Swann Tech

Hi Matt, You can call the US office directly rather than go through Costco. http://www.swann.com/s/company/contactus/ Use the 1800 number, make sure you select 'Customer Service' from the voice menu. Normal PST business hours apply.

You might have just been unlucky and called during a maintenance period. Unfortunately sometimes the maintenance cannot have a message placed on it. We will not provide support to attach the cameras to anything other than a Swann NVR. That's not to say it's not possible, just that we cannot help you with that. Plenty of people on the boards have reported varying amounts of success using the cameras in different situations. I'm sure someone here will be able to provide assistance.

Sounds like an overly complicated solution for a simple problem. I would just get some screen recording software and have it record to a secured NAS. Much easier to do and probably more flexible too.

I hope the reduction happens!. I got rid of the 8 port I had for the 16 port. And its great. Swann is great I love it. And I could flash the cameras to get 3mp out of my kit. For all that are interested, the reduced size 16ch is landing on the 15th. Will be a little while before it's listed though.

Hi Jim, Yes, they did mess with the program. I don't know why they bothered to be honest, but strange decisions do get made. FYI, even with the HDD capacity reduction, it's not such a big issue. You can always use a NAS to increase space in addition to what you have in the NVR (Gb Ethernet recommended).

Hey Jim, The 16ch NVR is a 2U device which allows for the extra space for 8 HDDs. There is suggestions though that the 16ch will be changed to a 1.5U device. That would cut available space to 4 HDDs. 3MP recording is @ 15fps. I'm not sure I see the benefit of 3MP over 1080P apart from bragging rights.

Getting rid of the gateway won't stop broadcast traffic from the cameras though. If they are broadcasting too much they could be overwhelming the router until the buffers overload causing the dropout in comms. It would probably be a good idea to run Wireshark and look at the traffic on the link from the camera switch. http://www.wireshark.org/

Hi guys, I know some of you have already worked this out, but I was personally unhappy with the lack of documentation with the separate IP cameras, especially considering these cameras can operate without a dedicated recorder. I finally convinced management that the cameras could do with some more documentation regarding basic setup when operating without an NVR. So I was able to dedicate some time to writing a basic guide. Here's the first run. Setup guide And you'll need the software. Software The guide is not, or meant to be, exhaustive. Particularly when connecting to other devices (dedicated and software NVRs) the cameras are essentially slave devices and need to be told what settings to use. This should open up the cameras for you to be able to make the necessary changes. Suggestions and feedback welcome. I am limited in the scope of what can be covered though.

Always, ALWAYS, perform a factory reset after flashing firmware. Some settings can be left behind from the old firmware which have the potential to cause problems later on. That is all the advice I can give you. Some of the other forum dwellers might have alternative solutions.

It usually defaults to 192.168.0.64, but the whole point of the guide is to not have to worry about the default IP address anyway...

Hi atari, You don't need to enable DHCP to use the web browser. That function is always enabled. I went through the DHCP configuration mainly to mimic most other network devices' functionality.

Hi Dave, That's because the NVR has 2 NICs. You need to have your PC connected to the camera ports to see the cameras. The other option is to connect a cable from your router to the camera ports on the NVR.

Hi guys, While 127°F is within the ranges given by our QA, the internal case temp will be significantly hotter than that. That would probably take the camera out of the operational temperature profile. It is quite likely that you are distorting the lens body at such high temperatures. That would result in the loss of focus reported. Try some additional cover for the camera. If your environment is that harsh then you will need to accommodate for that with a little extra effort.

Sure, but that's not exactly what we're talking about here. We even have one. http://mydvr.swanndvr.com The OP is also talking about all the local configuration necessary to make a DVR (any server-type device really) accessible from the public internet.

Recent recorders and stand alone IP cameras look like getting the new system. I think this will be the first device to use the new system. HD standalone PTZ IP camera

The IP Varifocals are manual. User guide link

Hi guys, It will be soon! We're trialling a new peer-to-peer networking solution that allows you to log in to your recorder via an account system. However, unlike the other systems mentioned, the account only provides a hook to hand off the network stream directly to the device you're accessing your DVR from. It's pretty exciting as it will significantly reduce the basic networking setup calls we get. Will work through NAT without any port forwarding necessary. It's not ready just yet, but it looks like it will be able to be retrofitted onto older recorders. I don't know how far back we will be able to go, will depend on the upgrade possibilities of each recorder.

It's a known issue with the 2wire 27XX modem routers. DHCP *must* be enabled for port forwarding. 38XX series will allow you to configure static addresses with port forwarding.

Hi Chucky, The 8ch system is no longer on sale. The 16 channel system is aimed more at a small/medium business environment rather than a home/small business environment. What would set this apart from the 8ch system is the ability to install 8 HDDs into this 16 channel system. The 5.25" bay is not really intended to be used, since 2.5" portable HDDs are inexpensive and hold a lot more footage. The processing power to handle 16 channels is substantially higher than one might expect, which contributes to the higher price of the 16 channel unit.

Hi Jim, I haven't got a line on the exact differences but I do know that recent iPhone updates have necessitated the change. Yes, you should be replacing the old app with the new one. Your old settings should work exactly the same on the new app.

You're confusing encoding with resolution there. The backup video is still at 1080p, exactly the same as you would see playing back from the recorder in full screen. Video container is MP4, so easily transportable to PC. Look around on the forum, a few of the guys put up some videos on Youtube displaying the cameras. Don't forget to play them back in 1080p.

Actually, this one does.

Hi guys, Anyone having trouble with the mobile apps should first confirm that they are using the correct app. The NVR and SDI recorders recently had an app change to 'Swannview Plus+'.

Mate, have you tried the guys at Jaycar? They do some brown box cameras. Unfortunately $500 isn't going to get you very far unless you jump on eBay.

Hi mate, I don't think we'll be there for a bit. The numbers tell the story.