Mobile Digital Video Recorder Installation Tips

Transcription

1 I wrote this manual because I was probably the first purchaser of this model of dash-cam system. I am a truck driver, but I am also very technically-oriented and I quickly realized that most truck drivers would have problems in setting up not only the mobile DVR, but in setting up and using the two software programs required to view, download, and convert their videos to a format that a PC could read & play. Mobile Digital Video Recorder Installation Tips Camera Mounting Camera Placement The video cameras that come with the mobile DVR have a very wide field of view. The small bullet cameras that you probably used for your rear-facing cameras will show you two lanes of traffic at the rear of your trailer when you line up one side of the view with the side of your truck cab. At night, you will see about half of your trailer length until another vehicle comes up on you the IR night vision is better than most cameras their size. The larger camera that you probably used for your dash-cam will let you see about a 170-degree arc in front of your truck at a distance of one truck length, you will see the lanes on either side of you. You might consider placing this camera outside, though (it's waterproof), because the IR is very strong at night in the dark and will reflect off of the inside of your windshield at night effectively blinding the camera with it's own glare. Camera Extension Cable Connector Placement You'll want to either run your camera cables so that the extension cable connector is inside the truck, or use some good-quality dielectric grease when you screw them together to keep out any slight water seepage. Mobile DVR Placement While your first thought will probably be to mount the DVR out of sight maybe behind the seat you will probably want it somewhat visible so that you can use the infrared remote control without having to crook your arm over the seat. Mount it somewhere where it has a clear view of you in the driver's seat maybe under the dash, or some other visible spot. Monitor Placement At first, I mounted my monitor below the upper storage tray, above the windshield; I quickly realized that the light coming in through the windshield put a glare on it and I couldn't see the screen. I ended up mounting it on the dash, just to the right of the instrument panel on my Kenworth T-680. Easily visible while driving, with no glare from outside sunlight. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 1 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

2 Mobile Digital Video Recorder Set-Up The first time you power up the mobile DVR, the monitor will be blank; this is because the unit comes from the factory set for the PAL video mode you will have to change it, along with other settings, by following these instructions. The mobile DVR comes with a remote control that is used to, among other things, log into the unit's setup program. You point the remote at the mobile DVR unit, and press the small, round Menu key to bring up the login screen. This will work even with a blank screen. The User name is already filled in, so you simply press the down arrow on the remote to move to the Password field the soft keyboard will pop up when you do. You just use the arrow keys on the remote to move around the keyboard, pressing the Enter key to select the characters. The default password is 6666 you can change it in the setup, but I would recommend just leaving it at that; if you ever reset the unit to factory configuration, you'll lose the new password anyway. Once you have entered the password, key over to the OK key and select it to bring up the graphical menu. It has six main icons. On the main menu, select Setup to go into the main setup menu, which also has six icons. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 2 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

3 On the main setup menu, select System to get to this screen: When you get to it, the fields will look different it will be in the factory-default condition. You can change each field by using the arrow keys to move to it which will highlight the border of the field and then press Enter to edit the field. Change these fields so that they match what is shown in the picture above except for the date, time, and DST fields which will match you own needs. Once you are finished setting these fields, you can press the small, round Menu key once to back out to the main setup menu. Next, we will select the Other menu icon, which will move you into the following screen: Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 3 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

4 In this screen, you will do the same as you did in the last step but you will use your own information. This step is important, since this is the information that the remote server reads to list your DVR in it's unit list. The only exception is the VGA Output field you can set that to match the resolution of any external monitor you may connect to the VGA plug on the sensor/ alarm plug/ pigtail on the back of the DVR. In most applications, the A-person and Line Num fields don't mean anything. You will definitely want to fill in the Car ID and Driver ID fields, though. Once you have completed filling in the fields, you can again press the small, round Menu key twice to back out to the main menu. Once there, you will select the LAN icon to move into the screen that allows you to set up the DVR for internet access from the server we will set up the Wi-Fi connection in a later step. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 4 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

5 The LAN setup requires a bit of technical knowledge, but it's not hard. If you have a mobile hot-spot that gives you internet while your on the road, you can set this up one of two ways either with a static IP address, or with a dynamic IP address which is assigned by your hotspot's DHCP server when the DVR connects to the Wi-Fi network. First, no matter what address method you choose, you will need to change the Net type field from LAN to 4G-WIFI to enable Wi-Fi. This unit does not have an RJ45 network connection port at all. If you want to set a static IP address, then you will need to know what address is open in your Wi-Fi hot-spot and what IP address it uses for it's gateway you can easily find that out with your laptop or your mobile phone connected to the Wi-Fi network. Simply go into either your laptop's network page and look to see what gateway address it uses or on an Android phone, simply go to Settings About Phone Status to find the phone's IP address, then simply substitute a 1 for the digits after the last decimal point. If you want to set up a static IP, then your fields will look very much like this picture shows the only fields you will customize will be Static IP, Gateway, Net mask and DNS. You can use the DNS server address I have here it is for the OpenDNS public DNS server, and is better than Google's DNS server. Leave the DHCP field set to OFF. If you want to simply have your Wi-Fi hot-spot assign an IP address, then simply change the Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 5 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

