Swann DVR4-5100 Easy Setup Manual

DVR4-5100

Four Channel H.264

Digital Video Recorder

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DVR4-5100

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2

FCC Veri cation

NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class B digital device,

pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against

harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio

frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful

interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment o and

on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna

• Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver

• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit di erent from that to which the receiver is
connected

• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help

These devices comply with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:

1. These devices may not cause harmful interference, and

2. These devices must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause
undesired operation.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Prohibition against eavesdropping

Except for the operations of law enforcement o cers conducted under lawful authority, no person shall
use, either directly or indirectly, a device operated pursuant to the provisions of this Part for the purpose

of overhearing or recording the private conversations of others unless such use is authorized by all of the

parties engaging in the conversation.

WARNING

Modi cations not approved by the party responsible for compliance could void user’s authority to

operate the equipment.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

• Make sure product is  xed correctly and stable if fastened in place

• Do not operate if wires and terminals are exposed

• Do not cover vents on the side or back of the DVR and allow adequate space for ventilation

DEFAULT PASSWORD INFORMATION

To ensure your privacy, this DVR supports password protection.

• The default, all-access username is “admin”. If the DVR asks you to log in before you’ve set a
password, enter admin as your username and leave the password blank. This will give you access to
all areas of the DVR.

• There is no “default” password - until you set a password and enable password protection, the DVR
will not ask you for one.

• To ensure your ongoing privacy, we strongly recommend setting a password as soon as possible.
Choose something that you’ll remember, but that others would be unlikely to guess.

• If you do manage to lock yourself out of the DVR, you’ll need to contact us at the Swann Technical
Support Telephone Helpdesk - the number is on the back cover.

Before you begin

3

Table of Contents

Contents

Before you begin 2
Table of Contents 3
Overview 4
Important Information 6
Layout of the DVR4-5100 8
Layout of the Remote Control 10
Navigating the Menus 12
Navigating the Menus 14
Starting the DVR 16
The Main Menu 18
The Display Setup Menu 20
Record Setup Menu 22
Manual Frame Rate Con guration 23
The Recording Schedule 24
Motion Detection Setup 26
About Motion Detection 27
Motion Detection Area Setup 28
The Network Menu 29
Record (Video) Search 31
File List and Event Log 32
USB Backup 33
Playback 35
Playing Backed Up Footage on a PC 37
Device Management 39
HDD Menu 40
HDD Menu (ctd) 41
PTZ Menu 42
Alarm Con guration Menu 43
Auto Email Setup 45
Mobile Device Con guration 47
System Setup 48
Date and Time 49
User Setup 51
Video / Audio Setups 52
Language 53
System Information 54
Maintain (System Maintenance screen) 55
PTZ Controls 56
Remote Access 58
Remote Access - IP addresses 60
Remote Access via Internet Explorer 62
Remote Access from a Mobile Device 64
Changing or Installing the Hard Drive 66
Troubleshooting 67
Technical Speci cations 68
Warranty Information 69

4

Congratulations on your purchase of this Swann DVR!

You’ve chosen a versatile, powerful and great value security monitoring and
recording solution for your home or business. Let’s just take a moment to talk about
some of the great features that the DVR o ers and some of the things to think about
before installing the system.

10.2”All In One LCD color monitor

This DVR provides a compact all in one solution for security monitoring. The DVR
functions and LCD are combined into the one unit providing a compact footprint
from which to monitor and record.

4 Channel Monitoring and Recording

The DVR can monitor and record f our channels simultaneously. You can con gure
the recording modes for each of the four channels independently. For example, you
could have four channels recording on a schedule, two recording constantly and two
armed to record on motion. Or any other combination you can think of!

Powerful H.264 Compression

The advanced video codec used by the DVR, called H.264, o ers high quality video
 les at a fraction of the size of older video codecs such as MPEG-2 or similar. Basically,
this means you can store more footage on the DVR’s hard drive, and that the quality
of that footage can be signi cantly higher than many older video formats. H.264 has
been engineered to provide the highest level of data compression possible (saving
space on your hard drive) whilst maintaining a high image quality.

Powerful Networking and Remote Access Features

The DVR features an Ethernet port, which can be used to connect the DVR to your
local area network (LAN). With the addition of a high-speed Internet service, this
allows you to remotely access the DVR from any high-speed Internet terminal on
Earth! If that isn’t convenient enough, the DVR also features mobile device support,
allowing you to connect to it from a device running Microsoft Windows Mobile

®,

Symbian S60 (3rd/5th editions), iPhone, Blackberry or the increasingly popular Android.

Overview

5

Installation Tips & Tricks

One of the most important things to decide early on is where you’re going to install
the DVR. There are several considerations to make, and some of them con ict with
one another.

• Your DVR needs to be located in a central location to allow you maximum options
when placing your cameras. This is true whether your cameras are connected
via cables or wirelessly - one way, you’ll have to physically install cabling, and
wireless systems still have a limited range.

• On the other hand, your DVR should be installed somewhere secure. If the DVR is
too accessible it could be sabotaged or removed by an intruder.

• Ideally, assuming that you wish to use most features this DVR o ers, it should be
installed close to a network access point. There is, however, no problem using a
long network cable - a Cat 5e Ethernet cable up to approximately three hundred
feet (about 90m) should work. Di erent network cable standards will o er a
longer or shorter range.

10.2” LCD DVR Unit

Remote Control

Operating Instructions

Power Adapter with Cable

Software CD

Network cable

USB Mouse

Security Stickers (4 Pack)

Package Contents

If you are missing any of these components,

contact Swann Communications for assistance.

IMPORTANT: A note about operation:

• We strongly recommend you use a USB mouse (one is included) for setup
and operation of the DVR.

• Your DVR is like a small, keyboardless computer and like most computers,
the fastest and easiest method for navigating through the menus and
their various options is with the mouse.

• Your remote control is ideal for those times your DVR is out of arms reach.

6

IMPORTANT GUIDELINES

• Do not expose the DVR to moisture. Water is the arch-enemy of electrical

components and also poses a high risk of electric shock.

• Avoid dusty locations. Dust has a tendency to build up inside the DVR case,
leading to a high risk of failure or even  re.

• Only install the DVR in a well ventilated space. The circuitry and hard drive in
the DVR produces a signi cant amount of heat, and this heat needs a way out.

• Do not open the DVR case except to install/swap the hard drive inside. There
are no user serviceable parts inside.

• Never open the case whilst the DVR is plugged in, and never turn the DVR on
whilst the case is open.

• Use only the supplied power adapter. Other adapters may cause damage to
the DVR or cause a  re.

• Do not cut or modify any cable for any reason. Doing so will void your
warranty, as well as pose a great risk of  re or electrical shock.

• Do not expose the DVR to sudden bumps or shocks (for example, being
dropped). The DVR is as robust as possible, but many of the internal components
are quite fragile.

• Remember that the DVR is, in all likelihood, going to be left on 24 hours a day, 7

days a week. Keep this in mind when choosing a location for installation.

Important Information

7

Default Password Information

To ensure your privacy, this DVR supports password protection.

USERNAME: The default, all-access username is “admin”. If the DVR asks you to
log in before you’ve set a password, enter admin as your username and leave
the password blank. This will give you access to all areas of the DVR.

PASSWORD: There is no “default” password - until you set a password and en­able password protection, the DVR will not ask you for one.

To ensure your ongoing privacy, we strongly recommend setting a password
as soon as possible. Choose something that you’ll remember, but that others
would be unlikely to guess.

If you do manage to lock yourself out of the DVR, you’ll need to contact us at
the Swann Technical Support Telephone Helpdesk - the number is on the back
cover.

8

Layout of the DVR4-5100

Front panel - screen controls

1. POWER button: This turns o

power to the screen (but not the
DVR). This is useful if you want to
turn o the screen (a good way to
save power) but leave the DVR on
to record.

2. MENU button: Cycles through the

On-Screen Display (OSD) options
where you can adjust screen
settings like brightness, contrast
and color. Note that these will only
a ect the screen display, not how
the DVR records or displays the
footage. Press the UP or DOWN
button to adjust the setting.

3. UP button: Press to raise the

volume output from the DVR or to
increase a value when viewing an
on-screen display options.

4. DOWN button: Press to lower the

volume output from the DVR or
to decrease a value when viewing
an on-screen display options.

5. IR sensor: This is the Infra-
Red sensor which receives the
commands from your Remote
Control. When using the remote,
make sure you are pointing it at
the unit and that the IR receiver is
visible and not obstructed in any
way.

6. HDD activity light: This is the Hard
Disk Drive activity light. It  ashes
red when there is disk activity such
as footage being written to the hard
drive or footage being played back
from the hard drive.

7. PWR (power) light: This light glows
green to indicate when the unit is
ON. This is useful to indicate that the
unit might still be on, even though
you have turned o the monitor
using the POWER button.

8. USB Backup port (side of unit):
This port is for connecting a USB
storage device which can be used
to back up footage from the DVR.
This port is NOT for use by the USB
mouse.

2. MENU button

1. Power Button

7. PWR (power) light

6. HDD activity light

5. IR Sensor

4. DOWN button

3. UP button

8. USB port (Storage)

9

1. Hard Disk Drive (HDD) caddy:
Mounted on the back of this
removable panel (caddy) is the hard
drive where the data captured by the
DVR is recorded. This caddy makes
replacing the hard drive easier
but care should taken at all times
when doing so. For information on
replacing or upgrading your HDD,
see “Changing or Installing the

Hard Drive” on page 66

2. Power Connection: For supplying
power to the DVR. Use only the
supplied power adaptor, and do
NOT change or modify it in any
way. Modi cations to your power
supply radically increases the risk
of electrocution or  re, and will
immediately void your warranty.

3. RS485: For connecting a PTZ (pan,
tilt, zoom) capable system.

4. LAN Port: To connect an Ethernet
cable, allowing the DVR to be
connected to a local area network.
This network, in turn, can be used
to give the DVR a connection to the
Internet.

5. Power Switch: The power switch
which turns the power to the DVR
on or o . When turning o your DVR,

we recommend you select POWER
OFF from the Maintain screen (see

“Maintain (System Maintenance
screen)” on page 55).

6. USB Mouse Port: For connecting
the included USB mouse (other
standard USB mice will also work).
This port will not accept a USB  ash
drive – this port will work with a
mouse only.

