Remotecam™ DVR-410

™

Advanced security made easy ™

RemoteCam™ DVR-410

Operating Instructions

SR361-RCN www.swann.com 1 Table of Contents

FCC Verification: Before You Begin 2 NOTE: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are de- Table of Contents 3 signed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residen- Package Contents 3 tial installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency Overview 4 energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be deter- Operating Guidelines 5 mined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to cor- Before Using the RemoteCam 5 rect the interference by one or more of the following measures: · Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Layout6 · Increase the separation between the equipment and the receiver Turning on the RemoteCam8 · Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which Operating the RemoteCam9 the receiver is connected · Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help Setting the Date and Time 10 Shooting Guide 11 Connecting to your PC 12 IMPORTANT NOTE: Prohibition against eavesdropping Except for the operations of law enforcement officers conducted under lawful Using the RemoteCam as a WebCam 13 authority, no person shall use, either directly or indirectly, a device operated pursu- Troubleshooting 14 ant to the provisions of this Part for the purpose of overhearing or recording the Technical Specifications 15 private conversations of others unless such use is authorized by all of the parties engaging in the conversation. Technical Support / Warranty Information Rear Cover

WARNING: Modifications not approved by the party responsible for compliance could void user’s authority to operate the equipment. Package Contents

RemoteCam Video Recorder

USB 2.0 Cable

2 3 Overview Operating Guidelines

Congratulations on your purchase of the RemoteCam, a miniature self-contained These are just a couple of points to keep in mind whilst using the RemoteCam: digital video recorder which, as the name suggests, looks like a remote control. With an included rechargeable lithium-ion battery which will give up an hour • Do not point the RemoteCam towards exceedingly bright light sources such as the of recording time and recording video directly to microSD card (not included), sun, high-powered headlights or stadium lights. The bright light may damage the the RemoteCam is a convenient and adaptable camera/recorder, with as many image sensor, either leaving a permanent ‘shadow’ on your videos where the light applications as you can imagine for it. source has damaged the sensor, or rendering the sensor completely inoperable.

The RemoteCam is an ideal solution for covert surveillance (see the Note Regarding • Avoid adverse weather conditions. Excessive heat (direct or ambient) and Law below before engaging in this) as well as a very convenient solution for people moisture (such as rain or humidity) will cause the RemoteCam to behave who feel like they never have a camera on-hand when they need one. Feeling like erratically or not work at all. a spy is a bonus. • Do not dispose of in fire. When exposed to significant heat lithium-ion IMPORTANT - A Note Regarding Law batteries can explode. That, and burning plastic isn’t particularly kind to the environment. As noted on the inside cover in the ‘Prohibition Against Eavesdropping’ section, the use of covert recording equipment is illegal in many countries and localities. • The small lens on the RemoteCam can be difficult to clean. Rather than having In some areas, the law only relates to public spaces, whilst in others it extends to to clean it, avoiding dusty or dirty environments is preferable. It also helps if private spaces also. The laws regarding video recording and audio recording can you clean the lint out of your pockets, as this tends to get lodged in the lens differ as well - sometimes dramatically. cavity.

The RemoteCam is used on the condition that you, the user, research the law as • If the lens does become dirty, clean with cleaning alcohol and/or a specialized it applies to you in your locality. Make sure you know the law and thoroughly lens cleaning cloth (these are available from all good camera stores). follow it whilst using the RemoteCam or any other recording device. If the legality of recording is at all ambiguous, we strongly suggest obtaining the express • Follow proper disposal guidelines in your locality if you intend to dispose of permission of your subjects to do so. the RemoteCam. Many localities have strict guidelines as to the disposal of electronic items, particularly those with built-in rechargeable batteries.

Before Using the RemoteCam

The RemoteCam has a built-in lithium ion battery (the same sort of battery as most mobile phones use, only smaller). We charge them up before we send them out – however, due to time in transit, you’ll need to top it up before using it.

To charge the RemoteCam: 1. Locate the mini-USB port on the side of the RemoteCam. 2. Using the supplied USB-A to Mini-USB-A cable, attach the RemoteCam to a spare USB port on your computer, or to a stand-alone USB charger. 3. Whilst charging the orange LED will flash. 4. The RemoteCam takes 3 ~ 4 hours to achieve a full charge. It is important to leave it for the full duration, particularly during the first charge. You can just leave it plugged into the USB power - it’ll stop charging once it’s full. 4 5 Layout

LED: A small orange light which will indicate the current state and function of the RemoteCam. In bright light (such as sunlight) this might be difficult to see. Additional Buttons

Mini USB Port: A Mini-USB-A port. Use the supplied USB cable to attach the LED RemoteCam to a computer or USB charger.

Mini USB Port Reset Button: Used to quickly return the RemoteCam to it’s initial booted state. Reset This is typically used only if the RemoteCam freezes and needs to be reset. MicroSD Card Slot MicroSD Card Slot: The slot for inserting the microSD card which the RemoteCam records to. To insert a card, simply push it into the slot. To remove it, push it in again, and it will ‘pop’ right out. Pictured with microSD card inserted.

