Dahua 960H User Manual

Thank you for purchasing our product.
Please read this user’s manual before
using the product. Change without notice

H.264

4/ 8/ 16 CH
960H DVR
User’s Manual

2

CAUTION

 Please read this user manual carefully to ensure that you can use the device correctly and safely

 We do not warrant all the content is correct. The contents of this manual ar e subject to change

without notice

 This device should be operated only from the type of power source indicated on the marking label.

The voltage of the power must be verified before using. If not in use for a long time, pull out the plug
from the socket

 Do not install this device near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves or other

device that produce heat

 Do not install this device near water. Clean only with a dry cloth
 Do not block any ventilation openings. And ensure well ventilation around the machine

 Do not power off the DVR at normal recording condition! The correct operation to shut off DVR is to

stop recording firstly, and then s el ect “s hut-down” button at the right of t he me nu bar to e xit, and fi nal ly
to cut off the power.

 This machine is indoor using equipment. Do not expose the machine in rain or moist environment. In

case any solid or liquid get into the machine’s case, please cut off the power supply immediately, a nd
ask for qualified technicians to check the machine before restart

 Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. No any parts repaired by yourself without technical

aid or approval.

 This manual is suitable for 4, 8 and 16 digital video recorders.

3

1.1 Main Features

COMPRESSION FORMAT
 Standard H.264 compression with low bit rate and better image quality
LIVE SURVEILLANCE

 Supports HDMI/ VGA/BNC output
 Supports channel security by hiding live display
 Display the local record state and basic information
 Supports USB to make full control

RECORD MEDIA
 Supports one SATA HDD to record for a longer time without any limitation
BACKUP

 Supports USB 2.0 devices to backup
 Supports saving recorded files with AVI standard format to a remote computer through internet

RECORD & PLAYBACK

 Record modes: Manual, Schedule, Motion detection and Sensor alarm recording
 Supports recycle after HDD full
 Resolution, frame rate and picture quality are adjustable
 4CH DVR supports 4 CH 960H real-time recording
 8CH DVR supports 960H @12/15frame recording or 8CH full D1/CIF real-time recording.
 16CH DVR supports 960H @6/7frame recording
 Three record search modes: time search, event search and image search
 4/8/16-CH screen playback simultaneously
 Supports deleting and locking the recorded files one by one
 Supports remote playback in Network Client through LAN or internet

ALARM(for 4 and 8 CH DVR only)

 Supports schedule for motion detection and sensor alarm
 Supports pre-recording and post recording
 Supports linked channels recording once motion or alarm triggered on certain channel

 Supports linked PTZ preset ，auto cruise and track of the corresponding channel

PTZ CONTROL

 Supports various PTZ protocols
 Supports 128 PTZ presets and 8 auto cruise tracks
 Supports remote PTZ control through internet

SECURITY
 Customize user right: log search, system setup, two way audio, file management, disk

management, remote login, live view, manual record, playback, PTZ control and remote live
view

 Supports 1 administrator and 63 users.
 Supports event log recording and checking, events unlimited

NETWORK

 Supports TCP/IP , DHCP, PPPOE, DDNS prot oc o l
 Supports IE browser to do remote view
 Supports setup client connection amount
 Supports dual stream. Network stream is adjustable independently to fit the network bandwidth

and environment.

 Supports picture snap and color adjustment in remote live
 Supports remote time and event search, and channel playback with picture snap
 Supports remote PTZ control with preset and auto cruise
 Supports remote full menu setup, changing all the DVR parameters remotely
 Supports mobile surveillance by phones with iPhone/Android/
 Supports CMS to manage multi devices on internet

4

1.2 Front Panel Instructions

Notice: The pictures are only for reference; please make the object as the standard.

