Changelog¶
DVR-Scan 1.7¶
1.7 (In Development)¶
Beta 1 (1.7-dev0)¶
- [feature] New GUI now available across all platforms, can be launched via
dvr-scan-app- Has UI elements for all settings, supports editing motion regions
- Shows scan progress in real-time
- Supports loading/saving config files compatible with the
dvr-scanCLI command
- [general] Minimum supported Python version is now 3.9
Beta 2 (1.7-dev1)¶
- [bugfix] Fix "too many values to unpack" exception when scanning video
- [bugfix] Fix incorrect calculation of total frames when showing progress
- [bugfix] Fix drag-and-drop shortcut not working due to not parsing input paths from command line
- [general] Show alert on any errors during motion scanning
DVR-Scan 1.6¶
1.6.2 (December 17, 2024)¶
- [feature] Vastly improved region editor UI:
- Reimplemented entire UI with Tcl/Tk to provide much more consistent experience across platforms
- All options now have dedicated UI controls in addition to keyboard shortcuts
- System-specific shortcuts like undo/redo now work as expected
- Various performance and usability improvements including zoom/pan and shape selection
- [feature] Add new
variance-thresholdconfig option to control how MOG2 controls which pixels are described by the current background model #163 - [feature] Add new
--thumbnailsoption to extract images from each event, use--thumbnails highscoreto save frame with highest motion score #159 - [feature] Add
--use-ptsoption to allow using presentation time instead of frame number for timestamps #170 - [bugfix] Fix incorrect framerate detection in Windows builds #174
- [general] Updates to Windows distributions:
- Python 3.9 -> Python 3.12
- OpenCV 4.10.0.82 -> 4.10.0.84
- Ffmpeg 6.0 -> 7.1
1.6.1 (May 18, 2024)¶
Release Notes¶
DVR-Scan 1.6.1 includes some important fixes and improvements for the region editor. Minimum supported Python version is now 3.8.
Changelog¶
- [bugfix] Corrupt frames are no longer encoded and are skipped when encoding #151
- [bugfix] Fix
region-editorconfig file option having no effect #154 - [bugfix] The region editor now always prompts on any unsaved changes #161
- [general] The region editor no longer prompts for a save path if
-s/--save-regionwas specified - [general] Regions added via command line are now be merged with those loaded from the
load-regionconfig option - [general] Add new
learning-rateconfig option to control how fast the background model is updated- Value between
0.0and1.0controls how much weight is placed on next frame, or-1for auto 0.0implies no update to the model,1.0will re-initialize it completely on each frame- Default value of
-1is for automatic, which is unchanged from previous releases
- Value between
1.6 (October 15, 2023)¶
Release Notes¶
DVR-Scan greatly improves masking capabilities with the new region editor (user guide):

Multiple regions can now be defined with any shape, size, and complexity. Region data can be saved to a file and loaded again. Regions can also be specified by command line.
There are also several other bugfixes and improvements, such as improved seeking performance.
