Here are our most frequently asked questions:
| Hardware Compatibility and Operating System | ||||||||
| Q: What is the system
requirement? A: Operating systems supported by the product are Windows 98SE/ME/2000 (Service Pack4)/XP(Service Pack1) |
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| Q: What is the system
memory requirements? A:
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| Q: Can the DVR install on
a NTFS hard drive? Does it affect anything? A: Yes, the only difference is the hard drive of your DVR canˇ¦t read in other PC. NTFS is designed to secure your data from unauthorized access. The recorded video data can be retrieved from an NTFS hard drive and played in other (NTFS or FAT) PC. |
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| Q: Do we suggest user
using Windows 98 OS? A: Running the program in Windows 98 will consume excessive resources, and may lead to unexpected problems and situations. This might not be the problem caused by the product since Windows 98 system itself contains potential and unsteady factors. |
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| Q: What is the best
operation system for DVR? A: Windows 2000 is the best system for the remarkable efficiency performance, but many users forget the installation of the Windows 2000ˇ¦s enhanced program ˇV Service Pack 4. After installation of Service Pack 4, both efficiency and steadiness will make users feel satisfied. |
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| Q: Why do we need to
install Direct X8.1? A: Many users forget to install this driver, causing the application to function abnormally. You can find DirectX 8.1 in the CD shipped with the product. |
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| Q: What kind of
chipset-based motherboard does our DVR system support? A: Currently only Intel chipset-based mainboards are supported. Other chipsets, such as VIA, SiS and ALI, are not supported yet. Minimum requirements include: Pentium III 800MHz or higher, and a minimum of 256MB system RAM. However, ASUS P4B533-E motherboard is NOT supported. |
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| Q: What are the
recommended VGA cards? A: So far among the VGA cards tested with the program, ATI 128 performs best and Elsa 128 secondly. The choice of VGA card is sure to have impact in the number of frames per second. |
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| Q: Do our products support
SIS VGA chipset? A: We recommended that ATI or nVidia is the best choice for your VGA card type. Some Sis chip VGA card will turn our images to 90 degree, or up side down. |
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| Q: What is the minimum VGA
requirement for 4, 8, 16 channels? A: 4 channels is required 32MB VGA memory .8 channels is required 64MB VGA memory. 16 channels is required 128MB VGA memory for the best performance. |
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| Q: Do we recommend using
the on board VGA? A: NO, most mainboards with onboard VGA offer only 16MB onboard VGA memory, so onboard VGA is not recommended. |
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| Q: What kinds of VGA cards
are tested? A: 1. ATI Radeon 9700 Pro/9000 2. GeForce 4 Ti 4200/4600/4800SE (ex. MSI Ti4800SE, MS-8900) 3. WinFast A280LE (GeForce 4 Ti4200) 4. GeForce 2 / 3 series |
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| Driver | ||||||||
| Q: Why does it take a long
time to install the driver? A: The ways and length of time of installing the driver in diverse operating systems are quite different. Especially driver installation in Windows XP is so long that might be considered that the computer has been crashed. |
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| Q: Do we have to manually
remove the drivers after remove the software? A: Now programs of version 3.5 or later version can automatically remove older drivers, allowing users to easily perform the upgrade action. This feature is one of the testing point. |
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| Q: How to manually remove
the drivers? A: ˇ· Windows 98SE/ME ˇ@Step 1: Go to C:\Windows\Inf\Others, and delete ARGUS*.INF. ˇ@Step 2: Go to C:\Windows\System32\Drivers, and delete ARGUS.SYS. ˇ@Step 3: Go to Device Manager, and remove all ARGUS devices. ˇ·Windows 2000/XP ˇ@Step 1: Go to C:\Winnt\Inf, and delete all OEM*.INF and OEM*.PNF files. ˇ@Step 2: Go to C:\Winnt\Drivers, and delete ARGUS.SYS. ˇ@Step 3: Go to Device Manager and remove all ARGUS devices. |
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| Installation | ||||||||
| Q: How to upgrade V4.0 to