Label Name Function

REC / FOCUS Manual record / focus adjustment(PTZ)
PLAY / IRIS Enter Playback/ iris adjustment (PTZ)
REW / SPEED Fast rewind on playback mode /speed adjustment (PTZ)
FF / P.T.Z. Fast forward on playback mode /enter PTZ mode

MENU / +

Enter menu page / increase value

BACKUP / - Enter backup page / decrease value
STOP / ESC

Stop playback on playback mode /
Exit menu or jump back to previous page

Split / Direction
Key

Switch split / Move selected item

Enter Validate action
USB Connect USB thumb drive or mouse
IR receiver Remote receiver

5

1.3 Back Panel Definition

Rear Panel for 4-ch

Item

Name

Description

1

Audio out

Audio output, connect to the sound box

2

Audio in

4 CH Audio input

3

ALARM IN

Connect to external sensor 1-4

4

ALARM OUT

1-ch relay output. Connect to external alarm

5

GND

Grounding

6

Video in

Video input channels from 1-4

7

CVBS port

Connect to monitor

8 Spot out

Connect to monitor as an AUX output channel by channel. Video would
be displayed without OSD.

9

VGA port

VGA output, connect to monitor

10

HDMI port

Connect to high-defin ition display device

11

LAN

Network port

12

USB port

Connect USB mouse or connect external USB devices

13

DC12V

POWER INPUT

14

RS485

Connect to speed dome or keyboard

Rear Panel for 8-ch

Item

Name

Description

1

Audio in

4 CH Audio input

2

GND

Grounding

3

ALARM OUT

1-ch relay output. Connect to external alarm

4

ALARM IN

Connect to external sensor 1-8

5

Video in

Video input channels from 1-8

6

VGA port

VGA output, connect to monitor

7

HDMI port

Connect to high-defin ition d is play device

8

LAN

Network port

9

USB port

Connect USB mouse or connect external USB devices

10

DC12V

POWER INPUT

11

RS485

Connect to speed dome or keyboard

12

Audio out

Audio output, connect to the sound box

13

CVBS port

Connect to monitor

14 Spot out

Connect to monitor as an AUX output channel by channel. Video
would be displayed without OSD.

6

Rear Panel for 16-ch

Item

Name

Description

1 RS485 Connect to speed dome or keyboard（A is TX+, B is TX-）

2

Audio in

2-CH Audio inputs

3

Video in

Video input channels from 1-16

4

HDMI port

Connect to high-defin ition display device

5

VGA port

VGA output, connect to monitor

6

LAN

Network port

7

USB port

Connect USB mouse or connect external USB devices

8

DC12V

POWER INPUT

9

Video out

Connect to monitor

10

Audio out

Audio output, connect to the sound box

7

1.4 Remote Controller (Optional)

This remote control use AAA battery, the definition as following:

Fig 2.4 Remote Controller

Button

Function

Power Button

Switch off—to stop DVR. Use it before turning off the power

Record Button To record manually

-/-- /0-9 Digital Button Input number or choose camera
Fn1 Button Unavailable temporarily
Multi Button To choose multi screen display mode
Next Button To switch the live image
SEQ To enter into auto dwell mode
Audio To enable audio output in live mode
Switch To switch the output between BNC and VGA

Direction button

To move cursor in setup or pan/title PTZ

Enter Button To confirm the choice or setup
Menu Button To enter into menu
Exit Button To exit the current interface
Focus/IRIS/Zoom/PTZ To contro l PTZ camera. Move came ra/zoom/IRIS/Focus
Preset Button To enter into preset setting in PTZ mode
Cruise Button To enter into cruise setting in PTZ mode
Track Button To enter into track setting in PTZ mode
Wiper Button To enable wiper func tion in PTZ mode
Light Button To enable light function in PTZ mode
Clear Button To return to the previ ous interface
Fn2 Button Unavailable temporarily

Info Button

Get information about DVR like firmware version, HDD information

To control playback. Play/Pause/Stop/Previous Section/Next

Section/Rewind/Fast Forward
Snap Button To take snapshots manually
Search Button To enter into search mode
Cut Button To set the start/end time for backup in playback mode
Backup Button To enter into backup mode
Zoom Button To zoom in the images
PIP Button To enter into picture i n picture sett ing mode

◆ Switch Remote Control ID
Take remote control and point to DVR then continuously press “8”,”8”,”ID(0-65535)”,”Enter”.

