Swann DVR8-2500 User Manual

plug&playsecurity

™

Advanced security made easy

DVR8-2500™

8 Channel H.264 Digital Video Recorder

SW342-2DE

www.swannsecurity.com

SR342-2DE-60010-230709

Operating Instructions

Before You Begin

FCC Veriﬁcation: 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 off 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 different 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 ofﬁcers 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: Modiﬁcations not approved by the party responsible for compliance could void user’s authority to operate the equipment.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS:

· Make sure product is ﬁxed 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

· This DVR is password protected.

· To unlock the DVR for the ﬁrst time, the default password is “123456”.

· To ensure your ongoing privacy, we strongly recommend changing the 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.

Contents

Before you Begin 2

Table of Contents 3 Package Contents 4

DVR Layout 5

Layout of Remote Control 6 Connecting Cameras to the DVR 7 Starting the DVR 8

Navigating the Menus 9

The Main Menu 9 Hard Drive Setup 10 Setting the Time 11 Conﬁguring the Camera Display 12

Recording 14 Search and Playback 17

Backing up Footage 19 Motion Detection 19 Password Control 21 Language 21 System Menu 22 PTZ 23

Installing the DVR Software 26

Conﬁguring Active X 29 Network Setup 30 D9 Viewer Software 31

About IP Addresses 38 Port Forwarding 38

Installing/Changing the Hard Drive 39

Troubleshooting 40 Technical Speciﬁcations 41

Warranty Information 43 Technical Support Back Cover

Package Contents

DVR4-2500™ Unit

Remote Control

Operating Instructions

Easy Setup Guide

Power Adapter with Cable

Software CD

Network cable

USB cable

RCA Video Cable

RCA to BNC adapters X 4

Security Stickers (4 Pack)

If you are missing any of the components above, contact Swann Communications for assistance.

DVR Layout

Front Panel

1 2 3 4 6 7 8

1. Power Indicator - Lights on when DVR powered

2. Infra red sensor

3. Hard drive indicator - Lights

when hard drive is active (ﬂashes when recording, searching etc.)

4. Menu/ESC - Used to enter the main menu or exit a sub menu.

5. PTZ - Press in live view to see pop up menu.

6. Next Channel - Press to go to next channel in live view or playback

7. Previous Channel - Press to go to previous channel in live view or playback

10 11 12 13

8. All - Press to view all channels in split-screen mode.

9. Rewind - Press to rewind a recording / press to move cursor left.

10. Pause - Press to pause a recording. During single display mode press to activate sequence mode. (AUTOSEQ must be set).

11. Play - Press to begin playing most recent recording.

12. Fast foward - Press to fast forward a recording / press to move cursor right.

13. Stop - Press to stop a recording.

15 16 17 18 19

14. Record - Press to begin recording. Note: will not function if the cameras are not activated in CAMERA SETUP AND RECORD SETUP.

15. Up arrow - Move cursor up in menus.

16. Left arrow - Move cursor left in menus.

17. Down - Press to move cursor down.

18. Right arrow - Press to move cursor right in menus.

19. Select - Press to select an option/enter a sub menu.

Back Panel

1.Channel Inputs 1 to 8

2. Video Output

3. Audio Input

4. Audio Output

1 2

4 5

5. USB Mouse Ports

6. USB Port

7. LAN Port

8. VGA port

9. Alarm/Sensor Connections

10. Power Connector

Layout of Remote Control

4 5

1. 0-9 (digit key pad)

- Buttons 1-4 can be used to view channels 1-4 in individual display mode during recording and playback.

- 0-9 can be used to input a password.

- 0-9 cannot be used for any other numeric ﬁeld with a yellow pop up keypad

2. ALL

- Press to activate the entire screen for motion detection in MOTION DETECTOR SETUP; press again to deactivate motion detection to the entire screen.

3 - LEFT arrow

- Move cursor left in menus.

4. REWIND/RWD

- Press to rewind a recording during playback.

5. RECORD

- Press to begin recording. Note: will not function if the cameras are not activated in CAMERA SETUP AND RECORD SETUP.

6. MENU

- Used to enter the main menu or exit a sub menu.

