Welcome, dear friends, to the weekly “How Do I Do This” appointment! As we discovered in the previous posts, most surveillance footage is normally available in proprietary formats that standard players won’t play. We’ve also seen that Amped Replay lets you play many of such formats, so you can view them. How though can you convert them, whilst maintaining quality to preserve their evidential worth, so that other colleagues can play them?
Continue reading
Get me the CCTV! Show me the suspect! Enhance that blurry face!
These phrases are very often heard in the numerous police shows we see on our screens these days.
Although we have come a long way since the days of the VHS tape, dealing with video in investigations is still littered with challenges, many of which are hidden due to the evidence being “just a video”.
So here we are again with one of our widely requested free webinars!
Due to the success of this webinar, we are happy to inform you that we have scheduled a repeat of “Getting started with video evidence”.
Join David Spreadborough from Amped Software and learn about physical evidence, imagery evidence, locating, seizing, recovering, continuity, chain of custody, decoding, playback and review, interpretation, and presentation.
In this free information-packed session, you will learn about these challenges and gain an insight into examining video evidence, ensuring you have the knowledge to make the best decisions when reviewing videos.
If you are an investigator or detective, or just starting out with video evidence, this webinar is for you! If you are an experienced video analyst and know someone in your organization that can benefit from this webinar, please share this invitation with them.
Date: Wednesday, June 23, 2021
Time: 10:00 AM EST (4:00 PM CET) – 11:30 AM EST (5:30 PM CET)
Duration: 1 hour and 30 minutes
Certificates:
After viewing this webinar you will be issued a certificate by email documenting that you have taken part in the session. Please note that a certificate will only be issued to those who request it and who have attended the entire webinar.
Dear friends, welcome to this week’s “How do I do this?” pill to ease your video pain! As we said in the previous post, surveillance video files often come in rather odd extensions. So odd that you’ll hardly be able to tell apart video files from different stuff. But luckily, Amped Replay will identify potential video files for you! Keep reading to find out more.
Continue reading
From June 6-9, Amped Software will be exhibiting at the Techno Security & Digital Forensics Conference at the Marriott Resort at Grande Dunes in Myrtle Beach, SC.
Come and visit us in booth 604 and follow our presentation on Sunday, June 06 from 1:05 PM to 1:55 PM in Oleander B:
Video Evidence Pitfalls: While video is more readily available to aid in investigations today (e.g. CCTV, Body-worn, social media, and cellphones), there are several questions that may be asked of a video and that may not be able to be answered just by hitting the “Play” button. Understanding how video from sources can affect what we see when evaluating video is crucial to any evidence, and the eye is prone to see things differently than it is recorded. Learn why it is crucial to understand how the video played and make sure the answers we get from the images are accurate.
Speaker: Blake Sawyer, technical support and training – Amped Software USA Inc.
About the Conference:
Techno Security & Digital Forensics Conference provides a unique education experience that blends together the digital forensics and cybersecurity industries for collaboration between government and private sectors.
It has grown into one of the most important resources for corporate network security professionals, federal, state and local law enforcement digital forensic specialists, and cybersecurity industry leaders from around the world.
For more info and to register, click here.
We are also offering a limited number of free passes to access the event. Request yours now by sending us an email at info@ampedsoftware.com.
We look forward to seeing you soon!
Dear friends, welcome back! As promised in the introductory post to this series, today we’ll face one of the most basic and common issues found by investigators in their daily job: playing surveillance video files. It seems the easiest thing, but it turns out to be often hard with standard players, so keep reading.
Continue reading
Format and codec conversion is a huge part of any video lab’s workload. Day after day, there is a requirement to extract video data from proprietary formats and perhaps convert files for playback in standard players. Although seamlessly integrated into all our video applications, having this video conversion ability as a stand-alone product can dramatically speed up triage and batch processing. That’s exactly where Amped DVRConv fits in.
