

[Scruit 0]

Yes you must initialize the disk before you can use it. Then you should format it to NTFS 64k cluster. Then Windows will play with it.

 

 

This is in Administrative Tools > Computer Managment > Disk Managment.

 

I think you already know that though.

 

If I format the disk then it will wipe the data.

[CollinR 0]

Oh I see sorry about that, I was on the same track mentioned before that you have an external disk. I now see you have troubles accessing the DVR via USB. I assume this comes down to how the disk is formatted on the DVR.

 

So, maybe try this with an XP system and see what disk management says that is.

 

Also might try reinitializing it in Vista and fomart as Fat32. I'm pretty sure Fat32 doesn't support the access control features of NTFS and so it might work. However the DVR may now say it needs to reformat the disk for it's use at next boot.

[Scruit 0]

The hard drive is supposed to appear as an uninitialized drive, and the USB software finds this drive and has the ability to interact with it even though the OS doesn't. The problem is that under Vista the USB software cannot see the drive, even though it appears in Disk Management just like in 2000.

 

Anything I do to change the filesystem (format, initilalize, change filesystem) could affect the DVR and make the drive unusable / force the DVR to reformat it again. If I wanted to simply take the HD from the DVR to use it in my computer as a new blank HD then I'd initialize it, assign it a logical drive letter and format it with NTFS. That would destroy the data and make the drive unusable in the DVR (until the dvr formats it again)

 

I did get confirmation for Aver that the software doesn't work under Vista, but they're coming out with a vista version soon. For now I'm using my old 2000 laptop and it's working ok. I would love it if the menu would allow me to specify that when the USB cable is plugged in it automatically goes into USB backup mode - right now it asks you (OSD) to hit a button to go into USB mode, requiring I have my portable screen with me. Not a huge deal, but it would be cool to simply have a USB cable in the center console that I coudl plug into my laptop and start downloading.

 

 

My next thing is to figure out how to get it to automatically backup the HD wirelessly... Hmmm, ISTR seeing a wireless USB port on the market that appears to your computer as a USB device, but it's actually sending data over 802.11. Then when I pull the car into the garage it will suddenly see the DVR HD and start downloading. Hmmm...

[CollinR 0]

Does it have an ethernet port?

 

If so Linksys makes an adapter for hardwired game consoles that will convert to wifi. Rather neato device actually.

[Daryl733 0]

Let me put it simply.

MOst DVR, including AVERMEDIA (I've sold a no. of it) does not format the Harddisk Drive in FAT32/NTFS/FAT16, etc. They format it in their own propietry format.

That means when u connect it to windows, it'll appear as a unformated disk, which you can't read in windows.

 

SOME DVR comes with their software for you to read the data off the harddisk when connected vie IDE/SATA/USB. As i said.. SOME DVR comes with it, so not ALL dvr comes with it. SO you gotta check if your DVR comes with software to do that.

AVERMEDIA EB1004BAK comes with it, i got some other DVR that comes with it as well. AVTech DVR doesn't, that means when u plug out the harddisk drive, it's unreadable except by another identical machine.

 

That brings up another important point. Some DVR auto format a new harddisk when you plug it in. It's good, and dangerous at the same time.

Good in terms that it's easy for end user to install a new harddisk. It's dangerous coz sometimes if you plug in a harddisk with recorded data, but the DVR thought it's a new harddisk, or the DVR's model no./firmware is different, it'll just auto format it, and wipe away important recorded data on it. I know AVTech's DVR does that. Coz some cust upgraded from old machine to new machine, and they reuse the harddisk without thinking it through, and the old data got wipe away once the harddisk is plug into the new dvr without any prompting.

[Scruit 0]

Let me put it simply.

MOst DVR, including AVERMEDIA (I've sold a no. of it) does not format the Harddisk Drive in FAT32/NTFS/FAT16, etc. They format it in their own propietry format.

That means when u connect it to windows, it'll appear as a unformated disk, which you can't read in windows.

 

This is exactly what I am seeing on both 2000 and Vista - an uninitialized hard drive. The difference is the Aver USB Playback Console cannot see the drive on the Vista machine. Their next version will, they say.

 

 

I am gonna pull the HD out of the DVR at some point and hook it up to my computer using a USB2.0 external HD bay. I'll report back on whether the playback software can read the Hard drive via USB without the DVR. If it does then that would be excellent news - in an accident where teh car will be towed I only need to recover the hard drive from the DVR, not the DVR itself. The hard drive can be removed simply by grabbing the hotswap drive tray. I can get the video off the hard drive at home using the playback software instead of having to hope the DVR is ok, or even having to buy an identical DVR to read the drive (and hoping it doesn't autoformat it!)

[CollinR 0]

Maybe boot knoppix too, then you can probably mount it as Linux supports more formats.

 

 

I would be shocked if any DVR manufaturer created their own disk format, I wouldn't be shocked if they used an obscure one. Windows can only see a limited number of possible formats so it's not the OS of choice for this.

[Scruit 0]

The AverDigi EB1304MOB hard drive CAN be read by the playback software when it's connected to a computer using a standard external USB enclosure.

 

BUT the last file was not 'committed' to the hard drive until the DVR was fired up again. When I looked at the HD it had every event except for the last journey of the night tonight. In a crash situation the 'last journey' woudl be the one that includes the crash, no? Once I put the HD back in and turned the DVR on again it 'saved' the last file and it became available again.

 

(In this DVR an 'event' is synonymous with 'journey'. ie from starting the car to stopping it again. It will split evetns on the hour though. So a car journey from 18:45 to 18:55 would be one 'event', but a journey from 18:45 to 19:05 would be split into two events, 18:45 to 18:59 and 19:00 to 19:05.

 

I need to make sure the DVR can be easily removed in the event of an accident. I currently have it held down using wingnuts - I can remove the DVR in about 60 seconds if I wanted to. I'll also paste removal sintruction on the top of the DVR in case I'm in a hospital bed and need to send a friend or relative to the junkyard to get the DVR. Depressingly enough my wife know that if I'm incapacitated in a car wreck that she needs to get the DVR back. I guess that no different the her needing to know the contact information for my life insurance company.

[tsaba 0]

Anybody know why dont convert audio in the .avi file the Usb Console software???

 

Thank you the answers.