7. Audio Input: An RCA mono audio
input channel. This will accept
standard line-level signals (<1V).

8. Audio Output: An RCA mono audio
output channel. This outputs a
standard ‘line-level’ signal, and can
easily be connected to the audio
input on a television or stand-alone
audio device.

9. Video Output: This sends a
composite video signal out of the
DVR for connection to another
monitor or television.

10. CH1 ~ CH4 Video Inputs: These
are the four camera inputs, labelled
as per their channel in the DVR’s
interface. Thus, plug the camera
you want to be associated with
Channel 1 into the port marked CH1
and so on.

876543

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2 910

10

1

2

3

4
5

6

8

10
12

14

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9

11
13

15

Layout of the Remote Control

11

1) 0 ~ 9 (Numeric Buttons): Used to
input numbers. 1 ~ 4 can be used as quick
channel changing buttons in a similar
manner to a television, and these will
work during either live-viewing mode
or playback. Additionally, the numeric
buttons will be used when inputting
any numerical information – most often,
your password.

2) ALL: Activates or deactivates the
entire area shown on screen to be
armed for Motion Detection recording
mode. Motion Detection will need to be
correctly con gured for this button to
function as described.

3, 7, 9 & 10) Arrow Buttons: Moves the
cursor in the appropriate direction when
navigating menus.

4) Rewind: During playback, this will
reverse the footage. Press multiple times
to increase the speed of the reversing.

5) Record: Press to immediately start
recording. This acts as a manual override
to the schedule and motion recording
modes. For a channel to be recorded in
this mode (or any other) it must listed as
‘active’ in the Camera Setup and Record
Setup menus.

6) Menu: One of the primary controls for
navigating through the menus. When in
live-viewing mode, it will enter the main
menu. When pressed in the main menu,
it will return the DVR to live-viewing
mode. Finally, when in a submenu, this
button will return you to the main menu.

8) SEL (Select): The SELECT button is
the equivalent of Enter/Return on a
computer keyboard. Use this button to
(as the name suggests) select an option
in the menus, or to con rm an entry.

11) Mute: Enables or disables the audio
output. This won’t have any e ect on
recordings - if you’ve con gured the DVR
to record audio, then it will continue to
do so while muted - you just won’t hear
it until you un-mute it!

12) Play: If pressed in live-viewing mode,
this will take you directly into playback
mode, and begin playing the most
recent recording. In playback mode, use
it to resume playback after pausing or
stopping a recording.

13) Fast-Forward: During playback, this
will increase the speed of playback. Press
multiple times to increase the speed of
playback further.

14) Stop: In playback mode, pressing
this button will stop playback.

15) Pause: During playback, will pause
the current recording and leave a still­frame on screen. In live-viewing mode,
this will activate the auto-sequence
mode, where the display automatically
cycles through the available camera
signals (this must be correctly con gured
and enabled to function correctly).

12

Navigating the Menus

Main Menu

Camera Color Setup

Record Setup

Motion

Area Setup

Search

Playback

File Details File Details

Record

Network

Search

Auto Email

HDD Management

Mobile

PTZ Settings

Alarm Con g

Device

Date & Time Set

User Password

Video Settings

Language

System Information

System Maintenance

System

13

There are two main ways to navigate through the menus on the DVR. One is to use
the included USB mouse. This is the fastest and easiest way to navigate through the
menus, make selections and input information. We highly recommend using the
mouse to operate your DVR.

The other way is to use the buttons on the remote control. This is ideal for times
when your DVR is not within reach or you only want to perform basic functions.

USB Mouse

When a USB mouse is attached to the DVR, it allows for easy navigation and operation
of the menus. In this capacity, the mouse functions in a very similar manner to the
mouse attached to a computer. The left mouse button is used to select, con rm
choices and otherwise interact with the menu system. The right mouse button
opens the pop-up menu (when pressed in live-viewing mode) or exits a menu (when
pressed whilst in the menu system).

Remote Control

For an explanation of the functions of the buttons on the remote control, see
“Layout of the Remote Control” on page 10. Many of the controls operate in a
similar manner to controls on a DVD player or similar. However, due to the speci c
and multi-channel nature of the DVR, the functionality of some buttons may not be
immediately obvious.

14

IMPORTANT - Remembering to Apply Your Changes

When you’re using the menus to change settings or values, you should click “Apply”
in the bottom right corner to save your changes.

If you do not click “Apply,” a window will pop up asking whether you want to save
your changes. Choose “OK” to save the changes or choose “CANCEL” to discard them.

Always select the APPLY button before leaving a menu

if you want to save the changes that you have made.

There are two reasons why the “Apply” button needs to be expressly selected. For one,
it helps prevent accidental modi cation of the DVR’s settings while you’re navigating
other menus or similar. Secondly, the DVR only checks and loads the settings you’ve
modi ed when the apply button is pressed. This is important to prevent the DVR
operating erratically or performing an unintended operation whilst settings are in
the process of being modi ed.

Using the On-Screen Keyboard

As the DVR doesn’t have a keyboard, when you have to enter text the DVR will present
you an on-screen ‘keyboard’. This will automatically appear when you select a text
 eld which allows you to enter a value.

Navigating the Menus

15

Getting Started

If you’ve just unpacked your DVR and are not sure where to begin setting up your system,
here’s a quick rundown of the most important things that need to be set up.

• Test your system. Before installing cables into walls, it’s a great idea to plug
everything in and make sure it all works. This is particularly true if you’re using
additional cameras to any that came with the DVR (this DVR is available stand­alone or in a kit with cameras). We do our very best to ensure that the equipment
reaching you is of the highest quality and will work out of the box, but accidents
do occur in shipping and sometimes components can fail. Better to  nd out now
than once everything is screwed in place!

• Then, once the DVR is on and working, the  rst thing to do is to set your user
access controls and passwords (see “User Setup” on page 51 for details on
how to do it).

• Set the Date and Time (see “Date and Time” on page 49 for details) to ensure
that, once you start recording, you are able to index and search the recorded
footage easily. Also, if using the DVR’s footage in any legal proceedings, then
having an accurate date and time on your footage becomes quite crucial.

• Check your hardware - speci cally, and most importantly, the hard drive (see
“HDD Menu” on page 40). This is where all your footage will be stored, so it’s
quite important to ensure that it is functioning correctly.

• Setup your recording modes and/or schedule (see “The Recording Schedule”
on page 24) to make sure that the DVR will record what you want it to, and at

the right time.

• OPTIONAL (Advanced Users): Con gure your network settings (see “The
Network Menu” on page 29).

16

Once the DVR has been connected to power
it will switch itself on automatically. The DVR
takes approximately 45 seconds to boot up,
during which time the image to the right will
be displayed.

When you  rst press a button on the remote
control or click a button on the mouse, the
DVR may ask you to LOGIN.

To get full functionality of the DVR, enter the username ADMIN and leave the
password  eld blank. To change the ADMIN password, alter user priviledges or
change whether the DVR requires a secure login or not, see “User Setup” on page

51.

The default mode of the DVR is live-viewing mode. This is the mode which monitors
the images coming from your cameras in real-time, and allows you to con gure your
recording and channel options. The DVR automatically starts in live-viewing mode,
with multi-view enabled.

The  rst thing you’ll probably open is the pop-up menu. To access the pop-up
context menu, right-click anywhere on the live-viewing screen, or press the MENU
/ ESC button on the remote control. The pop-up menu lets you quickly access the
following functions, which can be selected by left-clicking the option you want. The
options are described in detail on the following page.

Starting the DVR

17

Main Menu: Opens the Main Menu of the DVR. See
page 18.

PTZ: Opens the Pan, Tilt, Zoom controls. The same
function can be accessed by pressing the PTZ button
on the remote control.

PIP (Picture In Picture): Accesses a list of available
PIP modes. You can also access and cycle through
these modes using the PIP button on the remote
control.

Left: The PIP options. 1 x 1 shows one
channel fullscreen with one overlay. 1
x 2 shows one channel fullscreen with
two overlays.

Rec Search: Opens the Record (Video) Search menu, as detailed on “Record (Video) Search”
on page 31.

Mute On/O : Turns the audio on or o .

Manual Rec: Instantly engages manual recording.

Start Rotate: Initiates the automatic display rotation. Channels will be displayed

sequentially on an automatic loop. To set the rotate time, see page “Video / Audio
Setups” on page 52. If Rotate has already been turned on, then this option will

change to Stop Rotate, which will disable the rotate function.

Start Cruise: This will initiate the cruise mode for PTZ devices. You’ll need to have
con gured your PTZ device using the PTZ Con guration menu (page 42) and then
programmed a series of preset points (see “Setting up Cruise Mode” on page 57)
to use as a series of cruise movements.

18

The MAIN MENU of the DVR. In this picture, the mouse cursor is currently

highlighting the DISPLAY icon.

“The Display Setup Menu” on page 20: The camera menu contains all the options
for setting up how the DVR interfaces with and displays the images from the cameras
connected to it. This is where channels are enabled or disabled in live viewing, and
where the AUTOSEQ (Automatic Sequence) function can be con gured.

Record Menu:

“Record Setup Menu” on page 22: Where you can con gure the recording
options for the DVR. You can set channels to be armed for recording constant­ly or on a schedule, and set the recording resolution, quality and size. You can
also enable or disable the associated audio channel. Additionally, the record­ing function for some or all channels can be disabled entirely.

“About Motion Detection” on page 27: To con gure how and where the
DVR looks for motion. This can be used as (and is recommended as) the pri­mary recording mode of the DVR.

The Main Menu

19

“The Network Menu” on page 29: Where you can con gure the DVR to operate on
your home network and over the Internet. This is the most complex aspect of setting
up the DVR, and requires a good working knowledge of networking methods and
protocols.

“Record (Video) Search” on page 31: Where you look for footage of a speci c
event. You only need to know the date and time that the incident that you are look­ing for occurred. You need not know exactly - you can specify a range of times and/
or dates. The DVR will list all recordings made in between the start and end points
you specify.

“Device Management” on page 39: Here you can  nd the setup and con gurable
options for the devices which can be connected to the DVR. These devices are in
order:

“HDD Menu” on page 40: The hard drive, where you store your footage.

“Alarm Con guration Menu” on page 43: The circumstances which will

trigger the DVR to record or issue an alert of some kind (such as an email).

