Swann M16 Instruction Manual
1
16-Channel
Digital Video Recorder
EN
INSTRUCTION MANUAL
2
FCC Verification
Note: This equip ment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class B digital device,
pursuant to part 15 of the FC C Rules. These limits are designe d to provide r easonable protec tion
against harmful inter ference in a residential installation. T his equipment gener ates, uses and can
radiate r adio frequency energy and, if not instal led and used in accordance with the instruction s, may
cause harmful inter ference to radio or television reception, w hich can be determined by turning the
equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to tr y to correct the interference by one or more of the
following measures:
• Reorient o r relocate th e receiving antenna
• Increas e the separation betw een the equipment and the receiver
• Connec t the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different f rom that to which the receiver is
connected
• Consult the dealer or an ex perienced radio/T V technician for help
These de vices comply with par t 15 of the FCC Rules. Oper ation is subject to the followin g two
conditions:
• These de vices may not cause harmful interference, and
• These de vices must accept any inter ference received, including interfer ence that may cause
undesired operation.
IMPORTANT NOTE
All jurisdictions have specific laws and regulatio ns relating to the use of cameras. Before using
any camer a for any purpose, it is the buyer’s responsibility to be aw are of all applicable laws and
regulations that prohibit or limit the use of cameras and to comply with the applicable l aws and
regulations.
FCC Regulation (for USA): Prohibition against eavesdropping
Except for the operations of law enfo rcement officers conducted under lawful authorit y, no person
shall use, either direc tly or indirectly, a device operated pursuant to the provisions of this Part for the
purpos e of overhearing or recording the pr ivate conversations of other s unless such use is authorized
by all of the parties engaging in the conversation.
WARNING
Modific ations not approved by the party responsible for compliance coul d void user’s authority to
operate the equipment.
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
• Make sure product is fixed correc tly and stable if fastened in place
• Do not oper ate if wires and terminals are ex posed
• Do not cover v ents on the side or back of the DV R and allow adequate space for ventilation
DEFAULT PASSWORD INFORMATION
The default, all-access username is ‘admin’, the default password is ‘123 45’.
To ensure your ongoing privacy, we strongly recommend setting a password as soon as p ossible
Choose something that you’ll rememb er, but that others would be unlikely to guess.
IMPORTANT NOTICE - Do NOT lose or forget your password. To ensure that your
DVR has the best security possible, password recover y has been designed to be a
complicated and time consuming process. Only a select number of staff at the Swann
Technical Support Telephone Helpdesk can assist. Password retrieval can take several
days, which means you will NOT be able to access your DVR during this time.
BATTERY INFORMATION
This product contains a removable battery. If you need to replace or dispose of the internal bat tery.
The battery is loc ated on the mainboard of the DVR. It is a primar y lithium CR2032 button cel l.
To access, rem ove and/or replace th e battery:
• Ensure the DVR is turn ed OFF. NEVER open the D VR’s case while power is connected.
• Remove the five screw s holding the cover on the DVR.
• If replacing the battery, ensure that it is an exac t match for size, type and capacity.
• Be sure to safely dispose of the batter y. The process for b attery disposal /recycling varies from
location to location, please check with the relevant local authority for method.
BATTERY SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS
• Do NOT attempt to open, puncture, disas semble or modify the batter y in any way.
• Do NOT subject it to sudden shock or heat.
• Do NOT dispose of batter y in fire.
