Liber8or

Awesome! Glad it helped. I love to use the app on my iOS devices. The iPad screen looks great, especially propped up on the case. My iPhone also handles it well, even over 3G. I sometimes set it up at work on my desk; I get lots of questions.

RESOLVED So, after communicating with the friend who has successfully used this DVR on his Android device, I gave him test credentials on my DVR. He set it up successfully and sent me his configuration. The trick: apparently the RTSP driver just altogether doesn't work for either device. All along, he has had his phone set up as HTTP, which essentially just downloads images at a rapid rate, as I understand it. In order to get the option to use HTTP, instead of RTSP, you must select "Samsung SME DVR" instead. Once that was selected, and the connection details entered, it worked. See images below (please note, in the third image, I recognize it says port 8888, but that was not the port I was using all along for RTSP testing; I just made the screenshot in a hurry): Image 1: Working Cameras Image 2: SME Settings including HTTP option Image 3: SDE Settings which allow only RTSP

UPDATE: No response yet from developer on situation now that firmware has been upgraded. EDIT: I emailed a friend, and he successfully set up the cameras on his Android version of the same app with no issues. It appears to be isolated to iOS.

I should have mentioned, a good friend's father has the same DVR model, and the IP Cam Viewer application works well for him. I have made a request for him to inspect his father's DVR and report to me the firmware version in use.

I am using IP Cam Viewer Pro v1.8.3 for iOS on my iPhone 4. I have a Samsung SDE-120N DVR, which is supposedly compatible with this application. However, any time I try to add a camera from the DVR, it returns "Error: Could not retrieve data." The port configuration is all set up correctly, and verified. The developer has put it a few hours remotely accessing my DVR to troubleshoot the problem, which was somewhat of a mystery to him because he seems to think I have old firmware. I figured I'd start this thread for anyone who might need this information later. The rub is that there is no published firmware updates for the SDE-120N, according to the Samsung support sites. I have not contacted Samsung support yet. Tonight I took a leap of faith and downloaded "SDE-3170_3002_V1.02_101119.zip" from Samsung's site. It's designed for the 3000-series DVRs, but I foolishly decided to try it (although I did no further harm). The "SDE-3170_3002_V1.02_101119.nbn" file was extracted from the ZIP and placed on a thumb drive. The thumb drive was pushed into the front of the DVR and through the DVRs menu and it located the firmware and performed the upgrade. First a progress bar appeared, which went all the way to the right and maxed out for several minutes before the upgrade was complete. A beep was heard, it rebooted. I am using the VGA output of the DVR for monitoring. The boot screen is now jacked up (as you can see in the image), but once the DVR came up, there seems to be no other impacts from the alternate firmware update. However, the upgrade, brought the DVR to V1.02_101119 from V1.01_100720 on the system information screen. I have emailed the developer to advise him the firmware was upgraded (although I have no idea if it has any effect when upgraded with the binaries intended for a different machine). More to come as the situation unfolds; hopefully this helps someone later.

1. A teenage citrus thief doing doing a "pick and run" from my neighbors grapefruit trees. Doesn't seem to be an ongoing issue, so I didn't really tell anyone. 2. A street fight, which included my neighbors son, wherein he beat the tar out of a guy who rides his motorcycle too fast down our street and near their children. Because the video implicated the neighbor's son as the primary aggressor, and because I wish to remain at peace with my neighbor, and because I felt like the motorcyclist probably deserved it, I didn't share my video tape with the police.

I figured I'd post a general update after answering the last question. The cameras are still working well, but I have found I don't use the remote viewer as often as I thought I would. Funny enough, using this system I found out my yard guy was doing more work than I thought, so I gave him a little bonus. I haven't posted any nighttime images from the web viewer. Below is an image I captured just a minute ago. Please keep in mind that it looks MUCH better in full resolution on the monitor attached to the DVR. The web version is always lower quality, and its really obvious at night. If you could see the monitor, you'd be amazed at the quality difference at night between it and the web. You can see my frustration with camera four (back yard), and my need for more lighting. It's very dark and rarely lit. Objects show up well, but I'd like a nice picture like I get in the front yard with the ambient light that is there. Obviously the short throw IR camera on the porch works perfectly in any light. I have had trouble getting the sensitivity settings just right, so I get a lot of birds and bugs. Especially at night on camera four, it's triggering stupid motion alarms all night. I'm sure this is all just my fault. My wife is in love with the system, and told me she wasn't so sure when I first proposed the idea, but now she's glad I chose to do this.

I don't know enough to open the casing and inspect the insides, so I hope this description helps... Of the four cameras, only one is minimally exposed (the porch) with zero sun and near zero weather. The two cameras on the front yard are what I would (arbitrarily) call only 40-50% exposed (well under the eave, shaded most of the day and don't get a lot of direct sunlight or weather, given typical weather patterns). However, the last camera in the back yard is what I would call 90% exposed (toward the edge of the eave, direct sunlight for most of the day, lots of rain and wind). I can't discern a difference in the picture from the screenshot I attached below and what it looks like today, so I guess the internals of the camera are fine. As for the outside, they have the expected amount of dust, dirt, bugs and spider webs, but the cameras seem to be well sealed and still solid. I wipe them down and knockdown the spider webs and wasp nests when I think about it. The finish on the casing seems to be doing well and they are certainly still attractive looking. On a side note, the friend who helped me install my system has purchased the exact same system for use at his lady friend's home, where we will be co-installing it this weekend.

