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Video Surveillance File Backup and Playback for iDVR CCTV DVRs

The Windows client software for iDVR-E CCTV DVRs lets users export / backup video surveillance footage to files. Users can then open and playback the backup files using the same player / viewer software.




Video Playback Instructions

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Video Transcript

Watch this video to learn how to export and play back video surveillance footage using the Windows client software for iDVR-E CCTV DVRs. These instructions are applicable to the original iDVR-E for CCTV cameras and the new Hybrid iDVR-E models that work with both analog CCTV cameras and high definition AHD CCTV cameras.

In the enterprise management software for Windows I already have a four-channel iDVR-E configured. I'm going to connect to it by clicking the online button in the upper left and then right click on the DVR and select remote search. I know there's an event on the 21st of March at about 12:28. That's the event right there. I created a motion detection event on cameras three and four so I select that time frame and click play. I'm going to switch to a four-camera view using this button up here. Then I'm going to play the video and fast forward to get to the event. The actual event is at about 12:28 and 30 seconds, which is me walking in front of camera four and waving, creating a motion detection event. I can pause the video by pressing stop and then resume again by pressing play.

I'm going to switch to the four-camera view. Again, I'm going to fast forward a bit for the second event, which is me coming through that door on camera three and again waving. I'll switch to the full screen view for camera three and I'll pause it. Cameras three and four are both AHD CCTV cameras. They're 720p high definition. Cameras one and two are actually analog CCTV standard definition. Anyways, we just identified and confirmed the event that took place between 12:28 and 12:30.

I'm going to close that playback. That was playing back from the hard drive on the DVR. Then I'm going to select remote search again and again select March 21st, 12:28 through 30. This time I'm going to click download instead of play because I want to export or backup those events to a file. You see the download process starts here, so we'll just wait for that to finish.

Now that the file has finished downloading we can close this status bar and then we can also close the download window. I'm going to also disconnect from the DVR. There's no need to be connected to play back exported files. I'm going to select tool and then file playback. Then I'm going to click open. Then it will automatically open the folder that the software backs up to so I'm going to select the file that we just exported and click open. I switch to the four-camera view. Here is our video again playing back. It looks exactly the same as playing back from the DVR hard drive but we are in fact playing back from the file that we exported here.

All the same player controls work when you're playing back video from a file: fast forward, pause, play, fast reverse, as well as switching the views from single-camera view to multi-camera view. Again, this is a four-channel DVR so I can only go to a four-camera view, but if this was a 16-channel DVR I could switch to view all 16 cameras on one screen.

Here's the second event. I'll again pause it. I just want to note, once you export these files you can provide them to anyone, as well as a download to this same software. If you need to use video footage in a court case or to export and show a property manager or anyone, it's very simple to do. When you're done you can just close the window here by right clicking and selecting close.

For more information on the latest iDVR-E video surveillance DVRs that work with both standard definition and high definition security cameras, please visit www.idvr.net. Thank you for watching.


Surveillance Equipment

Below are the products used in the making of this video.

The iDVR-E4 is the surveillance DVR that was demonstrated in this video.

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Complete CCTV Systems

HD CCTV camera surveillance system

Did you know? CCTV Camera Pros can provide a complete surveillance system quote that includes a hybrid iDVR-E surveillance DVR, any number of cameras SD and HD CCTV cameras you need plus cables, connectors, power supplies, and monitors? As you have probably already seen on our website, we have 2, 4, 8, and 16 camera surveillance systems in pre-made packages. However, it is not possible for us to package up every combination and quantity of all the different camera models that we carry. So, we can also provide you with a custom quote with as many cameras as you need and a mix of any combination of camera model(s) based on your project requirements.

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Mike Haldas

Video Author & Producer

This video was created by and this page is maintained by , co-founder and managing partner of CCTV Camera Pros. If you have questions about setting up alarm inputs and outputs, please email me at mike@cctvcamerapros.net.