Swann M16 User manual

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16-Channel
Digital Video Recorder
EN INSTRUCTION MANUAL

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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:
• These devices may not cause harmful interference, and
• These devices must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause
undesired operation.
IMPORTANT NOTE
All jurisdictions have specific laws and regulations relating to the use of cameras. Before using
any camera for any purpose, it is the buyer’s responsibility to be aware of all applicable laws and
regulations that prohibit or limit the use of cameras and to comply with the applicable laws and
regulations.
FCC Regulation (for USA): 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
The default, all-access username is ‘admin’, the default password is ‘12345’.
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.
IMPORTANT NOTICE - Do NOT lose or forget your password. To ensure that your
DVR has the best security possible, password recovery 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 battery.
The battery is located on the mainboard of the DVR. It is a primary lithium CR2032 button cell.
To access, remove and/or replace the battery:
• Ensure the DVR is turned OFF. NEVER open the DVR’s case while power is connected.
• Remove the five screws holding the cover on the DVR.
• If replacing the battery, ensure that it is an exact match for size, type and capacity.
• Be sure to safely dispose of the battery. The process for battery 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, disassemble or modify the battery in any way.
• Do NOT subject it to sudden shock or heat.
• Do NOT dispose of battery 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

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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 start
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.
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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 sensitve 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 lower-
quality 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 quality, 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 short 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 primary 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 Pre-
Record, 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, and if it’s wrong in any way, it could lead to disastrous complications
later.
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 Copy 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 Video 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 forward, 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 start over from step 1.
3. When you’re done, click Copy to initiate a backup to a
USB storage device. Make sure you have inserted 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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Backup Options
When a video is recorded, it is stored as a file on the DVR’s hard drive. You can copy
video recordings on the DVR’s hard drive to an external storage device such as a
USB flash drive or eSATA hard drive.
How to back up recordings?
1. Connect a USB or eSATA storage device to the USB/eSATA1 port on the back of
the DVR.
2. Specify the channel(s), video type and time period to search for recordings.
3. Select Backup. The DVR shows you all of your recordings matching your search
criteria, when they were recorded and what channel they were recorded (see
screenshot on the right).
4. By default, the DVR selects all events for copying. Select the recorded events
you want to copy, and then select Next. The DVR displays the Backup screen.
5. In the media list located next to the Refresh button, select your storage
device. If it is not listed, you may have to format your storage device to make
it compatible with the DVR. Before selecting Format, make sure you copy all
existing data stored on your storage device to your computer.
6. Select Start to begin copying the events to the chosen storage device.
Search Menu

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Event Options
You can easily search for recordings that were triggered by the DVR detecting motion.
Typically, the majority of recordings based upon “Events” are likely to be recordings
triggered by the DVR’s motion detection feature.
The search function operates in the same way as the main playback search: the only
difference is you’ll select an Event Type rather than a Video Type.
Log Search Options
The Log Search displays a list of events, presented in chronological order: the most
recent events will be at the end of the list.
The Log will list all events that the DVR monitored, whether or not any footage was
recorded as a result.
Search Menu

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General Network Options
You can manually configure network settings for the DVR. It is usually not required
as the DVR automatically configures them for you when you connect the DVR to your
router via the Ethernet cable.
Option Description
Network
Access
There are three different types of networks that the DVR can be
connected to. The three types of networks are:
• DHCP: 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 to have their IP
addresses manually defined, as there is no device dedicated to
automatically assigning addresses.
• PPPoE: An advanced protocol that allows the DVR to be more
directly connected via a DSL modem..
Option Description
IP Address Just as houses and businesses need to have an address which
identifies 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.
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 (i.e. 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”.
Default
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”.
Auto DNS /
Statis DNS
Choose how you’d like to define your DNS servers. We recommend
leaving it on Auto unless you have a specific reason not to.
Preferred
DNS Server
“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”.
Alternate
DNS Server
A backup DNS server. This is here as a redundancy - your DVR will
probably work without one.
MAC Address The Media Access Control address. This is a unique code which
nothing else should share. You can’t change this one - it’s pre-set
when the DVR ships out.
Network Menu

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Advanced Options
Note: Many of the following networking settings are not required when using
SwannLink P2P for remote access.
Option Description
DDNS The place to configure the DVR to automatically update a dynamic
DNS service. DDNS is not required for SwannLink P2P remote
access. If you intend to access your DVR using older IP technology
you will need to configure this service. See “DDNS” on page 17
for details on setting up and configuring the DDNS.
NTP Network Time Protocol. If the DVR is connected to the Internet,
you can have it automatically sync time with an online server. For
more information, see “NTP” on page 18.
Email
Settings
You can configure the DVR to work with an email account of your
choice. This must be correctly configured for the DVR’s auto-email
feature to work. For more information, see “Email” on page 18.
Option Description
IP Filter An advanced feature which allows you to exercise precise control
over what devices/IP address(es) are allowed to communicate with
the DVR and which are not. Recommended for advanced users
only.
Server Port The default value is 9000. This is the port number you’ll use when
logging in over the Internet from the SwannView Link software or
remote access from a mobile device.
HTTP Port This is the port through which you will be able to log in to the DVR
remotely from a remote PC via the HTTP interface. Like the server
port, it will need to be forwarded properly in order to ensure
smooth, latency-free communication. The default value is “85”. If
there is another device on your network using this port, you’ll need
to change it to be unique.
UPNP enable (This feature is not required if you are using SwannLink P2P to
access the DVR): UPnP makes configuring your network easier
and faster. To use the UPnP setting on the DVR, you’ll need a
router which supports this feature, with UPnP enabled. Note that
many routers which do support UPnP do not come with the feature
enabled by default.
UID The DVR’s Unique IDentifier code for SwannLink P2P. For
convenience, you can have this code sent to your email account by
clicking Send Email (provided that you’ve already set up your email
account).
Network Menu