If you are following my saga, you'll be glad to know the Samsung SDE-120N is installed. The equipment seems to work quite well for the price. The screenshot below shows the view from my the Internet Explorer quad-view. I may post more screenshots later, but I'm feeling lazy. Obviously, the best quality is on the VGA output of the DVR. The cameras are probably not pointing where they will aim forever, with the exception of the front door camera. I'm amazed by the cameras wide angle; I was able to cover front windows, part of porch and door, all with one camera (it's infrared, by the way). The other two cameras on the front yard are color cameras and work pretty well in low light. The back camera is the other IR camera. I'm not thrilled with the positioning and the back yard is basically zero light. When I turn on the floods or the motion sensor sets them off, the camera works decently well. I'm considering an IR flood setup of some kind for the back yard. The installation was performed with the help of an old friend who is in better shape than me. We used a disposable Tyvek suit and "fishing rods." This was an excuse to purchase a 36" flexible drill bit extension, too. Since we moved in to our new home, this is the first major installation I've done. The security system was pre-wired. The single camera wire, despite its flaws, is very easy to install. The camera mounts were sturdy and mounted easily to various surfaces. I don't know if I feel the wing nut that holds the camera in position is as sturdy as I'd like it to be (there's some amount of slippage), but that could be my imagination. It wasn't enough to affect the positioning of the cameras. By far, the hardest part was crawling through the attic, which I didn't do. I traded some database services to my best friend, who crawled on my behalf. The DVR functions are easy to use, and I've already configured motion event logs for certain cameras. The wife can easily use this system, as well as my four year old. If you have any questions that I can answer, just shout.

Here's what I'm looking at on Chrome. Please note: The cam image is sitting inside, not mounted, looking through a screen window (screen + glass) and in a poorly lit area. Again, it's just in test mode so far. Yes, that's a wooden deer, festive, I know.

It looks exactly like that! Must be rebranding. Interesting, who manufactures that model? I'll post some screenshots when I get the cameras properly installed; I'm getting a little rotund around the waistline, so I've got to wait on my skinny friend to help me in the attic.

You're absolutely right. The first thing I did was load it in IE, after monkeying with the ActiveX stuff. It has a few more features, enabled by the use of ActiveX. But for what I need, which is to look at each camera live from the Net, the basic image refresh (which works because it regards Chrome as coming from the Safari browser). So, while it's not the perfect solution, it doesn't require me to sacrifice any of my needs on the altar of ActiveX (unintentional though it may be).

It supports BNC video inputs also (in addition to the integrated cables), so theoretically, I think I could use other cameras in a pinch. There's not really much to add to the Chrome piece, except that I simply loaded the web viewer in Chrome, typed in the user name and password, and voila! The Safari bit, not surprisingly (given their common code base), just works also, in the same way. No pop-ups, security configurations, etc.

If you've been following this thread, check out my experience with the new Samsung unit I purchased to replace the QR414, which I've returned. http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=23530

If you've been following my post on the Q-See QR414 (http://www.cctvforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=23410), you may be interested in this topic. After the frustrations with the Q-See product, I began to research other consumer or prosumer grade DVR/camera packages available. I really wanted to buy locally this time, as I've had enough of the Internet mail-order gig for a while. So, after sending the Q-See package back to Amazon (for a full refund, I assume, to be determined). A good friend, and fellow nerd who had heard of my troubles with the Q-See, called me about a unit for sale at Sam's Club. It turned out to be the Samsung SDE-120N for about $550. It comes with four cameras, two IR and two color. I've not yet installed, but I've been tinkering with the network setup and DVR functions. I've got a temporary camera pointed out a window right now while I evaluate its performance. So, this unit is roughly $250 more than the Q-See package. I intentionally did not research the Q-See offerings at that price point because I was a bit turned off (perhaps this was shortsighted). Again, I wanted to go local, so that if I have to return it, I can travel three miles to the store and get my money back instantly, rather than waiting on people in a fulfillment center some place. Some observations so far (I know it may be unfair, but I can't help compare it to the QR414 package): Well-built (cameras and DVR); has that certain je ne sais quoi of a sturdy product 500 gb HDD, rather than 320 gb Integrated camera cables, similar to s-video Web-interface just works, even in Chrome Mobile phone interface just works, even in Safari on iPhone Superior camera quality No gaping security flaws like a default password The manual seems to be in almost native English, well formatted, not haphazardly assembled. No major errata, that I've noticed. The firmware has a certain sophistication about it; a well-planned UI. Includes VGA video out, which means I can now use my computer monitor instead of lugging a TV into my office. The VGA video out is of superior quality compared to BNC composite out. Flaws with this system, so far: The password that the DVR uses to authenticate with an SMTP provider to send notifications only holds a certain number of characters. I had to change the password on my GMail account to a shorter password (I think less than 20 or 16) in order to get it to work. I plan to create a separate account just for this purpose, so long term, this is not a problem. There may be better options for the money I paid, but I do know that most places didn't have this Samsung model for this price and, with regard to local selection, there wasn't a lot to choose from except the "crap-sumer grade" stuff similar to what I had already experienced. For my money, and local purchase, this fit the bill. Hope this helps someone in my situation decide on a product.