6 DHCP field to ON. Do not change the Server IP and Server port fields they are set to what they need to be to use the remote server. Once you have this screen set up with the proper information, you can again press the small, round Menu key once to exit back to the main setup menu. Our next step will be to configure the Wi-Fi connection, so once you are back in the main setup menu, select the Wi-Fi icon to get to this screen: You need to change the SSID field to the name of your WI-Fi network that you want to connect to, and change the Password field to the password for that Wi-Fi network. That is all you can change in this screen. Before you can connect to your Wi-Fi network, you will need to make sure that your Wi-Fi hotspot or wireless router is properly configured to connect to the DVR's Wi-Fi. The manual that came with your DVR has a discussion of how to enable the proper encryption type in your router, but it is a bit cheesy (translated badly from Chinese to English). The bottom line is that your router or Wi-Fi hot-spot must support WPA-PSK/ WPA2-PSK in what is called mixed mode both AES and TKIP encryption must be enabled. And if you know enough to get into your router's setup program, you probably already know how to set that or already have. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 6 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

7 This just about covers the basic setup. If, however, you hopelessly screw up the settings and absolutely MUST do a factory reset, you can select the System Info icon on the System Setup sub-menu: Once in this screen, simply select the Reset CFG button by pressing Enter on the remote, then select Reset in the confirmation dialog if you change your mind in time, select Cancel in the confirmation dialog. Once you do select Reset, you have to back out of the setup program and do a hard restart by turning the unit off with the key and waiting 15 seconds before turning it back on again. Once it restarts, you can then start from scratch again. Playing Video Back Locally (In the truck) You can play back video that is still on the SD cards on demand, like if someone claims you did something like cut them off or hit them the famous one is when they crossed the white line and side-swiped you, but told the officer that you crossed it and hit them. To play back video on demand, simply log back into the setup program. At the main menu, select the Playback icon and you will see a screen similar to this in which you can select and play any video stored locally: Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 7 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

8 The list box starts off with showing the dates that video exists for. Select a date, and this type of list will appear that shows the times of the video files stored. Simply select a time with the Enter key, then press the down key to get to the Channel field where you can choose to play all channels, or only one channel. After you've selected the channels to play, you can then press the right arrow key to get to the Play button. Simply press it, and your video will begin playing on your monitor. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 8 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

9 CMS Network Viewer Software Set-Up And Configuration This mobile DVR is accessed remotely by a server computer that you can access through the CMS software included with your mobile DVR. This section will help you install and configure this software so that you can view and download your videos from the mobile DVR. The videos that you download through this CMS software, though, are encrypted for security. In the next section, I will help you install and setup the DVR Player program, provided with your mobile DVR, that runs locally on your Windows computer The DVR Player program is used to play your downloaded video files, and will also convert these encrypted files into Microsoft-standard AVI video files that can be played by any video player software. Installation There was a small CD-ROM disk in the box with your mobile DVR place it into the CD-ROM/ DVD-ROM drive of your Windows computer, and open it with File Manager. You will see several files and two directories on the disk we are only interested in the file named CMS V EN.exe at this point. Right click on this file, and in the menu that pops up, select Run as Administrator to begin the installation program. Follow the prompts through the installation. Once it is done installing, click on your Start menu and find CMS ; again, right click on it and select Run as Administrator from the pop-up menu to bring up the login screen: Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 9 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

10 Logging In Once the login dialog has come up, make sure that all of the fields are filled in exactly like the picture above. The Server IP is , the port is 9001, the user name is use, and the password is pass. Once this is done, click on the Login button to bring up the CMS program. You will see a column on the left side of the window, which shows the Car ID you filled in when you configured the Other screen in the mobile DVR look for the number you entered in that field, which will be followed by an underscore, and four numbers. That is your mobile DVR. When you find your DVR in the list, simply right click on it and select Load All Cams from the pop-up menu. What you are seeing on your local monitor in your truck will appear in the view windows how fast depends on your internet speed. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 10 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