V4.1? A: Please follow the steps 1) Remove old version from control panel --> Add/remove program 2) Restart computer 3) Ignore the found new hw message box 4) Install V4.1 new AP from the CD 5) Make sure to use the codec which is provided from our CD, not from OS (ex: Win XP) 6) Restart automatically 7) Install driver, please remember to specify the path to CDROM in the "driver" folder 8) Check the ARGUS driver which is shown in "WDM video source for ARGUS" and "WDM audio source for ARGUS" 9) Double click the icon on the desktop to run AP 10) Done |
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| Q: Many users ask why the
screen resolution is changed to 1024 x 768 after running the program
even though the original setting is otherwise set? A: Our surveillance program can automatically judge the system and adjust the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 for better observation. |
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| Q: What should we do if
the monitor does not support the resolution 1024*768? A: If the user uses older monitor for surveillance, possibly the resolution 1024 x 768 is not supported, resulting in inability to run the program. |
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| Q: The message ˇ§No ARGUS
card detected!ˇ¨ appears after running the program? A (1): If users remove older version manually or change the setting in Regedit, it is likely the driver will not be removed properly, causing the message ˇ§No ARGUS card detected!ˇ¨ to appear after re-installing the program. A (2): Our video capture card is protected. The program will verify whether the card is authorized to use it each time when the program is started. Our suggestion is using RemoteDoctor for diagnosis and sending an e-mail to our company for follow-up. A (3): In some areas, the climate is so dry that might have static
electricity generated and cause incorrect EEPROM value. For this
problem, our company provides RemoteDoctor that can get software and
hardware environment information and automatically e-mail the
information to our technical support department. Please take advantage
of RemoteDoctor to help the technical support engineers to find out the
problem and solution. |
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| Q: Why does the message
ˇ§The serial number you entered is invalid. Please enter the serial
number againˇ¨ appears when double-clicking the programˇ¦s shortcut? A (1): Usually this phenomenon appears when the program is updated. This is caused by the invalidity of old serial number. Simply get a upgrade serial number from the original distributor. A (2): This is because the user logged into Windows as an ˇ§Administratorˇ¨ when he or she installed the program. Later the program cannot be accessed without enough authority if the user enters Windows as a regular user. To resolve the problem, simply log out the system and then log in as the ˇ§Administrator.ˇ¨ |
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| Q: Will the previously
recorded data be deleted when the program is updated? A: No. All you need to do is remove older program (not including the ˇ§Aversˇ¨ folder) and install the new program into the same folder as before. The program will know whether there is existing data. |
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| Application Software - DVR.exe | ||||||||
| ˘wMain Screen | ||||||||
| Q: How to identify the
product name and version? A: Press Ctrl+Alt+V simultaneously in the main screen (at the time of entering the user name and password after the program is started). A window will pop up, with the product name in the first line and the version in the second line. |
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| Q: Does the program
automatically restart after power failure or improper shutdown? Do I
need to reset the surveillance status back to the previous state before
the accident? A: If the computer is not shut down properly, the program will restore to the previous setting and surveillance state after the computer is restarted. |
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| Q: When just one camera is
connected, at first on-screen display is normal, then gradually the
image is brightened until it becomes totally white. How to resolve the
problem? A: Please disable the other channels which are not connected to any camera. If the problem remains after the other channels are disabled, check whether DirectX 8.1 or above is installed. |
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| Q: How to resolve the
problem of blinking? A: Adjust the signal strength of all cameras connected to the same card. |
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| ˘wSystem Configuration | ||||||||
| Q: Why does the color