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DDNS
A Dynamic DNS is a service which lets you assign an address to your DVR so you can
access it via the Internet. We recommend using SWANNDVR as your DNS service.
This is a free service for Swann DVR owners, which we directly support.
To create an account with SWANNDVR, go to:
http://www.swanndvr.com/ and click the Registration button. Follow the on-screen
instructions to create your account.
Option Description
DDNS Type Choose the server that you’re using. We recommend SwannDVR -
you can sign up for a free account at www.swanndvr.net.
Device
Domain
Name
Enter the host name that you set up in your DDNS service. This
is the address you use to access your network. For example:
yourhostname.swannDVR.net
User Name Enter the username you have created for your DDNS service. For
SwannDVR users, your username is the email address you used to
register the account.
Password Enter the password you have created for your DDNS service.
Confirm
Password
Enter the password again to ensure it matches the password
entered above.
Test Check if the DDNS is working. After a short delay, a message will
be displayed on-screen, informing you whether the update was
successful or not.
If the test is unsuccessful, a message will appear onscreen
informing you that the “Update was Unsuccessful”. This could
mean there’s a problem with your network setup, or there’s a
problem with the DDNS Account Name and Password you’re using.
Network Menu

18
NTP
You can configure the NTP server details to obtain current date and time.
Option Description
NTP Server The default server used to obtain accurate date and time.
NTP Port The default is 123. You should only change this if you’re using a
different NTP server, and you know they use a different port. If
you’re using pool.ntp.org, ensure the port is 123.
Sync Trigger the DVR to automatically synchronize its internal clock
with the time server immediately. If the DVR is connected to the
Internet, the DVR will update the date and time immediately.
Email
You can configure your email account details to enable the DVR to send notifications
if an event occurs.
Option Description
Enable SSL
or TSL
Whether the email server you’re using requires a secure link. This
is on by default, and should be left on if you’re using any of the
preset email servers.
SMTP Server There are three preset options to choose from: Gmail (smtp.gmail.
com), Windows Live Mail (smtp.live.com) and Yahoo Mail (smtp.
mail.yahoo.com).
Other
(checkbox)
This is for user who want to use a different email server, typically
the outgoing email server of their ISP. For commonly used mail
server settings, see “Popular Email Provider Settings” on page.
If your email provider is not listed in the table, use your Internet
browser to easily find your email provider’s server address and
port by searching ‘smtp settings’ followed by the name of your
email provider.
SMTP Port The SMTP port used by the email provider of your choice. This field
will automatically self-populate if you use one of the presets.
Network Menu

19
Option Description
Sender
Address
The address you’re sending the email from. This will be the
username you’ve set up for the email server you’re using, followed
by “@” and then the email server. For example: “youraddress@
gmail.com” or similar.
Sender
Password
The password for the outgoing email account.
Recipient
Address
The email address you want the DVR to send emails to. This can
be any email address you like, however, bear in mind that the DVR
might send a large number of automatic emails under certain
conditions.
Attach
Picture
When this is selected, the DVR will attach a small image to each
email alert (where applicable). For motion-based email alerts, this
will be an image of whatever triggered the motion detection.
Interval The length of time that must elapse after the DVR sends an email
alert before it can send another. Short interval settings are likely
to lead to huge numbers of alerts being sent by the DVR - perhaps
even several emails for one event (if that one event lasts longer
than the interval setting). On the other hand, a long interval setting
might mean you’ll miss a specific update that you needed. There’s
no right answer, and you’ll probably have to fine-tune this setting
to get the results you’re after - it’ll be different for everyone’s
unique circumstances.
Popular Email Provider Settings
The following table contains mail server settings for some of the most commonly
used email providers.
Email
Provider Settings
Gmail Server Address: smtp.gmail.com
Port: 465 or 587 Requires SSL: Yes
Hotmail/
Live.com
Server Address: smtp.live.com
Port: 465 Requires SSL: Yes
AOL Server Address: mail.aol.com
Port: 465 Requires SSL: Yes
Yahoo Server Address: smtp.mail.yahoo.com
Port: 465 or 587 Requires SSL: Yes
iCloud Server Address: smtp.mail.me.com
Port: 587 Requires SSL: Yes
Outlook.com Server Address: smtp.live.com
Port: 587 Requires SSL: Yes
Network Menu

20
IP Filter
The IP Filter can be used to configure which IP addresses have permission to talk to
the DVR and which do not.
This is an advanced feature, and is recommended for advanced users only. Tinkering
with things here - if you’re not sure what you’re doing - is more likely to break things
than make anything better.
Option Description
White list Contains IP addresses that have permission to connect to the DVR.
Black list Contains IP addresses that are prohibited from accessing the DVR.
Network Status
You can see a quick summary of your current network settings.
Network Menu