“PTZ Menu” on page 42: For setting up the DVR to work with Pan, Tilt,
Zoom camera systems.

“Mobile Device Con guration” on page 47: For setting up the DVR for ac­cess via a compatible mobile/cell phone.

“System Setup” on page 48: All the remaining options and sub-menus. Here is
where you set the Date and Time and your Password, change the video output set­tings, change languages, or the automatic maintenance schedule of the DVR.

20

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

The DISPLAY SETUP MENU of the DVR. In this picture, the mouse cursor is

currently highlighting the CH1 title  eld.

Naming Channels

You can change the name of any channel from the default (and rather drab) “CHx” to
anything that you would like (up to 8 characters in length). A descriptive name on
each channel often makes it easier to remember what camera is where, and which
channel would have captured an event you might be looking for.

Channel Name: The name that will be displayed over the image from a channel.

Simply highlight this box and enter the new name you would like.

Position: Where the title of the channel is displayed on screen. You can choose

any of the four corners of the display (U-L meaning Up-Left, and D-R
meaning Down-Right).

The Display Setup Menu

21

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Color Setup

You can  ne tune the look of each channel individually by adjusting the HUE, BRIGHT
(brightness), CONTRAST and SATURATION values for each channel. Just select the
SETUP option under the COLOR heading to open the dialog window.

This is useful if peculiar lighting conditions, a non-standard camera or a conspicuously
colored object in the frame cause the display to be inconveniently tinted, or over/
under exposed. Basically, this will help  x something that just doesn’t look ‘right’.

HUE: Changes the color mix of the image (this can have very dramatic

results). It’s somewhat like moving through a rainbow.

BRIGHT: Changes how light the image appears to be. However, it can’t make

the camera see further in the dark, or increase the clarity of an ill-lit
image.

CONTRAST: Increases the di erence between the blackest black and the whitest white

in the image. Useful if sections of the image “grey out” but setting the
contrast too high will degrade image quality.

SATURATION: Alters how much color is displayed in the image. The higher the

saturation, the more bright and vivid colors will appear to be. Again,
setting this too high can degrade image quality.

LIVE Viewing - Enabling and Disabling Channels

Monitoring something that you’d rather keep private/secret/unknown to the casual
observer? No problems. You can alter which channels appear when in live viewing
mode, and which ones appear later on.

To do so is simple: simply locate the LIVE drop down menu - it only contains two
options, Enable or Disable. Simply change the value to Disable and that channel will
now appear to be blank in live viewing mode. Images on the channel in question will
still be recorded - and you’ll see it as normal in playback mode.

Displaying the Time

In the nearby LIVE TIME and RECORD TIME drop down menus, you can select whether
you want to see the time displayed on the channel in either live viewing mode or
recording, respectively. The time will always be recorded in the event list and in
the footage’s meta-data (the information included in the  le such as when it was
recorded - you can access this later) - this simply changes whether or not you see it
in the main view screen.

22

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Enabling / Disabling Recording: Choose whether the channel you’ve selected

will be recorded or not here. A channel which is “disabled” will still appear in live
viewing mode, but won’t be recorded. This is a “master” setting, and will override the
recording schedule or manual recording modes (i.e. pressing the REC button).

Quality: The “quality” setting determines how much hard drive space the DVR will
use when recording images. The higher the quality, the more detail your images will
contain but you won’t be able to store as much on the hard drive. A lower quality
setting means more footage, but will reduce the amount of detail.

Enabling / Disabling Audio: You can choose whether the associated audio channel
will be recorded. Unless you have an audio device connected that you want to
record, we recommend disabling the audio as this will save a small amount of hard
drive space.

Pack Duration: Pack Duration is a measurement of how long the DVR will record
for before splitting the output  le into discrete units. “Packs” are something like the
scene numbers on a DVD - though the video is broken up into separate units, it will
still play through as one continuous movie (unless interrupted by the schedule or
motion detection turning the recording on or o ). If you don’t want to worry about
setting Pack Durations, you can leave it on the default value; it will make little
di erence to the day-to-day running of the DVR.

Record Setup Menu

23

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Frame Rate: How many frames per second (FPS) the DVR records. “Real-time” is 25 fps

(PAL) or 30 fps (NTSC). However, even lower frame rates are okay - even 3fps is still the
equivalent of three photographs per second.

Frame Rate - Fixed or Manual: If the FPS setting is “ xed”, then the DVR will
automatically adjust the frame rate to the maximum possible for your selected
resolution. If you choose, you can manually set the frame rates for all channels. Doing
so is an advanced option and only recommended for experienced users - however,
it will allow you to set some channels to record D1 resolution in real-time, which
cannot be selected via the  xed frame rate option.

Resolution: How many little dots (called “pixels”) make up your image. More pixels
mean a better looking and more detailed image. However, the DVR can only process
so many of pixels at once, so increasing the resolution means you’ll need to lower
your Frame Rate (FPS). There are four settings: D1 (the highest - the same resolution
as a DVD), HD1 (literally “half D1”) and CIF (one quarter of D1).

Schedule: Where you can program the DVR to record constantly or automatically
(upon detecting motion or alarm events) at the times you’d like. Click or select the
SCHEDULE button to program it (see “The Recording Schedule” on page 24).

Copy: Quickly apply the settings you’ve chosen for this channel to any or all other
channels.

Manual Frame Rate Con guration

24

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

In this example image, the DVR will record only ALARM events between midnight and

3:00AM, CONSTANTLY between 3:00AM and 6:00AM, then continue to alternate be-

tween alarm events and constantly recording for the remainder of the day.

The DVR schedule can be set to record using three di erent record modes.

ALARM: Will record only when the alarm function has been triggered. This

is the setting to choose if you want to record only when the DVR
detects motion (recommended). By only recording when motion is
detected, you’ll not only save a great deal of hard drive space, you
won’t have to watch hours and hours of footage to locate the one
incident you’re interested in.

NORMAL: Will record constantly for the duration speci ed. This is a great

way to make sure you don’t miss anything in the short term, but
will use up your hard drive space faster than you can say “record
everything”.

Of course, there are some times that recording everything is
necessary - when you’re using a PTZ system in cruise mode, for
example.

Be aware that when you are constantly recording four channels, the
DVR will only be able to record for a few days to weeks at a time
(depending on the quality, framerate and resolution settings you’ve
chosen) before it will have to start overwriting old events (assuming
you have Overwrite enabled) or stop recording altogether.

The Recording Schedule

25

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

NO RECORD: As the name suggests, the DVR will not record anything from this

channel while NO RECORD is selected. We suggest only using this
setting if you’re absolutely sure you don’t want to see what’s going
on during these times.

Setting the Schedule

The  rst step in setting the schedule is choosing which channel you’d like to set the
schedule for. From the CH drop-down menu, select the channel you’d like to set the
schedule for.

If you’d like to set the schedule for more than one channel at a time, you have two
options. One option is to manually enter the same information for each channel
individually.

The other option is to choose ALL from the CH drop down menu. Selecting this will
apply the settings in the schedule to all channels on the DVR. If you want to set a
base schedule for all channels, and then con gure them individually, select ALL, set
your basic schedule, and then  ne tune channels one at a time. Changing the ALL
schedule will overwrite any schedule already set for individual channels.

Copying and Pasting Schedules from day to day

Rather then enter the same schedule information multiple times for each day you
wish, you can use the COPY function.

To copy the schedule settings from day to day, select the day you’d like to copy from
on the  rst drop down menu. Then, select the day you’d like to copy the schedule to
from the second. If you’d like all days to operate on the same schedule, choose ALL
from the second drop-down menu.

Using the arrow buttons or the mouse, highlight the COPY button, and left click or
press select. The schedule for the selected day will be copied to the day(s) you have
selected.

26

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Here, you’ll be able to set the motion detection features of the DVR for each channel.
We suggest that motion detection is, under most circumstances, the most practical
recording method for the DVR to employ.

How it Works: Once motion detection has been enabled for a channel, it will register
to the DVR as an ALARM EVENT. Thus, you can use the ALARM RECORDING mode in
the schedule to trigger the DVR to record when motion detection triggers an alarm
signal.

Enable: Whether or not motion detection is enabled on a speci c channel. Each
channel can be con gured independently of one another.

Sensitivity: There are eight levels of motion detection sensitivity, 1 being the least
sensitive and 8 being the most sensitive. To  nd the right value for you, we suggest
setting it and then testing the chosen setting by getting an able volunteer to move
through the camera’s view and testing whether or not the motion detection is trig­gered.

Note: The motion detection feature will seem more sensitive at night, particularly
when using low-light or active infrared cameras. We recommend that you test your
motion detection sensitivity both during the day and at night to ensure your sensi­tivity setting is suitable for either lighting condition.

Area: Click the applicable Setup button to setup the motion detection area for that
channel. See “Motion Detection Area Setup” on page 28 for details on how to do this,
and what it means.

Motion Detection Setup

27

How Motion Detection Works

The way that the DVR looks for motion is quite straight forward - it’s a process where
it compares one frame (that is, a single image taken approximately a 25th/30th of
a second from the previous image) with the next. A certain amount of “di erence”
between these two “frames” is interpreted as motion.

As a result, the DVR is able to detect when there is a change in the picture. However,
this does not necessarily need to be something moving in the frame. For example, a
light being turned on or o , a lightning  ash or even the sun coming out momentarily
on a cloudy day might be enough to trigger the motion detection on the DVR.
However, as these events last only a moment (and are relatively rare) they will only
create a few very short redundant clips, which will not take up too much space or
pose a problem with scanning through footage.

This method of motion detection can, however, become problematic when using
wireless cameras. As wireless technology is susceptible to interference, the static and
image distortion common to wireless systems is often enough to trigger the motion
detection inadvertently.

As a result, we strongly advise against using wireless cameras with any of
our motion sensitive recording equipment, and advise the use of hard wired
cameras. If you simply must use wireless technology, we advise using digital wireless
technology as this technology is much more resistant to interference from other
wireless equipment and environmental causes. However, any wireless technology,
digital or otherwise, has serious limitations when combined with motion detection.
For a similar reason, don’t use PTZ systems and motion detection simultaneously.
The DVR will interpret the camera moving as ‘motion’ and record. This is particularly
true when using Cruise Mode - as the camera is moving almost continually, so too is
the DVR recording almost continually!

Notes

• Wireless cameras are not recommended for use with the motion detection.