＊The ID must be the same on DVR.
＊For example: If ID=1, please take remote control and point to DVR then press 8, 8, 1, Enter.

8

1.5 Control with Mouse

1.5.1 Connect Mouse

It supports USB mouse through the port on the rear panel, please refer to Fig 2.4 Remote Controller.

Notice: If mouse is not detected or doesn't work, check below steps:

1. Make sure the mouse is connected to the USB mouse port not the USB port

2. try another mouse

1.5.2 System operation by mouse

The structure of the main menu is shown in Fig 2.4 Remote Controller.

In live:

Double-click left button on one camera to be full screen displa y. Double-click again to return to the previous

screen display.

Click right button to show the control bar at the bottom of the screen as Fig 2.4 Remote Controller. Here are all
control and setup. Click right mouse again to hide the control bar.

In setup:

Click left button to enter. Click right button to cancel setup, or return to the previous.
If want to input the value, move cursor to the blank and click. An input window will appear as Fig2.5. It supports

digitals, letters and symbols input.

Fig 2.5 Digital Numbers and Letters Input Wi n d o w

Users can change some v alue by the wheel, such as tim e. Move cursor onto the value, and roll t he wheel

when the value blinks.

It supports mouse drag. I.e. Set motion detection area: click customized, hold left button and drag to set motion
detection area. Set schedule: hold left button and drag to set schedule time

In playback:

Click left button to choose the options. Click right button to return to live mode.

In backup:

Click left button to choose the options. Click right button to return to previous picture.

In PTZ control:

Click left button to choose the buttons to control the PTZ. Click right button to return to live.

Notice: Mouse is the default tool in all the operation below unless Exceptional indication.

9

2 Basic Function Instruction

2.1 Power On/Off

Before you power on the unit, please make sure all the connection is good.

2.1.1 Power on

Step1: connect with the source power; switch on the power button near the power port in the rear panel
Step2: the device will start to boot, and the power indicator will become blue
Step3: before start, a WIZARD dialogue box will pop-out (refer to below picture) and show some information
about time zone and time setup, IP information, record quick setup and HDD information page.

After the device powers on, if ther e is no menu or only has live image display, us er can long press ESC
button to switch.

Notice: this serial device can only display menu on VGA monitor or BNC monitor at one time, if there is

live image display without menu display, please check up whether other device has menu display firstly, or
long press ESC key to wait for login dialog box to appear.

2.1.2 Power off

User can power off the device by using remote controller, keyboard and mouse.

By remote controller:

Step1: press Power button, the shut do wn windo w wi ll appear, click OK, the unit will power off after a while.
Step2: disconnect the power

By keyboard and mouse:

Step1: enter into Menu, then select “System Shut Down” icon, the Shut down windo w will appear
Step2: click OK, the unit will power off after a while.
Step3: disconnect the power

2.2 Login

User can login and logout the DVR system. User cannot do any other operations except changing the
multi-screen displa y once logou t.

Fig 3-1 Login
Notice: the default user name and password is “admin” and 123456”
The concrete operation steps for change password, add or delete user please refer to Fig 3.7 User

management configuration for more details.

10

2.3 Live preview

Fig 3-2 live previe w interf ac e

The explanation of symbol in the live preview interface:

symbol

meaning

symbol

meaning

Green Manual record Red

Alarm in trigger
record

Yellow

Motion detection record

Blue

Schedule record

2.3.1 Live playback

Click Play butt on to playback the recorde d video. Refer to Figure3-3. User can do concrete operation by
click the buttons on screen.

