How to Download Footage and Recording directly from Hikvision NVR’s and Recorders

1. Go to File Management and you will be directed to the required screen. (see screenshots below for each step)
2. Set your search parameters
   a) Time – this can be set as a custom time period or you can select a preset time period from the drop-down (e.g. last 24hrs, last 7 days, etc…)​ – Consider Size of Download when choosing time frame
   b) Camera – by default all your cameras will be selected, if you don’t want to export footage from all the cameras then open the drop-down, deselect ‘all cameras’ and the just select cameras you do want to export footage from.​
   c) File Type – here you select whether you want to search for videos or pictures​
   d) Tag – if you have tagged any files in the playback with a code, date or phrase you can enter that here to bring up all files tagged with that information​
   e) File Status – lets you select if you search for locked files, unlocked files, or all files​
   f) Event Type – if you want to only search for specific event clips then you can select that from the drop-down (the event you choose must have been previously enabled on the cameras you are searching), if you just want continuous files then leave this as ‘none’​
   g) Plate No. & Area/Country – these are only functional if you are searching the recordings of an ANPR camera​
3. Click Search
4. Select the files you want to export/backup (click each thumbnail and it will go blue with a tick in the corner) or if you want everything just click Select All in the top right of the screen
5. Insert your external storage device (USB stick, external HDD, etc…) into the available USB port on the NVR.
6. Click Export in the top right of the File System page and the below pop-up will appear.
7. Select your Export option and click OK:
   i) Video & Logs – this will export an individual Log file with every video file you have selected
   ii) Player – this option only downloads Hikvision’s own media player – VSPlayer – if any of your recordings have been made using H.265+ compression you may need this playback the footage as the CODEC is not a standard level of compression supported by most media players. Downloading the VSPlayer this way can be useful if the external storage device is going to be handed over to someone else for them to look at the footage, but if you need the VSPlayer for this purpose we would recommend downloading the latest version from the Hikvision Portal as the version from the NVR interface may not be the latest.
   IMPORTANT – Hikvision uses unique partitioning and may require you to format your storage device before using it so make sure it is either a new device or you have backed up any files already on the device as you will likely lose them if you have to format.
8. Select your storage device from the drop-down

If it is a brand new storage device we would recommend clicking Format just to make sure the device is using the partitioning that Hikvison likes, if it is an older drive with files already on it you can try exporting as is but you may be prompted that the partitioning is incorrect and will have to format to complete the Export. Also on this pop-up, you can create a new folder if you want to keep your files organised and select the file format you want the footage exported as. (default will export the files in the format they are saved as on the NVR which by default is usually .avi)