• Motion detection is not recommended for use with PTZ systems. Avoid enabling
motion detection on a channel which has a PTZ system attached to it - especially
when the PTZ system is set to Cruise Mode.

• Setting the motion detection at high sensitivity levels (5 or higher) increases the
frequency of false alarms. On the other hand, low sensitivity levels (4 or lower)
increase the risk that a signi cant motion event (such as an intruder) will not trigger
the motion detection to record.

• Check the Motion Detection settings both during the day and at night. In low­light conditions (or when your cameras are using infrared night vision) the DVR may
be more or less sensitive to motion, depending on your unique circumstances. The
di erence might be very dramatic!

About Motion Detection

28

Say, for example, you are trying to monitor your front yard, whilst in the background
there is a busy street, and the cars driving past continually set o the motion
detection. What can you do about it? Setting only part of the camera’s view to be
motion sensitive might be the answer. This is useful in a number of circumstances,
such as monitoring one particular door at the end of a busy hallway, or a backyard
with a tree that keeps blowing in the wind.

To set the MOTION DETECTION AREA

• In the MOTION DETECTION menu, use the mouse or the arrow buttons to highlight

the SETUP button for the channel you wish to setup the MOTION DETECTION
AREA for, and con rm by pressing select or left clicking.

• You will see a grid (15 x 12) of red boxes.

The red boxes mark the area that is sensitive to motion.

• Use the arrow buttons or the mouse to move the cursor around the screen.

• By pressing select or left clicking an area in the grid, you can toggle motion

detection ON or OFF in that location.

• Areas marked by red boxes will be sensitive to motion, those not marked will not

be.

• Click and drag to select the area you want to select or deselect.

In this example, the entire screen area is activated.
A su cient amount of movement (depending on
your sensitivity settings) anywhere in the screen

will trigger the motion detection.

This example shows the same image, but the top
left side of the motion area is not activated, and
neither are the edges of the screen. Movement in

these areas will not trigger the motion detection.

Motion Detection Area Setup

29

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

This is the NETWORK SETUP screen.

This is the most technically complex aspect to setting up the DVR, and does

require a working knowledge of network technologies.

If you are unfamiliar with networking, then we suggest talking with a professional ­ideally, the same person who installed your network, as they’ll know exactly how it’s
con gured and how best to setup the DVR.

Con guring your DVR and your home network can be a tricky process - and these
two pages are not nearly long enough to cover it. See “Remote Access” on page
58 (and what follows) for more information.

TYPE: Here you can choose between the three di erent types of networks that the
DVR can be connected to. The three types of networks are:

DHCP: DHCP (Dynamic Host Con guration Protocol) is a system where one de­vice on your network (usually a router) will automatically assign IP addresses to
devices connected to the network.

STATIC: Static networks require all devices need to have their IP addresses manu­ally de ned, as there is no device dedicated to automatically assigning addresses.

PPPoE: PPPoE (Point to Point Protocol Over Ethernet) is an advanced protocol
which allows the DVR to be connected directly to a DSL line, without the need for
a router or gateway. This protocol is for advanced users only.

The Network Menu

30

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

MEDIA PORT: This is the port that the DVR will use to send information through. The most

important things are that:

1. You’ll need to enable UPnP on your router (see “Remote Access” on page

58) so your router can selectively open these ports, allowing the DVR to
communicate via the Internet. If your router doesn’t support UPnP, you have
two options. You can either get a new router (which we’d actually recommend ­UPnP is such a good feature!) or you can manually forward ports from the router
to the DVR. Port forwarding is a technical and involved process, recommended
only for the technically inclined.

2. Nothing else share this port. The default port number is 9000, which is not used

by many other devices/programs. However, particularly if you have another DVR
or DVR-like device, something might be using this port already. If this is the case,
change this value to be unique.

WEB PORT: This is the port through which you will be able to communicate with the
DVR. Like the MEDIA PORT, it will need to be forwarded properly in order to ensure
smooth, latency-free communication. We recommend changing this value to “85”, as
this port is seldom used by other devices or applications.

IP ADDRESS: Just as houses and businesses need to have an address which iden­ti es their location on the road network, so too do computers and other devices
need addresses (called IP ADDRESSES) to identify their position on the electronic
network. The DVR uses IPv4 addressing, which consists of four groups of numbers
between 0 and 255, separated by periods. For example, a typical IP address might be
“192.168.1.24” or something similar. The most important thing when setting the IP
address is that nothing else on your network shares that IP address.

NETMASK (SUBNET MASK): If the IP address is like a street address, then a sub­network is like your neighborhood. This will be formatted in a similar way to the
IP address (ie. four numbers up to 255 separated by periods) but contain very dif­ferent numbers. In the above example, the Subnet Mask might be something like:
“255.255.255.0”.

GATEWAY: This is the address of the “way to the Internet” - to continue the road anal­ogy, this is like your local access point to the highway. This is an IP address in the
same format as the others, and is typically very similar to the IP address of the DVR. To
continue the above examples, it might be something such as: “192.168.1.254”.

DNS: “Domain Name System”. Everything on the Internet is located via an IP address

- however, for ease of use, we associate domain names (such as “

www.exampledo­mainname.com”) with those IP addresses. This index is accessible in many locations

online, and we call those locations “DNS servers”.

31

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Video Search

In the VIDEO SEARCH screen you can search for a speci c day for a recording and
view it in playback mode. This is useful for hunting a speci c recording of an incident
if you know the time and date it occurred. To search you need to input the date of the
video then select the hour of the recording.

Note that if you don’t know the exact day you want to search input just 01, then the
MONTH & YEAR then click the SEARCH button.

All the days for that month will appear on the monthly calender. The highlighted
days are the days with recordings, color coded to represent the recording mode
which triggered the recording at the time (where red = alarm recording; green =
normal recording).

To execute a Video Search:

• Scroll over then left click the date numeric  eld, or highlight it using the arrow

keys and press select.

• Select a digit to alter. Once selected, it will be highlighted green and can be

edited. You will see a grey pop up keypad. Scroll or move over the digits on the
keypad & left click or press select to input the date. Note that the  rst two digits
of the year (2 & 0) cannot be changed.

• Highlight the SEARCH button, and left click or press select.

• To be taken straight the Playback interface (bypassing the File List) choose

PLAYBACK instead of SEARCH. Playback will start with the  rst recording made
during the interval chosen.

Record (Video) Search

32

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

The File List

This is the main screen you’ll use when locating speci c incidents and recordings. It’s
also where you’ll need to go to perform a backup to a USB  ash drive.

For more about using the File List to perform a backup, see “USB Backup” on page

33.

The Event Log

The event log records all the “events” that the DVR detects, even the ones you’ve
otherwise told it to ignore.

Type: The type of event the DVR has detected.

Content: The conditions which triggered the type of event, such as motion

detected (MD) or a hard drive failure (HDD) and so on.

Time Point: When the event occurred.

Record: Whether the DVR recorded any footage as a result of the event.

Typically, this will depend on whether the DVR is in ALARM
RECORDING mode when the event occurred.

File List and Event Log

33

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Preparing a USB Flash Drive

Most, but not all, USB  ash drives are
compatible with the DVR.

The  ash drive will have to be
formatted with the correct  le
structure, which is FAT32. This can be
done via a compatible computer, or
you can have the DVR itself format
the USB  ash drive.

To format your USB  ash drive:

• Insert the  ash drive into the USB

slot on the front of the DVR.

• Open the Main Menu, select

Device Management, then select
HDD Management.

• Choose the FORMAT USB option.

The process will take a few
moments, depending on the size
of the USB  ash drive.

Above: The HDD Managment menu, with
the FORMAT USB button highlighted.

Be sure there’s no data you want to keep on
the USB  ash drive when you format it, as
the formatting process removes all data.

USB Backup

34

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

USB Backup Instructions

• First, insert a USB  ash drive into the USB port on the front of the DVR. Inserting

a  ash drive into the mouse port will not work correctly.

• Make sure there are no  les on the USB  ash drive that you wish to keep, as data

already on the drive may be lost (whether or not you use the FORMAT option).

• If you need to format the USB  ash drive, see the USB Format option in the HDD

Drive Menu, covered on “HDD Menu” on page 40.

• Open the File List screen - see “File List and Event Log” on page 32.

• Locate the  le(s) you wish to copy.

• Highlight the Select check-boxes which correspond to the recordings that you

wish to backup, and left click or press select.

• You can backup multiple recordings at once, as long as their cumulative size will

 t on the USB  ash drive you have inserted into the DVR.

• Choose Backup.

Notes:

Backing up footage is not an instant process. Copying the footage to the USB device
may be a time consuming process, though it’s usually much quicker than the amount
of footage you’re backing up (typically about 10% ~ 20% the time).

There are many factors which will a ect the amount of time the DVR requires to copy
all the footage you’ve selected to the USB drive, and these include:

• The quality/resolution/framerate settings of the channel(s) being backed up.

• The speed of the USB  ash drive used.

• The size and amount of free space remaining on the USB  ash drive you use.

The backed up footage is stored on the  ash drive in the same format as it is stored
on the DVR. This means that the backed up footage will not play in a computer as a
standard video  le - you’ll need to use the dedicated playback software which comes
on the mini-CD included with the DVR. Instructions on how to install and use this
software can be found later in this manual.

35

This is an example of the PLAYBACK interface, currently showing quad view.

Channels 1, 3 and 4 were not recording at this time.

The playback controls are displayed across the bottom of the screen.

They are as follows:

Rewind Pause Fast

Forward

Play

Slow

Mute

Close

Playback

Volume

Bar

Volume

Level

Playback

36

Playback Controls

The playback controls work in a similar manner to those you’ll  nd on a DVD player
or VCR. The playback controls a ect all channels being played back simultaneously.

Rewind: Reverses the footage. Pressing this button multiple times will

increase the speed at which the footage plays in reverse. Note that,
as the H.264 compression used to encode the video is designed to
play forwards, it requires considerably more processing power to
decode in reverse. For this reason, playback in reverse will not be
smooth.

Slow: Press to slow down playback. Pressing once will reduce the

playback speed to ½ speed, pressing it again will slow the speed to
¼, and pressing it a third time will reduce the speed to .

Play: Will play footage if paused.

Pause: Will pause playback, retaining still images on the screen.

Fast Forward: Increases the speed of playback. Pressing the button multiple times

will increase the rate of playback up to 8x.

