DaveM

If I'm reading it right, you do want the apartment to have the spot. So, merge the the notched cable tv and the spot with one splitter, then split it out with another splitter, so they are back to back (two in and two out). Run one output to the apartment. If you are only doing one TV you probably won't even need an amplifier. Run the other output into something like a Channel Vision CVT-2/8PIA-II amplifier with a modulator input. These things work much better than trying to use splitters. (you could also use their 4 output version for the first step if you need more than one run to the apartment). Run your other Camera feed into the modulator input on the Channel Vision unit. Now the house gets 8 outputs with all the channels including the spot, and the apartment only gets the spot.

That looks like a nice composite amplifier, and you can turn the gain down to what you want it to be. (1Volt peak to peak at the TV). Install your amp at the DVR end.

I use a RadioShack® 4-Way Component Video Distribution Amplifier for about $50. It's a little overkill, but it lets me send video to 4 devices along with 2 channels of audio if I want it. You won't need the top 3 component input/outputs. Model:15-311 and most of them have it in stock.

From what I can see, the strike is powered from one of the 8 relays on the control unit. The only way that is going to happen is if the control unit commands the relay to close. So, reader gets an input and sends it to control unit. Control unit authorizes it, and tells relay to close and reader to display a green light. Check the event log and see what is requesting input. It will probably turn out to be a common office gnome. They are known for stealing access cards. They will run through the suspended ceilings and lower the cards on a string through the wall to open the doors. So, find out what is requesting access, and cancel it.

From what you said, I think you should turn off remote administration on your router, it is intercepting port 80. Also forward port 80 to your DVR IP. If your DVR's web page is set up to use a different port, make sure you enter it at the end of the URRL. Something like http://mydvr.dvr.com:6802

Just thinking.... You said the green light came on the reader. That would lead me to believe that it had a good card read. Could there be someone with a card walking by the other side of the wall that the reader is catching, or maybe your card is getting close enough?

Can you check the log and see what event is opening the door?

Could it be that the exit sensor is too sensitive, and is being tripped by the door moving when it is pulled? I remember getting the old ultrasonic units to open by blowing up a balloon under the door and letting it go......

You shouldn't need to forward port 25 in your router, that would be if you were receiving email at the DVR. The settings you are showing are for your email provider account. The username is your email username, not the DVR, and the password would be your email SMTP password. You should be able to set it up similar to how you would do Outlook Express, or Eudora. Check your provider for assistance with the SMTP server name and ports. And as was mentioned, a lot of providers block port 25 so you may have to use an alternate port. Try your settings using an email client like Eudora from your PC. If you can't get that to work with your settings then the DVR won't work either.

I had quite a bit of trouble getting these to work on my somewhat older Dahua unit. Since it doesn't seem to be going out at all, make sure you have your DNS set up right. You might even try putting the IP address in instead of the name. It is getting less and less common for a provider to accept an outgoing email without a username and password. I found that my ISP wouldn't, and the format the DVR was using wouldn't be accepted. I ended up using fastmail.com on the alternate port (587). My ISP was blocking outgoing port 25 as well. Two things you can try. One is to put a sniffer on the DVR LAN port and actually watch what is going on. This can be a real eye opener. The other is to simulate the email exchange using Telnet. This is not really to hard to do, Google "testing SMTP connections" and you can see examples. Basically from a command prompt it goes something like this (from memory, not 100% right): >Telnet 121.111.34.1 587 (port 587) Helo email server name user myusername@host.com User accepted pass mypassword welcome myusername At this point you can list out email or create new emails. (fixed command to be telnet instead of ftp...oops)

I installed a Network Hard Drive (NAS) that supports FTP, and put it in my safe. I have 1TB of storage and it works very well. If the house is broken into, or catches fire I'm pretty sure that drive will be OK. I have to clean out the old files every 3 months or so.

I replaced 3 of my eBay special cameras with CNB-24VF dome cameras recently. The one on my front porch had rolling black lines going up the picture that weren't on my old camera. I tried the following: Crimped new BNC connectors on both ends of the coax. Re-terminated the power connections. I took the camera off the common 12V power supply and gave it it's own 24VAC supply. Swapped the camera with one of the others. I still had the issue, so I ran a new CAT5 cable and used Baluns, lines still there! (35 foot run). Ok, someone has probably guessed it. The house is typical California stucco finish. I mounted the camera using plastic anchors in the corner of the porch, and one of the screws pushed through and touched the chicken wire that was under the stucco. The CNB-24VF has a metal shell, and it was either grounded or connected to one big antenna by that screw. Shorter screws and the problem was gone. I never thought the camera could get a ground from being mounted on stucco. Maybe this post will help someone else out down the line. Dave

Without a doubt changing the security settings is the easiest way to do it. On large corporate networks when you log into their domain they can push "policies" down to all the member computers that limit what can be done on them. On my work laptop one of the policies grays out the security settings tab so I'm stuck with them the way the company wants them, even if I log on as a local administrator. I'm looking forward to your PSS info. I didn't know you could do all that with it. Dave

Rory, I was able run webrec on Windows 7 on my home PC fine, but my work PC running XP was locked down. Even though I had local admin rights the policies wouldn't allow it to install because the active X was unsigned. I worked around that as shown in previous posts. The later versions of webrec.cab with files dated in 2009 do appear to be signed, one by Dahua, and one by Software Tools. I've been able to get around the security by finding the webrec.cab file in my temporary internet directory before I close out the IE window and copy it somewhere else. Then I can right click, go to properties, view digital signatures, and choose to view the certificate. I have a button to install the certificate, and if I choose to install it in the trusted root root certificate store then after closing IE it will install OK the next time I go to the DVR. You can also export the certificate from another more open PC from details/copy to file then take it to the problem PC and import it. This does compromise the PC security a bit in that you are now trusting any active X written by the owner of that certificate. I do like the tip about making a jump drive with PSS on it. Dave

A lot of ISP's will block port 80. Quite a few have problems trying to go out from your network to the internet and then back in to you again. Break your issues into pieces and work on each one. (no, not with a hammer) 1. Find your public IP address. You can go to http://www.ipchicken.com to get it. 2. Choose a different port, my ISP lets port 443 in OK. 3. From another network and PC, your friends house for instance, go to your web page with the port added to it. For example, 174.11.12.133:443. If you don't get your web page, then you probably still have a router issue. You can also set the DMZ on the router to point to your DVR. That way any unknown traffic will route to the DVR. I found that a lot of business networks are blocking ports 37777,37778, I could get the web page but could not connect the video. Once you have it working using just the IP address, then you can try doing it by name, and work out any issues there. Once that is good, you can try using the remote phone software. Dave