Uniview How To Guides 2024

Uniview How To Guides 2024, This guide will focus on answering some frequently asked questions regarding the Uniview Security Systems and its features. If you have questions left unanswered by this guide, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Tech Support team. If you are looking to configure or learn more about the various features and functionalities, please consider checking out our Uniview Setup: Everything You Need To Know.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How Do I Access My Uniview Security System?

• How Do I Start Recording And Scheduling?

• How Do I View Playback, Timeline, and Events?

• How Do I Monitor And Manage My Storage?

• How Do I Set Up Tamper Detection?

• How Do I Set Up Motion Detection?

• How Do I Set Up Face Detection?

• How Do I Set Up Line Crossing Detection?

• How Do I Set Up Intrusion Detection?

• How Do I Set Up People Counting?

• How Do I Adjust Image Enhancements, Exposure, Infrared, and Starlight?

• How Do I Adjust Resolution, Frame Rate, Bit Rate, and Video Compression?

• How Do I Name My Cameras and Manage On-Screen Display?

• How Do I Directly Transfer Footage From My Security System to My USB?

Note: These guides were written for Uniview NVR users who prefer to change settings remotely using a mobile or desktop browser (Internet Explorer). Remote and local configurations share many similarities and only the locations and availability of each feature may vary. The Uniview NVR Manual can provide more information if what you are looking for is not found in this simple guide or if you prefer local access by connecting a mouse and display to your NVR.

How Do I Access My Uniview Security System?

There are two ways to interface with your Univew Security System and to access all its features and configuration options you can choose to access it locally or remotely. Local access refers to connecting your Network Video Recorder to a display and a USB mouse. The monitor and the mouse will serve as the input-output for interfacing. Remote access refers to connecting to your Network Video Recorder through a browser (Internet Explorer provides the greatest compatibility) installed on a device that is in the same network as the Security System.

Local Access and First Time Setup

The NVR interface can be accessed directly by simply connecting the NVR to a display (this can be done with an HDMI or older VGA cable) and to a mouse. Once the display and the mouse is connected and the login screen is displayed, proceed to login. Since this is the first time, we will be using the default username and password (at the time of writing default login and password are admin and 123456) found on the manual that came with the NVR.

After logging in, Uniview’s privacy policy will be shown for you to review. Once you have reviewed and accepted, you will immediately gain access to the NVR and cameras connected to it. But, since it is the first time we are logged in and we are still using the default credentials, we will be prompted to change the login information. You will be using the new password for all your future access with the NVR.

Once the password has been changed, a pattern lock will also be prompted (this is optional and can be skipped). After doing so, the Privacy Policy will be displayed for the user to review. The screen that follows the Privacy Policy will let us connect our mobile devices to the NVR. This will grant access to Live View, alerts, and other configurations we may want.

The device QR code will be presented here. Allowing you access to the EZCloud feature. Devices can be added to the cloud manually but it is far easier to just use a link given from the QR code. If you want to pair the NVR with the EZView app, click here to read more about it.

The next step is to set or synchronize the time. This step will ensure that all scheduling configurations you will set and all alerts and alarm information will be accurate and will work based on your local time.

After this, you will be prompted to check the TCP/IP settings, the default settings will work for most people. If you need to specify networking (usually when DHCP is not enabled on other devices on the network), please do so here. You will still be able to alter this later.

Once the time and the password have been configured, you are now ready to enable and disable the features of the NVR.

To access the menu, you can right-click on any part of the screen and then click on Menu. It can also be accessed along with other options by moving your cursor to the bottom left of the screen. This will take you to the SETUP screen where you can enable and customize alerts, features, and other options available to you.

Remote Access and First Time Setup

You can also access the NVR interface through the use of a browser on a device connected to the same network as the NVR. To do this, you will need the IP address of the NVR you wish to connect to. The easiest way to find this on a Windows PC is with Uniview’s EZTools which can be downloaded here. Once installed on your computer, running the EZtools will automatically show you all connected Uniview devices.

