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The Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Video Association has announced the introduction of a new certification. LEVA will now confer Certified Forensic Video Technician (CFVT) status on students who have performed video evidence processing for at least one year and successfully complete its three core courses within a five-year period:

• Basic Forensic Video Analysis & the Law,
• Intermediate Forensic Video Analysis & the Law and
• Advanced Forensic Video Analysis & the Law.

The courses, totaling 120 hours of lecture and hands-on instruction in LEVA’s Digital Multimedia Evidence Processing Lab at the University of Indianapolis, are designed to lead students to an advanced level of competency, knowledge and skills as Technicians in the science of forensic video analysis.

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"Who designed this user interface, Stevie Wonder?" Actual statement from a LE technician and point well taken when it comes to proprietary DCCTV players. They're often horribly designed, and like all multimedia players/editors/tools regardless of who makes them, they are time & resource dependent (e.g. hardware resources, drivers, frameworks, codecs, etc.).

Video technology combines footage from different cameras to allow people to see the same event from multiple angles.

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Users of Microsoft's free movie editing and photo management programs in Windows Essentials received a treat Wednesday as the company released new versions of the offerings for Windows 7 and Windows 8.

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FFmpeg is a great tool to have in your toolbox if you’re a multimedia geek. If you live mostly in the world of Microsoft Windows and have dozens, hundreds, or thousands of files to process though they lose a little luster. Sure, there are tons of free applications built on FFmpeg that provide some limited batch processing capability, but usually they're just that; limited. Here’s a simple way you can process hundreds of files from one format to another, using the full capability of your FFmpeg install.

First, which scripting languages do you know? Great, we won’t need those, but that’s really cool that you know them. Given that you’re reading this, I’m going to assume you can write plain text into a text file. I don’t like to assume anything, but I’m feeling pretty good about that one. Alright, let’s get started.

Press Release

LEVA ANNOUNCES MAJOR INITIATIVE FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF MOBILE VIDEO APPLICATIONS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT

September 8, 2010

A major initiative for the advancement of mobile video applications for law enforcement was announced today by the Law Enforcement & Emergency Services Video Association. 

By Casey Johnston

A group of researchers have developed a way to identify pirated movies by reducing the original to a signature genetic code. The system can match even videos that have been altered or had their colors changed to the source, an area where many video piracy mechanisms fall short.

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Forensic Video Solutions (FVS) is sorry to announce that Larry Compton will be leaving the company as a full-time employee effective October 1/13. The good news is that he is staying close by and will remain an important part of FVS as a consultant on many of our special projects!

I gave up my dream of one day owning a single remote control that could replace my basket of "universal" remotes several years ago. As you can imagine I lived in extreme sadness for quite some time, constantly criticizing myself for being so naive to believe such a device existed. As time passed however, I forgave myself for setting such an unrealistic goal and eventually moved on. Then yesterday the delivery man arrived, unknowingly carrying the answer to this long-forgotten dream.

Okay, to be honest, I haven't actually gone out and bought any universal remotes until just the other day. With that said, each time I've replaced a component in my entertainment system I end up with another "universal" remote that just doesn't cut it. Either it won't even work with one or more components or, as is more often the case, you lose a ton of functionality and have to keep the original remote close by anyway. While advanced universal remotes are nothing new, in my opinion finding one within a reasonable price range (below $100) is. If you're willing to invest $80-$100 in a universal remote that will actually replace all of your other remotes, so far I am very pleased with my Logitech Harmony Advanced Universal Remote for Xbox 360.

My smartphone saga entered another new chapter yesterday, as I personally migrated from a Samsung SCH-i760 to the original Motorola Q. While I liked many of the features of the Samsung, I have been using it for several months now and have missed two important voice mail messages, which is simply unacceptable. Although both are Windows Mobile devices, at least with the Q I don't have to go looking for voice mail.

I first got my hands on the Q in June of 2006, within days of its release through Verizon Wireless. I had been testing various Windows mobile devices and had already submitted an order for three Treo 700w units, which were shortly thereafter sent back and replaced with new Q's. Now normally I give new products some time to grow and work through their initial bugs before I make a jump, but in this case I for some reason jumped on the bandwagon early; and subsequently, I suffered through the initial firmware issues.

I swung by a national discount department store the other day, and while walking through their electronics department strolled down an entire aisle of cordless phones on display. Interestingly enough I notice this enormous sign above the aisle that read "900 MHz Good - 2.4 GHz Better - 5.8 GHz Best".

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised by blatant lies in marketing messages anymore, but this one got to me for some reason. So I thought I'd poke around on the Web to see what the manufacturers themselves were saying, and to my surprise found that they're probably the source of this marketing ploy.

POSITION INFORMATION -  Positions allocable to this class perform specialized photographic work for the District Attorney's Bureau of Investigation.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS -Takes photographs in various formats (e.g., still, digital, and black and white)
utilizing video and/or photographic equipment in order to assist deputy district attorneys with specific case needs.
Develops and prints photographs using the Noritsu photographic and film processing system for use as evidence in criminal prosecution.

For further information log-in to see the attached PDF file or contact Jack Nadelle.

By Lance Whitney

A new kind of memory from IBM Labs is promising to revolutionize how much data we can store and how fast we can access it on our mobile and desktop devices.
After spending six years as a theoretical concept, the memory, dubbed Racetrack, finally is a huge step closer to reality. Researchers at IBM have recently confirmed that their theories of the physics behind Racetrack are valid and can be used to develop and manufacture this new type of memory.

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