Changelog¶
- [feature] New region editor
-r/--region-editorallows creation of multiple regions without shape restrictions, replaces-roi/--region-of-interest - [feature] Multiple regions of interest (rectangular or polygonal) can now be created:
- Using the new region editor by adding the
-r/--region-editorflag:dvr-scan -i video.mp4 -r - New
-a/--add-regionreplaces-roi/--region-of-interestoption:dvr-scan -i video.mp4 -a 5 5 20 5 20 20 5 20 - Regions can now be saved to a file: press S in the region editor or use
-s/--save-region - Regions can now be loaded from a file: press O in the region editor or use
-R/--load-region - Config files can specify a region file to use by default with the
load-regionoption, replaces theregion-of-interestsetting
- Using the new region editor by adding the
- [feature] New
-fm/--frame-metricsoption draws motion score on each frame to help tune detection parameters - [cli] Short flag
-vis now used for--verbosity, replaced by-Vfor--version - [cli]
-roi/--region-of-interestis now deprecated, replaced by region editor and add/save/load region flags- Specifying this option will display the ROI in the new region format allowing you to update usages more easily
- [general] Improved seeking performance, using
-st/--start-timeis now much faster (#92) -detection-parameters) - [general] Noise reduction kernel can now be disabled by setting
-k/--kernel-sizeto0(#123) - [general] Include stack traces in logfiles when setting
--verbosity debug - [bugfix] Add
max-scoreoption to config file to fix CNT mode always treating first few frame as motion, default is 255.0 #119 - [bugfix] Fix timecode format
HH:MM:SS[.nnn]being rejected for start/end time (#141) - [bugfix] Fix incorrect RGB mapping for config file (values were treated as BGR instead)
- [other] Config option
timecodehas been renamed totime-codeto match the command-line option - [other] Config options that started with
timecode-have been renamed to start withtext-, and are now shared between thetime-codeandframe-metricsoverlays:time-code-marginis nowtext-margintime-code-font-scaleis nowtext-font-scaletime-code-font-thicknessis nowtext-font-thicknesstime-code-font-coloris nowtext-font-colortime-code-bg-coloris nowtext-bg-color
Known Issues¶
- Some prebuilt archives include documentation which references the
load-regionconfig option with the incorrect name (region-file) #153
DVR-Scan 1.5¶
1.5.1 (August 15, 2022)¶
Changelog¶
- [bugfix] Fix crash when opening multiple input videos (#95)
- [bugfix] Fix incorrect warning regarding frame decode failures at end of video
1.5 (July 30, 2022)¶
Release Notes¶
- Significant performance improvements on multicore systems
- Support wildcards/globs as inputs for scanning entire folders (
-i folder/*.mp4) - Allow use of ffmpeg for better output quality (
-m ffmpeg) or codec-copying mode (-m copy) - Configuration files are now supported, see documentation for details
- Can specify config file path with
-c/--config, or create advr-scan.cfgfile in your user config folder
- Can specify config file path with
- Windows binaries are now signed, thanks SignPath.io (certificate by SignPath Foundation)
- Experimental Nvidia CUDA® support has been added (set
-b MOG2_CUDA)- If installing via
pip, requires manual installation of OpenCV compiled with CUDA support - If downloading Windows version, make sure to download the GPU-enabled build (
dvr-scan-1.5-win64-cuda.zip) - CUDA-enabled builds are not code signed, and do not include the
CNTmethod
- If installing via
- Minimum supported Python version is now 3.7
- Minimum supported OpenCV version is now 3.x
Command-Line Changes¶
- New options:
-c/--config- set path to config file-d/--output-dir- set directory to write output files (default is working directory)-m/--output-mode- set output mode (one of:opencv,ffmpeg,copy)-mo/--mask-output- path to write motion mask for analysis--verbosityand--logfile- control output verbosity and path to save output
-i/--inputnow supports globs/wildcards to scan entire folders, e.g.-i folder/*.mp4- Change default value for
-l/--min-event-lengthto 0.1 seconds, previously was 2 frames - Long form of
-roihas been renamed to--region-of-interest(previously was--rectangle-of-interest) -cis now used for--config, previously was for--codec- Add experimental
MOG2_CUDAoption for-b/--bg-subtractor - Rename existing
MOGoption toMOG2 --codechas been removed, the value should now be set using a config file
Changelog¶
- [feature] Configuration file support and new
