Category Archives: How to Amped DVRConv

A Farewell to Tip Tuesday and a Collection of All 2020 Tips

Dear friends, it is with a bittersweet feeling that I’m announcing this will be the last Tip Tuesday. The bitter part is just because I’m a bit emotional and I got used to this weekly appointment… but the sweet part is that we’ll continue writing new posts in 2021, just a bit different… so the best is yet to come!

To say goodbye, I’ve prepared a list of the 52 tips that accompanied this difficult 2020, so you have them all here for quick reference. And if you want, you can also take a look at the list of 2019 tips.

Thanks to all our loyal followers, we’ll meet again next year (#bringon2021) ready for a new experience!

  1. Tired of Clicking? Learn How to Use Amped Authenticate’s Command Line Interface to Quickly Analyze or Triage Lots of Images!
  2. A Good Way to Say No: Show What’s Actually There With Amped Replay
  3. To Us “Nice” is Not Enough: Learn How to Further Improve Your Super-Resolution Images in Amped FIVE
  4. What Have I Done? Learn How to Effectively Show the Improvement You Achieved With Amped Replay
  5. Different Points of View? No Problem! Use Amped FIVE’s Perspective Aligner to Compare or Integrate Images Taken From Different Angles!
  6. Where Are You From? Learn How to Investigate Which Camera Model Took an Image Using Exif Metadata and JPEG Quantization Tables
  7. Lights, Camera, Action! Amped Replay Now Lets You Easily Handle Multiple Annotations
  8. Brilliant Details: Learn How to Use Amped FIVE’s Macros to Add Adaptive Text to Your Frames and Make Compelling Videos
  9. The Truth Will Come Out: Easily Verify Time and Location Metadata With Amped Authenticate and Avoid Being Deceived by Them!
  10. To Rotate or Not To Rotate? Learn How Amped Replay’s Rotate Filter Works and When You Should Use It
  11. Let’s Get Loud! The Latest Amped FIVE Supports Audio More Than Ever, Take a Quick Tour Into This New World!
  12. The Sound of Silence: Learn How to Redact Audio in Amped FIVE
  13. When Sound Beats Light: Use Amped FIVE to Synch Videos Leveraging Their Audio Tracks!
  14. Unity Is Strength! In Challenging Cases, Amped Authenticate’s Compare CRP Makes Source Device Identification More Accurate
  15. Few GBs Left? Slow Connection? Amped Replay Lets You Pick Just the Frames You Need, so You Save Data and Don’t Lose Quality!
  16. Go Live! Let Your PC Be a Witness Using Amped FIVE’s Video Input to Record Everything You Do
  17. Using Amped Authenticate for Video Source Identification When You Only Have Images As Reference
  18. Pick the Best Frames With Amped Replay’s Bookmarks to Save Time and Focus on What Matters Most
  19. How Tall Is the Bad Guy? Reverse Projection in Amped Five With the Video Input Filter
  20. Amped Authenticate’s PRNU Tampering Filter Turns Sensor Noise Into an Effective Forgery Localization Tool!
  21. Speed Matters! Amped Replay’s Smooth Playback Makes Playback Fluid Even for High-Resolution Videos
  22. Did You Know Amped FIVE Allows Real-Time Processing on a Live Video?
  23. Discover Adaptive JPEG Quantization Tables and Save Yourself From Headaches!
  24. What Is “Better”? Understanding the Differences Between Amped FIVE or Amped Replay vs Consumer Video Players
  25. Trading Time for Definition: Learn How to Master Amped FIVE’s Frame Averaging Filter
  26. Yes, It Makes the Difference! A Practical Guide to Why You Should Keep Your Amped Products Up To Date
  27. Trading Time for Definition Part 2: Temporal and Motion Smoothing Are the Way to Cleaner and Ghost-Free Videos!
  28. Deeper and Deeper: Learn How to Verify the Consistency of Image Sequences With Some Less-Known Metadata!
  29. File Management, Exporting and Backup in Amped Replay
  30. Stay in the Range! Learn How to Use Amped FIVE’s Show Saturation Feature to Spot Saturated Pixels in Your Images
  31. Learn How to Use Amped Authenticate’s Shadows Filter Like a Pro for Clearer Results and Faster Processing!
  32. Customizable Power! Learn How to Customize Amped Replay Interface and Show Only the Features That You Need
  33. What’s in Your Past? A Guide to Spotting Traces of Double JPEG Compression With Amped Authenticate (Part 1)
  34. Are You Using the Best Possible Evidence? Amped FIVE’s Video Mixer Helps You Compare Frames and Answer the Question!
  35. What’s in Your Past? A Guide to Spotting Traces of Double JPEG Compression With Amped Authenticate (Part 2)
  36. A Guide to Video Exporting Options In Amped Replay
  37. Amped FIVE’s Histogram Tool: A Simple And Effective Way to Guide Your Enhancement!
  38. How to Use Amped Authenticate to Reveal Traces of Former JPEG Compression in Seemingly Uncompressed Images
  39. Handle With Care: Edit Project Files With a Text Editor
  40. Make Impressive Annotations in Seconds with Amped Replay’s Assisted Tracking
  41. Learn How to Use Amped FIVE’s Video Mixer to Compare Different Points of the Same Chain
  42. A Guide to Various Ways of Exporting Results in Amped Authenticate
  43. Layered Perfection: Learn Different Ways of Adding Multiple Annotations With Amped FIVE
  44. Learn How to Lock Annotations and Prevent Accidental Modifications in Amped Replay and Amped FIVE
  45. How to Quickly Find Manipulated Objects With Amped Authenticate’s Shadows Filter
  46. A Short Guide to Choosing the Right Export Format For Your Images and Videos: Part 1
  47. A Short Guide to Choosing the Right Export Format For Your Images and Videos: Part 2
  48. Change Frame Rate and Convert Frame Rate: Which One Should You Use in Your Case
  49. Discover the Power of the Amped FIVE Assistant With a Guided Example
  50. Learn How to Create Your Own Amped FIVE Assistant Scripts, It’s a Game Changer!
  51. How to Use Amped Authenticate Video PRNU to Check Whether a Video and Some Images Are From the Same Camera
  52. This one!