Important Information
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Important Information............................................................................................2
Contents .................................................................................................................. 3
1 Live View Screen ........................................................................................... 4
Status Icons ............................................................................................................ 4
Menu Bar ................................................................................................................5
Channel Toolbar .....................................................................................................5
2 Main Menu .....................................................................................................6
Display Menu ..........................................................................................................6
Camera Options ........................................................................................... 6
Output Options .............................................................................................7
Recording Menu .....................................................................................................8
Encode Options ............................................................................................ 8
Recording Options .......................................................................................9
Schedule Options .........................................................................................10
How to set up a recording schedule? ..........................................................10
Search Menu ...........................................................................................................11
Playback Options .........................................................................................11
How to find and watch recordings? .............................................................11
Overview of the Playback Interface ............................................................ 12
Backup Options ............................................................................................ 13
How to back up recordings? ........................................................................13
Event Options ...............................................................................................14
Log Search Options .....................................................................................14
Network Menu ........................................................................................................ 15
General Network Options ............................................................................ 15
Advanced Options ........................................................................................ 16
DDNS ..................................................................................................17
NTP .....................................................................................................18
Email ..................................................................................................18
IP Filter ..............................................................................................20
Network Status ............................................................................................20
Alarm Menu ............................................................................................................ 21
Motion Options ............................................................................................. 21
How to set up the motion detection area? ..................................................22
How to adjust motion sensitivity? ...............................................................22
How to set the DVR’s response to a motion event? .................................... 23
Video Loss Options ......................................................................................24
Sensor Options ............................................................................................25
Alarm Ouput Options ...................................................................................26
Exception Options ........................................................................................ 27
Device Menu ...........................................................................................................28
Hard Drive (HDD) Options ............................................................................28
S.M.A.R.T Display .........................................................................................29
PTZ Options ..................................................................................................29
How to control a PTZ camera? ....................................................................30
System Menu .......................................................................................................... 31
General System Options .............................................................................. 31
User Options ................................................................................................32
How to add users? ....................................................................................... 32
How to configure permissions for users? ..................................................33
System Information ..................................................................................... 34
Maintenance Options ...................................................................................34
3 Troubleshooting ............................................................................................35
4 Warranty Information ................................................................................... 37
Contents
4
Live View Screen
When you turn on your DVR, you’ll see the Live View screen. Live View is the default
display mode of the DVR. It is where you can watch live images from the cameras and
do things on your DVR.
Read this chapter to learn about navigating around the Live View screen.
Status Icons
Status icons appear when something is happening on the channel screen. At a
glance, you can quickly get useful information on your DVR and cameras’ status.
The following table describes what the icons represent:
Icon Description
The camera icon indicates that this camera is currently recording.
This icon will be the same whether the recording was scheduled,
initiated manually or triggered by motion (though the motion icon
will also be present if there’s motion detected).
The motion icon indicates that the DVR is detecting motion coming
from this camera.
The speaker icon indicates that audio is enabled on the
corresponding channel.
Video Loss indicates that the channel displaying this has lost the
feed from its camera. This may be caused by a disconnected/
damaged cable, the camera may have lost power, the camera may
have been de-registered from the channel or the video standard
might be wrong (PAL/NTSC). This also appears if you do not have a
camera connected to the corresponding channel.
(Optional - Must be enabled in the “Exception Options” screen in the
Alarm menu.
If you see this icon on-screen (it’ll be lurking in the lower right
corner by default) it indicates that something has gone wrong.
Click the icon to access the Exception Log where you’ll get more
information about exactly what has gone wrong.
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Menu Bar
The Menu Bar at the bottom of the screen is a handy place to change the viewing
format of the Live View screen. You can also open the Main Menu, where you
configure and manage many of the DVR basic and advanced functionalities.
To display the menu bar, right-click on the Live View screen.
Button Description
Display the DVR main menu.
Show images from one camera in full screen.
Divide the screen into four viewing windows
Divide the screen into eight viewing windows - one large and seven
small windows.
Divide the screen into nine viewing windows.
Divide the screen into sixteen viewing windows.
Display the next set of channel(s) in the current viewing format.
Picture-in-picture screen format. View two channels at once, with
one full screen and the other as a small overlay.
Display the Manual Record screen where you can manually star t
recording on channels which do not have scheduled recording
enabled.
Display the initial startup wizard.
Channel Toolbar
The Channel Toolbar is a ‘shortcut’ to commonly used DVR menus and functions.
Whether you want to play recordings, zoom in on the image or just adjust image
settings, the Channel Toolbar is a quick and convenient way to keep up with what’s
happening on your cameras. Simply click on a channel to open its Toolbar.
