Free DME & DFIR Resources

A couple of years ago I did a series of posts on aspect ratio correction of DCCTV recordings; more specifically DCCTV recordings captured by analog CCTV cameras, and correcting Display Aspect Ratio (DAR) for forensic interpretation. I pointed out in my posts and the subsequent Video & Display Standards Chart, that the one exception that I'm aware of where a DCCTV recording captured by an analog CCTV camera shouldn't be displayed 4:3, was the relatively new 960H format.

I've had a handful of inquiries this week about the frequency of our relatively new automated newsletter, so I thought I'd post a brief note for everyone on the topic.  The automated newsletter sends the five most recent articles and five most recent forum posts out to registered members once per week, once every two weeks or once per month.  Members can change these settings or completely unsubscribe from the newsletter by logging in selecting "Newsletter" from the "Community" menu options.

The automated newsletter was implemented to help keep members abreast of site activity.  Changing your preferences is easy and only needs to be done once.  I hope you find the service helpful. - LC

The first module in the very first course published to my new online training library is in the books! The course is on learning to use DME Resources. It will provide a basic overview of DME Resources through five training modules, the first of which is titled "Introduction and Overview". I should warn you, there's a quiz at the end, but I'm giving you two shots at passing it due to the level of complexity. ;)

Navigating & Using DME Resources Training Course

Microsoft has opened its C++ AMP specification so it can also be used by non-Microsoft compilers to harness the power of GPUs (graphics processing units).

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After 20 years, the digital camera makers are finally giving the world what it really wants: spectacular, professional-looking photos — from a tiny camera. There’s only one problem with this new category: nobody knows what to call it.

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The Media-Geek site has finally been restored, and I just wanted to take a moment to apologize to everyone for the service interruption we've experienced over the last two days.

All is back to normal now and we have several things in the works for the near future. As always, if you have any suggestions or comments regarding our site and online community, please don't hesitate to post an article, through it in the forums or shoot me a private message to further discuss the issue.

Thanks for participating!

Adobe's primary tool for tweaking and organizing photos was always destined to be part of the Creative Cloud offering, but for whatever reason it didn't make it in time for launch. As of today though, Lightroom 4 is available to download on PC or 64-bit Mac (or both, since you're allowed multiple installations) as part of a CS6 monthly license.

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An Adobe Systems tool that lets older software handle raw images from newer digital cameras is about to leave behind Apple's PowerPC-based Mac era.

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A producer for Discovery ID recently reached out to me looking for cases to research for the upcoming 4th season of Discovery ID's "See No Evil"program. They are looking for "cases whereby surveillance footage was key to cracking a mysterious homicide case."  This could be a case you recently worked on which has now been through the courts, or it might be a historical case from 10 or 15 years ago. At this stage, they are merely looking for interesting cases to research, and stated they'd of course go through proper channels to obtain media should the case pass their initial research stage.

For more information please log-in to the members area and see the related Forum post, which contains the producer's contact details.

Less than two weeks away from the official launch, and I'm making some significant progress in what will be the new, secure member's area.  This area of Media-Geek.com will not be available to the general public, as its purpose is to provide a secure place for forensic media related professionals to share information.  Membership will be open to current or retired law enforcement forensic media related professionals and prosecutors.

The new members area will provide a number of "social networking" tools, such as secure community forums, file sharing, messaging tools, a community calendar, and more.  Members will be able to submit articles, news, event information, links, and other content to share with the group.  There will be a membership directory, and users can choose what information they'd like to provide (if any).  Members can create "Connections" or "buddy lists" and use Private Messaging (PM) to communicate with any member throughout the entire site. Want to receive an email or PM when there's a new post to a forum?  No problem.  Want an email when someone sends you a PM?  Can do.  Want to keep your email address private, yet allow members to send you an email?  We can do that too!

Digital video evidence is coming at law enforcement agencies hard and fast, and both the pace and quantity of digital video evidence continue to increase exponentially. There are so many digital video sources, each with unique challenges and issues when it comes to proper evidence collection, viewing, interpreting, presentation and management of the evidence. Training is critical for all of those involved in the entire chain of evidence, especially in a field or discipline that is constantly changing and evolving.

If you’re involved in the digital video evidence chain, below are a few training events that I’ll be at next month that you may find interesting. Hope to see you there!

May 13-15, DVR Assessment & Video Recovery, Burtonsville, MD

May 19-23, LEVA Level 1 – Forensic Video Analysis & The Law – University of Indianapolis, IN

The director of the FBI used his keynote address at the RSA 2010 conference to appeal for greater co-operation between law enforcement and the private sector to tackle online crime.

Robert Mueller told delegates that the need for co-operation had never been stronger, as online fraud rises to huge levels and the next generation of terrorists move online in unprecedented numbers."

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The FREE Windows File Recovery app is in the news again this week, with The Verge, ZDNet and others reporting on this "new" utility/tool.

Although it's not "new", as it was released in January, you likely haven't had a version of their OS that can run it until recently, unless you're an insider or developer. It is command line tool, but pretty simple to use (think PhotoRec/TestDisk). It can be used to recover from internal drives, HDD or SSD drives, cameras, USB and flash card storage. You'll need Win 10 version 19041.0 or higher.