-c/--configargument to specify path to config files (#77)- Breaks existing behavior of
-c(was previously the shortform of--codec)
- Breaks existing behavior of
- [feature] Add support for multiple output modes via
-m/--output-modeargument (#27, #42) - [feature] Experimental support for GPU-based CUDA MOG2 filter (#12)
- [feature] Video encoding and decoding are now done in parallel with the scanning logic leading to improved performance on most systems (#52)
- [feature] Add support for exporting motion masks via
-mo/--mask-outputargument- Useful for detailed analysis or tuning of detection parameters
- ffmpeg can be used to generate output videos by specifying
-m ffmpeg - Codec-copy mode, using ffmpeg, can be used by specifying
-m copy
- [feature] Add
--verbosityand--logfilearguments to provide more control over program output - [feature] Allow scanning entire folders using wildcards with
-i/--input(#5)- Glob expansion is also performed on each input path directly, so quoted globs also function correctly
- [bugfix] Fix incorrect results when
-st/--start-timeis set - [bugfix] Event start times are now correctly calculated when using
-fs/--frame-skip(#68, #70)- Note that all skipped frames within the event window are included in motion event, thus the calculated start time may be slightly earlier
- [bugfix] Only get screen resolution when required (was causing issues on headless machines)
- [bugfix] Fix output messages conflicting with progress bar shown during scanning
- [bugfix] Output events now start from 1 to align with the event list
- [bugfix] Event end times now include the presentation duration of the last frame
- [bugfix] Small values for
-l/--min-event-lengthare now handled correctly, previously would cause an error - [enhancement] Progress bar now indicates how many events have been detected so far
- [enhancement] Change default value for
min_event_lento 0.1 seconds, previously was 2 frames (#91)
Known Issues¶
- Attempting to open multiple input videos will cause DVR-Scan to crash, fixed in v1.5.1 (#95)
- Variable framerate videos (VFR) are not fully supported, and will yield incorrect timestamps (#20)
- Video output when using frame skip and
-m opencv(default output mode) will result in frames missing from the exported videos (#81)- Use
-m ffmpegor-m copyas a workaround
- Use
- Multiple input videos are not supported with
-m ffmpegor-m copy(#86)- Use ffmpeg to concatenate/merge input videos before processing as a workaround
- CUDA builds do not include the
CNToption for-b/--bg-subtractor
DVR-Scan 1.4¶
1.4.1 (February 20, 2022)¶
Release Notes¶
This release includes fixes for incorrect event start/end times when using frame skipping, and improvements to the bounding box overlays.
Important: Aside from critical bugfixes, DVR-Scan 1.4.x is the last minor version supporting Python 2.7. Starting from v1.5, the new minimum supported Python version will be 3.6 (see #83 for details).
Changelog¶
- [bugfix] Event start times are now correctly calculated when using
-fs/--frame-skip(#68, #70)- Note that event start/end times may still be off by how many frames are skipped due to loss of context with respect to frame-accurate motion detection
- [bugfix] Event end times now take into account the number of skipped frames if
-fs/--frame-skipif specified (e.g. it is assumed all skipped frames contained motion) - [bugfix] Bounding box smoothing now takes into account
-fs/--frame-skip(#31) - [bugfix] Bounding boxes now cover all frames with motion (#31)
- In v1.4 only the frames after
-l/--min-event-lengthframes had passed were covered
- In v1.4 only the frames after
Known Issues¶
- Variable framerate videos (VFR) are not fully supported, and will yield incorrect timestamps (#20)
- Using
-st/--start-timewill yield incorrect results - If a motion event happens to be exactly the number of frames specified by
-l/--min-event-length, the end timecode will be displayed incorrectly (#90)
1.4 (February 8, 2022)¶
Release Notes¶
In addition to several bugfixes, this release of DVR-Scan adds the ability to draw a bounding box around the area in the frame where motion was detected. There are also several improves when using -fs/--frame-skip and/or -df/--downscale-factor by ensuring all other option are relative to the original video framerate/resolution.
Important: Aside from critical bugfixes, DVR-Scan 1.4.x is the last minor version supporting Python 2.7. Starting from v1.5, the new minimum supported Python version will be 3.6 (see #83 for details).
Changelog¶
- [feature] Add new
--bb/--bounding-boxoption to draw rectangle around the area in the video where motion was detected- An amount to temporally smooth the box in time can also be specified after
-bb(e.g.-bb 0.5s), where the default is 0.1s
- An amount to temporally smooth the box in time can also be specified after
- [bugfix] Processing errors should now return a non-zero exit code
- [bugfix] Allow a maximum window size to be set when using
-roi(#59):- The
-roiflag now accepts a maximum window size for the ROI selection window (e.g.-roi 1920 1080) - If the
screeninfopackage is installed, or you are using a Windows build, videos will automatically be resized to the maximum screen size
- The
- [bugfix] Fix frozen timestamp at beginning of video (#68)
- [bugfix] Fix output videos not including all of the duration specified by
-tb/--time-beforein certain cases (#68 - [bugfix] Fix event start times not reflecting
-l/--min-event-lengthand-tb/--time-before(#68 - [bugfix] Scanning no longer stops suddenly after a frame fails to decode (#62)
- If more than 1 corrupt frame is found, a warning will be displayed with the number of frame decode failures
- If more than 5 frames in a row fail to be decoded, processing will stop and display an error
- [bugfix] When no events have been found, an empty file is no longer created if
-o/--outputis specified - [enhancement]
-k/--kernel-sizeis now relative to the original video resolution, and will be reduced to adjust for-df/--downscale-factorif set (#46) - [bugfix] Output videos now have the correct playback speed when using
-fs/--frame-skipby reducing the framerate (#70) - [bugfix] The
-l/--min-event-lengthand-tp/--time-post-eventparameters are now adjusted to compensate for-fs/--frame-skipif set (#70) - [bugfix] An erroneus event (false positive) is no longer generated at the beginning of a video when
-l/--min-event-lengthis equal to 1 frame
Known Issues¶
- Variable framerate videos (VFR) are not fully supported, and will yield incorrect timestamps (#20)
- When using
-fs/--frame-skip, event start times do not include all of-tb/--time-before-event(#68, #70) - When using
-bb/--bounding-box, the amount of time covered by-l/--min-event-lengthwill be missing bounding box overlays (#31) - Using
-st/--start-timewill yield incorrect results - If a motion event happens to be exactly the number of frames specified by
-l/--min-event-length, the end timecode will be displayed incorrectly (#90)
DVR-Scan 1.3¶
1.3 (May 23, 2021)¶
Release Notes¶
This version of DVR-Scan includes a new, faster background subtraction algorithm (-b CNT). Results may be slightly different when using this method, so any feedback is most welcome.
Changelog¶
- [feature] Add new
-b/--bg-subtractorargument to allow selecting between the MOG and CNT background subtractor types (e.g.dvr-scan -b CNT). Resolves #48. The following background subtractor types are available:MOGis the defaultCNTis a newer, faster algorithm (feedback is welcome)
- [bugfix] When using the
-o/--outputargument, a file is no longer written to disk if no motion events are found in the input file (#50)
Known Issues¶
- Variable framerate videos (VFR) are not fully supported, and will yield incorrect timestamps (#20)
- Using the
-roiflag with high resolution videos can result in the window exceeding the size of the monitor (#59) - When using
-tc/--time-codethe start of the video may have a frozen timestamp (#68) - The kernel size must be manually adjusted when using
-df/--downscale-factor(#46) - When using
--frame-skip, the--min-event-lengthparameter must be manually adjusted, and exported clips will have the wrong playback speed
DVR-Scan 1.2¶
1.2 (March 10, 2021)¶
Changelog¶
- [bugfix] Fix quiet mode (
-q/--quiet) not working correctly (#19, #35) - [bugfix] Fix downscale factor (
-df/--downscale-factor) having no effect (#46) - [api] Swap order of
fpsandtimecodearguments inFrameTimecodeconstructor to match that of PySceneDetect (#33) - [api] Refactor ScanContext class for better usage from Python (#33)
- [api] Use named logger rather than print statements (#35)
Known Issues¶
- When using the
-o/--outputargument, a file is still written to disk even if no motion events are discovered in the input file (#50) - Variable framerate videos (VFR) are not fully supported, and will yield incorrect timestamps (#20)
DVR-Scan 1.1¶
1.1 (July 12, 2020)¶
Changelog¶
- [feature] Add new
-roiargument to allow specifying a rectangular detection window, can select graphically or specify x/y/w/h via command line (thanks @klucsik) - [bugfix] Fixed broken OpenCV compatibility layer causing issues with OpenCV 3.0+
- [general] Released project on pip, pinned OpenCV version requirement
Known Issues¶
- Quiet mode (
-q/--quiet) does not work correctly - Variable framerate videos (VFR) are not fully supported, and will yield incorrect timestamps (#20)
DVR-Scan 1.0¶
1.0.1 (January 12, 2017)¶
- [bugfix] unhandled exception affecting users running source distributions under Python 2.7 environments
1.0 (January 11, 2017)¶
- [feature] detects motion events with configurable sensitivity and noise removal thresholds
- [feature] output events to individual video files, or as a single-file compilation
- [feature] allows input seeking, frame skipping, and output suppression mode
- [feature] configurable detection windows and pre/post-event inclusion length