Button Description
Display the “Playback Options” screen in the Search menu where
you can quickly find and play recordings from the selected channel.
Show images from one camera in full screen.
Display the “PTZ Control Panel” to operate a PTZ camera that’s
connected and configured correctly with the DVR.
Show the selected channel in full screen and display the
Digital Zoom control panel, which you can use
to zoom in on interesting areas of the image.
Show the selected channel in full screen and shows the Image
Settings screen for you to change the brightness, contrast,
saturation and hue levels.
Display the “Camera Options” screen in the Display menu where
you can make adjustments to how video coming from your camera
appears on the screen.
Close the toolbar.
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Main Menu
The main menu lets you access many of the DVR’s great features. You can customize camera names, keep track of
recent events, create recording schedules, configure advanced motion detection settings, and much more.
Read this chapter to check out all the good stuff your DVR has to offer.
2
Camera Options
These options allow you to make adjustments to how the DVR displays the feed
coming from your cameras.
You can adjust aspects of each channel/camera, such as:
• the camera’s name
• what information will be displayed on-screen, and where this information will be
displayed
• whether information such as the date will be recorded directly onto your videos
• any areas of the video you want “masked” - that is, left blank
Option Description
Camera No Select the channel you want to configure. The Camera No is the
same thing as the number written on the rear panel next to the BNC
socket used to connect the camera.
Camera
Name
Enter a name for the camera you’ve selected. By default, all
channels are named as the Camera No. field, but this can be set to
anything you’d like up to 16 characters.
Display
Camera
Name
When checked, the name you’ve entered for the camera/channel
will be displayed on-screen as an overlay.
Record Date When checked, the date (as displayed) will be recorded directly
on to your videos. This can be useful, as it creates an inseparable
record of exactly when the footage was captured.
OSD Display
Position
Access a screen where you can easily set the exact positions of any
overlaid text, such as the camera name and the date and time.
• Simply select any item you want to move (such as the Channel
Name and/or the Date and Time) and click and drag it to the
position you’d like it to be.
• To exit the OSD Display Position screen, press the right click
button. A context menu will appear with two options: Save and
Exit. To exit without saving, simply choose Exit. If you want to save
your changes, choose Save first.
Image
Settings
Access the camera’s image settings screen where you can make
adjustments to the brightness, contrast, saturation and hue levels.
Mask Lets you create and place “privacy masks” to conceal parts of the
image on the screen. This restricts what can be seen - useful when
you want to protect personal privacy or sensit ve areas.
Display Menu
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Output Options
These options allow you to control how the DVR is going to deliver an image to your
television or monitor.
You can customize settings such as:
• screen resolution and position on your monitor
• the audio output
• the appearance of the menus
• the auto-sequence dwell time
• the sensitivity of the USB mouse
Option Description
Resolution The number of “little dots” that make up an image. This should be
set as high as possible, but equal to or lower than the maximum
resolution your screen/monitor can display. Things change a
little depending on what kind of monitor you’re using, and how it’s
connected.
Transparency You can set the DVR’s menus to be partially transparent (see-
through) - in case you need to keep an eye on things while
adjusting settings. The best way to set this is to simply experiment
over time and see what works for you.
Mouse
Sensitivity
How sensitive the mouse will be. On lowest, large and dramatic
arm movements are required to move the mouse but a few inches
onscreen. At the other end of the spectrum, a tiny bump or knock
can send the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. Try
somewhere around the lower end for starters, and then increase it
little by little if it’s moving too slowly.
Border
Adjustment
Changes the size and position of the DVR’s images on the screen.
Altering the border size can be useful if you have parts of the DVR’s
image extending beyond the part of the screen you can see.
The border adjustment is more likely to be required for older, CRT
computer monitors connected via the VGA output. HDMI should (in
theory) automatically adjust the DVR’s image to perfectly fit your
screen.