Mute: Checking this box will stop audio playback. It will not a ect the

audio track on the recorded footage.

Volume Bar: Adjusts the volume during playback. For the best audio quality this

should be set relatively high, with the volume of the television or
stereo system turned down appropriately.

Volume Level: A numerical representation of the current volume, as set on the

Volume Bar.

Close Playback: Closes the playback window and returns you to the event list.

37

The video  les which the DVR backs up are not playable by standard multimedia
software. This means that your usual media player is not going to be able to open or
display footage from the DVR. The main reason for this is that footage from the DVR
is always made of multiple channels of video which are synchronised into one data
stream. The playback software is included on the CD that comes with the DVR.

Installing the Playback Software

To install the playback software, locate the  le on the included CD named “Playback­vX”. We are constantly making updates and improvements to our software, so “X” will
be the version number. Run this setup  le.

Follow the installation prompts - you’ll be asked where you’d like to install the software
and the shortcuts to access it. We suggest that the default options are usually the
best choice - only change these if you have a very speci c idea about where you
want the software to be installed. Once you’ve made these choices, simply wait while
the installation is processed.

NOTE: This software is compatible with Windows operating systems only (XP and
more recent versions).

Choose a folder to install the playback
software. Unless you have a really
speci c location in mind, the default
works  ne.

Choose Next to continue.

Con rm that the path displayed
matches the one you chose, and click

Install to complete the process.

Playing Backed Up Footage on a PC

GOT AN APPLE MAC computer?

For information on how to access and playback footage from an

Apple Mac, refer to our website at:

www.swannsecurity.com

38

The Playback Interface

Assuming that you’ve used the
default installation paths, you
can access the playback software
by selecting the desktop icon
named Playback Software, or
 nding the program group of
the same name in your Start
Menu.

This will take you to the default
interface of the playback
software, as shown to the right.

Opening Files:

• Choose the + icon, and select either FILES or
FOLDER.

• If you chose to open a FOLDER, select the
folder you’d like to open from the  le tree.
Typically, this will be X:\RecordFile (where “X”
is the drive letter assigned to your  ashdrive).

• To open single  les, choose FILES. You’ll need
to locate the  les using a standard  le browser
(below), and then simply highlight the  les
you want and choose OPEN.

To remove a  le from the playlist,
highlight it and click the - button.

The x button removes all  les from the
playback list.

Playback Controls

The playback controls are located at the bottom of the playback interface. They
operate in the same manner as those found on the DVR’s playback interface (see
“Playback” on page 35).

The camera icon (located in the centre of the playback controls) will save a screenshot
as a BMP (bitmap)  le to C:\Capture\

39

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

HDD: For accessing information about your hard drive. This is where

you go to correct or analyze any problem with your hard drive.
Additionally, you’ll be able to see at a glance how much recording
time you have left at your current quality settings, as well as being
able to format (erase all data from) the hard drive here. You can
format  ash drives from this screen as well.

Alarm: For con guring the DVR’s internal buzzer and auto-email settings.

PTZ: The setup window for con guring the DVR to act as a PTZ (Pan, Tilt,

Zoom) controller. Recommended for advanced users.

Mobile: For con guring the DVR to interface with mobile devices (mobile

devices running Microsoft Windows Mobile

®

, Android, Symbian S60

(3rd or 5th edition) or iPhoneOS).

Exit: Returns to the previous menu.

Device Management

40

HDD Menu

This is the HARD DRIVE (HDD) MANAGEMENT screen. All aspects of the hard
drive can be managed from this screen.

Additionally, this is the place to go if you want to know exactly how much space
is left on the hard drive, and how much footage you can record to it.

HDD STATUS: If the hard drive is not installed properly you will see a message

saying NO DISK FOUND. The live view screen will display the

icon
on the bottom of Channel 1’s display if the hard drive is not being
detected.

TOTAL SPACE: Total size of the hard drive currently installed.

FREE SPACE: Total amount of free space available on the hard drive(s) currently

installed.

AVAILABLE TIME:Free space currently available in hours, calculated based on your

current record quality settings. (Note: If you have OVERWRITE
enabled, this value will be redundant.)

OVERWRITE: When enabled, the DVR will record over the  les already stored on

the hard drive. Using the overwrite option is advisable, as the DVR
will always be able to record events as they happen. However, it
does mean that you’ll need to get important events o the HDD
before they’re overwritten.

41

HDD Menu (ctd)

You can choose how much footage the DVR will overwrite by selecting it from this
menu. You can set this as low as an hour (where the DVR will only keep up to an
hour’s worth of footage at a time) or up to 28 days. Alternately, you can leave it on
Auto, in which case the DVR will overwrite footage as it deems necessary.

If overwrite is set to DISABLE the DVR will stop recording once the DVR is full. Whilst
you won’t lose old footage, you run the risk of missing new events as they happen.
Be sure you want to do this before selecting it.

HDD FORMAT: Formatting the HDD will erase all data (i.e. footage) which is stored

on it, and re-create the FAT ( le allocation table). There are some
times when using the format option is very useful. For example,
if the value displayed in TOTAL SPACE is not correct for the HDD
you’ve installed, or the DVR is displaying errors when trying to write
to the hard drive, then a format might  x the problem.

USB FORMAT: If you have a USB  ash drive connected to the DVR, this will format

it, allowing you to use it in the DVR for backup. This will also erase
all the data on the drive, but make the  ash drive compatible with
the DVR for copying footage. To do this, click the USB FORMAT
button and click OK.

42

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

This is where you con gure the DVR to act as the controller for a PTZ capable camera system.
PTZ devices are connected via the RS485 connection on the rear of the DVR. You’ll need the
manufacturers documentation for your PTZ system on hand to correctly set it up. The DVR is
not compatible with all PTZ systems - in these cases, you’ll need a stand-alone PTZ controller.

PROTOCOL: The most important setting to con gure correctly. A ‘protocol’ deter­mines how the DVR communicates with the PTZ system, somewhat like a ‘language’.
You should set this to match the speci cations given for your PTZ system. The DVR
supports the Pelco-P and Pelco-D protocols.

BAUD RATE: The speed at which the DVR will send information to the PTZ system. This must
be set to a compatible level with your PTZ system.

DATA BIT & STOP BIT: The amount of data sent in an individual ‘packet’ (data bits), and the
number of bits indicating the end of one packet and the beginning of another (stop bits).
Again, this should be matched to the requirements of your PTZ system.

PARITY: An error checking method. This should be set in accordance with your PTZ system’s
requirements.

CRUISE: Refers to a mode of operation which can be used for PTZ systems called “Cruise
Mode”. When using Cruise Mode, the PTZ system can be set up to move constantly, pausing
for a user-de ned amount of time at preset points. Turning CRUISE o here will mean that the
PTZ system can only be moved by the manual controls, and the Start Cruise option on the
context menu will simply not function.

ADDRESS: The command address of the PTZ system. Typically, PTZ systems allow the user
to de ne their own command address, usually by the use of a series of dip-switches located
somewhere on the PTZ system.

PTZ Menu

43

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

From this menu you can con gure the DVR to emit an alarm tone from it’s

internal buzzer, or con gure the DVR to send an ‘Auto-Mail’ email alert when

motion is detected.

Alarm Con guration Menu

44

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Buzzer: Whether the internal alarm speaker inside the DVR is enabled

or not. When set to OFF, the buzzer will not sound under any
circumstances.

You can choose which types of alarm events will trigger the buzzer
by selecting or deselecting the  rst tick box next to the type of
alarm event you want to trigger the buzzer.

We suggest leaving the buzzer enabled, and having it sound on
HDD Loss, HDD Space and Video Loss alarm events. This way, the
DVR will give you a warning if its operation is compromised (either
it is unable to record more footage, or there is no incoming video
feed to record).

MD Alarm: Whether the DVR’s Motion Detection function will trigger an alarm

event. Note that this can be set independently of the Motion-based
recording, which is controlled via the Schedule (page 24) and
motion detection con guration (page 26) menus.

HDD Loss: Will trigger an alarm/buzzer/email if the hard drive stops

functioning.

HDD Space: Will trigger an alarm/buzzer/email when the hard drive is out of

space.

Video Loss: Will trigger an alarm/buzzer/email when a camera stops supplying

images.

Email: See “Auto Email Setup” on page 45.

Post-Recording: How long the DVR will continue to record after an alarm event

(such as motion) occurs.

Pre-Record: Allows the DVR to save a short amount of footage taken before

an event actually occurs. This can be particularly useful for video
loss alarms, as you might just catch who or what caused this alarm
event!

45

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

You can con gure the DVR to automatically send you email alerts when it detects an
alarm event.

Please note that this function is not compatible with all email servers - as the email
the DVR sends is procedurally generated, many email servers misidentify it as spam.
We recommend setting up a free webmail account with a compatible email provider,
such as Gmail, which is compatible with the DVR’s auto-email system.

Auto Email Setup

Tips and Tricks:

• We strongly suggest testing the email setup once it is con gured. This
simply involves clicking the test button, located in the lower left corner of
the menu.

• Some email servers may incorrectly interpret the automatically generated
emails as spam. If you’re not receiving the emails properly, check your spam
folder, or the  ltering settings your email provider uses.

46

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Email: Choose whether you want the email function enabled or disabled here.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer): A form of security encryption often employed on the

Internet. Contact your email provider to learn if they support or require SSL to be
enabled.

SMTP Port: The port your email server receives data through. For the vast maority of
email servers, you’ll need to use port 25 - however, some exceptions to this rule exist.
Again, contact your email provider if you’re unsure.

SMTP Server: The outgoing email server you’re using. Remember that many email
servers aren’t compatible with the automatically generated emails that the DVR cre­ates.

Sender: The address the email will be sent “from”. Often, you’ll need to use your user-
name @ your server to verify it’s you (or, rather, your electronic representitive) sending

the email.

Password: If your email provider requires a password to send mail from your ac­count, enter it here.

Receiver: The email address you want the automatic emails to go to. We suggest cre­ating a seperate email account for this, as there may be many email alerts, depending
on how much motion occurs around your DVR and how long your Interval setting is.

Interval: How often the DVR will send auto-email alerts for subsequent events. Basi­cally, the DVR will not send another email after an event until this time has elapsed,
and will then do so once another event occurs thereafter.