camera invert to white and black after the program is started? A: Check out your Callout alarm settings and make sure the voice file can be played in the PC. Second, your modem must support full duplex voice transmission. Most modem should support this function unless the model is too old. |
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| Q: Why I can't record any
sound file for Sound alarm or Voice message? A: Many users forget which signal they use ˇV PAL or NTSC, and keep the default NTSC setting in the process of installation. If the user actually should use PAL signal, he or she will find the displayed image is inverted to black and white. Please click System a Video Standard a PAL or NTSC. |
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| Q: If the displayed image
remains inverted after several times of switches, what should we do? A: Right-click over the camera icon to select ˇ§Disable all camerasˇ¨ and exit the program; later re-enter the program and right-click over the camera icon again to select ˇ§Enable all cameras.ˇ¨ |
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| Q: Why canˇ¦t we set one
single camera to 640 x 480 resolution? A: Because the camera resolution is adjusted per chip; therefore, all cameras controlled by the same chip will be adjusted altogether when one of the cameraˇ¦s resolution is changed. |
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| Q: What is the minimum
capacity of free space needed for recycling? What are the rules to
delete files? A (1): The minimum capacity is 450MB, which means when the there is only 450MB free space on the hard disk, the program will automatically start recycling. A (2): When recycling starts, the oldest files of each camera will be deleted in sequence from camera one to the last camera. |
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| Q: What does the ˇ§Runtime
ERRORˇ¨ message mean when recycling starts? A: Due to failure to identify the file(s).If users move any other file(s) into the folder where the recorded data is stored. |
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| Q: Can
display and recording rate (frames per second) be adjusted? A: Yes. There are five values to choose from. However, when the CPU usage is too high, the program will automatically adjust the rate(s) in order to have the program function normally. |
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Q: What should I do to let
recycle function can work properly in V4.x ? A: 1. Avoid to assign the recording path to the drive as same as our AP install drive ˇ@2. Do not copy any files manually into the recording drive ˇ@3. Use the default 450 MB for Minimun Space. |
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| Q: Will the display and
recording rate (frames) be affected when the camera resolution is set at
640 x 480? A: Of course, when the camera is set at 640 x 480, causing higher CPU usage and great consumption of system resources, the program will automatically adjust these rate(s) to ensure steadiness of its performance. |
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| Q: With ˇ§UPS Supportˇ¨
enabled, why does the USP not function and no UPS product information is
displayed? A: The program gets the UPS product information from the operating system. If the program cannot get the UPS information, please have the user verify whether UPS has been installed in Windows. |
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| ˘wCameras (including Speed dome) | ||||||||
| Q: Why does users fail to
control Speed Dome while the image can be displayed normally? A (1): There are a number of reasons to explain why Speed Dome cannot be controlled. The most common reason is the hardware (installation). Speed Dome communicates with PC through RS485. Usually Speed Dome has the R+ and R- port, and RS485 has the T+ and T- port. The R+ port must be connected to T+ port, and R- port connected to T- port. However, users often connect these ports in the opposite way, resulting in the failure to control Speed Dome. A (2): Next reason is Speed Domeˇ¦s ID problem. Our program can support up to 16 channels. Channel 1 controls the Speed Dome whose ID is set to 1; channel 2 controls the Speed Dome whose ID is set to 2, ˇK and channel 16 controls the Speed Dome whose ID is 16. Make sure users set IDs correctly. A (3): Then check the PCˇ¦s COM port where RS485 connects. Usually COM1 has been connected to other peripherals, so users should select COM2 as the COM port used by Speed Dome in the PTZ Camera setup page. A (4): Model problem. There are a variety of Speed Dome models in the market. Make sure users use and select the Speed Dome supported by the program.