Audio Whether the DVR will output an audio signal. When checked, the
DVR will output audio to a compatible device (via the HDMI [see
note below] or the RCA Audio Output). When unchecked, the DVR
will not output an audio signal at all.
Note: If you want to send audio via the HDMI, then you’ll need to
use a standard HD resolution. This is due to the way that HDMI
embeds audio information around video information. The two
resolutions that will stream audio correctly are 720p (1280 x 720)
and 1080p (1920 x 1080). Selecting any other resolution will prevent
audio being sent via HDMI.
Display Menu
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Encode Options
These options allow you to customize how the DVR records footage and “encodes”
the files.
“Encoding” is a term which refers to the compression algorithm used by the DVR.
You can choose and alter:
• the resolution (per channel),
• the frame rate (how many images per second the DVR records)
• the data-rate of each video stream. The higher the data rate, the “better” your
images will look, but the more space they’ll require on your HDD
Option Description
Camera No Select the channel you want to configure.
Encoding
Parameters
Select which encoding stream you want to configure for the
corresponding channel.
• Main-Stream: The main-stream is the video feed that the DVR will
record and display. This is the higher-quality stream.
• Sub-Stream: The sub-stream is the video stream that the DVR will
send to remote devices via a network or the Internet. It is the lowerquality stream as a reduction in video size makes it easier to send
over a network.
Record
Audio
Enable this if you would like the selected channel to record audio. If
you don’t have any audio devices connected, leave this disabled.
Resolution 960H is the default recording resolution (960 x 576 PAL, 960 x 480
NTSC).
Frame Rate The number of frames per second (fps) that the DVR will record.
The default (and maximum) is referred to as “real-time” and is
30fps (NTSC) or 25fps (PAL).
Reducing the number of frames per second will not save hard
drive space but potentially will improve the data-rate per frame
(depending how you set the bitrate - see the next option).
Max. BitRate The actual amount of data that the DVR uses to record video.
The higher the bitrate, the more space each recording takes up
on the hard disk. Generally speaking, recordings encoded at
higher bitrates will be ofbetter qualit y, especially when recording
movement.
Recording Menu
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Recording Options
These options allow you to change aspects of how the DVR will record footage such
as:
• Whether the DVR will record over old footage to make room for future events
• Whether the DVR will record a shor t video before events take place
• How long the DVR will continue to record after events have taken place
• How the DVR will store and divide long recordings into “packs”
Option Description
Overwrite When enabled, the DVR will record over the files already stored on
the hard drive. The DVR will always record over the oldest files on
your hard drive first.
Using the overwrite option is recommended, 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.
Pre-Record When enabled, the DVR will record a few seconds before an event
occurs. It’s actually just caching a few seconds of video which it
adds to event recordings as they occur.
If you’re using Motion Detection (recommended) based recording
as your primar y recording method(s), then it’s a really good idea
to use Pre-Record - sometimes, if an event is fast enough, it might
have left view before the DVR can trigger a recording. With PreRecord, there’s almost no chance you’ll miss it.
Post-Record How long after an event occurs that the DVR will continue to
record. It can be very useful - for example, if an intruder or
potential target triggers the motion detection but pauses in view;
having post-record enabled will get a much better look at them.
Pack
Duration
This is a measurement of how long the DVR will record for before
splitting the output file into discrete units. “Packs” are something
like the chapter 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 off). If you don’t want to worry about
setting pack durations, you can leave the default value as it will
make little difference to the day-to-day running of the DVR.
Recording Menu
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Schedule Options
You can specify when the DVR records video and under what modes for each
channel. By default, all channels are armed to use Motion Detection as their
recording mode.
The schedule presented on-screen applies to one channel only over one whole week.
There is a 24-hour timeline for each day of the week. Each square in the timeline
represents an hour in the 24-hour period.
Be careful when programming your schedule. It’s one of the most important aspects of
setting up your DVR, an d if it’s wrong in any way, it could lead to disastrous complicatio ns
la ter.
