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ADR / Evidence, claims and footage / Exports, wrappers and viewers

Video exhibits · when nothing on the desk will open it

CCTV export that will not play, London. The disc plays nowhere. The file is almost always fine.

£400 + VAT, and you'll be sent a version that will play on any device, delivered alongside your export in the condition it arrived here. It’s just that CCTV isn’t normal video. Every DVR produces its own wrapper around the image, indexes it according to channel and time, and provides proprietary software developed for it. The software they’ve produced is looking for Windows. There may be a few programs that will only work with the recorder that created the disc. If you’re running a Mac, you’ll see absolutely nothing, and if you don't see anything then you've got a DVD sitting in a drawer for two weeks before you deal with your matter. What we do about this stuff is boring enough. Identify the wrapper from the file structure. Take the media stream out of the wrapper (turn it into something a standard PC can read). Leave your original as it is. Hash the new item and hash your original. Record every single step involved in doing this so someone else who also needs to examine this evidence can replicate everything we have done. None of these steps improve the quality of the evidence. Any time the system belongs to someone else, prior approval is required from them.

Only pay if we recover your data, on most jobs Handled as an exhibit from the moment it arrives Each hour the loop covers more of what is left

Talk it over with an engineer, in confidence
0203 0868633

Why will nothing play it?

Not video your computer recognisesNo normal PC has ever seen a file like this before. Each manufacturer creates its own "wrapper" around the picture and uses its own unique indexing system. Frames are stored chronologically instead of by individual cameras. When fed through an average player, the frame sequence is jumbled.
What the recorder wrote outEach recorded timestamp along with channel information is contained inside. In addition to the loss of quality associated with re-encoding, both pieces of information are lost as well.
The viewer that came on the discGenerally, when you receive a disc it includes a Windows executable adjacent to your video. As such, there is no way to play it on a Mac. Some manufacturers won't even allow playback on any recorder other than their own. Also, some discs don't include any viewing software at all. At this point, most discs find themselves sitting idle in a drawer.
What happens to it hereThe wrapper (the outer layer) is worked out from the source file, the video stream is transferred without re-encoding, your original file remains unchanged, a unique hash is created for each file, and each step is documented for anyone who would want to replicate this process. The cost is £400 + VAT. In most cases you only pay if we recover your data.

Format first, then the player, then the clock.

Not listed? Tell us what it does →
What you are shownThe usual reason for itWhere that leaves you
File type ending: .dav or .264.A video file where the creator did not publish the proprietary method of wrapping the video stream.Send the player along too
A disc with the viewer not suppliedFairly common. The wrapper is worked out by reading directly off the inner structure of the exported file.Post us the whole folder
Only an executable (.exe) for Windows and nothing else.Doesn't work on a Mac, and often doesn't work well on modern PCs either.Ask for a version converted
Using a mobile phone camera to record what is happening on a monitor.Taken by filming a screen and then re-encoding the recording, it is no longer the same "exhibit".You need to go back and obtain the actual export.
The clock in the boxTime stamps tend to drift over time, many have been keyed in incorrectly at fitting, and nobody resets themCompared to a reference timepiece and expressed as a numeric figure only; guesswork is never involved.
How it reaches us: get a straight quote first (via phone or form), then send it via tracked, insured post or drop it off at our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed); our Guildford lab takes it in, and the cost of sending it back to you is on us. Unsure what to put with it when sending it to us? Give us a ring before sealing your box and we'll put you through to an engineer who can tell you what you need to include and what needs to stay behind. All of this information is also outlined on our guide to packing and posting.

The sequence we follow.

Other jobs on the log →
01

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

As soon as your parcel arrives here, an engineer assigns a case number that same day, prior to determining what has really failed, which is the first thing done and costs you nothing. In addition to a note of what can and cannot be recovered from your drive, you will receive at the same time the fixed, written price for restoring what can be recovered. You can accept this quote, or decline it, which will result in no further obligation on your part and nothing owed to us.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNothing owed at this stage
02

Settle what the file really is

A file ending almost always means very little (.dav, .264, .dat, .vid, sometimes an .mp4 whose content has been rearranged). What matters is the internal structure of the file. If the export was encrypted, the password file belonging to it must travel too. Without it, nothing will open.

The format read from the fileThe file ending tells you almost nothing
03

A version that plays anywhere

None of the content is converted during transfer. The data stream simply moves directly into the new standard wrapper without addition, subtraction, etc., and the file the recorder produced is saved here, ready to go home with your copy.

The stream copied, not re-encodedYour original left untouched
04

The clock offset gets measured

The recorder’s clock is compared to a reference, and the time difference is recorded. Most of it is usually due to the seasonal adjustment. Whatever number results is documented, and that will prevent an argument at some future date regarding timing discrepancies at a tribunal.

