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Avtech AVC series Security DVR Networking HowTo Guide

Unlike traditional CCTV recorders, all standalone Avtech AVC 7xx series security DVRs have networking capability.

This feature is extremely useful because it allows the controlling of the DVR unit remotely. You will be able view

live streaming video, control your PTZ security cameras and change the settings on the DVR, all without

physically touching the DVR. This guide will show you how to network the security DVR behind a NAT router so

that you can remotely monitor the streams captured by the security cameras you’ve installed.

A note on routers:

There are many companies that make routers. Although they all serve the same purpose, the user’s interface for

each router differs from brand to brand (even within the same brand, they can be different). Therefore, it is

impossible for this guide to go through each and all of them. Please consult the user’s manual for the details to

configure your router. For the purpose of this guide, we will use LINKSYS WRT54GL in our examples.

Contents:

Step 1: Setting up the physical connections

Step 2: Setting up the security DVR on the Local Area Network

• Accessing the DVR with supplied software

• Accessing the DVR with web browsers

Step 3: Setting up the Security DVR for Remote Access

• Switching to static IP address

• Determining the external IP address

• Port Forwarding

Step 4: Setting up DDNS

Step 1: Setting up the physical connections

On all models of Avtech security DVRs, there is a LAN port socket at the back (labeled “LAN” Fig. 1). Using a

CAT5 Ethernet RJ-45 cable (Fig. 3), connect this port to one of the Ethernet port socket at the back of the router

(Fig. 2).

Fig. 1: LAN Port socket on Avtech AVC 760

Summary of content (22 pages)

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Avtech AVC series Security DVR Networking HowTo Guide Unlike traditional CCTV recorders, all standalone Avtech AVC 7xx series security DVRs have networking capability. This feature is extremely useful because it allows the controlling of the DVR unit remotely. You will be able view live streaming video, control your PTZ security cameras and change the settings on the DVR, all without physically touching the DVR.
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Fig. 2: Ethernet port sockets on the back of Linksys WRT54GL Fig. 3: CAT5 Ethernet RJ-45 cable Once the DVR is connected to the router, and with both powered on, the Link/ACT LED (located next to the LAN port socket) on the DVR should lit up. The status light (in the front) on the router should also indicate that a device is connected and active. If both LINK/ACT LED and the status light on the router are NOT lit or blinking, there is something wrong with the connection, try replacing the cable.
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Fig. 5: DVR's OSD - Network Right now we will only be concerning with the first item on the list, “Network Type”. There are 2 options for this, “DHCP” or “Static”. For now, DHCP is what we are going to use. Before you make the selection please be sure the router is enabled to act as a DHCP server on your network (most routers have this option enabled as factory default).
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At this point we are not ready to log on to the DVR just yet. Since we set the router to automatically assign an IP to the DVR, we don’t know the exact IP address, so we need to find that out. To do so we have to click on the button with the magnifying glass . This is a search function to search for the security DVR’s IP address on the network. After you click on the icon, a window should appear (Fig. 7). Fig. 7: DVR's IP address search window.
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Fig. 8: Login window. It will take a few seconds to load, but after it loads, you should now have the videos from the security cameras on your computer screen. You have now succeeded in accessing the DVR on your local network (Fig. 8b).
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Fig. 8b: Accessing the security DVR with software 2b. Access the DVR using a web browser. Another way to access the video stream from the DVR is with a java enabled web browser. However, comparing with the Video server E software, accessing the DVR using a web browser has many limitations. Video server E allows you to change the DVR’s settings and configure its advance features, whereas using a browser only allows you to view the streaming video.
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When you have entered the correct information you should now be accessing the following page (Fig. 9): Fig. 9: DVR web browser login page. Make sure your computer and browser is JAVA enabled. Enter the login and password to log on (remember, the default login and password is “admin” and “admin”). After a few seconds of loading you should be able to see the videos from your security camera(s) in the browser (Fig 9b).
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Fig. 9b: Accessing the DVR with a web browser (video can be enlarged). Step 3: Setup remote surveillance for the DVR 3a. Switching to a static IP When we are talking about a “remote location”, what we are saying is somewhere outside of your local network. For example, you have setup a video surveillance system at home and now you want to monitor what the security camera(s) are capturing on a different network from work.
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Fig. 10: DVR advance system settings window. Select “Network” on the left hand side. Once you do that, you should be able to input “Server IP”, “Gateway”, “subnet mask” and “web port” on the right pane. 1. 2. 3. 4. Server IP, is the IP address of the DVR. You can choose to use the same IP address that is given to the DVR by the router, or just pick a new one. If you pick a new one, make sure the IP address is recognizable by the router, or else the DVR will no longer be recognized on the network.
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phone. To reach Mary at the office, he needs to first dial the office’s phone #. If you are outside of the phone system, you will have to first find a way to reach the system. This is the same for our networking example. To access a remote network you will need to have its external IP address. However, unlike the difference between a 10 digit phone # and a 3 digit extension #, the difference between local and external IPs are not as clear cut. Both share the same format, therefore can cause some confusion.
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Fig. 11: Portforward.com ABC software. For LINKSYS WRT54GL router the page would be: http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Linksys/WRT54GL/ABC.htm Since we are not actually using the ABC program, ignore the top part. Start from the part where is ask for “ABC’s Port for incoming connections”, enter the port # that you have specify for your DVR (Fig. 12). Then enter the local ip address for the DVR when it ask for you to “Please enter the static ip you want to forward to:” (Fig. 13).
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Fig. 13: Enter static IP Address for you security DVR. After you have finished configuring port-forwarding, you are ready to access the DVR remotely through the internet. To do that in the web browser, type your external IP address and the port #, with a colon between the two, such as this: http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:port# Enter your login information and you will be able to access the video streams from your security camera(s).
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2. Enter all the information necessary for signing up an account according to the website instructions.
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3. Then, you will see the screen “Account Created”, and Dyndns will email the instructions to your specified Email address for enabling your account. Please get this mail within 48 hours and complete the procedure for enabling your account according to the instructions in the mail.
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4. Press the link in the mail and you will see “Account Confirmed”. Your account is created successfully now. Log in with your account information.
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5. Click ”My Service”.
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6. Click ”Add Host Services”.
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7. Click ”Add Dynamic DNS Host”.
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8. Fill in and choose the desired host name. 9. The host name is created. You will be connected to the corresponding IP address whenever you enter this hostname.
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After creating the account and choosing a host name, you will need to enter the account information in the router. (A side note: The Avtech security DVRs also have the DDNS feature, however, in our setup the router is the device that is keeping track of your external IP address, and therefore we need to use the DDNS function on the router. If we use the DVR’s DDNS function, it will only update the server with your local IP address, that won’t be useful at all.