The IP address can also be obtained by logging into your router and checking connected devices, using the command prompt (arp -a command and checking for new devices on the private network) or simply using another display for the NVR to check the current IP address of the device.

Note: Any browser should work to alter configurations, however using Internet Explorer will be the easiest to access the live view. (due to some newer browsers not supporting certain plugins).

From here, we can see the IP address given by our router to the NVR. 192.168.254.192. It will likely be different for you. Clicking on the Remote Web button will open your default browser and take you to the NVR interface.

You can then proceed to login to your Uniview NVR Interface. Since this is the first time, we will be using the default username and password found on the manual that came with the NVR. After logging in, Uniview’s privacy policy will be shown for you to review. Once you have reviewed and accepted, you will immediately gain access to the NVR and cameras connected to it. But, since it is the first time we are logged in and we are still using the default credentials, we will be prompted to change the login information. You will be using the new password for all your future access with the NVR.

Once the password has been updated, you will be greeted by the Live View display. Clicking on any of the cameras found on the left will show you live footage from it. In this case, a single IP camera is connected to the 4-Channel NVR.

From here, you can now click on SETUP to access all configurations and features and set them up to your preference.

How Do I Start Recording And Scheduling?

Once properly installed and powered, most Uniview Security System immediately starts recording and saving footage to the Hard Disk Drive. To configure when and what types of footage you choose to save, you only need to navigate to the Recording Schedule tab.

Navigation: Setup > Camera > Schedule

1.Select which Camera to configure.

2.Select your preferred duration (in seconds) of the pre-record footage to be included in each saved recording.

3.Select your preferred duration (in seconds) of the post-record footage to be included in each saved recording.

4.Switch On the recording schedule feature.

5.You have two options for setting up the schedule.

• Click on Edit and a scheduling window will open.

• Click on the colored Event Types on the right side of the time table.

• Setup your preferred schedule scheme.

Pre-Record and Post-Record:

If the Pre-Record and Post-Record values are set to 60 seconds and 300 seconds respectively and using motion detection as a trigger, here is how it will play together:
.

• The camera is monitoring the road.

• At 10:26:30 PM, a running car entered the scene and left after 30 seconds at 10:27:00 PM, this triggers the motion detection event and fires up the recording.

• Footage from the camera from 10:25:30 PM which is 60 seconds prior to the event (determined by the Pre-Record) will be included in the saved recording data.

• Since our motion detection does not have a delay, let us determine that the motion detection event ended when the car left the scene at 10:27:00 PM.

• Since the Post-Record is set to 300 seconds or five-minutes after an event, the system will include footage from the camera up to 10:32:00 PM.

• When the security system owner checks the recorded events the next day, he will find footage of a motion detection event which starts at 10:25:30, 60 seconds before the car enters the scene, and ends at 10:32:00 PM, 300 seconds after the car left the scene.

• The final video will be 06:30 in length. 60 seconds pre, 30 seconds event, and 300 seconds post.

Event-Types:

• Normal: The NVR will continuously record all footage on this schedule.

• Event: The NVR will only record footage during an ongoing event.

• Motion: The NVR will only record footage when motion is detected.

• Alarm: The NVR will only record footage when an alarm is triggered.

• None: The NVR will not record any footage.

The setup that is shown on the screenshot above can be interpreted this way. During weekdays, from 7:00 AM to 5:00 PM, the system will monitor and record all footage into memory. The rest of the day, the system will not record anything unless a motion trigger or an alarm event is detected. During weekends, the system will not record anything except for motion-triggered events. During holidays, the system will not record anything unless an event is triggered.

How Do I View Playback, Timeline, and Events?

The Playback tab is found between the Live View and Setup tabs of your Uniview Web-Based Interface. As always, Internet Explorer would provide the widest range of options not available to other browsers.

Navigation: Playback

The playback sidebar is the first point of interest. The top drop-down allows you to filter what types of playback you wish to view. The options are as follows:

Normal: Default playbacks and scheduled recording sessions.

Tag: Shows a playback list that matches a tag keyword.