When defining a recording schedule, there are 5 types of recording to choose from:
Recording
Mode
Description
Normal
(Blue)
The DVR will constantly record for any period. You won’t miss
anything, but constant recording will fill your hard drive very
quickly. Typically, we suggest Motion as a better recording mode
for most users.
Motion
(Green)
The default and recommended recording setting. The DVR
will only record when it detects something moving in front of a
camera, and will then only record footage from the camera(s) that
do detect motion unless you alter your Action settings to include
other channels.
Alarm (Red) The DVR will record only when it detects an alarm event. This is
the setting that you will need to use if you have external sensors
connected to the DVR’s alarm block or configured wirelessly.
Alarm/MD
(Brown)
The DVR will record when there is either an alarm or motion event.
None (White) The DVR will not record anything.
How to set up a recording schedule?
1. In the Camera No list, select a channel.
2a. To set a recording mode for a specific time and day, click the corresponding
square(s) in the timeline until the colour changes to your desired recording
mode.
2b. A quick way to set a specific type of recording over a large period of time is by
clicking on the desired recording mode below the timeline then clicking and
dragging the mouse over the squares corresponding to your desired days and
times.
3. (Optional) Use the C opy To button to quickly assign identical schedule layouts to
multiple channels at once. It copies the schedule from the channel you’re editing
to another channel or channels.
Note: To disable the recording schedule for a particular channel, simply uncheck the
Enable box.
Recording Menu
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Playback Options
You can easily search and watch all your recorded videos by channel, type of
recording and time period.
How to find and watch recordings?
1. Select the channel(s) you want to search for recordings. To provide the highest
quality video the DVR can only playback up to 8 channels simultaneously at a
time.
2. From the Vide o Type, select the type of recording to find. The options available
are “All”, “Manual”, “Schedule”, “Motion”, “Alarm” and “Motion or Alarm”.
3. Specify the Start and End Date/Time.
4. If you want to see a graphical representation of when recordings were made and
what recording mode triggered them, choose Detail.
5. To immediately start watching recordings based on your search criteria, select
Play. The DVR begins playing recordings in sequence from the earliest available.
See “Overview of the Playback Interface” on page 12 for details on the
Playback Interface.
or
To see a detailed list of recordings found based on your search criteria, select
Search. The DVR shows you all of your recordings, when they were recorded and
what channel they were recorded.
6. Choose the recorded event that you want to watch, and then select Play. See
“Overview of the Playback Interface” on page 12 for details on the Playback
Interface.
Search Menu
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Search Menu
Overview of the Playback Interface
The Playback Interface is quite similar to a computer’s media
player, or to the on-screen display of a DVD/Blu-ray player.
Most of the controls are quite straight for ward, and operate in
the same way as a standard media player.
Current Position: The video timeline. You can click to move the
current position icon to quickly scan through video events.
Mute: Turn off sound from the video.
Cut & Copy: Allows you to copy interesting parts of the
recorded video to a USB storage device.
1. To activate, click Cut. A red dot appears in the Cut button.
2. Click and drag the mouse cursor (this displays the
scissors icons) along the video timeline to set the
beginning and end points of video segment you want to
save. You can select as many segments as you want by
repeating this step. If you make a mistake, click Cut to
cancel and star t over from step 1.
3. When you’re done, click Copy to initiate a backup to a
USB storage device. Make sure you have inser ted a USB
storaged into your DVR.
Fast Rewind: Reverse the footage.
Play: Play footage at normal speed.
Pause / Single Frame: Pause playback. Subsequent presses
will move a single frame forward in the video.
Fast Forward: Speed up playback.
Slow Forward: Play back footage at reduced speed.
Recording Type: Whether the video segment being played
back was recorded under normal recording or based on
event.
Hide: Maximize the area on-screen for playing back your
footage by hiding the on-screen controls.
Exit: Close the playback interface.
Digital Zoom Control Panel
Right-click on the display and click to show the
Digital Zoom control panel.
Click:
to zoom in, to zoom out, to draw a box over an area of the video
that you want to zoom in on, to restore zoom back to default setting,
to exit Digital Zoom mode.
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