Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
This FAQ is a supplement to the user guide, and is intended to help solve the most common issues you may encounter when using DVR-Scan. The topics covered on this page range from installation problems to methods for processing corrupted video files.
How can I stop DVR-Scan while running?
Hit Ctrl + C on your keyboard to exit DVR-Scan.
Where are motion events (and other output files) saved?
By default, DVR-Scan saves all files in the current working directory (the location you are invoking the dvr-scan command from). You can set the output directory with -d/--output-dir:
dvr-scan -i video.mp4 -d events_folder/
How can I scan all files in a folder?
You can use a wildcard in the input path to select multiple videos:
dvr-scan -i folder/*.mp4
You can also specify multiple input video paths, which will be processed in the order they are specified.
Note that multiple input videos are not supported when -m/--output-mode is set to ffmpeg or copy. As a workaround, you can use ffmpeg to concatenate all input videos before using DVR-Scan to process them.
How can I improve the performance of DVR-Scan?
Adjusting motion detection parameters can have a large effect on performance. Setting the output mode -m/--output-mode to either ffmpeg or copy can also improve performance compared to the default (opencv).
How can I join/concatenate two or more video files for processing?
If you have a series of video clips from the same source, you can append subsequent video clips to the DVR-Scan input by including multiple files after -i. For example:
dvr-scan -i video0000.mp4 video0001.mp4 video0002.mp4
You can also use wildcards in the input path:
dvr-scan -i video*.mp4
Each video must have the same resolution and framerate. Videos are processed in the same order as they appear in the command, and extracted events will use the first video's filename as a template.
Multiple input videos are not supported when output mode -m/--output-mode is set to either ffmpeg or copy. As a workaround, you can use ffmpeg to concatenate all input videos before using DVR-Scan to process them.
How can I fix a video that's corrupted, shows the wrong duration, or won't let me seek/fast-forward?
Video files with corrupted/malformed headers can sometimes be fixed by re-muxing them into a new container. This can be done using either ffmpeg or mkvmerge (both tools support codec copying mode).
If the process is successful, the output video should be roughly the same size as the original, and playback fine in most media players. Specifically, it should also report the video's length accurately, and allow seeking throughout the video.
How do I run this in a Docker container?
DVR-Scan comes with a Dockerfile so you can easily get things working without worrying about installing dependencies locally. Simply install Docker, then run the following in the root of the project:
$ docker build -t dvr-scan .
This will build the container, and then to run it on a file in the local directory, you'd run the command like this:
$ docker run --rm -it -v $(pwd):/videos/ dvr-scan -i your_video_file.mkv
The most important thing to keep in mind is the -v flag, which specifies the local folders to share. Inside the docker container /videos/ is the working directory, so map that to wherever you want to process your files.
What if my video is larger than my monitor resolution?
As of DVR-Scan v1.4, you can manually specify the max width/height when using the -roi option (e.g. -roi 1920 1080). Additionally, if the screeninfo package is installed, the window will be sized to fit within the smallest monitor automatically.
How do I submit bug reports, feature requests, or code changes?
Please submit any bug reports or feature requests to the issue tracker on Github.
Code changes and pull requests are accepted and welcome, provided that the changes include fixes or improvements to the codebase, rather than just cosmetic changes, and that the changes meet or exceed the quality of the application codebase and standards guiding its development.
Why won't DVR-Scan open any video files?
If you're unable to get DVR-Scan to process any video files, including those available in the examples section, than you are either missing or have an improperly configured software dependency.
This usually happens because DVR-Scan is not able to find the OpenCV FFMPEG DLL, which is required to decode videos. Try reinstalling OpenCV, ensuring that when finished, all of the compiled opencv*.dll binaries can be found somewhere in your system's PATH environment variable.
Windows users can also try downloading a binary/portable distribution, which includes DVR-Scan and all dependencies in a single .ZIP archive. Note that the portable version can be "installed" after extracting by adding the folder containing dvr-scan.exe to your system's PATH environment variable, allowing you to use the dvr-scan command system-wide.