sirram

I have a Swann CCTV home system (two wireless cameras + NVR). It works fine. I now want to add a third camera at the other end of the house - but it's too far away for the NVR to pick up. Can one buy wireless booster gadgets (I've no idea of the correct terminology)? The idea would be to position the gadget somewhere in the house, to sit between the third camera and the existing NVR. The third camera would connect wirelessly with the 'gadget' which in turn would relay the signal to the NVR. Are there such gadgets?

Have just installed a 4-camera Hikvision set-up (4 cameras attached to an NVR - Model DS-7608NI-I2 / 8P). Cameras are working perfectly - good resolution - really pleased. But I need some advice on the software: Web Interface Is there a way to make the web app remember my settings? E.g. when I point my browser at my NVR (192.168.0.99 in my case), the web app opens up with room for 9 cameras (3*3). I change this to 4 cameras (2*2) and then double click each of my cameras to get them into view. No problem so far but, if I click on the Playback tab and then return to the Live View tab, the web app has completely forgotten my changes and I have to do them all over again. The web app also forgets every time I log out. There is also an issue with Clipping (scissors icon) during Playback. It appears to work (i.e. it tells me it's written an MP4 file to my hard disk - but there is no file actually written. Not even the path has been created. I assume this is a Windows 10 permissions problem. Any ideas please? Client PC App - iVMS-4200(v2.5). This is much much better than the web app, but after a while, it starts "maxing" out my CPU to nearly 100%. I've running Windows 10 on a fairly new computer with 12 GBytes of memory. Is there a fix for this?

Final update - problems largely solved. 1. The web app was defaulting to the 9-camera view because the installer had set up the NVR incorrectly. 2. MP4 files weren't being written to my hard disk because the installer forgot to tell me that I need to enter the IP address of the NVR into my browser's list of trusted sites. 3. I was also unable to open the MP4 files. It turned out that the installer had forgotten to provide the required software (called VSPlayer, downloadable from the Hikvision website. 4. The client PC app, iVMS-4200(v2.5), was max'ing out my PC to 100%. It turned out the installer had given me an old version. When I downloaded the latest version from the Hikvision website, the memory management problems went away. There were numerous other problems (which I won't bore you with). It took about two weeks to get the software working - but that was the installer's fault, not Hikvision's. The hardware (NVR and cameras) are really excellent.

Quick update - some problems now fixed. It seems the installer set-up my NVR as if it had 9 cameras whereas he only installed 4. After days of pushing, he has investigated and fixed this. He has also pointed me to a newer version of the client app. I am hoping its inbuilt memory management is improved.

Sorry, I really am not trying to annoy you. All I can do is answer your questions one by one. Remember, I'm asking what I thought was a simple question. I bought this Swann solution out of the box and it works just fine - except I need more range. OK, here goes: Fair enough, but I don't think "Wow" is quite fair. I'm just a one-off user and have no prior background in this field. See screen-shot below. I have no idea. I determined this afternoon that my router doesn't detect the two cameras. I have no idea what kind of device I would need for this. I don't, as far as I know, have an IP CAMERA SETUP PAGE. Swann's documentation is atrocious. There is no manual, just a leaflet, mainly of pictures. The screenshots bear no relation to the actual software - and the whole thing was just trial-and-error to set up. If Swann could have been bothered, I could have set up the software side in an hour. It actually took about two days. As an example, the leaflet provided a URL to download the SwannView Link software but the URL they provided didn't exist! After eventually finding the software, when I double-clicked on the icon to run it, there was a momentary hourglass - and then nothing. After many hours of uninstalling and reinstalling, I suddenly realised that you have to right-click on the icon and select "Run as Administrator". Why don't the idiots at Swann put this in their documentation? Who on earth would ever guess that? They just p*ss of their customers who - LIKE ME - would never ever buy from Swann again. You hate Maplin. I hate Swann. We both learn from our own experiences. As above, there was no manual, just a crummy leaflet. Hugely frustrating. I cannot find anything at all relating to IP with my two cameras. Ouch!

Mine is a Swann NVR. The sticky label on the device says NVR. The instruction leaflet says NVR and the login screen says NVR. So, it's definitely an NVR (see screenshot below). I can see the NVR's IP address (e.g. when logging into my router) but not the cameras - which means I have an NVR with two wireless cameras, but neither of them is IP. Which takes me back to my original question, which is how to connect a third camera that is too far away for the NVR to detect.