To utilize this feature, you will need to create tags on certain times you want to save for future reference. To do this, click on the time you want to create your tag and click on the Add Customized Tag button on the toolbar as shown here:

A window will open that allows you to name your tag and adjust the time.

After clicking OK, the new tag will be created. To search for tagged footage, change the filter into Tag, click on the Camera, specify the Keyword, set the time range to search between, and then click search as shown below:

This will display all tagged footage that matches the Keywords.

Event: Shows playback list for a matching event. Very similar to the above example but a simpler approach is only looking for footage of recorded events. To use this function change the filter to Event, choose a specific Event-Type from the drop-down list, select the Camera, specify the Time Range the system will search. Click search. This will display all events that match the Event-Type captured by the camera within the time range.

Smart: The system analyzes recordings for smart search results.

How Do I Monitor And Manage My Storage?

To monitor and manage your storage, you will need to access the Hard Disk group on the setup. The settings and their functions are explained below.

Navigation: Setup > Hard Disk > Hard Disk

Hard Disk

This tab shows you details of the current storage situation of your NVR. The total capacity and the available free space can be monitored from this tab alongside options to add and more storage.

• Refresh: Activating this option refreshes the list.

• Add: Allows for the addition of a connected hard disk.

• Format: Erases the data of a hard disk by formatting partitions.

• Configure: Allows you to determine the read/write properties of each drive.

Disk Group

This tab allows the creation and management of Disk Groups. A handy tool if managing a large number of Hard Disks and to simplify storage allocation.

Navigation: Setup > Hard Disk > Disk Group

• Disk Group: Allows the creation of disk groups.

The disk group feature allows us to assign hard disks to a disk group and use the disk group to store recordings and snapshots of specified cameras. Different arrays can be assigned to different disk groups. Redundant disks cannot be assigned to any disk group. Disk group information will be initialized if any disk in the group is formatted.

Allocate Space

This tab allows setting a maximum storage allocation for each camera on a disk group.

Navigation: Setup > Hard Disk > Allocate Space

• Select Camera: Select which camera to configure.

• Disk Group: Specifies which disk group to configure the camera for.

• Max Recording Space: Determines the allocated storage size in GB for video recordings.

• Max Image Space: Determines the allocated storage size in GB for image snapshots.

• Copy: Allows copying of configuration to selected cameras.

Advanced

This tab will determine what the Network Video Recorder will do once the Hard Disk Drives are full and new footage needs to be saved. Setting this to Overwrite should allow the NVR to delete older footage to make space for new ones to be saved while setting this to Stop will prevent any new recordings to be saved.

Navigation: Setup > Hard Disk > Advanced

• HDD Full: Determines whether to overwrite old recordings or stop once the HDD is full.

How Do I Set Up Tamper Detection?

To set up Tamper Detection, you will need to access the Tampering section of the Camera Setup.

Navigation: Setup > Camera > Tampering

• Navigate to the Tampering tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Enable the Tampering Detection feature.

• Set the Sensitivity of the detection feature.

• Set when the feature will be active on Arming Schedule. In the screenshot above, the feature will be active at all times. If tampering is detected, it will create an event and trigger a set of actions specified on Trigger Actions.

• A handy tool to implement the current selected camera’s settings and configuration to other cameras is found on most configuration tabs.

◦ Parameter: Check which configuration areas you prefer to implement.

◦ Camera: Check which cameras you prefer to configure.

How Do I Set Up Motion Detection?

Navigation: Setup > Camera > Motion

• Navigate to the Motion tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Enable the Motion Detection feature.

• Set the Sensitivity of the detection feature.

• Click on the Draw Area button to create an area on the screen you prefer the motion detection feature to monitor. You can have multiple areas on the screen or fill it entirely. The Clear All button removes all drawn areas.

• Set when the feature will be active on Arming Schedule. If the motion is detected, it will create an event and trigger a set of actions specified on Trigger Actions.

• A handy tool to implement the current selected camera’s settings and configuration to other cameras is found on most configuration tabs.

◦ Parameter: Check which configuration areas you prefer to implement.

◦ Camera: Check which cameras you prefer to configure.

How Do I Set Up Face Detection?