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| Q: Is it possible to
connect multiple Speed Domes to the same ports but control them
separately? A: Our surveillance system can support this kind of connection, but the way users configure Speed Dome should be careful, especially the ID configuration, and these Speed Domes connected to the same ports can be of the different model. |
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| ˘wAudio | ||||||||
| Q: Q: Why is it difficult
to record any sound when the Sensitivity slider is set to a higher value A: The definition of this setting means: the program will start recording the sound only when the soundˇ¦s volume is higher than the level set in Sensitivity. Therefore, the higher the sensitivity, the greater the volume needed to activate the audio recording. The lower the sensitivity, the lower the volume necessary to activate the recording. Users should determine the sensitivity level based on his or her needs. |
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| Q: Why does audio
recording not function? A: Our program uses Windows OS recorder function. Therefore, first check whether the audio driver has been installed successfully in Windows; then use the Sound Recorder application in Windows to test the audio recording function. Some notes below: 1) Make sure the Audio is Enable in the BIOS if the audio function is onboard. 2) The audio volume should turn on to the maximum. In the task bar, open Volume a Options a Properties a ˇ§Adjust Volume forˇ¨ choosing ˇ§Recordingˇ¨ a ˇ§Show the following volume controlsˇ¨ check ˇ§Mic volumeˇ¨ and ˇ§microphoneˇ¨ |
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| ˘wMonitoring | ||||||||
| Q: What to do if the video
recording is activated even when no object is found moving on the
screen? A: Our surveillance systemˇ¦s motion detection is so sensitive that it might misjudge the glare of a daylight lamp as movement. Just ask users to adjust the sensitivity of motion detection to an appropriate level to meet their needs. |
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| Q: When assigned recording
path to a hard drive (ex. d:\) the system fails to record in the drive? A: A folder MUST be created in the root directory in each drive before assigning the path for recording. For example, d:\Recording/. Donˇ¦t just assign path d:\ or e:\ for recording. Tip: 1. It is recommended to assign recording path to a same folder in different drives because this would clearly show where video is located and is easy to find them. (ex. d:\Recording, e:\Recording etc.) So does folders for video backup. 2. Once the recording paths are defined, donˇ¦t change the paths unless necessary. Otherwise, the video may not be in good manner and difficult for users to do playback.
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| Q: How to have all cameras
enter the full recording mode in a step? A: Most users forget to use the right button of mouse. Simply right-click over the Monitoring icon and choose ˇ§Enable full recording for all cameras.ˇ¨ |
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| Q: Many users are not
fully aware of the Mask feature and wonder why whatˇ¦s the function
performed in the masked area? A: Mask is used to ˇ§neglectˇ¨ the selected area ˇ§with no detection.ˇ¨ For example, the monitor in the office will continue twinkling, causing the surveillance system to judge that it is invasion and give alarm or start recording. This is a waste of computer resources. To avoid this situation, users should use Mask to exclude specific area from detection for best detection effect |
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| ˘wSensors & Relays | ||||||||
| Q: Why does the IO box not
work? A: Usually this is the problem of DSS product. It is caused mainly because of usersˇ¦ incorrect hardware connection. One IO box can be connected to one card, Then you are allowed to connect 4 IO boxes. However, if the card number you select in the relay setting does not correspond to the card that actually connects the desired IO box, the IO box will not work. |
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| Q: Why does my computer
sound ˇ§da, da, daˇ¨ when the relay is activated? A: This is the sound generated by relay. Each card has three relays. Once the relay is activated, it will act in the electromagnetic way and generate the sound ˇ§da, da, da.ˇ¨ |
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| Alarm | ||||||||
| Q: What are the conditions
to trigger the alarm? Why does it not work if I set two cameras to
detect motion in the same alarm setting? A: In the same alarm setting, selecting two cameras for motion detection or sensor means that the alarm will be triggered only when BOTH conditions (cameras) are met. To trigger the alarm based on one condition, you must set the alarm condition separately. The program allows you to configure 12 alarm settings. |
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| Q: In the alarm setup
screen, I can set the alarm to call out when it is triggered. Then why
only one alarm performs call-out operation, and the other doesnˇ¦t
although both of them are triggered at the same time? A: This is because one of the alarms is triggered repeatedly and results in the continuous modem call-out requests. You have to wait until the first alarm stops, and the system has finished all call-out requests; then after around 10-20 seconds, the system will begin to execute the other alarmˇ¦s call-out request. |
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| Q: Why does the system
only dial the first telephone number although there are 5 telephone
numbers entered for call-out alarm? A: Many users ignore the definitions of ˇ§Dial next line if busyˇ¨ and ˇ§Dial Allˇ¨. ˇ§Dial next line if busyˇ¨ signifies that the system will dial next telephone number only if the first telephone number is busy; ˇ§Dial Allˇ¨ means that the system has to call all telephone numbers. Usually users would keep the default setting ˇ§Dial next line if busyˇ¨; therefore, when the system succeeds in dialing the first telephone number, it will never dial the next number. You must choose ˇ§Dial Allˇ¨ to have the system dial all numbers. |
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| Q: Why there is no voice
audible when the call-out operation is successful and the telephone
receiver is picked up although I have recorded an audio message?