Mine is in fact an NVR. It has its own IP address on my home network. The two cameras talk to it wirelessly and it records any movement on an in-built hard disk. The NVR is connected to my router by Ethernet cable. I've got "SwannView Link" software on my PC. When I fire it up, the login screen showing all the devices it can detect. In my case of course, there is just the one. SwannVIew Link displays the device to me as follows: Device No. = 1 Device Name = NVR IP Address = 192.168.0.4 Media Port = 9000 I can view up to four cameras at once with the SwannView Link software. In a nutshell, I'm pretty happy with the way I have set it up. I'm just trying to find out how to get a third camera running when it is too far away from the NVR.

Now there's a thought. I've got a spare Wireless N router in a draw somewhere. On the other hand, my two existing cameras are talking wirelessly direct to my NVR (which has its own hard disk). As far as I am aware (and just showing my ignorance here), the cameras are not in direct wireless contact with my present wireless router - or are they? I raise this point as, if the two existing cameras are only talking to the NVR, then adding a second wireless router (or access point etc) won't help - will it? The problem will remain that my new camera no. 3 will still be too far away from the NVR - which is what it needs to communicate with.

Thanks. I will pay a visit to my local Maplins store.

I'd be grateful for any tips on how to debug an NVR recording issue. About 9 months ago, I installed a Swann Wi-Fi CCTV system (2 cameras + NVR) - product code: SWNVA-460AH2. The system was working fine until a few days ago when the NVR suddenly stopped detecting/recording motion. Using SwannView Link installed on a Windows 7 PC, I am still getting a good view of what the cameras are seeing (i.e. they are still communicating with the NVR via WiFi). But, when there is movement, the NVR no longer records anything. It hasn't recorded a single thing from either camera for a week now. I have tried rebooting the NVR, restoring it to factory settings and setting the "motion detect" mesh to cover the full camera screen (so even swaying bushes in the corner should be detected). But still nothing. What is the error likely to be? Is this a software error or has the NVR's recording mechanism simply failed? How can I pin down the precise problem?

It turned out not to be the disk. The two cameras needed to be individually rebooted. Fifteen feet up a ladder, this is not easy unless one was born with four hands. Using your first two hands, depress the reset button. You need two hands for this because the button is recessed - so one hand has to hold the stalk while the other hand presses something into the gap to press the button in. While keeping the reset button pressed in, use hands three and four to pull the two halves of the power connector apart. Then, with the reset button still pressed in, reconnect the power. Keep the reset button pressed in for a further 10 seconds. Then release. Simples! Alternatively, one falls off the ladder half way through.

Duh! Obvious now you mention it. I will give it a go.

How does one do that with a Windows 7 computer? I have determined the IP address of the NVR and can ping it from the CMD line (and it responds). But I'm not clear on how to log into the device itself to check the disk. The SwannView Link software logs into it ok, but I am kept at arms length from the actual disk - so can't run chkdsk for example - or see how much free space it has..

I have bought and installed a Swann Wi-Fi CCTV system (2 cameras + NVR). Product Code is SWNVA-460AH2. Everything is working fine during the day. Both cameras give excellent picture quality and motion detection works well. But, at night, one camera is picking up an unknown source of light. I positioned this camera on a side wall looking towards a patio door which is on the same wall. The camera is therefore looking along the wall (rather than away from it) and the brickwork is therefore only a couple of inches away from the lens. The apparent light is so bright that, at night, it doesn't detect movement outside the patio door (which is in the gloom beyond this mysterious bright light). Is the close proximity of the brickwork confusing the camera's night vision? And, if so, is there a solution?

I'd answer if I knew for certain. My guess is that motion detect is handled by the software in the NVR. If it were handled by the camera, the camera would need multiple lenses each of which could be turned on or off. I too get these pesky "false positives". Nothing detected for hours and then suddenly motion being detected all the time. For me, these mostly occur at night - due to the infra red seeing things that aren't there. (although I still haven't discounted aliens !!) Your one-square test is interesting. Have you tried not enabling any square at all? If you still get motion detected, that would point to a bug in the software (assuming I am right in saying the software controls this). A feature I would like to have in my NVR software would be a timer setting (e.g. do NOT record any movement that lasts for less than 5 seconds). Unless my local burglar were Superman, I don't think he could get across my patio and break into the house in less than 5 seconds. In my case, such a facility would stop a lot of the false positives being recorded at night. The other morning, I found one of my cameras had been recording all night. On examination, a spider had been building a web - fair enough

Thought I'd come back and ask you experts another question. The wireless cameras have been running fine for a month now so I decided to add a third one on the other side of the house. Unfortunately, the NVR is failing to detect it due to a blind spot. If I move the NVR to another room in the house, the third camera is soon picked up but I lose connection with one of the first two. The answer will be to buy some kind of signal booster. If any of you have experience of these, I wondered what tips, tricks and pitfalls I should look out for.

