PC DVR Disk Replay Client For use with the DMB-X Mobile Series DVRs V1.5 24nd October 2007 CONTENTS 1.0 Overview 2.0 Outline Functionality 3.0 Minimum system requirements 4.0 Programme Installation 5.0 Starting PC DVR Disk Replay Client 6.0 Accessing the Hard Drive 7.0 Accessing the Video Recordings 8.0 Reviewing Video Recordings 9.0 Archiving Recordings 10.0 Printing Snapshots 11.
1.0 Overview This User Guide will take you through the process of selecting, viewing, archiving and burning CDs/DVDs of recorded material from the Aventura Technologies' DMB-X Mobile Series DVRs. The PC DVR Disk Replay Client is a Windows application that will allow the viewing and processing of .h264 video files from the Mobile DVR on a normal Windows desktop PC. The Mobile DVR records video material onto a removable hard drive in the form of a sequence of discrete files of configurable lengths of time.
Notes: Although this PCDVR Disk Replay Client will run on almost any PC, due to the high processing demands of h264 video streams, an insufficiently powerful PC will result in suboptimal replay performance e.g. stuttering video, inability to play fast forward, inability to synchronise multi window video images. The PCDVR Disk Replay client runs on Windows 98, ME, 2000 and XP however USB performance will be compromised on 98/ME and 2000 due to poor USB 2.0 support.
6.0 Accessing the Hard Drive 6.1 Removing the Hard Drive caddy from the DVR Unlock the hard drive caddy fitted to the vehicle by turning the key clockwise to the 12 o’clock position. Then pull the disk caddy from the frame using the grab handle on the front of the caddy. 6.1 Connecting the Hard Drive caddy to the Replay PC Once the Hard Drive caddy is removed from DVR recorder, you need to insert the caddy into the USB docking station. 7.
8.0 Reviewing Video Recordings Note: Decoding H264 video requires a lot of processing power in the replay PC. If you do not have a sufficiently powerful PC you may get stuttering video when viewing multiple video windows. To alleviate this you can reduce the CPU load by dropping some B-Frames out of the replayed video sequence. This does not affect the recording, just the replay. There will be some reduction in image quality.
The calendar will open up and looks like the following screenshot: Days where you have recorded material are shown in bold. Today's date is shown in red. You can move forward or back a month by clicking on the appropriate arrow. Select the day with the material you wish to view by double clicking on that day. The system will now retrieve the recorded images and the timeline will show periods of recorded material for the day selected.
4. Fast Forward This button plays the images at a faster rate depending on how many times it is pressed (it can play 2x, 4x, 8x, 16x). (Please note that the faster speeds require considerable processing power. Some slower PCs may only be able to play 8x or even 4x.) N.B Once the material begins playing it will be initially unsynchronized (each camera within the window playing from a slightly different time) however the system can be forced into synchronisation by clicking on the icon shown below.
When you want to return to normal operation move the mouse to the top of the screen and the controls will slide into view, click the full screen switch again. Once you have reviewed all the material you require you may now archive the material to your PC’s local hard drive and then produce a CD/DVD. 9.0 Archiving material. Recorded material may be preserved and prevented from being overwritten by archiving it.
The video clip will be saved in the form of one video file per camera. You can use the standalone “H.264 Player” to review these files. H.264 Player has similar functionality to Windows Media Player and can only play one video clip at a time. Alternatively you can transfer the video clips from your hard drive to CD or DVD format using the “Create CD” wizard. Instructions are in the “Creating a video CD/DVD” section below. 10.0 Saving/Printing Snapshots You can save “Snapshots” of any camera image.
You can also print directly from the Client to any installed printer. To do this highlight the screen you wish to print and from the file menu select Print Selected Window or press Ctrl+P This will produce a full size print on A4 keeping the correct aspect ratio of the picture. 11.0 Creating a Video CD/DVD You can create a CD or DVD by transferring images either directly from the Mobile DVR hard drive caddy or images saved on your PC hard drive.
Click the Add Video button and the browse files dialog box will appear. This screen will allow you to either add saved files from your hard drive or burn material to the disk directly from the Mobile DVR hard drive. Once you have selected the required video clip(s), the programme will record information about the clips(s) added as shown below: Aventura DMB-X Series PC Disk Replay Client Manual v1.
You can now either choose to add more video files or click the “Next” button to move to the next stage. On this next screen you can name the disk to be written, choose which CD/DVD writer to use, choose whether the disk should play automatically when inserted into a PC and whether or not it should any multicamera views should be synchronised during playback. Aventura DMB-X Series PC Disk Replay Client Manual v1.
Once you have selected the options required press the next button, this will bring up a reminder screen telling you which drive to insert the blank media and how much space is required on that media to write all of the selected video. Click the “Next” button to write to the disk. Aventura DMB-X Series PC Disk Replay Client Manual v1.
The selected material will now have been written to the disk. Remove the disk from the burner, label and store. Aventura DMB-X Series PC Disk Replay Client Manual v1.