A: The program uses the WAV file recorded by the users. However, there are a variety of WAV formats. Usually Windows automatically sets the audio format at the default value ˇ§CD qualityˇ¨, ˇ§24KHzˇ¨ and ˇ§32Bitˇ¨, but the audio format that can be used by the surveillance system is ˇ§Monoˇ¨, ˇ§8KHzˇ¨ and ˇ§16Bitˇ¨. Only this audio format can be played in the call-out operation. |
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| Q: Why is the message not
transferred to my cell phone although I have set the pager function? A: The pagerˇ¦s message transmission feature supplied by the surveillance system is for a few countries that provide services of transmitting and displaying messages on the pagers. The function is different from the messaging feature of regular cell phones or pagers. |
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| Q: Why does the e-mail
feature not work? A: Please ask users to check the ˇ§Send and Receiveˇ¨ function in Outlook. If it fails, then itˇ¦s the problem of Mail Server. In addition, users must make sure to have all fields except ˇ§ccˇ¨ completed in the Email Setting dialog box. |
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| Q: Why does it not work
when I select multiple recipients? A: When you select multiple recipients, remember using semicolon to separate e-mail addresses. Many users would forget this. This is not only an issue of the surveillance system but also the issue of Outlook. |
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| Q: Modem works normally,
and the WAV format is correct, but no sound is heard when the telephone
receiver is picked up?! A: First make sure the modem purchased is FULL-DUPLEX. Half-duplex modem might have problem. Then check the driver installation. Usually Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 would automatically install driver for the modem when the computer is turned on. This causes users to believe that the modem has been installed successfully. But the driver supplied by Windows is for Half-duplex modem only and will turn bi-directional feature to one way. Please make sure the user installs the driver supplied by the modem. |
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| ˘wNetworking (IP sharing, modem, ADSL) | ||||||||
| Q: Why will users not be
able to see any image from remote side (webcam or remote manager)? A: Usually users would forget to enable both ˇ§Enable WebCam Serverˇ¨ and ˇ§Enable RemoteView server via TCP/IPˇ¨. A: Users often forget to press the ˇ§Start Network Serverˇ¨ button in the main screen. If it is not clicked, they cannot be connected to the server. A: If the server uses floating IP, it is necessary to check the current IP address and select the correct IP address in the Server IP dialog box. Then the system can work normally. A: When either the server or client has Firewall, their port configurations must match the port configuration of userˇ¦s Firewall. A: Although the modem-to-modem connection is supported by the program, it is not supported by Windows 98. This will cause the modem-to-modem connection not to work in Windows 98.