TEST: Sends an email immediately, so you can check that your settings are working.
If you don’t receive an email, it might be that your Receiver email address has a spam
 lter - check the Junkmail folder, the automatically generated emails often wind up
in there.

47

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

For more information about accessing the DVR via a mobile device, see “Remote
Access from a Mobile Device” on page 64.

USER NAME: This is the user name that you’ll need to use when logging into the DVR
via a mobile device. The default user name is “admin” - but this can be set to anything
you desire. We suggest changing this setting to something unique, to aid in prevent­ing unauthorized access to the data stored on the DVR.

PASSWORD: The security password associated with the above user name, which will
allow you to access the DVR. As above, we suggest changing this value to something
unique to better safeguard the DVR against unauthorized access.

SERVER PORT: The port number that the DVR will use to stream data to your mobile
device. See “Remote Access” on page 58 for more information about selecting
and con guring ports.

Mobile Device Con guration

48

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

The SYSTEM SETUP menu is where most of the advanced settings for the DVR hide
out. Most of the time, there isn’t much you’ll need to change here. However, a few
settings might need tweaking from time to time, particularly when you’re  rst
con guring the DVR. So here’s a quick rundown of what’s what.

DATE/TIME: Allows you to set the date and time. The DVR will retain an accurate

time even whilst turned o - there is a small battery attached to the
main circuit board. It may be the case that if the DVR is switched o
for an extended period (for example, weeks or months at a time)
that this battery may be exhausted. In this case, you will need to
setup the time and date settings again.

PASSWORD: For enabling/disabling password control to access the DVR, and

choosing what this password is. This password will not necessarily
be the same as the one you use for remote access (see “Remote
Access” on page 58 for more details).

A/V SETUP: For changing your video standard (PAL or NTSC), con guring the

VGA output, selecting where the menu is displayed, and selecting how
the DVR processes and outputs audio.

LANGUAGE: For changing the language of the on screen display.

INFO: Displays information about the DVR: speci cally, it shows the

current version of the software and hardware that the DVR is
running, as well as the media access control (MAC) address.

MAINTAIN: De ne and implement an automatic maintenance schedule for

the DVR. It is important that the DVR be rebooted on occasion
to prevent errors - this function lets you program an automatic
schedule of rebooting which the DVR will follow.

System Setup

49

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Setting the Date and Time

It is very important if you’re planning on using the video search function that the
date and time are correctly set. This is also the case if you want to be able to use the
footage from your DVR in a court of law or similar legal proceeding.

Date: The date, in the format as chosen in the Date Format drop-down

menu.

Date Format: The format of the date (eg. DD/MM/YYYY or MM/DD/YYYY and so

on).

Time: This can be edited in the same way as the Date, or set to update

automatically.

Time Format: How the time will be displayed, either as 12-hour (AM or PM) or 24-

hour time.

NTP SETTING: Network Time Protocol. If you’ve got the DVR connected to the

Internet, you can have it automatically sync time with an online
server.

Time Zone: Particularly important if you’ve enabled NTP - set this to the time

zone where you happen to be. For example, people in eastern
Australia (Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne) choose GMT+10:00,
whilst the Eastern Time zone in the USA and Canada is GMT-05:00.
(GMT stands for Greenwich Mean Time - it’s the baseline that keeps
all the di erent time zones in sync.)

IMPORTANT: If you change your Time Zone setting, click APPLY before you click

UPDATE.

Date and Time

50

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Con guring DST (Daylight Savings Time) Settings

As the standards for daylight savings di er from country to country, and often state
to state, you might need to manually tell the DVR exactly when it commences and
ends in your locality. First, turn DST on. We suggest setting the Daylight Saving Time
Mode to Date, and manually entering the dates and times that daylight savings time
applies to and from, in your locality.

NOTE: Some NTP servers are NOT fully compatible with DST. This may cause your system
to double-count adding one or removing one more hour than they should, or cancel
each other out. You may need to intentionally change your time zone to compensate, or
simply not use NTP and DST simultaneously.

51

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

You can de ne up to seven user accounts
for the DVR. One of these will always be
the ADMIN account (though the name
can be changed) which has total access
to all aspects of the DVR.

The remaining six accounts are USER
accounts, and can have customised
levels of access.

To set a USERNAME and PASSWORD:

• Tick the SEL box corrosponding to the
user account you want to edit.

• Click the EDIT button.

• Choose whether you want this user
account ENABLED or not.

• Enter a USERNAME using the on­screen keyboard.

• Choose whether you want this user
account to be password protected.

• If you want a password, enter it using
the on-screen keyboard.

• Choose APPLY.

To edit the level of access a USER
account has:

• Tick the SEL box corrosponding to the
user account you want to edit.

• Click the AUTHORITY button.

• On the subsequent page, tick the
boxes for the control you want that
particular user account to have.

• Set a password (if you want that user
account to have one).

We strongly suggest that any user account which has the power to alter the
con guration of the DVR or access recorded footage should be password
protected.

User Setup

Note: When accessing the DVR remotely, only the ADMIN account has
full control of the DVR. Other user accounts with administrator access apply

only for local users, not for remote access.

52

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Video / Audio Setups

Video System: Here you can choose between PAL and NTSC. PAL is used in Western

Europe and Australia, NTSC is used in the US, Canada and Japan. If
the DVR’s picture is black and white,  ickering or similar, then this is
probably caused by the video system being set incorrectly.

Rotate Time: How long channels will be displayed in Rotate mode.

Volume: Changes the audio output volume from the DVR.

Margin: Changes the amount of black border around your images. This is

useful if your TV su ers from “overscan” (that is, the image displayed
doesn’t quite  t on the screen).

Privacy Zone: Use this to mask (read: put a black square over) certain areas of

your images. You can de ne up to four areas of the screen to mask.
These areas are de ned in the same way as the motion detection
area. This setting will a ect recordings - the black mask will still be
there!

53

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

Language

Language Menu

• Using the mouse or
the arrow buttons,
select the drop-down
menu of languages.

• Choose the language
that best suits your
needs.

• Con rm your choice
by pressing select
or left clicking the
option.

A note on languages

Unless you really want to change the language of the DVR menus, stay
away from this setting. Having the menus in a foreign language can make
it di cult to get back to the menu to put the setting back to the right one!

Having said that, if you do change it by mistake (or the DVR is in a non-native
language when you get it) in the main menu, select the icon in the bottom
right, then in the SYSTEM menu, LANGUAGES is the icon in the bottom left.
That will bring you to the drop down menu where you can change languages.

54

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

System Information

System Information Menu

The system information screen displays system information about the DVR.

There are two items that you can edit here.

Device Name: This will identify the DVR over a LAN or via the Internet using

remote access software - the name helps you identify the DVR.

Device ID: The DEVICE ID is important if you’re running multiple DVRs -

each needs its own unique device ID to function correctly when
networked.

Device Type: The device type description.

MAC Addr: The Media Access Control (MAC) address.

Firmware Vers.: This is the version number of the  rmware or software for the DVR.

IE Version: The version of the Internet Explorer plugin.

Hardware Vers.: This is the version number of the hardware.

Keyboard Vers.: This is the version number of the on-screen keyboard.

55

Remember: After making changes to the settings press/click the APPLY button.

AUTO MAINTAIN: When set to DISABLE, there won’t be any other options available

on this screen. Choose ENABLE if you want to set the AUTO REBOOT function.

AUTO REBOOT: Will automatically shut the DVR down and restart it at a certain time of the
day, week or month.

• Note that, if you chose monthly rebooting and you enter the 31st as the date you’d
like the DVR to reboot, there are several months of the year that don’t have a 31st day.
It is suggested that this date be avoided, for that reason.

• To maintain the operational integrity of the DVR, it is suggested that it be rebooted
periodically. In much the same way that a computer can become unstable if
left on for an extremely long time, the DVR can become unstable. It is strongly
suggested that the DVR be rebooted at least once per month. However, as this
can be a hassle (particularly if the DVR is stashed away somewhere inconvenient)
you can set the DVR up to reboot itself.

When the DVR is rebooted, no settings will be lost, and it will automatically resume its
recording mode and schedule without alteration.

UPDATE: For loading new soft/ rmware onto the DVR via a USB  ash drive. Usually,

you won’t need to use this setting unless directed to do so by Swann Technical Sup­port.

LOAD DEFAULT: Returns the DVR to it’s initial factory settings. Can be useful if, for
some unknown reason, the DVR is behaving erratically. You can select speci c attri­butes of the DVR to return to the default - for example, you could reset the Recording
Options to the factory default whilst leaving your recording schedule una ected.

REBOOT: Turns o and restarts the DVR immediately.

POWER OFF: Even though your DVR has a power switch, you should click on this

option  rst if you want to power o your DVR or disconnect it from the power. This
gives the DVR time to stop what it is doing and prepare to shut down properly and
avoid data corruption on the hard drive. Once the DVR has completed its shutdown
process, it will indicate when it is safe to power it o using the power switch.

Maintain (System Maintenance screen)

56

You can bring up the PTZ Control window by pressing the PTZ button on the remote
control, or by right-clicking the mouse in the live view mode, and choosing PTZ. The
PTZ control window is not available while Cruise Mode is active.

Note: the features which will be usable depend on the capabilities and limitations of
your PTZ system.

Here, you’ll be able to aim the camera, as well as alter aspects of the lens and iris
con guration. We’ll explain a little more about what each of these does:

1. CHANNEL SELECTION: Select which channel’s

PTZ device you wish to control. Depending on
your PTZ Con guration settings, this may or
may not be the same as the PTZ Command
Address.

2. ARROW BUTTONS: Used to manually move

the camera. The arrow buttons will move
the camera in the selected direction, and the
centre button toggles Auto-Scan ON and OFF.

3. HOME: Home button

4. ZOOM: If you are using a variable zoom PTZ

camera, you can zoom in or out here. Zooming
in will increase the size of objects in view, at the
expense of reducing the  eld of view. You may
need to adjust focus when using the ZOOM
function.

5. FOCUS: Adjusts the focal plane of the lens. If

an image is blurry, try adjusting the focus. To
best set the focus, move one direction until
things become clear, and then blurry again.
Move back and forth until you  nd sharp
focus.

6. IRIS: Controls how much light gets into the

camera. If things look too bright (or white)
lower the IRIS value. If things are too dark (or
black) raise the IRIS value. Many cameras do
this automatically.