Dear friends, welcome back! Last week we said farewell to the Video Evidence Pitfall blog series, but of course we’re not leaving you alone! And so, here we are with a brand new series called “Amped Replay Tutorials: How do I do this?“. We’ll try to address simple tasks that people working with video face almost daily. Keep reading for more info!
Continue reading
Want to get hands-on training on the use of Amped Software products? Want to learn about the challenges in forensic video and digital multimedia evidence processing?
Book your seat in an Amped Software online training course to acquire in-depth knowledge of all software features including the technical and scientific background behind the implemented techniques, and learn the workflow that is compatible with forensic needs and constraints.
Check out the schedule below of our upcoming classes – we will be adding more dates soon!
New Course for Investigators and First Responders
We’ve just added a new training course for investigators and first responders.
INVESTIGATING VIDEO EVIDENCE TRAINING
Introduction To Video Evidence For Investigators
This is an entry-level course designed for investigators and first responders. We will focus on implementing a firm legal process for using and reporting on image and video evidence in daily investigations. Students will learn the basics of image and video analysis, be able to convert proprietary video files, apply basic corrections to images, and prepare the evidence for presentations with redactions and annotations. The challenges and pitfalls faced when using digital multimedia evidence in investigations will also be discussed. The course is a mixture of lectures and hands-on with practical or simulated cases using Amped Replay. Students will obtain the knowledge and skills required to properly examine and process image and video evidence, backed with a workflow that is forensically sound and courtroom admissible. Check out the schedule:
| July 27-29, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| September 07-09, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CEST (Italy) | Samuel Abbott |
| September 28-30, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| November 16-18, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CET (Italy) | Stefano Bianchi |
AMPED FIVE TRAINING
Forensic Image And Video Enhancement
This is a beginner and intermediate-level course designed for users who are seeking to use Amped FIVE for their investigations. Students will learn the fundamentals of image and video analysis and the issues faced when using digital multimedia evidence in investigations. The course is a mixture of lecture and hands-on with many practical exercises to solve real or simulated cases using Amped FIVE. Students will obtain the knowledge and skills required to properly analyze and process images and videos with a workflow compatible with forensic needs and constraints. Check out the schedule:
| June 14-18, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| June 28-July 02, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CEST (Italy) | Samuel Abbott |
| July 19-23, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| August 23-27, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| September 13-17, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CEST (Italy) | Samuel Abbott |
| October 04-08, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CEST (Italy) | Stefano Bianchi (Italian Course) |
| October 04-08, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| November 15-19, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EST (New York) | Blake Sawyer |
| November 22-26, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CET (Italy) | Stefano Bianchi |
AMPED AUTHENTICATE TRAINING
Photo Analysis And Tampering Detection
This is an intermediate and expert-level course designed for users who are seeking to use Amped Authenticate for their investigations. Students will learn the techniques necessary to perform authentication analysis on digital images in a forensic science setting as well as to package, deliver, and present those findings in court. The course is a mixture of lecture and hands-on. Students will obtain the knowledge and skills required to properly analyze digital images with a workflow compatible with forensic needs and constraints. Check out the schedule:
| June 21-25, 2021 | 11 AM – 3 PM EDT (New York) | Stefano Bianchi |
| September 20-24, 2021 | 9 AM – 1 PM CEST (Italy) | Stefano Bianchi |
Contact us today for more information about our training offerings and scheduled classes.
Dear friends, welcome! The time has come to say farewell to this blog post series! This last post will look back at what we have learned in previous weeks and provide links to all of the 17 posts. We hope that you can use this as a basic knowledge base for future reference and perhaps even share it with your colleagues!
Continue reading
Dear friends, welcome to this week’s video evidence pitfall post! We often hear about the importance of metadata as a way to reveal more than pixels alone would. While it’s certainly true that metadata can give us lots of useful info, they must be looked at carefully and prudently, as they hide several pitfalls – keep reading to discover some!
Continue reading