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Troubleshooting
Q: I can’t log into or unlock the DVR - it says my password is wrong.
A: The default username/password combination for the DVR is “admin” with the password “12345”.
If that doesn’t work (and you haven’t set a password of your own that you’ve forgotten) then something strange has happened - contact Swann technical support (contact
details are on the rear cover).
Q: How do I eliminate false-triggers on my motion detection?
A: There’s no guaranteed way to eliminate false triggers, but - in the majority of cases - you can fine-tune the DVR’s motion detection settings to reduce the number of
false triggers you’re likely to get. (See
“Motion” on page 23
for more detailed information.)
1. Mask any redundant movement. This includes obvious things like trees blowing in the wind, roads with cars passing and so forth. Some less obvious things which
might cause false triggers include: the “flickering” of screens, monitors or fluorescent lights, reflections of movement in windows/mirrors and so on, lights which
are often turned on or off, shadows passing and so on. We can’t possibly imagine what you’re going to find in your unique circumstances, so we encourage you to
experiment.
2. Fine-tune your sensitivity. There’s no substitute for getting a volunteer to play the part of intruder and experimenting. Some cameras are just more “touchy” than
others, some lighting conditions are harder to get the settings “right” for.
3. Adjust your image settings (see
“Image” on page 22
). Unlike many image adjustment options, the DVR pre-processes video, which means that, when the DVR
looks for motion, it’s looking at your already processed images. By reducing the amount of video noise in your image, you can increase the accuracy of the motion
detection dramatically. Typically, the settings that most often require adjustment are Brightness and Contrast. Video noise is a problem with any video signal. It’s
the very slight change in brightness and/or color of pixels between frames, and it’s commonly regarded as being “just one of those things” when dealing with digital
imaging. By tweaking the brightness and contrast, you can usually remove a good deal of this noise, as it tends to be most pronounced near the blacks (the really
dark bits) and the whites (the really bright bits) of your images.
Q: I’m getting too many email alerts from the DVR.
A:
There are a few things that might help, depending what’s generating the email alerts. Here are a few possibilities:
• The emails are for real events, however it is telling me about it multiple times.
This indicates that the DVR is functioning properly, but that the
Interval
setting for your email alerts is too low. Increasing the Interval time will decrease the number of
email alerts the DVR sends.
• The DVR sends email alerts when nothing seems to be happening.
Troubleshooting
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