8. SELECT/SEL

-Press to select an option/enter a sub menu.

9. RIGHT arrow

- Press to move cursor right.

10. DOWN arrow

-Press to move cursor down.

11. Mute

- Will not affect DVR operation.

12. PLAY

- Press to begin playing most recent recording during playback.

13. FAST FORWARD/FWD

- Press to fast forward a recording.

14. STOP

- Press to stop a recording.

15. Pause

- Press to pause a recording.

7. UP arrow

- Move cursor up in menus.

Connecting Cameras to the DVR

Cameras and accessories optional

1. Connect the power and BNC ends of the security camera to an extension cable.

2. Connect the DC end on the extension cables to the 4 way power splitter plugs.

3. Connect the camera power supply to the other end of the power splitter.

4. Connect the BNC end of the extension cables to the camera connections on the back of the DVR unit (CH1, CH2, CH3 & CH4)

5. Connect the DVR power supply plug into the power supply socket on the back of the DVR.

6. Plug in the camera power adapter and the DVR power adapter to mains power outlets.

Starting the DVR

Once you have connected the DVR and switched the power on it will begin to boot up. During boot up you will see the following screen. The DVR is basically a small, dedicated computer and thus needs about 45 seconds to boot up. Whilst booting, the DVR will show this screen:

Once the DVR has booted (up and you have a camera connected to each channel) the DVR will take you straight to the ‘ALL’ view screen, showing all eight displays (below).

1. Displays showing cameras 1 and 3.

2. Audio icon. (in this case audio in active on camera 1)

3. Displays showing cameras 2 and 4.

4. Date stamp (year:month:day) and Time stamp. (hour:minutes:seconds)

Navigating the Menus

This DVR comes with a USB mouse and also a remote control, and also has a full compliment of control buttons on the front panel. So, basically, you have options!

Note: The USB mouse must be attached to the upper USB port!

The mouse functions just like any PC mouse for easy navigation of the menus. In a nutshell, the left mouse button selects and conﬁrms choices, the right mouse button will take you back towards the main menu. Most users ﬁnd that attaching a USB mouse to their DVR is the most convenient way to operate it.

If you prefer to use the remote please read the REMOTE LAYOUT page for instructions on using the remote before you attempt to set up your DVR. Most buttons on the remote operate in a similar manner to those on a VCR or DVD player, but due to the speciﬁc functionality of the DVR, the function of some buttons may be obvious. These buttons are also located on the front panel of the DVR.

The Main Menu

To access the main menu push the MENU button on the remote or front panel. Or, if you’re using a mouse, RIGHT click, and the pop up menu (below) will appear. Click MAIN MENU.

You may ﬁnd it easier navigating through the DVR menus using the mouse. Simply scroll over the settings button you want to view and click the LEFT mouse button. Alternatively you can navigate these options using the UP, DOWN, LEFT & RIGHT buttons on the DVR front panel or the remote control.

The currently selected option will be magniﬁed and have a light blue outline.

In this example, the CAMERA submenu is selected whilst the mouse cursor is over it.

To conﬁrm a choice, simply left click or press SELECT whilst the option is highlighted.

To exit the main menu press the MENU button on the remote or front panel or click the RIGHT mouse button. This will take you back to the live view.

Hard drive Setup

What’s this?

Unlike a VCR which records to a tape, your DVR records footage to the internal hard drive. Therefore, it’s an important ﬁrst step when conﬁguring your DVR to make sure that the hard drive (HDD) options are correctly set. Think of it like inserting a really, really long tape that you don’t have to rewind.

All the options we’re conﬁguring here you’ll ﬁnd in the HDD SETUP submenu.

The HDD SETUP screen will show you: TOTAL SPACE - Total size of the hard drive currently installed. FREE SPACE - Total amount of freespace available on the hard drive currently installed. USEABLE REC. TIME - Free space currently available in hours.

Additionally, there are some options that need to be conﬁgured. Here’s a quick rundown of what’s what.

OVERWRITE

When set to ENABLE the DVR will record over the oldest ﬁles on the hard drive. This is the default setting, and probably the most useful, 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 off the HDD before they’re overwritten.