See you in 2021!

The Lifesaver: Convert Hundreds of Unplayable Videos in Batch and Save Hours and Headaches With Amped DVRConv!

Welcome, Tip Tuesday lovers! Those of you who are creatures of habit will be shocked: for the first time, we’re dedicating a tip to Amped DVRConv! For those who don’t know, DVRConv is Amped’s solution to the obnoxious problem of unplayable CCTV video files. It shares the powerful video conversion engine featured in Amped FIVE, so we have been asked from time to time “why should we get DVRConv if we already have Amped FIVE?”. This week’s tip tries to answer this question.

Continue reading →

Amped DVRConv for transcription?

In our most recent update of Amped DVRConv, we added the ability to separate the audio and video streams in your DME files – to save the audio as a separate file. For some, this functionality went unnoticed. For others, it was a huge deal.

Two very specific use cases required this functionality. You asked. We delivered.

Case #1 – Child Exploitation/Human Trafficking

Agencies responsible for investigating cases of child exploitation/human trafficking were spending a lot of time redacting video files (blurring faces and other sensitive information) in order to send files off for audio transcription. The distribution of files in child exploitation cases (files that can be considered child pornography) for transcription is now made a lot easier with DVRConv. All of the evidentiary videos can be loaded into the tool and processed without having to view the footage. DVRConv helps to dramatically speed up the process of getting files to transcription whilst protecting identities and shielding staff from the harmful psychological and legal effects of viewing/distributing such material.

Case #2 – Police Generated Video

Agencies that have deployed body worn/vehicle-based cameras or have interview room recorders often have to send the resulting video files to outside companies for transcription. Like the case above, they are faced with having to redact the visual information prior to releasing the files to their contractor. Even if the agency has chosen a CJIS compliant transcription contractor, they may have agency policies that require the redaction of the visual information prior to release. DVRConv eliminates the need to perform a visual redaction ahead of such a release of files. Having this ability is already saving agencies a tremendous amount of time/money.

Users of DVRConv do not require specialized training. The tool can be used by anyone. It’s drag-drop easy. Plus, the settings can be configured so that the resulting audio file meets the requirements of your transcription vendor.

If you’d like to know more about Amped DVRConv, or any of our other Amped Software products and training options, contact us today.

Amped DVRConv: The Beginner’s Guide

Simplicity, speed, and forensic integrity all come together in Amped’s latest software, providing law enforcement and digital forensic labs with a quick and easy stand-alone solution to the challenge of video conversion.

It’s been a few months since its release, so hopefully by now, you will have seen the blog posts and press releases regarding Amped DVRConv. It is a very easy program to use…it really is. You tell the application that you have a video file that you cannot play, the software analyzes the file and format, and then it gives you a video file that you can play in any standard playback software, along with the conversion log for full disclosure.

image-10

How do you tell it? That’s easy as well. You either use drag and drop, copy and paste, or even have it ‘watch’ a specific folder and then convert immediately.

Continue reading →

Managing Digital Evidence in Courts with Amped DVRConv

The Joint Technology Committee (COSCA)(NCSC)(NACM) had released version 1 of their document Managing Digital Evidence in Courts.

“Technologies including smartphones and body-worn cameras are capturing an ever- increasing volume of evidence. The exponential increase in the quantity of digital evidence is challenging the court’s ability to receive, evaluate, protect, and present digital evidence. This report identifies potential challenges and recommends steps courts should consider.”

In its recommendations around the conversion of proprietary video file types, it noted the following:

  • Avoid creating arbitrary limitations on acceptable formats for digital evidence.
  • Work with law enforcement, prosecutors, and local labs to consider the tradeoffs
    between converting and not converting digital video evidence.

Interestingly, when the state of Texas (US) was considering a statewide standard for video sharing in its many court districts, Amped Software was the only company to be able to say: “Yes, we’re ready now. We can convert an overwhelming majority of proprietary file types into the proxy file type of your choosing.”

Want a .re4 file converted into a Raw MOV file? Done. Want a .SEC file converted into an MP4 or an AVI file? Done. Our standalone conversion tool is second to none. We’re converting over 80% of proprietary video file types found, with more being added as we encounter them.

Meet Amped DVRConv – our best-kept secret.

dvrconv

Continue reading →