7. SPEED ADJUSTMENT: By selecting this with

the mouse or the arrow buttons, you are able
to change the speed at which your camera will
tilt, pan and zoom. The higher the number,
the faster the camera will move.

PTZ Controls

1

2

4

5

6

7

8
9

10

11
12

14 15

13

3

57

Setting up Cruise Mode

To setup CRUISE MODE, you’ll need to de ne “POINTS”

for each channel with a PTZ camera you want to

“cruise”. A POINT is one place that the camera needs to

move to on its loop.

• Move the camera to the desired position using the
arrows.

• Hit the button.

• The point will be saved. Its name will be one digit
higher than the previous point.

• For easy cruise setup, de ne your points in the same
order as you want the camera to move through
them.

The

button will take the camera back to a pre­de ned point. The button will remove all your de­ ned points.

When you’ve set your points, select then .

• To start cruise mode, select START CRUISE from the

pop-up menu.

• To stop cruise mode, select STOP CRUISE from the

same menu.

Remember: Before Cruise Mode will work, you’ll need
to have enabled the PTZ Con guration menu. See page

42.

8. PRESET POINT COUNT: The total number of preset points currently de ned.

9. SELECTED PRESET POINT: The current preset point being de ned/edited.

10. STOP TIME: How long the camera will pause at each preset point when using
CRUISE MODE.

11. GOTO: Moves the camera to the selected preset point.

12. DEFINE: Saves the current position of the camera as a preset point.

13. ERASE: Deletes the selected preset point.

14. SAVE: Saves changes.

15. EXIT: Leaves the PTZ SETUP menu.

58

The primary requirements for accessing the DVR via the Internet are:

A High-Speed Internet Connection

Video uses a lot of data, so you’ll need a fast Internet connection in order to get
smooth playback and monitoring remotely. Note that upload speed refers to the
rate at which an Internet connection can send data, not receive it. Most Internet
connections are ‘asymmetrical’, which means they can download data faster than
they can upload it. We think that an Internet connection with an upload speed of
256kpbs is generally su cient for remote access, but ideally upload speeds of
512kbps or higher are recommended - particularly for multi-channel playback or
monitoring at higher resolutions and quality settings.

Your DVR & Local Network Correctly Con gured

It is important that your local network function correctly, and that the information
entered into the Networking menu in the DVR (see “The Network Menu” on page

29) matches the general network settings.

The  rst thing you’ll need to determine is whether your router requires devices to use
 xed (STATIC) or dynamic (DHCP) addressing. Some routers can use either method,
whilst some only support DHCP, and others only support STATIC. If your router
supports it, we recommend using DHCP addressing with UPnP enabled, as it makes
locating the DVR from other devices on your network easier.

In a DHCP con guration, you do not need to enter the IP address, subnet mask or
default gateway values into the DVR - the router will automatically assign these.

For a STATIC con guration, the DVR needs to be told what IP address to use (this must
be unique) and the subnet mask, gateway address and DNS server address (these must
match the other devices on your network). The most common way of discovering these
values is to use a computer already connected to the network, which can access the
Internet.

UPnP

Basically, UPnP is the ultimate shortcut when setting up your home network. The big
bene t of UPnP is that you don’t have to worry about port forwarding, which is one
of the most time consuming and di cult stages of con guring your network.

The requirements for UPnP are: A UPnP capable router, with UPnP enabled.

Remote Access

59

Enabling UPnP

UPnP is a setting which can be enabled on certain routers. You’ll have to see your
router’s documentation for instructions on how to enable UPnP, if your router
supports it.

Enabling UPnP will have a minor e ect on your network security. If your network
is free from malware (such as viruses, spyware, adware and so on) then UPnP will
improve the security of your network. This happens because the ports that programs
and devices use while they’re open are automatically closed when the program is
closed or the device shut down. On the other hand, if UPnP is enabled once the
security of your network is already compromised (that is, a device or computer on the
network is infected by some kind of malware) then UPnP will reduce your networks
ability to quarantine suspect programs by allowing them outbound access through
the router’s  rewall. Basically, if you’re planning to use UPnP, be sure your computers
are clean and free from malware!

Port Con guration

The DVR needs three ports to be available and properly con gured to work correctly over
the Internet - the Web Port, the Media Port and (if you’re planning to access the DVR via
a mobile device) the Mobile Port.

If you’re not using UPnP (we recommend you do use UPnP) then you’ll need to forward
these ports.

Media Port: The default value is “9000”.

Web Port: The default value is “80” - we strongly suggest changing this as

“80” is a port frequently used by various programs (in fact, it’s the
default HTTP port). Generally, port “85” is a better choice.

Mobile Port: The default value is 18004.

Remember: If you’re not using UPnP, these ports need to be forwarded from

your router directly to the DVR. Without these ports forwarded
properly, remote access will not work.

60

Remote Access - IP addresses

Public and Private IP Addresses

The IP address used by the DVR, whether entered manually (STATIC) or assigned by
the dynamic host (DHCP) is the private IP address of the DVR. The private IP address
is used to locate the DVR on your private network. However, to access the DVR from
a remote location via the Internet, you’ll need to know your home network’s public
IP address.

What’s the di erence?

The IP addressing system that the Internet utilizes at the moment supports up to
(approximately) 4 billion addresses. That is a lot, but it’s not enough for every device
connected to it (computers, phones, video game consoles, DVRs, servers, televisions
and even some refrigerators can all have Internet connections) to have individual
addresses. This problem is solved by assigning an address to each sub-network on
the Internet. This means that all LANs, such as your local network in your home or
o ce, will have a public IP address which will allow you to  nd that network from
anywhere connected to the Internet.

This means that all devices connected to your network share one public IP address.
To di erentiate devices on your network, your network has its own IP address range,
and this is what is referred to as your private IP address. You’ll need to know the
private IP address if you’re using STATIC addressing and/or are Port Forwarding (i.e.
not using UPnP).

If you’re using DHCP addressing and have UPnP enabled on both the router and the
DVR, then you may not need to know the private IP address at all.

How do I  nd these addresses, and what should I do with them?

If you’re setting up a dynamic network (DHCP) then you don’t need to know the
private IP address of your DVR (it’ll probably change over time, anyway). Rather,
you only need to de ne the Media Port and Web Port. If you’re not using UPnP (if
possible, use UPnP - it’s just awesome) then con gure your router to forward these
ports to the DVR.

If you’ve con gured your network using STATIC IP addressing, then you’ll be entering
the private IP address directly into the DVR. Then you’ll need to choose your Web Port
and Media Port. Finally, you’ll have to con gure your router to forward your selected
ports to the private IP address of the DVR.

Finally, to learn your network’s public IP address, you’ll need a computer with Internet
access connected via the same network as the DVR you’re con guring. Then, open
an Internet browser window. In the address bar, go to

www.whatismyip.com. Your

public IP address will be displayed instantly!

61

Static and Dynamic IP Addresses

In much the same way as your home network can use static or dynamic IP addresses,
many Internet providers don’t issue (or charge more for) a static IP address for users.
The easiest way to  nd out is to contact your Internet service provider. Alternately,
you can access the

www.whatismyip.com service, make a note of your IP, then reboot

your router/gateway. This should refresh your Internet connection. If your IP address
stays the same, you’ve probably got a static IP address. If it changes, you have a
dynamic IP address.

How do I deal with a dynamic IP address?

One option is to contact your ISP and request a static IP address. They’ll usually charge
a small fee for doing this. It’s worth noting that not all ISPs o er static IP addresses.

If your ISP does not o er static IP addresses then you can use a dynamic referencing
service, like

www.dyndns.com. They o er a free service which will give you a text

address (such as

www.exampleipaddress.example) which will take you directly to

your public IP address. For this service to work correctly, you’ll need to set up the DVR
to work with DDNS.

Server: Choose the server that you’re using. There are two options, DYNDNS (www.

dyndns.com) and 3322 (www.3322.org). We suggest DYNDNS, unless you are  uent

at reading Chinese.

Host Name: Enter the host name that you set up in your DDNS service. This is the
address you use to access your network.

Username and Password: Here, enter the username and password you setup with
your DDNS server. These do not have to match your username/password combina­tion in either your DVR or router (for the sake of security, we suggest making them
di erent).

62

The easiest way to access your DVR remotely is via an Internet browser. These
instructions will detail how to access the DVR via Microsoft Internet Explorer®. This
section assumes that you’ve already con gured the DVR and your network to operate
properly. Remotely accessing the DVR via Internet Explorer (IE) is a great way to test if
your network is functioning as it should.

At the time of writing, the DVR supports up to 3 users accessing the DVR

remotely at a time.

Note: You may have to alter and con gure the ActiveX controls in IE to allow
unrestricted access to the DVR. Access might be slowed or blocked completely by
IE’s built-in security functions. The instructions on how to do this are covered on the
next page.

To access the DVR remotely via Internet Explorer:

1. Open an Internet Explorer window. If you do not have Internet Explorer you can

download it from the Microsoft website (www.microsoft.com).

2. In the address bar type “http://” followed by your public IP address, a

colon then your web port. For example, if your web port is “85” and
your public IP address is “210.9.10.115”, then you’ll need to enter the
information, shown on the image, immediately below these words

.

You will now see a login window. Here, enter your password. If no password is
set, leave this dialog box blank.

3. You should now have access to the DVR.

http://210.9.10.115:85

Remote Access via Internet Explorer

63

1. Open Internet Explorer.

2. Click Tools --> Internet Options.

3. In Internet Options click on

the Security tab at the top.

4. Select the INTERNET zone option.

5. Click on the CUSTOM LEVEL button.

6. You will now see the list below
(or similar, depending on the
version of IE you are running).

7. Set Download signed ActiveX
controls to Prompt.

8. Set Download unsigned ActiveX
controls to Prompt.

9. Set Initialize and script ActiveX
controls not marked as safe for
scripting to Prompt.

10. Set Run ActiveX controls and plug­ins to Enabled.

11. Set Script ActiveX controls marked
safe for scripting to Enabled.

12. After you have made these changes,
click Okay.

13. You will be asked to con rm your
changes. Choose Yes.

Adjusting the Security Settings in Internet Explorer

64

The DVR supports access from mobile devices, such as mobile phones with Microsoft
Windows Mobile® as their operating system, as well as the increasingly popular
iPhone. To correctly con gure your DVR for remote access via a mobile device,
or indeed any remote access, it is important to have your network and Internet
connection con gured correctly. Typically, this is matter of forwarding ports from
your router to speci c devices (in this case, your DVR).