HDD Status (status of the currently installed hard drive) If the hard drive is not installed properly you will see a message saying NO DISK FOUND. Hopefully, though, it will say OK. In LIVE VIEWING mode, you will see the icon on the bottom of the top left display if the hard drive is not installed correctly. If you’re having problems with this, have a look at the steps for changing the hard drive on page 39.

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 (ﬁle 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 ﬁx the problem.

Additionally, if you have a USB ﬂash drive connected to the DVR, you can format that, too. This will also erase all the data on the drive, but make the ﬂash drive compatible with the DVR for backing up footage. To do this, click the USB FORMAT button and click OK.

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

ALL DATA WILL BE ERASED, ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO FORMAT?

Setting the Time

Setting the Time & Date

It’s important to set the Time & Date before recording footage. That way, when you search for events, they’ll be listed in the right order, and display when they were recorded.

To set the Time and Date:

Go to the TIME AND DATE submenu.1. Highlight the current numeric ﬁeld, and press select or left click.2. Use left and right (or the mouse) to select the digit(s) you want to change.3. Using the up and down arrows/buttons, change the date and time to the 4. correct values. If using the remote/front panel controls, use the select button to conﬁrm an 5. entry. Conﬁrm your changes by selecting APPLY.6.

Selecting Time & Date formats and Time Zone

Choosing the right time & date format and the correct time zone can save you a lot of time, hassles and confusion later on. So, let’s get them set up right from the beginning!

TIME FORMAT: Choose between 12 hour time (eg. 3:00 PM) and 24 hour time (15:00). Both have their advantages and disadvantages, so choose whichever works for you.

DATE FORMAT: Different countries have different formats for their dates. Some would represent the 25th of Feburary, 2009 as 02/25/2009, whilst others would write it as 25/02/2009. Some even start with the year (2009/02/25). Simply chose the format which is standard in your area.

TIME ZONE: Particularly important if you’re networking your DVR, so it knows how different the time is where the DVR is and where you might be accessing it from. Choose the time zone of your particular locality.

Daylight Savings Time

Setting the Daylight Savings settings correctly will ensure that, when daylight savings commences or ends in your locality that the DVR will automatically update its time settings to stay synchronised with the actual time.

Enable or disable daylight savings time (DST) by selecting ON or OFF from the DST dropdown menu.

Once you’ve turned DST, you’ll need to set the appropriate DST MODE from the additional drop-down menu which will appear.

Select the appropriate option. If you choose CUSTOM, you will be asked to conﬁgure the DST MODE to suit the needs and requirements of your locality (see next page for details).

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

Setting the Time (continued)

Conﬁguring custom DST MODE

As the standards for daylight savings differ 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.

To do this, we need to conﬁgure the settings in the DST MODE CUSTOM submenu.

First, select the appropriate week from the drop-down menu which lists the 1ST WEEK, 2ND WEEK (and so on) that DST commecnces in your region. Then, select the appropriate month from the dropdown menu listing months.

Repeat these steps for the week and month that daylight savings ends. Once conﬁgured, your DVR will automatically adjust the time settings when daylight savings begins and ends without you having to change anything.

Configuring the Camera Display

In the DISPLAY SETUP screen you can name each channel, select the position of each channel name, adjust the color set up for each channel, switch the channels on & off in live view, display time in live vew & recording and set time for auto sequence.

Naming Channels

If the names CH1,CH2 and so on seem a little dull, then feel free to rename them!

To do so, select the CHANNEL NAME option from the menu. Use the mouse or arrow keys to select, letter by letter, the name you want for the channel. Select each letter by left clicking or using the icon.

The icon will change the letter board from upper to lower case (and vice-versa).

Name Position

Does the name of the channel for “Front Door” neatly obscure the exact spot on the screen where a visitor/intruder’s face appears? Don’t panic! You can also conﬁgure where the name of the channel appears on the screen.

Find the drop-down menu which, by default, will display

Highlight the drop-down menu, and select the position on the channel’s display you’d like the title to appear. You have four options, equating to the four corners of the channel’s display window.

