Somebody broke in to the building we're working on,we just installed cameras and pelco dvr 5100 for dry run (defualt programming).unfortunately somebody broke into the building and stole brand new office equipments,before they did the crime they unplugged the dvr (we're estimated around 11:50pm Saturday) so when we reviewed the dvr it stopped recording at 11:30 pm.Also we did'nt see the guy went to the room(we have camera pointing to that room) before unplugging the dvr.Is that a data loss?

If the footage is missing completely for the camera viewing the room at the time he/she entered, then it could be that the dvr was turned off before any buffer was written to disk, or whoever turned it off could have deleted the footage that identified them before switching off. Or it could be a data loss (ie corruption).

Does your DVR keeps logs / audit trail of what has been done (ie what has been deleted, who logged in, when it was turned off etc)

I'm trying to figure out how to get into the event log of pelco dvr 5100.I think you're right ,unfortunately the data was not written to the disk before it was unplugged.

Hello,

How unfortunate!!!!

I know what I am about to say will not help you but this post got me thinking about our DVR's. How would it react to a similar situation?? So I tried it. I set the DVR to record in motion detect. As soon as motion was detected, I noted the time to the second and what occurred. I quickly unplugged the DVR ( 5 sec ) and then plugged it back in. I was pleasantly surprised to find the DVR had immediately written the event to the drive and did not loose the video. I thought there may be a slight gap from event to write but none what so ever. I went a step further... Original test was at CIF 30fps. The second test was done at D1 7.5fps with the same result.

On the flip side of that, I also have the DVR set up to automatically upload any motion detected event to my FTP server. It did not have enough time to upload. The DVR on average will upload an event within 10 seconds though and of course depending upon the size of the file and Internet speed, it may take a little bit to completely upload. I have to say, I was not surprised.

Almost sounds like an inside job. Were you able to get into the log?? And if so, what did you find??

We hope you find out who did this. And thanks for the post. Made me think how capable our line of DVR really is!

Mike

Mike,
Try to unplug for like 30 mins or 1 hr. and on continous recording not motion and see what will happen to your DVR Unfortunately this Pelco software sucks(only the 8 channel version).There is no way to view the event thru the software.It was an inside job cause there is a security guard on site(night till morning) with or without the dvr he is the one resposible for the computer equipment.

I will do that but I'm not sure what the difference would be. I'd like to think if it recorded the motion event, it will record continous up until the time it's unplugged??????

I am going to do it now and I will post back.

Employee theft, Hmmmm, imagine that?? I have never heard of such a thing

Thanks

My theory is it takes a while, before the memory/buffer will de energize and will loose all data.But i guess it depends on the DVR, if they write the data instantly to the HD.Security guard was from a agency getting $10 bucks an hour maybe he got tempted of Brand new computers,printers,firewalls

I am happy to report it got every second right up to the time I unplugged it. Had the DVR unplugged for 40 minutes.

Sure wish your DVR did the same. Would have been very interesting video.

Thanks

I wished Even if we catched that video I'm sure the guy was wearing a mask or a hoodie when he entered the room.

I'm sure you are right but we have found that most crooks are identified by the physical signature each has. They way we walk, carry ourselves, mannerisms etc, all contribute to the identification. Facial recognition is important of course but other factors contribute as well.

Very difficult to mask that.

m-ron, have you tried to contact the manufactures technical support group about this issue and see if they can help you recover the video needed? (They are well known for their Product Support) I am not sure of your retention time, so you may want to act quickly before overwrite occurs. 800 289-9100

Called Pelco tech.They said my dvr software has an issue which i also noticed(pain in the butt to navigate,wont follow your command,can
t check the event log,data loss,they recommend upgrading the software.