Recover video direct from a CCTV DVR's hdd.

When video is required in an investigation it falls to a select few to recover that material and produce it in a usable format. Sometimes only a few minutes of material is required and it is easily exported from the CCTV system but more often the owner of the CCTV system does not know how to export the footage or has forgotten the password to the DVR interface. In many cases large amounts of data are required and this can take a long time to export and produces material in a proprietary format. Some DVRs export a player with the video but many do not and few are using the correct date & time.

Traditionally when there is a need for a large amount of data or a problem with the DVR it falls to the Computer or Video Forensic specialist to try and operate the system or carve the data from the hard drive. This can be a very time consuming operation.

DVR Examiner is a software tool that extracts the video images from the DVR hard disk drive, preferably a forensic image of the hdd. It bypasses the systems menu and password and provides the operator with options to correct the time stamp, sort and filter video files and export in an open format as well as the systems proprietary format with the requisite player.

There are many benefits of using DVR Examiner over the traditional method of video exporting.

• Do not need the DVR password
• Do not need USB or blank disk media
• Do not need to navigate a different menu layout for each recovery.
• Do not need the DVR power cable
• Once hdd is imaged and access to the files by DVR Examiner has been established the DVR can be returned.
• Access to all of the video on the DVR , not just the files exported initially.
• Access to old video files no longer accessible by the DVR menu.
• Use the time offset tool to correct time stamps
• Preview video before selectively exporting relevant video.
• Export in open and proprietary formats (with the correct player)
• Save time

DVR Examiner may not work every time but the developers are working hard to include as many systems as possible. If a specific system is not supported by the latest version of DVR examiner the operator is given the option to use the inbuilt  DVR Profiler by sending some data to them to help implement support for that filesystem.

Find out more about DVR Examiner here