The Face Detection feature creates an EVENT when a person’s face is detected by the Video Content Analysis. It will then proceed to take screenshots of the person or persons detected.

Navigation: Setup > VCA > Face Detection

• Navigate to the Face Detection tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Enable the Face Shot feature.

• Select whether to monitor the Full Screen or only a Specific Area.

• If Specific Area was selected as the Detection Area, click the Draw Area tool to create regions in the footage that will be monitored by this feature.

• Set the Sensitivity of the feature.

• Advanced: Allows further customization of the feature options if preferred.

• Face Detection Tab: Contains the options for scheduling and possible trigger actions.

• Set when the feature will be active on Arming Schedule. If a face is detected, it will create an event and trigger a set of actions specified on Trigger Actions.

How Do I Set Up Line Crossing Detection?

The Cross Line Detection feature creates an EVENT when an object crossed a specified line. This feature has 3 modes. A<->B which creates an event whenever an object crosses the line. A->B which only triggers when an object moves from side A to side B. B->A which only triggers when an object moves from side B.

Navigation: Setup > VCA > Cross Line Detection

• Navigate to the Cross Line Detection tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Enable the Cross Line Detection feature.

• Click on the Draw Area tool to create lines that will be monitored by this feature. When drawing up the lines, choose the Trigger Direction which determines what direction the objects that cross the line should be headed to be counted. Set the Sensitivity of the feature.

• Set when the feature will be active on Arming Schedule. If a crossing is detected, it will create an event and trigger a set of actions specified on Trigger Actions.

How Do I Set Up Intrusion Detection?

The Intrusion Detection feature creates an EVENT when an object that meets the minimum size relative to the region (based on percentage) enters any of the specified regions and stays inside the region past the minimum time threshold.

Navigation: Setup > VCA > Intrusion Detection

• Navigate to the Intrusion Detection tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Intrusion Detection: Toggles the feature on or off.

• Click on the Draw Area tool to create regions that will be monitored by this feature. When drawing up the lines, set Time Threshold which determines the minimum amount of time in seconds that the intruder is in the region for an event to be created, the Sensitivity which determines the sensitivity of the feature, and the Percentage which determines the minimum percentage of the region that should be covered by the intruder for an event to be created.

• Set when the feature will be active on Arming Schedule. If an intrusion is detected, it will create an event and trigger a set of actions specified on Trigger Actions.

How Do I Set Up People Counting?

The people counting feature is used to monitor the number of people entering or leaving an area.

Navigation: Setup > VCA > People Counting

• Navigate to the People Counting tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Enable the People Counting feature.

• If Shoulder Demarcation is enabled, it adds resizable short parallel lines to the main people-counting line. Any passing person that is smaller than the demarcation will not be included in the count.

• Set the Sensitivity which determines the sensitivity of the feature.

• Set the Direction which determines which direction of people will the devices count.

• If enabled the Clear By Schedule clears the count found on the OSD at the time set on the next option. This does not affect the Statistics, only the values on the OSD.

• Set the Clear At which determines the time when the Clear By Schedule purges the OSD counting record. This does not affect the Statistics, only the OSD.

• Click on the Draw Area tool to create regions that will be monitored by this feature.

• Clear Counting Result: Activating this option will clear the OSD counting record immediately.

• Statistics: Allows viewing and generating tables and charts containing the counting records.

How Do I Adjust Image Enhancements, Exposure, Infrared, and Starlight?

Although fully-functional and is configured by default, you can specify desired image enhancements on the Image tab.

Navigation: Setup > Camera > Image

• Navigate to the Image tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Select which Image Scene preset to use. Choose custom to create your own which you can configure by editing the values and fields on the dropdown lists right next to the preview.

• Default: Click this to restore the selected Image Scene to its default values.

How Do I Adjust Resolution, Frame Rate, Bit Rate, and Video Compression?

Adjusting the resolution, frame rate, bit rate, and compression of recorded footage can be done by navigating to the Encoding Tab.