11 Listing Your Stored Video Files The CMS server communicates with your mobile DVR, and will inventory all of the videos curently stored on your mobile DVR's SD cards. You need to click on the icon shown in this picture, indicated with the red arrow, to bring up the Remote View dialog. Once the dialog appears, use the Car ID drop-down to select your mobile DVR from the list. Use the Start Time and End Time controls to set the time frame you are wanting to see both times must be on the same day, though. The date sets with a pop-down calendar, and the time is typed in. Check the radio button that says File List, then click on the Search button. In a few seconds, the bottom list box will fill with an inventory of the video files present on your mobile DVR. You can then play or download them to your computer. Playing A Stored Video You can select any video listed in the inventory to play in the 4-paned player in the dialog. Simply select the Playback radio button, select the video you wish to play from the list, then click on the playback button. Your video will begin playing in the player, and you can pause, stop or start it just like any other video player. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 11 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

12 Downloading A Stored Video You can easily download any of the videos in the list, too. Just as you did to play back a video, select the Download radio button, select the video you want to download from the list, and click on the playback button. You will receive a confirmation dialog. If you click Yes, your video will begin downloading to your computer. Clicking No will cancel the request without downloading. During the download, you can click on the Stop button to stop the download at any time. The videos download to C:\\Program Files (x86)\cms\download so you can open them later for conversion. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 12 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

13 DVR Player Viewer & Conversion Software Set-Up And Configuration Installation There was a small CD-ROM disk in the box with your mobile DVR place it into the CD-ROM/ DVD-ROM drive of your Windows computer, and open it with File Manager. You will see several files and two directories on the disk we are only interested in the file named DVR_Player setup V En.exe. Right click on this file, and in the menu that pops up, select Run as Administrator to begin the installation program. Follow the prompts through the installation. Once it is done installing, click on your Start menu and find DVR_Player ; again, right click on it and select Run as Administrator from the pop-up menu to bring up the login screen: IMPORTANT NOTE: Before running this program, you MUST remove one of the SD cards from your mobile DVR and insert it into the SD card reader, either the one on your laptop computer or a USB card reader. When you insert the SD card, Windows will complain that the card needs to be formatted DO NOT FORMAT THE CARD! Simply click Cancel on any of the Windows dialog windows. Even though Windows does not recognize the SD card, the DVR Player software will automatically read it and load your videos. drive for later conversion. Logging In Playing Back A Video Saved, Or Downloaded From CMS This is probably the simplest part of this whole installation you have to login to use this software. The Name is admin, and the Password is also admin. Once you have entered these, click on the Login button to bring up the main window. Once you have logged in, the program will automatically read the SD card and load a list of your videos into the left-hand pane. You may double-click on any of them to begin playing them. You can also right-click on any of the file names and select Download from the context menu to copy the.h264 file to your laptop's hard You can load and play any video that you copied from your SD cards, or downloaded from the CMS server by simply opening it in the DVR Player software. It operates exactly like any other Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 13 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

14 video player software when playing back CMS files. Just like any other video player, you can start, stop, pause, fast forward, fast reverse, etc. Converting A Saved Or Downloaded CMS Video To AVI Format The videos you copied from your SD cards or downloaded from the CMS server are encrypted for security, so they need to be converted in order to play them on any other video player software, share on Facebook, upload to YouTube, etc. The DVD Player software handles this task for you, and produces standard MS-compatible AVIformat video files that can be played on any computer and some mobile phones. To start the conversion process, simply click on this icon in the menu bar on the top of the window. This will bring up a date & time selection dialog, where you Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 14 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

15 can set the start and end times that you want to convert. Since this player will only open the.h264-format videos downloaded from the CMS server, the selection controls for AVI or.h264 are locked on AVI. In this dialog, only the time is set-able. You click on the hour, minute and second fields as needed, and type in the time that you want to start and end at. You can select any available channel, or you can select all channels using the Backup CH control. Once everything is set, you simply click on the Ok button to start. Once you select the start & end times and the number of channels, you will be asked which.h264 file you want to convert. Select the file, and click the Open button. Once DVR Player has loaded the file you want to convert, it will ask you where you want to save the new AVI file to. Simply use the Windows File Save dialog that comes up to tell the program where you want to save the AVI file, and you can give it a new name if you don't like the one it suggests. Then simply click on the Save button to start the conversion process. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 15 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams

16 During the conversion, DVR Player will give you a progress report in the lower left corner of the time selection dialog. When you see Data backup end!, your AVI file has been created. You can click the Close button at the top right corner of the dialog window. After that, you can close the program window if you don't have any more files to convert. The finished product plays very well in just about any video player that supports AVI files, but I personally prefer the VLC media player. Mobile DVR Set-Up Instructions Page 16 of 16 Pages FalconEye Dash Cams