11

Fig 3-3 live playback

Item Function Description

1

Camera name

Enable or disable camera name display

2

Playback process bar

Last/next segment of record and time process

3 Cut

Enable to select a spec if ic part of the vi deo and
back it up on usb drive

4 Playback basic function

Play/ Pause / Stop / frame forward / fast forward
/ fast rewind

5

Display mode

Choose among different display mode

6

Live view

Enable to see 4 camera in live during playback

7

Zoom

Screen digital zoom x2

8

Color

Setup picture color

9

Volume

Volume mute on/off

10

Reduce

Hide playback tool bar

11

Exit playback mode

12 Move the playback bar in the screen

12

3 Main menu setup guide

Click right m ous e or pres s ESC button on the f ront panel, t he control bar will display on the s c reen, refer to
Fig 4-1:

1

Single

Full channel

2

Multi

4ch:1/4, 8ch:1/4/9, 16ch:1/4/9/16

3

E-Zoom

Live/playback digital zoomx2

4

Audio

Audio channel setup and volume

5

PTZ

Into PTZ control mode

6

Record

Manual record

7

Playback

Playback the nearest file

8

Main Menu

Into main OSD

9

Dwell

Channel sequence(only 16CH)

Fig 4-1 main menu toolbar

Click Menu button, the interfac e will pop-up as Fig 4-2; pr ess MENU button on the f ront panel or
operate with remote controller also can display the main menu.

Main OSD

Fig 4-2 system setup

Full channel switch, camera 1 ~ 4 or camera 1 ~ 8, camera 1 ~ 16

①

②

③

④

⑤

⑥

⑦

⑧

13

3.1 Basic configuration

Basic configuration includes three sub menus: system、date& time and DST.

3.1.1 System

Step1: enter into system configurationbasic configurationsystem; refer to Fig 4-3:

Fig 4-3 basic configuration-basic
Step2: in this interface user can setup the d evice name, de vice ID, video for mat, max network users, VGA
resolution and language. The definitions for every parameters display as below:
Device name: the nam e of the device. It may display on the client end or CM S t hat he lp user to recognize
the device remotely.

Video format: two modes: PAL and NTSC. User can select the video format according to that of camera.
Password check: enab le this option, user needs to input us er name and passwo rd can do corresponding

operations with the relevant right in system configuration.

Show time: display time in live.
Show wizard: tick off this item, there will display an opening wizard with time zone and time setup

information

Max network uses: set the max user amount of network connection

VGA resolution: the resolution of live display interface, range from: VGA800*600、VGA1024*768、

VGA1280*1024 and HDMI

Language: setup the menu language.
Note: after changed th e language and video output, the device needs to login again.

3.1.2 Time & date

Step1: enter into system configurationbasic configurationtime & date; refer to Fig 4-4:

16 CH

Fig 4-4 basic configuration-time & date

Step2: set the da te for mat, ti me format, time zone in this interface; click off “sync time with NTP server” to refresh NTP server date; user
also can adjust system date manually
Step3: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click “exit” button to exit current interface.

14

3.1.3 DST

Step1: enter into system configurationbasic configurationDST; refer to Fig 4-5:

Fig 4-5 basic configuration-DST
Step2: in this interface, enable daylight saving time, time offset, mode, start & end month/week/date, etc.
Step3: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click “exit” button
to exit current interface.

3.2 Live configuration

Live configuration includes four submenus: live, host monitor, SPOT and mask.

3.2.1 Live

In this interface, user can setup camera name, adjust colors: brightness, hue, saturation and contrast.
Step1: enter into system configurationlive configurationlive; refer to Fig 4-6:

Fig 4-6 live configurationlive

Step2: tick off camera name; click “setting” button, a window will pop-up as Fig 4-7:

Fig 4-7 live-color adjustment
Step3: in this interface, user can adjust brightness, hue, saturation and contrast in live; click “default” button
to resort default setting, click “OK” button to save the setting.
Step4: user can setup all channels with same parameters, tick off “all”, then do relevant setup.
Step5: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click “exit” button

15

to exit current interface.