The answer turned out to be quite simple. The camera is looking at a vast expanse of brick wall and flag stones. Most of this doesn't need to be under "motion detect" at all. Assuming the local burgar walked around the side of the house, just his feet should be enough to detect him. In other words, I have turned "motion detect" off except where I reckon the burglar's feet and lower legs would be. Unless he is Spiderman or perhaps an Indian Fakir (who can levitate), one can pretty well switch off 95% of the view from motion detect and still pick up any human movement. Since doing this, the amount of false detection (due to dust, pollen, insects or whatever) has reduced dramatically.

The cameras have settled down quite nicely now. Motion Detection is working well during the day time, and most nights as well. However, there is still a problem some nights. The cameras periodically detect movement which (on replay) looks like meteor showers (random streaks of light going across the screen). I've tried to grab an example in this screenshot. It's only a "still" but you will hopefully get the idea. What's causing this? It's not the time of year for lots of insects - and I'm not aware of any alien spaceships in the area. Once this starts, it seems to go on for hours.

Thanks. I did resolve that problem immediately this forum pointed it out. Pointing the camera slightly away from the wall removed the glare immediately. Then, as I said, bushes came into view which, in turned caused the camera to detect non-stop motion because the bushes were swaying in the breeze. I fixed that once Joeinamillion told me how to. The reason I missed the existance of this facility in the software was that the set-up leaflet bears no resemblance to the software itself. Once I knew the facility must be there somewhere, I drilled down through every set-up option until I found it. As I hit each problem, I am left fumbling in the dark due to inadequate user documentation. As before, my grateful thanks for everyone's help.

Hi Joeinamillion, You were kind enough to track down the documentation but it's not a user guide, just the same poor quality quick-start guides that came in the box. There is a good reason why I missed the "motion detection" controls in SwannView Link. The leaflet says it's under Menu / Motion. In fact, it's under Menu / Device Settings / Alarm / Motion. The software is a real pain. The leaflet says to download it from www.swann.com/swann_appl. But there is no such URL. Ok, so I went to the Swann home page and entered "SwannView Link" in the Search field. Surprise surprise, it didn't appear in the list of hits. What's also odd is that, when I eventually located the software and installed it, it helpfully put an icon on my Windows 7 Desktop - but when I double-cklicked on the icon, it thought for about 5 seconds but then did nothing. After a few hours of investigation (uninstalling / reinstalling, phoning Swann etc) I discovered that SwannView Link will only start if you right-click on the Desktop icon and select "Run as Administrator". How on earth is one supposed to guess that? (I have an IT background and after hours of frustration, it suddenly occurred to me). The Swann cameras are great but their documentation is a disgrace. I would never buy anything else from them. I'm still having a great deal of trouble with other aspects of fine tuning but whenever I look at the leaflets, they simply don't cover the points - let alone the fact that the screenshots are nothing like the actual software. As an example today, one of my cameras won't "Playback". It works fine in "Preivew", so I know it's connected and talking to the NVR. But why won't it Playback? The Swann leaflets provide absolutely no clues whatsoever. That's why I wanted a user guide. Anyway, rant over. Thank you all for your helpful comments. I think it is going to take quite a few weeks of sleuthing to figure everything else out.

Brilliant. Thanks everyone.

I'm grateful for your advice. Unfortunately, Swann's monitoring software called "SwannView Link" comes with no online help whatsoever. Nor do they have a downloadable user manual (PDF). I phoned Swann yesterday and they confirmed they have no documented help. Their cameras are great but, without documentation, I haven't been able to figure out how to screen out unwanted "noise".

Here is a view from just before 4am this morning and also a daytime view from earlier that day. Since then, I have pointed the camera slightly leftwards and will check again after dark. Unfortunately this has already raised a different problem. A bush, swaying in the breeze, is now in view, which means the camera is recording non-stop because of the movement.