Troubleshooting - Swann M16 Instruction Manual

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Troubleshooting

Q: The images from my cameras are black & white, flickering and/or totally blank. What's up?
A: Most likely, your Video Standard isn't set correctly for your region. Check out the section on PAL/NTSC ("General System Options" on page 31) for more information.
As a rule of thumb, set your video standard to NTSC if you're in the USA or Canada, or PAL if you're in Europe, the UK or Australia.
If this is happening to only some of your cameras, then there may be a problem with the compatibility of those cameras. If you have them from a kit, then this shouldn't
be the case at all and it indicates that something quite strange is happening. If you have cameras purchased seperately - particularly if you've found them online or from
overseas - then they might not match the standards of the cameras you have already. The DVR can only support one video standard at a time: mixing PAL and NTSC
cameras does not work.
Q: I can't log into or unlock the DVR - it says my password is wrong.
A: The default username/password combination for the DVR is "admin" with the password "12345".
If that doesn't work (and you haven't set a password of your own that you've forgotten) then something strange has happened - contact Swann technical support (contact
details are on the rear cover).
Q: How do I eliminate false-triggers on my motion detection?
A: There's no guaranteed way to eliminate false triggers, but - in the majority of cases - you can fine-tune the DVR's motion detection settings to reduce the number of
false triggers you're likely to get. (See "How to adjust motion sensitivity?" on page 22 for more detailed information.)
1. Mask any redundant movement. This includes obvious things like trees blowing in the wind, roads with cars passing and so forth. Some less obvious things which
might cause false triggers include: the "flickering" of screens, monitors or fluorescent lights, reflections of movement in windows/mirrors and so on, lights which
are often turned on or off, shadows passing and so on. We can't possibly imagine what you're going to find in your unique circumstances, so we encourage you to
experiment.
2. Fine-tune your sensitivity. There's no substitute for getting a volunteer to play the part of intruder and experimenting. Some cameras are just more "touchy" than
others, some lighting conditions are harder to get the settings "right" for.
3. Adjust your image settings (see "Camera Options" on page 6). Unlike many image adjustment options, the DVR pre-processes video, which means that, when
the DVR looks for motion, it's looking at your already processed images. By reducing the amount of video noise in your image, you can increase the accuracy of
the motion detection dramatically. Typically, the settings that most often require adjustment are Brightness and Contrast. Video noise is a problem with any video
signal. It's the very slight change in brightness and/or color of pixels between frames, and it's commonly regarded as being "just one of those things" when dealing
with digital imaging. By tweaking the brightness and contrast, you can usually remove a good deal of this noise, as it tends to be most pronounced near the blacks
(the really dark bits) and the whites (the really bright bits) of your images.
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