DVR EXAMINER – Recover video from CCTV DVR HDDs
What is DVR Examiner?
DVR Examiner is a software solution for acquiring video and metadata from CCTV DVR Hard Drives in a forensically sound manner. Whether in the field or in the lab, DVR Examiner allows law enforcement and other forensic professionals to bypass DVR passwords and archaic menus to quickly extract evidence from the DVR hard drive directly. No need to carve out the data and decipher the time stamps and camera streams.
Data Recovery software is often capable of seeing the data on a hard drive but without specialist knowledge of the filesystem used by an individual DVR manufacturer, it can be extremely time consuming to carve the data and piece it together into a playable video with any relevant meta data tying up specialists on a task that can be easily carried out by DVR Examiner.
"Thanks again for the very efficient service you offer. You are by far one of the easiest forensic companies to deal with, which is very refreshing and much appreciated. DVR examiner has been a great tool for us over the past year. I have recently been asked by our Divisional Commander to produce a report on the efficiency savings it is giving us as a force. We look forward to using it for another year."
Mark Brown, Digital Media Supervisor, Lancashire Constabulary.
DVR Examiner - Free Trial 30 Day
The best way to determine if the software works for you is to give it a test drive first.
- The trial lasts for 30 days which hopefully will provide you with enough time to test the software on the data from a variety of DVRs.
- The trial version is fully functional but the export of video material is limited to one file.
Apply for your free 30 day trial by clicking the button
DVR Examiner - Licencing

If you recover video from more than a couple of DVRs a year then the full licence is going to save you a lot of time.
- The full licence provides access to unlimited usage.
- 12 months of updates
- 12 months of support
- dongle activated subscription, software can be installed on multiple machines.
The developers of DVR Examiner are committed to regular updates and have a great support team to assist you.
Why not start with the 30 day trial or if you know that you are ready to purchase please request a quote here.
Existing User Testimonial
We found the test trial [ of DVR Examiner ] was very easy to use and could be used in many situations where we can’t access CCTV in other ways (eg, missing psu/faulty DVR USB ports etc).
DVR Examiner v Traditional recovery
The video below shows how quickly you can recover CCTV video using DVR Examiner compared to the traditional method using the DVR user interface. You can also export the video in an open format using DVR Examiner which is rarely an export option with DVRs.
So why would you need a software solution?
- No need to power on the DVR even if you do have the power lead
- No admin or user password required
- No remote control required
- No need to use the DVR user interface.
- No need for export media such as a USB stick or discs.
- No need to retain the DVR once hard drive is imaged and confirmed as compatible with DVR Examiner.
- Recover video for periods that the DVR system thinks is no longer available*
- Export a selection of the video content in either the proprietary format or a wmp compatible format or both.
*If DVR Examiner indicates that the recovery of inaccessible data is supported for a specific filesystem then this is an additional option which may recover data that has been accidentally or maliciously deleted via the DVR user interface or data now out of the systems retention policy.
The video below demonstrates the time saving when using DVR Examiner over traditional recovery methods. As the list above shows there are more benefits to using the software than just speeding up recovery.

Time Savings
Using the DVR to export video can take upwards of 3 weeks on some systems. With only a few clicks, DVR Examiner allows you to retrieve video from the DVR hard drive directly. This forensically sound workflow saves you and your agency the headache of manually exporting video to flash drives or CDs! Spend more time viewing the images and less time getting them.
“Our backlog in DVR cases has substantially diminished thanks to DVR Examiner”
Inv. Edith Santos
Dallas County DA’s Office
RMIN
Rocky Mountain Information Network
Who Uses DVR Examiner?

Forensic Examiners
Are you looking for a forensically sound method of recovering video from CCTV DVRs? DVR Examiner provides a forensically sound workflow to save you and your agency the headache of manually exporting video to flash drives or CDs!
Looking for video that the DVR says isn't there? By accessing the raw data DVR Examiner may be able to recover inaccessible video that you cannot recover with the DVR.

Law Enforcement Investigators
There are hundreds if not thousands of DVRs available on the market. Having to learn how to work with each unique system is a time consuming and frustrating process. By working with the hard drive directly, DVR Examiner allows you to bypass the DVR and work with the video in a consistent and easy to use interface.
Quicky and easily recover video at the scene in a fraction of the time it could take to export with the DVR itself.

Arson Investigators
Have you ever arrived at an Arson scene and found a burned and mangled DVR that may contain valuable evidence? In many situations the DVR housing can protect the hard drive from the damage of the fire, allowing you to easily recover your evidence.
With DVR Examiner you do not need the DVR to be operational, just the hard drive. Once it has been imaged you can start to examine the video content.

Private Investigators
Using the DVR to export video can take upwards of 3 weeks on some systems, tying up you and other resources. With only a few clicks, DVR Examiner allows you to retrieve video from the DVR hard drive directly and you can do it at their location.
This forensically sound workflow saves you and your company the headache of manually exporting video to flash drives or CDs!