Navigation: Setup > Camera > Encoding

• Navigate to the Encoding tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Storage Mode: Select which stream to use for storing footage. By default, the mainstream is used for storage.

• Capture Mode: The options here are the presets you can use if preferred.

• Main/Sub/Third Stream: These sections allow greater configuration of each stream.

◦ Stream Type: Select your preferred stream type.

· Normal: main stream that is intended for scheduled recording.

· Event: main stream that is intended for recording triggered by events such as alarm inputs or motion detection alarms.

◦ Video Compression: Select your preferred video compression standard. The listed options depend on the standards supported by the camera.

· H.264

· H.264+

· H.265

· H.265+

◦

Resolution: Select your preferred resolution for the selected stream.

◦ Bit Rate Type: Select your preferred bit rate type.

· CBR: Constant Bit Rate is used to maintain a specific bit rate by varying the quality of video streams. It is preferred when limited bandwidth is available. The disadvantage is that video quality will vary and may decrease significantly with increased motion in the scene.

· VBR: When using Variable Bit Rate, video quality is kept as constant as possible, at the cost of a varying bit rate, and regardless of whether or not there is motion in the image. It is ideal when high quality is a requirement, especially when there is motion in the picture.

◦ Image Quality: This parameter is effective only when Bitrate Type is
set to VBR. 9 levels are provided.

◦ Bit Rate (Kbps): Select your preferred number of bits transferred per second. Select a value or select Custom and then set a value as needed.

◦

Range: Select the bit rate range. Currently the range is fixed.

◦ Frame Rate (fps): Select the number of frames per second.

◦ I Frame Interval: Number of frames between two adjacent I frames.

◦ I Frame Range: Range of I frames. Currently the range is fixed.

◦ Smoothing: Use the slider to control the sudden increase of bit
rate.

◦ Audio Stream: Enable or disable audio stream.

◦ Smart Encoding: The advanced mode achieves higher compression ratios.

• A handy tool to implement the current selected camera’s settings and configuration to other cameras is found on most configuration tabs.

◦ Parameter: Check which configuration areas you prefer to implement.

◦ Camera: Check which cameras you prefer to configure.

How Do I Name My Cameras and Manage On-Screen Display?

Navigation: Setup > Camera > OSD

• Navigate to the OSD (On-Screen Display) tab.

• Select which Camera to configure.

• Set the Camera Name. 0 – 40 Characters. Case-Sensitive.

• If enabled, Sync OSD Camera Name will lock the OSD Camera Name to the Camera Name.

• Set the OSD Camera Name if Sync OSD Camera Name is not enabled.

• In addition to the Camera Name, you can add more elements to your display:

◦ Show Time: Displays the current system time on the display.

◦ Show Name: Displays the camera name on the display.

◦ Count People: Displays the current value of the People Counting feature on the display.

◦ Date Format: Sets the date format used on the display.

◦ Time Format: Sets the time format used on the display.

◦ Font Size: Sets the font size used on the display.

◦ Font Color: Sets the font color used on the display.

◦ Content: This tab allows five more On-Screen display items should there be a need for it.

• A handy tool to implement the current selected camera’s settings and configuration to other cameras is found on most configuration tabs.

◦ Parameter: Check which configuration areas you prefer to implement.

◦ Camera: Check which cameras you prefer to configure.

How Do I Directly Transfer Footage From My Security System to My USB?

To transfer footage from the Network Video Recorder to your USB, you will need to create a video clip from the recorded footage, then save it to your USB.

• Plugin your USB device.

• Navigate to the Playback tab.

• Locate the recorded footage.

◦ Select the playback type.

◦ Select the video quality or event type.

◦ Select the camera.

◦ Select the date.

• For an advanced search, follow this guide.

• Select where you want to start the clip by clicking the time on the timeline.

• Click the Start Clipping button to mark the beginning of the clip.

• Select where you want to end the clip by clicking the time on the timeline.

• Click the Stop Clipping button to mark the end of the clip.

• The Save button, located next to the Start/Stop Clipping button, will now be enabled. Click it and choose the directory/folder where you want the clip to be saved.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do I Access My Uniview Security System?