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| ˘wScheduler | ||||||||
| Q: Why does the system
continue to tell me that the start time should be earlier than the end
time? A: This violates the logic that start time should always be earlier than end time. |
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| ˘wBackup | ||||||||
| Q: Why is no data seen in
CD after performing the CD backup operation? A: Our program does not directly burn the backup data to CD. It copies the backup data to hard disk, and then you need to burn the data manually into the CD with a burning program. Users could refer to NEROˇ¦s burning function. |
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| Q: Why can not I playback
the video files from backup function? A: This is because your computer does not have the Mpeg4 Codec. Please install it. |
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| Q: Can regular media
player play the recorded data? A: No. Because we use DSS format for confidential purposes. To play the DSS format, only our programˇ¦s player can be used. |
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| Q: Is it possible to
convert the recorded video to other formats? A: We do provide conversion program for the ˇ§Administratorˇ¨ to convert DSS format into AVI format. |
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| Q: How to do Manual
Backup? A: Please read user manual carefully. |
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| Q: What is different
between Backup function and just use File manager to copy *.dss files to
a CD? A: Backup function will copy not only video files but also playback programs and log files so that the backup video can be replayed in other PCs. |
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| ˘wUsers Information | ||||||||
| Q: Does the surveillance
system provide different authorization levels? A: The system provides four levels: ˇ§System Managerˇ¨, ˇ§Administratorˇ¨, ˇ§Operatorˇ¨ and ˇ§User.ˇ¨ Please refer to the manual for details. |
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| Q: Is it possible to
change the authorization setting of each level? A: No. Authorization of each level is a built-in function of the system. For details, refer to the manual. |
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| Q: How to avoid misuse of
the program or closing the program accidentally? A: The program will ask for the password each time when you start/stop recording, start/stop network server or minimize the program. |
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| Playback | ||||||||
| Q: Why should we wait when
the playback function is started? A: Reading the recorded data needs time. The larger the data, the longer the reading time. It would probably make the user think that the system has crashed. It is necessary for the system to scan all files so that users can choose which file to play. If there are audio files, the reading time will be longer. |
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| Q: How to smooth the file
access action? A: Increase your memory size, purchase a hard disk of higher rotational speed or with larger buffer, and use disk defragmenter regularly. All of these will improve the efficiency of reading files. |
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| Q: Why do only some
channels display images and the others do not when I drag the slider on
the lower-left corner of the screen? A: When dragging the slider to certain point, the system will search for files of the specific time. If the system finds any files, it will immediately play these files; if not, only the base picture will be displayed on the screen. |
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Q: Why I can not playback the audio?
A: Under version 4.1, the playback default speed set to 2 which is for fast forward the video. So please adjust the speed to 1 for the normal playback speed.. |
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| Remote Login | ||||||||
| Q: Can we change the port
numbers of WebCam and RemoteView server in the networking setup page? A: The default port of WebCam is 80, and that of the RemoteView server is 9090. Users can modify these default settings to meet their needs. |
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| Q: Is it possible for
multiple persons to connect to the server and use WebCam for monitoring? A: This question should be explained in two ways ˇV LAN and WAN. LAN (10/100Mbps) allows more than five users to monitor simultaneously. For WAN (internet), only two users are recommended to monitor simultaneously; if more than two persons are monitoring, the display update rate will be possibly unacceptable. |
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| Q: Why does RemoteManager
fail to connect to the server? Or the connection is successful but
nothing is displayed on the screen? A (1): First check whether the TCP/IP connection is OK. You can use WebCam to test the connection status. If WebCam can display images, it means probably Firewall of the server or client rejects the transmission request. Then check whether the Firewall of server side has assigned a port to DRV server. Please ask users to assign 9090 port of Firewall to DVR Server. This is the first possibility. A (2): Check whether Firewall of the client has limited the user to connect to any Web site or would reject some unusual transmissions. If so, this Firewall will reject RemoteManagerˇ¦s data transmission request as well. |
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Here’s what our customers are saying...
This is the best thing I could’ve done to see what’s really happening at my
store while I’m away.
Thank you - Thank you - Thank you!
Greg, Pro Image
We are thrilled to be able to dial-in and see our back docking bay. It was one of our most vulnerable areas of product loss.
Sam H.,
Dolloar Store Wholesale
We installed an unobtrusive camera above our cash register. We now see a clear difference in monthly revenues.
Burt C,
Philly Connection
I do a lot of traveling... There is an alarm on the house where police are notified if an intruder is detected. But now I have an added peace of mind to know that I can simply dial-in and see the interior of my house. It was well worth the investment. I’m glad you found me.
H. Harrison, Consultant
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