UPLEFT: The upper, left-hand corner of the channel’s display. DOWNLEFT: The lower, left-hand corner of the channel’s display. UPRIGHT: The upper, right-hand corner of the channel’s display. DOWNRIGHT: The lower, right-hand corner of the channel’s display.

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

Camera Setup

Color Setup

You can ﬁne tune the look of each channel individually by adjusting the HUE, BRIGHT (brightness), CONTRAST and SATURATION values for each channel.

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 or under exposed.

HUE: Changes the color mix of the frame (this can have very dramatic results). BRIGHT: Changes how light all tones in the image appear. CONTRAST: Increases the difference 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

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 DISPLAY drop down menu - it only contains two options, ON or OFF. Simply change the value to OFF 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.

In the nearby DISPLAY TIME drop down menu, you can select whether you want to see the time displayed on the channel in either live viewing mode, or when recording. The time will always be recorded in the event list and in the footage’s meta-data (which you can get access to later) - this simply changes whether or not you see it in the main view screen.

Auto Sequence

When AUTOSEQ (automatic sequencing mode) is engaged, the DVR will automatically cycle through all available channels, displaying each in turn expanded to ﬁll the entire screen.

In the AUTOSEQ drop-down menu, you can select how long you’d like each channel to appear, as well as the ALL view mode. Each can be conﬁgured individually, so you can ﬁne tune exactly how long you’d like each channel to be visible for.

Remember that channels without cameras attached will still be displayed, unless you’ve set them to be OFF in live viewing mode (see above).

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

Recording

In the RECORD SETUP submenu you can choose which channels will be active during recording, change the recording quality, enable & disable audio, select record more and Chunk Size (the maximum size of each recorded ﬁle).

This submenu contains many of the most important settings on the DVR, and correctly conﬁguring them is important to the ongoing smooth operation of the unit. We’ve made a quick list of what you can do here, and will try to explain quickly what they all do - and how you can set them quickly to achieve best results.

Channel

In the same manner as in live view, you can select whether or not channels will be recorded. It’s a good idea to set any channel which does not have an active camera attached to it to “off” so you don’t ﬁll up the HDD with blank footage, which is no good to anyone!

To stop a channel being recorded, simply change the value in the CHANNEL drop down window from ON to OFF.

Likewise, to re-enable a channel for recording, swap the value in the drop-down menu back to ON.

By default, all channels are set to ON.

Note: channels that are set to OFF will not be recorded, but they can still be seen in live view

(unless, of course, you’ve disabled them there, too).

Changing Video Quality and setting the Audio

The higher the quality selected, the more detail will appear in your footage. High quality video takes up more space on your HDD than lower quality. So, if the amount of HDD space is not a concern to you, then choose BEST (you’ll be rewarded by the highest quality video the DVR can record). If you want maximum recording time on your HDD, choose NORMAL (the video will not look as good, but you’ll get lots of it). GOOD strikes somewhat of a balance between extremes, and is a good choice is both image quality and recording time are important to you. Also, you can enable or disable the audio here. If you have microphones connected to your DVR, then select ENABLE. If not, then disabling audio will save some HDD space so you can record more video!

To change the QUALITY or AUDIO modes, simply highlight and select the appropriate button next to the setting you would like to enable by using the mouse, or the arrow buttons and conﬁrm with select.

Record Mode

You can change the recording mode here. You have two umbrella choices: ALWAYS and TIME SCHEDULE.

If you want the DVR to record constantly, or any time it detects motion, then choose ALWAYS.

On the other hand, if you want the DVR to either record at speciﬁc times, or when motion is detected during the pre-deﬁned times, then choose TIME SCHEDULE RECORD. We’ll cover how to turn the MOTION DETECTION ON and OFF later.

So, if (for example) you wanted to monitor a warehouse to protect against break-ins at night, you’d probably want to choose TIME SCHEDULE for your recording mode, as you don’t need to ﬁll up the hard drive with all the random goings on of the business during the day.

On the other hand, if you wanted to monitor a 24/7 convenience store to protect against shoplifting, or an unoccupied location to protect against break-ins which could occur at any time, then ALWAYS is probably going to be your best option.

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

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