CityTiger 0 Posted February 20, 2010 Hi guys, Im having a nightmare trying to get the footage off my DVR and on to my computer to give to the police. Last night I had some criminal damage to my property and the police are coming round to collect the footage. However as this is the first time I have had to extract the data I am having big problems! I do not need remote viewing I just want to save the recording to my PC. Im using DX Client which came with my DVR, I have installed it as it said, connected my DVR with a USB cable and then ran the DX Client. All I get is a black screen with all the buttons I need to access the footage greyed out. All I can click on is network but as I only want to view the already recorded footage I didnt think I needed this? The instructions that came with it are not very clear but suggest you do not need to connect as a network when using the USB cable. Im considering buying a new USB cable in case that is the issue but Im guess I might just be doing something wrong. Can someone help me please before the police arrive??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tomcctv 190 Posted February 20, 2010 Hi guys, Im having a nightmare trying to get the footage off my DVR and on to my computer to give to the police. Last night I had some criminal damage to my property and the police are coming round to collect the footage. However as this is the first time I have had to extract the data I am having big problems! I do not need remote viewing I just want to save the recording to my PC. Im using DX Client which came with my DVR, I have installed it as it said, connected my DVR with a USB cable and then ran the DX Client. All I get is a black screen with all the buttons I need to access the footage greyed out. All I can click on is network but as I only want to view the already recorded footage I didnt think I needed this? The instructions that came with it are not very clear but suggest you do not need to connect as a network when using the USB cable. Im considering buying a new USB cable in case that is the issue but Im guess I might just be doing something wrong. Can someone help me please before the police arrive??? what make is your dvr ??? can you not back-up from the usb on your dvr ??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CityTiger 0 Posted February 20, 2010 what make is your dvr ??? can you not back-up from the usb on your dvr ??? It is some weird Chinese one....Henelec. Not that I can tell, it has a USB port but cannot see anything on the DVR menu to export the data. Also the PC does not list it as a drive when the USB is connected, it does connect to it as the drive is listed under 'Safely Remove Hardware' but I cannot get in to it to view files. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chris SFP 0 Posted February 20, 2010 Hi Just a thought I had a customer bring me a DVR with the same problem you are having the other day, turns out that it was set to still record. Once the recording was stopped Windows could access the files and playback the recordings, before Windows did see a connection but not a hard drive. Check you are still not recording and if so turn it off and try again. Hope this helps. Regards Chris SFP SECURITY Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted February 20, 2010 Not all DVRs have completed software, that might be a feature they didnt finish, at least not 100%. Can you check it over the network, then backup from there? That is a very common method. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CityTiger 0 Posted February 22, 2010 Thanks for the replies. Pretty sure the DVR recording has been turned off so I dont think that is the issue. I will try the network approach if I have to (not yet tried to set that up). However the police came round today and said that they may be able to get the footage off themselves if I let them take the box. Got another officer coming round tomorrow so he can decide whether it is worth their time doing that or not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rory 0 Posted February 22, 2010 Another possibility is that there is something wrong with the DVR, like the firmware. You could try update that if the manufacturer has that option. Also, could be a bad USB port, maybe dust got inside, happens to computers all the time, or even a bad USB drive - does the DVR speak anything about formatting the USB drive as fat32 or Fat16? If it is Fat32 now then maybe try it as Fat16. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
CityTiger 0 Posted February 24, 2010 Another possibility is that there is something wrong with the DVR, like the firmware. You could try update that if the manufacturer has that option. Also, could be a bad USB port, maybe dust got inside, happens to computers all the time, or even a bad USB drive - does the DVR speak anything about formatting the USB drive as fat32 or Fat16? If it is Fat32 now then maybe try it as Fat16. Yeah I was beginning to wonder if there was an issue with the DVR or the USB port or cable. It has not mentioned formatting no. It does recognise I have plugged it in though as the computer brings up the safely disconnect hard drive thing and the monitor connected to the dvr comes up with the message 'HDD Being used by USB'. Anyway I don't think I will need to pull the footage off as the police are happy with photos of the footage, they are not prefect but they said it may help. Thanks for all your help. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites