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<h1 id="dvr-scan-title">DVR-Scan</h1>
<h3 id="dvr-scan-subtitle">Find and extract motion events in videos.</h3>

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!!! success "Latest Version: 1.8.2 (January 18, 2026)"

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DVR-Scan is a command-line application that **automatically detects motion events in video files** (e.g. security camera footage).  DVR-Scan looks for areas in footage containing motion, and saves each event to a separate video clip.  DVR-Scan is free and open-source software, and works on Windows, Linux, and Mac.

## Quickstart <span class="dvr-scan-download-icons">:fontawesome-brands-windows::fontawesome-brands-apple::fontawesome-brands-linux:</span>

### UI

Launch DVR-Scan from the shortcut or run the `dvr-scan-app` command.  Press **Add** to add your input videos, and press **Start** to find and extract segments with motion:

<img alt="ui example" src="assets/app-main-window.jpg" width="480"/>

To limit detection to certain areas, press **Set Regions** and use [the **Region Editor**](guide.md#region-editor). Motion sensitivity can be adjusted under **Settings -> Motion**.  See the [User Guide](guide.md) for more information.

### CLI

Scan `video.mp4` (separate clips for each event):

    dvr-scan -i video.mp4

Only scan a region of interest ([see user guide](guide.md#region-editor) or hit `Ctrl + H` for controls):

    dvr-scan -i video.mp4 -r

<img alt="overlay example" src="assets/region-editor-multiple.jpg" width="480"/>

Draw boxes around motion:

    dvr-scan -i video.mp4 -bb

<img alt="overlay example" src="assets/bounding-box.gif" width="480"/>

Use `ffmpeg` to extract events:

    dvr-scan -i video.mp4 -m ffmpeg

Once installed, see [the user guide](guide.md) to get started, try one of the examples above, or type `dvr-scan --help`. Press `Ctrl + C` to stop processing at any time.

See the [documentation](docs.md) for a complete description of all [command-line](docs.md#dvr-scan-options) and [config file](docs.md#config-file) settings.