3.2.2 Main monitor

Step1: enter into system configurationlive configurationhost monitor; refer to Fig 4-8:

Fig 4-8 live configuration-host monitor

Step2: select split mode: 1×1、2×2、2×3、3×3、4×4 and channel
Step3: dwell time: the time interval for a certain dwell picture display switching to next dwell picture display

Step4: selected the split mode, then setup current picture group. Click

button to setup the previous

channel groups of dwell picture, click

button to set the latter channel groups of dwell picture.
Step5: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click “exit” button
to exit current interface.

3.2.3 SPOT

Step1: enter into system configurationlive configurationSPOT; refer to Fig 4-9:

Fig 4-9 live configuration-SPOT
Step2: select split mode: 1×1and channel
Step3: dwell time: the time interval for a certain dwell picture display switching to next dwell picture display

Step4: selected the split mode, then setup current picture group. Click

button to setup the previous

channel groups of dwell picture, click

button to set the latter channel groups of dwell picture.
Step5: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click “exit” button
to exit current interface

16

3.2.4 Mask

User can setup private mask area on the live image picture, max threes areas.

Fig 4-10 live configuration-mask

Setup mask area: click Setting butt on, enter into liv e im age to pres s left mouse and drag mouse to set mask
area, refer to below picture. Click Apply button to save the setting.
Delete mask area: select a certain mask area, click left mouse to delete that mask area, click Appl y button to
save the setting.

Setup mask area

Notice: The mask area will not be recorded on DVR. Please use this function carefully.

Live image mask area

17

3.3 Record configuration

Record configuration includes five sub menus: enable, record bit rate, time, recycle record and stamp.

3.3.1 Enable

Step1: enter into system configurationrecord configurationenable; refer to Fig 4-11:

Fig 4-11 record configuration-enable
Step2: tick off record, audio and record time
Step3: user can setup all channels with same parameters, tick off “all”, then to do relevant setup.
Step4: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click “exit” button
to exit current interface.

Definitions and descriptions of Record:

Parameter

Meaning

Record

Record switch of every channels

Audio

Enable live record audio

3.3.2 Record stream

Step1: enter into system configurationrecord configurationrecord bit rate; refer to Fig 4-10:

16CH

Fig 4-10 record configuration-record bit rate

Step2: setup rate, resolution, quality, encode and max bit stream
Step3: user can setup all channels with same parameters, tick off “All”, then to do relevant setup.
Step4: click “default” button to resort default setting; click “apply” button to save the setting; click
“exit” button to exit current interface.

18

Note: if the rate value set is over high the maximum resources of the device, the value will be
adjusted automatically.

If 960H mode is enabled, here are the following resolution available

Resolution: CIF and WD1

Frame rate

Number of channel.resolution@NTSC frame rate(PAL frame rate)

4 CH

4CIF@30(25) 4WD1@30(25)

8 CH

8CIF@30(25) 8WD1@15(12)

If 960H is disabled, here are the following resolutions available

Resolution: CIF, HD1 and D1

Frame rate

Number of channel.resolution@NTSC frame rate(PAL frame rate)

4 CH

4CIF@30(25) 4HD1@30(25) 4D1@30(25)

8 CH

8CIF@30(25) 8HD1@30(25) 8D1@30(25)

For 16 channel DVR

16 CH

16CIF@30(25)

16HD1@30(25) 16D1@15(12) 16WD1@7(6)

Quality of recorded images. The higher the value is, the clearer the recorde d image is. Six options: lowest,
lower, low, medium, higher and highest.

Encode VBR and CBR
Max bit stream : range from: 256, 384, 512, 768, 1024, 1280, 1536, 1792, 2048 kbps

3.3.3 Time

Step1: enter into system configurationrecord configuration time; refer to Fig 4-12:

Fig 4-12 record configuration-time
Pre-alarm record time: the record time before event happen i.e. record tim e before motion detection or
sensor alarm is triggered.