Phil H

I purchase a Sentient CCTV package from Maplin a month or so ago, posts on parallel topics relate to the DVR and how to coax it to work with an internet connection. I was particularly interested in reading the number plates of the few vehicles that pass my house on a private road, however, the resulting resolution when playing back the DVR record was insufficient for visual NPR. The cameras that came in the kit were very neat and carry the "DSP" logo lettering in, red (D), green (S), and blue (P). I resolved the problem by replacing the camera lens with a much longer focal length version. This will have undoubtedly voided the warranty, however, it was easy, cheap, and the result is excellent. It simply involves removing the three screws from each end of the camera body (one of which is hidden by a label), and withdrawing the board camera assembly from the rear. After slackening a small grub screw, the existing lens (I believe this has a focal length of 3.6mm) can be screwed off its mount. The replacement lens (f = 16mm from Henrys at £4) screws onto the mount in its place. It requires adjustment of the focus and care needs to be taken doing this as the camera obviously must be powered up during the exercise. When happy with the focus adjustment, tighten the grub screw and re-assemble. It is very important that the front of the camera is removed prior to offering the board camera up through the rear of the body othewise there will be trouble with the sponge grommet that supports the lens and serves to shield it from back reflected IR light. Also - make sure the orientation of the body is correct, ensure the connection through to the IR LEDs is in place, and the small pack of silica gel remains tucked behind the board. Phil H

Hi Dave Thanks for that. Ive now got the system working over the internet! I turned DDNS to OFF (although even in this state, I guess its important that the settings behind it are correct, so best to turn on - make the settings quickly before it has time to flood the DNS server, and turn it off again). I had another problem in that I hadn't enabled Port 9000 on my Netgear DG834G router, but once I did this, I was cooking with gas. In the meantime, I've had a reply from Maplin, telling me to ring KMS is 02920 713713 - I think this is mentioned elsewhere on this forum. I did ring, and they asked me to e-mail them, and they would send comprehensive details as to how to set it up. A bit academic now I've got it working myself. I've actually followed this up further with a bug list and a request for firmware upgrade as soon a one is available. Bugs I am concerned about (besides the flooding issue) are:- Support for daylight saving doesn't work properly - the DST end time seems to randomly reset itself (possibly when the system resets) to equal the start time. This is really annoying because if, as currently, we are in DST, the clock spuriously gets set back to the wrong time. You can't set the time over the LAN or WAN. I have to plug a monitor into the unit to do it. Again annoying, particularly because of the above issue. The motion detect trigger zones cannot properly be set over the LAN or WAN. The zone matrix appears but there is no video image to set the zones against. For some reason on my PC when I open the system up over the LAN, it's fine as long as I don't plug in my secondary monitor. If I do this, the screen is displayed O.K. but there is no video - strange and very annoying. I have to unplug my second monitor if I want to look at what's going on outside! In Playback, there is no reverse button (at normal speed or single frame or slow speed) - very annoying when examining a record. You have to start from the begining every time and judge when to freeze it. In Playback, the play bar at the bottom of the screen doesn't seem to work properly. It can be moved backwards with the mouse, but playback always jump forward to the original position. If anyone has any more bugs, let me know and I will add them to the list..... Phil PS Is everyone aware of the parallel topic on this site "Sentient PVR access via the internet not working".

Hi George You're right the carton it was supplied in does carry CE and RoHS marks. I'm not sure though whether this fully complies, my understanding is that the item itself had to carry CE mark (and the manual include a certificate of conformity indicating which EU deirectives apply - in this case just EMC I guess). I e-mailed both CnM and Maplin again. I've had a reply from Jason Burden at CnM - "....... Howver there are no updates to the firmware for these machines.. If there is any change there will be an update to the CnM Lifestyle website as soon as it becomes available.......". No reply from Maplin.... Phil

Hi - Dave Re: "..a dynamic IP and use dynDNS with an update client running on my home PC.....". ---- How did you disable the update client running under the DVR firmware? Phil

Hi George The firmware on my box is also T103025. A friend suggested I look for an FCC compliance mark on the box as this should include a manufacturer's code that could allow a trace to the original maker - there wasn't one though. However, I can't see a CE mark anywhere either (and there was no certificate of conformity in the manual). It is actually illegal for Maplin to sell goods in the UK without this mark. Has anyone else seen a CE mark on the product? If not I might be tempted to use this as a lever to get a decent response from Maplin. PHil H

Hi I've had this system now for a month or so, and am quite pleased with it. I managed to get it working over my LAN relatively easily, and this gives access to a much improved user interface. Bugs to date: - It regularly reverts the DST "off" from September back to March for some unknown reason, resulting in a randomly occurring 1 hour time shift. - You can't set the time/date through the LAN interface, I have to plug a monitor in and use the mouse to do this - very inconvenient. - When reviewing stored data, there is no "reverse" button, also the time bar at the bottom doesn't work properly. - Just discovered that there is a discrepancy in setting the passwords over the LAN compared with doing it with the mouse. Thought I'd changed it over the LAN OK, went back to mouse control, and the password in that mode reverted to the original! HOWEVER - spent this entire week end trying to get internet access, and failed. Re Richard's post, Sun May 02, 2010 1:05, main reason is I'm having big problems in that the DVR isn't using a certified DynDNS client and sends updates every few minutes instead. DynDNS account is permanently blocked for "abusive updates". I'm not keen on spending cash upgrading to overcome this when I don't know if it will fix the problem. Anyone, any ideas? Also - any idea where to get firmware updates? Maplin just don't respond. Phil