The latest update to Amped DVRConv and Amped Engine brings exciting news for the future of proprietary video extraction and conversion.
Welcome to the latest update post for Amped DVRConv and Amped Engine. For those new to our software suite, Amped Engine is the power unit behind all of our forensic video applications. Without it, the correct decoding of proprietary video formats originating from Video Surveillance Systems would not be possible. Here we focus on the conversion process and some exciting new developments to assist users.
The forensic decoding and conversion of the data are built into Amped Replay and, of course, the most complete software for forensic video analysis, restoration, enhancement, and presentation, Amped FIVE.
However, many people require our Amped Engine to be integrated into their Digital Evidence Management System. Others simply need a converter for major investigation triage and assessment of acquired video evidence.
You can think of Amped DVRConv as the body, wheels, and controls of a car, and our Amped Engine as, well, the engine!
DVRConv: the GUI for Engine
The program options allow the user to convert the same way, every time. Or, the options can be changed for an individual file or set of files to suit a specific reason or output type. As it’s drag and drop, it is a very simple interface.
However, behind the simplicity of the interface lies the sleeping dragon of the Engine. Just like that new hybrid engine in your car, it is a very clever piece of engineering. It includes processes for data analysis, stream extraction, and file formatting.
Unlike your traditional video converter that goes from A-B directly, we must first analyze and extract the raw streams to ensure the integrity of the decoded data when it gets formatted. Without this, you can lose or change information that may affect the interpretation and decisions.
We take a look at this important stage during the Amped FIVE Training. Then, we take a deeper dive into format analysis and conversion during the File Analysis and DVR Conversion Module.
The important consideration here, though, is the Forensic Data Extraction stage. As you may realize, if the data is not extracted correctly, how can it then be formatted correctly?
And it is here that we have some exciting news.
Decoding Formats
A format describes how a multimedia file originating from an imaging device, such as a Network Video Recorder (NVR), is structured. There are thousands of different formats and variants developed and then released by the private security industry. The format has nothing to do with the file extension. File extensions are not controlled, so different companies can use the same extension. How the data is structured, however, controls the individualization of that data type. This is the format.
Many formats have many different variants. This could be caused by different firmware within the recording device, the ability to retain audio, or different structures to store the timestamps. As an example, two .dat files may be completely different formats. In contrast, a .vid and a .ldv may be the same format but be different variants simply due to the branding of the device.
Over the past year, the format analysis team has developed several new methods that speed up the process of data extraction and formatting. As you can imagine, this is quite a task, but, that is not all. Our data recovery methods now include two new processes. You may therefore find new files created when decoding some proprietary CCTV Formats. These intermediary files, if created, will always be retained in the conversion stage.
OriginalFilename.avi-extracted.avi
Or
OriginalFilename.avi-decrypted.avi
If present, a log file will also be created alongside that documents the process. Linked to this are new, faster workflows for timestamp extraction and format validation.
These new systems directly benefit you, our users, with immediate decoding of many more proprietary files and much faster support for new formats or variants.
Support for New Formats and Variants
This is the largest release of new formats and variants ever released in a single update. We are releasing them first here, and they will follow along in the upcoming releases of Amped Replay and FIVE.
In this update of Amped DVRConv and Amped Engine we have added support for the following:
- 17 new file extensions
- 7 new variations of already-supported formats
- 1 new timestamp format
- 3 new variations of already-supported timestamp formats
- 3 new variations of already-supported audio formats
The lossless extraction of data from proprietary formats is a key stage in any video investigation. We are so pleased that we can now support Amped users better and faster.
Hardware Acceleration
Under Program Options, users can select Hardware Accelerated Transcoding. We have now added a new option allowing Intel processors to be used more effectively for this task.
In certain cases, using Quick Sync Video (QSV) can result in faster transcoding and smaller file sizes. It will all depend on the source files, but during internal validation, the speed and size were considerably reduced with many low-bitrate surveillance videos.
Again, this will be added to Amped FIVE in the coming release.
Bug Fixes
One small bug was fixed that caused .mov files to fail during conversion.
Don’t Delay – Update Today
If you have an active support plan, you can immediately update by going into the menu About > Check for Updates within Amped DVRConv. If you need to renew your SMS plan, please contact us or one of our authorized partners. And remember that you can always manage your license and requests from the Amped Support Portal.