Requirements

To access the DVR via a mobile device, the following conditions must be met:

• A high-speed Internet connection with an upload speed in excess of 256kbps
(ideally above 512kbps).

• The DVR attached to this high-speed Internet connection.

• Your home network correctly con gured to allow the DVR’s SERVER PORT
unrestricted access to the Internet. Typically, this requires enabling UPnP
(recommended) or forwarding ports (not recommended).

• A compatible mobile device with a supported platform (see below).

• The correct application(s) installed on your mobile device.

• A su cient signal to your mobile device (areas with intermittent coverage or low
signal strength will adversely a ect the playback).

Setting up the DVR for Mobile Access

1. Enter the Main Menu.

2. Navigate to Devices, and select Mobile.

3. Enter a USERNAME and PASSWORD for mobile access. This may be the same

or di erent to your regular password, depending on your security needs. We
suggest using a di erent password for mobile access, but something that you’ll
remember.

4. Choose a PORT for remote access. If UPnP is not enabled, then this port will need

to be properly forwarded from your router to ensure maximum bandwidth for
sending footage.

Remote Access from a Mobile Device

65

Preparing your Mobile Device

Mobile technology is becoming increasingly advanced, and the rate of change is
increasing. We’re constantly updating software to keep up with the evolution of
handsets and other devices available, and developing new apps (or “applications”,
for those who still prefer whole words) for other operating systems and hardware.

Thus, we can’t tell you exactly how to prepare your mobile device here. Firstly,
there isn’t enough space on this page to cover all compatible mobile devices. More
importantly, any information we print will probably be out of date by the time you
read it!

Check out:

www.swannsecurity.com/mobile

for guides to set up common mobile devices for use with the DVR.

Supported Mobile Platforms

At the time of writing, the DVR supports a mobile device (such as a cellphone, tablet,
PDA or similar) on a 3G network running:

• Microsoft Windows Mobile

®

(version 6.1)

• Android (version 2.1 or higher)

• Symbian (S60, 3rd or 5th edition)

• iPhone OS (requires iPhone 3GS or later model)

• BlackBerry OS (version 5)

Some devices may require access to a local area network with Internet access to
function correctly, whilst others are able to use mobile Internet (such as HSDPA or
similar protocol). It depends on the hardware in your speci c device, and there are
too many devices out there these days to o er any kind of comprehensive list.

Disclaimer: We can’t guarantee that your mobile device will be compatible with this
DVR, even if it has one of the operating systems listed above. Your speci c model of
phone, tablet or other device, the hardware it contains (and the revision thereof),
your service provider, the types of data services they o er and your speci c phone/
device plan will all a ect the performance of your mobile device for remote access
of the DVR.

At the time of writing, the DVR supports up to 4 users via mobile devices

simultaneously.

66

Note: The following instructions are for
installing or changing the hard drive. If
your DVR already has a hard drive pre­installed, and you don’t want to change it,
disregard these steps.

1. Ensure the DVR is switched o and

unplugged from mains power.

2. Locate and remove the 2 screws on

the hard drive caddy/backplate on
the rear of the DVR.

3. Using the indentation as a lever

point, pull the caddy up to reveal
the hard drive being careful not to
pull too hard since the hard drive is
still attached to the DVR with two
cables (SATA (data) and Power.

4. Push the metal clip on the SATA

cable connector (single

red or

orange cable) to unplug the cable

from the hard drive. Unplug the
power cable connector (attached
to 2 black, 1

yellow, and 1 red cable)

from the back of the hard drive.

5. Locate and remove the screws
which secure the hard drive to the
caddy.

6. Place the new hard drive into the
caddy in exactly the same position and
mounting as the one you have removed.
Secure the hard drive to the caddy using
the screws removed in Step 5.

7. To replace the caddy,  rst attach the
SATA and Power cable as shown in Step
5 to the new HDD and then place the
HDD caddy into the DVR chassis.

8. Secure the HDD to the DVR chassis
with the screws removed in Step 2.

Power

connector

and cable

SATA connector

and cable

3

2

4

5

Remove

Changing or Installing the Hard Drive

67

Problem: I’m not getting a picture on my TV or monitor!
Solution: There are a couple of things that could be going on. Here are a couple of

theories:

• If you’ve connected the DVR to a TV via the VIDEO OUT port, ensure that the
composite video cable (BNC to RCA) connects the MAIN VIDEO OUT on the DVR to a
VIDEO IN on your television. Check that the TV is set to the right channel (AV, Channel
0, Video, Composite). Try using a di erent video input on the television. Try using a
di erent cable. If all else fails, it’s time for a di erent TV!

Problem: My DVR does not switch on.
Solution: Make sure you have plugged in the power supply (12V) to the DVR and into the

wall socket. Carefully check the integrity of the connections. Try another power socket.

Problem: My display is showing “NO HARD DISK” when I press record.
Solution: If you have recently changed the hard drive in your DVR unit make sure it is

plugged in properly; otherwise the hard drive may be faulty. Try connecting another
(working) hard drive to the DVR; if this still doesn’t work then the DVR maybe faulty. We
suggest calling Swann Technical Support. The contact information is on the rear cover of
this booklet.

Problem: I am not getting pictures from my cameras on any of my displays.
Solution: Make sure the cameras are connected properly to the DVR and their power

supplies (usually about 12V, but some cameras have di erent requirements - particularly
when one power supply is used for multiple cameras). Check that the cables are not the
bits at fault by connecting the cameras directly to the DVR or to a TV (if you have the
proper adapters).

Problem: One of the displays is not showing on my screen.
Solution: Make sure all cameras are set to ON in CAMERA SETUP. Check the integrity

of your cables and connections. Check the power supply to the camera. Try attaching
another channel to the questionable input.

Problem: I cannot login to my DVR remotely using the Internet Explorer browser.
Solution: Make sure you have con gured the IP, ActiveX and USER SETUP correctly.

Remember the USER PASSWORD may be di erent to the ADMIN PASSWORD. The ADMIN
PASSWORD is used to login to the DVR remotely.

Problem: I cannot copy  les o the DVR.
Solution: Make sure the DVR is connected to a USB  ash drive, and that the USB  ash

drive is formatted to have a FAT32  le system. Some  ash drives are not compatible with
the DVR (these are rare) because they use an uncommon USB device class - in these cases,
try using a di erent USB  ash drive.

Troubleshooting

68

Technical Speci cations

Display Size LCD monitor 10.2”

Aspect Ratio 5:3

Video Compression H.264

Video System NTSC / PAL

Operating System Linux

Input/Output

Video

BNC: 4-ch inputs / BNC: 1-ch output

Audio RCA: 1-ch inputs / RCA: 1-ch outputs

Display

Resolution

NTSC: 704 x 480 / PAL: 704 x 576

Frame Rate NTSC: 120fps / PAL: 100fps (shared by 4 cameras)

Record

Resolution

NTSC: CIF(352x240) / HD1(704x240) / D1(704x480)

PAL: CIF(352x288) / HD1(704x288) / D1(704x576)

Frame Rate

NTSC: 60fps-D1 / 120fps-HD1 / 120fps-CIF (shared by 4 cameras)

PAL: 50fps-D1 / 100fps-HD1 / 100fps-CIF (shared by 4 cameras)

Feature

Display

Single / Quad / SEQ

Recording Best / Good / Normal

Record Modes Manual / Motion Detection / Schedule

HDD

Interface 1*SATA Fixed HDD

Capability SATA up to 2000GB (2TB)

Playback Search Time & Date / Event List

USB Interface USB 2.0 for Mouse and File Backup / Upgrade

PTZ Control Built-in RS-485 / support PELCO-P & PELCO-D

LAN/Network Interface RJ45, 10M/100M

Network Protocol Support TCP/IP, DHCP, DDNS, PPPoE, Static, UPnP

Network Function

Supports live viewing with (Internet Explorer) & selected
smartphones

Backup via USB  ash

Recording Pack Time 15/30/45/60mins selectable

IR Remote Control Included

Mouse Included

Power Supply DC12V

Dimensions

5.5” x 10.6” x 9.3”
140mm x 270mm x 235mm

Weight 4.0lbs / 1.8kg

Due to product improvements, speci cations subject to change without notice.

69

Limited Warranty Terms & Conditions

Swann Communications warrants this product against defects in workmanship and

material for a period of one (1) year from it’s original purchase date. You must present

your receipt as proof of date of purchase for warranty validation. Any unit which

proves defective during the stated period will be repaired without charge for parts or

labour or replaced at the sole discretion of Swann. The end user is responsible for all

freight charges incurred to send the product to Swann’s repair centres. The end user

is responsible for all shipping costs incurred when shipping from and to any country

other than the country of origin.

The warranty does not cover any incidental, accidental or consequential damages

arising from the use of or the inability to use this product. Any costs associated with

the  tting or removal of this product by a tradesman or other person or any other

costs associated with its use are the responsibility of the end user. This warranty

applies to the original purchaser of the product only and is not transferable to any

third party. Unauthorized end user or third party modi cations to any component or

evidence of misuse or abuse of the device will render all warranties void.

By law some countries do not allow limitations on certain exclusions in this warranty.

Where applicable by local laws, regulations and legal rights will take precedence.

Swann Communications USA Inc.

12636 Clark Street

Santa Fe Springs CA 90670

USA

Swann Communications

Unit 13, 331 Ingles Street,

Port Melbourne Vic 3207

Swann Communications LTD.

Stag Gates House

63/64 The Avenue

SO171XS

United Kingdom

Warranty Information

USA toll free

1-800-627-2799

(Su, 2pm-10pm US PT)

(M-Th, 6am-10pm US PT)

(F 6am-2pm US PT)

USA Exchange & Repairs

1-800-627-2799 (Option 1)

(M-F, 9am-5pm US PT)

AUSTRALIA toll free

1300 138 324

(M 9am-5pm AUS ET)

(Tu-F 1am-5pm AUS ET)

(Sa 1am-9am AUS ET)

NEW ZEALAND toll free

0800 479 266

UK

0203 027 0979

© Swann Communications 2011

Helpdesk / Technical Support Details

Swann Technical Support

All Countries E-mail: [e-mail]

Telephone Helpdesk