Checked against a reference clockRecorded as a figure, never estimated
05

You see the file list before you pay

You will see what has been recovered as a list first, after which a bill exists. Accepting the list means that a bill will be issued. Rejecting the list means that a bill will not be issued, and in most cases you only pay if we recover your data. The recovered data travels from here back to you via new media purchased specifically for your project, with the cost of postage paid by us. Your case is not resolved (i.e., "closed") until you personally view the files on a computer of your own.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the jobThe post home is ours

What the bench has learned

  • Player malfunction, not caused by the video file: the video file contains an encoded data stream (H.264/H.265), and the file's container format (wrapper) is undocumented. Its markers follow an encoding scheme devised by the manufacturer, and it keeps its data in a chronological manner rather than one stream at a time. A general decoder will incorrectly identify adjacent frames, and then use those incorrect identifications to create additional errors.
  • Neither is the manufacturer’s viewer what you’re looking for: it can even alter what you're viewing to the point that you don’t know it did. Once the viewer goes past the disk index, the video clips appear as being shot at no particular time and no date.
  • Exporting video again creates a new file rather than the same old file. The exported AVI created using an H.264 source lost frames during the hour rollover (for example) but still had metadata that remained consistent throughout. Where there are non-square pixels, they also display as widescreen on your monitor. In addition, every aspect ratio within an image changes as well.
  • Redaction is work unto itself, and intentionally limited. If someone who has no part in the matter needs to be obscured before the footage leaves, a "short export" is made with faces and number plates blurred, which then leaves with an exhibit number unique to the export (never taking the place of the master). Hour after hour of multi-camera footage is too much for this bench.

In the parcel: your video files in the exact state we received them; a version of the same video that will play on any device; an identifier (hash) for each version; the gap between the displayed time and actual time, expressed as a number rather than a time; whatever viewer was provided by the creator of the file(s), and if no viewer was provided, a written description of how the file was wrapped; and a note of where the footage began and every pair of hands it has been through since. Page one of the report also explicitly states that no forensic accreditation is held here: neither ISO/IEC 17025 nor a UKAS schedule. This should be reviewed prior to spending money, rather than after. Forensic accreditation relates strictly to criminal proceedings under a statutory Code applicable to only England and Wales. All civil, family, employment and insurance instructions fall outside this scope. In civil cases, this report fulfils the expert's duty at CPR Part 35.

One job, followed all the way through.

LDN · ADR-2026-3422JOB LOGGED ✓

A licensing hearing two weeks away, and a disc nobody could open

A Camden Town bar scheduled for a licensing hearing two weeks hence sent their solicitor four video files along with a viewer that would not install into a practice using Macs. Working out the wrapper from the files themselves allowed us to move the stream into a playable format. We left the export they gave us unaltered and created a hash for each. The clock in the recorder ran more than half an hour ahead of reality and was never adjusted for changing seasons, so we described the gap as a number, and it never became a point the other side could raise.

The insurer's claim signed off and closedExhibit-marked copy handed over

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

  • Request the export, not a clipped version of your video file
  • Request the viewer also
  • Record the make and model number of the recorder
  • Copy the entire folder, not just the video files

What sets us back

  • Repeatedly converting it in the hope that it plays
  • Recording monitor output onto a phone and calling that the file
  • Renaming the files neatly
  • Assuming conversion will improve picture quality

The questions that come up first.

Why will nothing on this computer open the disc?

The reason is simple. What resides on your DVD or CD-ROM is not video in a format your computer understands. The recorder stored the image within a proprietary framework of its own and labelled the streams internally, therefore there is nothing that an ordinary media player can do with the file. Nine times out of ten, the file itself remains intact while the problem lies with the software being directed at it.

The viewer will not install on a Mac.

No, and it was never likely to. Most of these viewers are Windows programs, and some won't even accept media from any recorder other than the one used to create the disc. First get a quote (over the phone or via the online form), then post us your export or drop it off at our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed), and we'll send back a version that works on anything, right next to your original export in the condition it arrived.

Does converting it sharpen the picture?

It won't. Any company claiming otherwise needs closer scrutiny. If there were details captured by your camera that evening, they were recorded; if not, nothing done afterwards will create them. When handled properly, the copy of your video is identical to your original; when handled improperly it may lose frames or distort the layout, which is why your original goes home with it.

Can I rely on the time stamped into the corner of the frame?

Generally, not much. Many recorder clocks drift, many were input incorrectly during setup, and relatively few have ever been corrected for seasonal changes. We measure the actual display time against a known reference and express the discrepancy as a number, eliminating any potential argument over the timing later.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

What is still on the recorder → A dashcam or a bodycam → What goes into the report → Work that reaches court →

Off the mains first, because that is what protects the evidence.

Regardless of what contains the evidence, turn off electrical power to it before doing anything else: a recorder still operating overwrites its oldest evidence every hour. Once power is removed, secure a price quotation (either by phone or through submitting a form), then post us just the disk or drive (do not include the recorder or computer), or drop it off at our Guildford intake lab, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5:30pm (no appointment needed). Evaluation costs nothing; work on recorders costs £400 + VAT and forensic analysis starts at £800 + VAT, both prices agreed to in writing beforehand. What sits on that disk stays here.

0203 0868633

Price my job Sending it to Guildford