Keychain: Used to attach keys. Adds to the concealability of the camera, as remote controls for cars or garage doors are commonplace on keychains. Keychain Power: Press to turn the RemoteCam on and off. Do not turn off the RemoteCam whilst recording, or immediately after recording.

Record: Starts and stops the RemoteCam recording. Press quickly to take a photograph. Press and hold to start recording video, and press again to stop.

Microphone: The device which records sound. If this hole is blocked, then the range and quality of the audio recording will be significantly reduced.

Lens: The business-end of the camera, used to focus light on to the image sensor. For best results, ensure the lens is clean and free from debris. Power Additional Buttons: The RemoteCam only needs two buttons to operate - Record however, the majority of remote controls have more than two buttons! To keep up the illusion, we included these two additional buttons. They’re just there for Microphone looks, and won’t do anything at all. Lens

6 7 Turning on the RemoteCam Operating the RemoteCam

To turn the RemoteCam ON: To Capture a Photograph: • Press and hold the Power Button for approximately one second. • The LED will turn on, indicating that the RemoteCam is now turned on. When you use the RemoteCam to take a photograph, you’ll be capturing a single image at the highest quality that the RemoteCam can deliver (1280 x 1024 pixels, the To turn the RemoteCam OFF: resolution of a mid-level LCD computer monitor). Taking a photo takes approximately • Press the Power button for approximately two seconds. two to three seconds as the RemoteCam processes the data. • Do NOT turn the RemoteCam off whilst recording video, or immediately after recording video. Each photo is approximately 350KB in size (about 0.35MB). This means that, if you • The RemoteCam needs several seconds after stopping a recording to write the have a 1GB microSD card in the RemoteCam, it would take slightly more than 2000 video the microSD card – turning the RemoteCam off during the writing to photographs to fill (less if there is also video or other data on the card). card process will corrupt the data, and render the video file unusable. • Turn the RemoteCam on. Automatic Shutdown: • Wait several seconds for the RemoteCam to properly initialize. To conserve battery power, the RemoteCam will automatically shut itself down • Press the record button once. after 35 seconds of inactivity. If you want to continue using the RemoteCam after • The RemoteCam will take a single photograph. this time, simply turn it on again as detailed above. • While the image is being recorded, the light will go out for a moment, then come back on. Important Notes: • When the light comes back on, the process has been completed, and your • When you stop a recording, it takes several seconds for the RemoteCam to photograph has been saved. write video data to the microSD card. If the Record/Stop button is pressed again or the power is turned off whilst the RemoteCam is writing data to the To Capture Video: microSD card then the video data may be corrupted, resulting in either an corrupt file or corrupted file structure on the microSD card. If this happens, the Once the RemoteCam start shooting video, it will continue to do so until you video quality will be greatly reduced, if the file works at all. press stop, the microSD card fills up or the battery runs out - whichever comes • See the Shooting Guide (page 11) for more information. first. Whilst recording video, the LED will no longer be lit - this is intended to complement the stealth of the design. Resetting the RemoteCam: Occasionally, particularly during long periods of constant use, the RemoteCam Each minute of video captured requires up to 100MB of space. This means that a may freeze and stop working correctly. If this happens, the RemoteCam needs to 1GB microSD card can store slightly more than 10 minutes of video. be reset. • Turn the RemoteCam on. To reset the RemoteCam: • Wait several seconds for the RemoteCam to properly initialize. • Locate the Reset button, located immediately below the microSD card slot. • When the yellow light comes on, the RemoteCam is ready to record. • Using a thin (not sharp!) object such as an unfolded paper clip or hair pin, • To start recording video, press and hold the Record/Stop button until the LED press and hold the Reset button for approximately one second. flashes quickly, then goes out. • Wait whilst the RemoteCam resets. The procedure is the same as when it is • Whilst video is being recorded, the yellow light will go out. first turned on. • To stop the recording, press the Record/Stop button. The yellow light will • Once you’ve reset the RemoteCam, you’ll need to set the Time & Date again. come back on when the saving process is complete.

8 9 Setting the Date and Time Shooting Guide

You can setup the RemoteCam to print the date and time that a recording was Framing: taken directly onto the video, like a watermark. To enable this function, you’ll just The RemoteCam has a fixed lens (a vari-focal lens would, simply, not fit) – so the need to set the time and date - the RemoteCam will keep track of it from there. size of subjects in your shots depends only on how close to the subject you hold the camera. To set the Date and Time: • Typically, about 3 feet (1m) is about right if filming a shot of someone’s face – this way, their face will occupy approximate half the vertical space in frame. • Open Notepad. It’s usually located in the Accessories folder in the Start Menu • To get a whole person in frame (assuming they’re approximately six feet tall) (assuming you’re using Microsoft Windows®). If you don’t have Notepad, any then you’ll need to be about 10ft (3m) away from them. plain text editor will work fine (but not a word processor, and these do not create plain .txt files). Focus: • Write out the date and time, in the following format: • The RemoteCam has a fixed focus lens, which means you’ll never need to adjust focus. [date] • The wide angled fixed lens will achieve focus within approximately 30cm (1½ YYYY/MM/DD ft) from the lens, varying slightly depending on the amount of available light. HH:MM:SS It will hold focus to infinity. • Basically, keep everything more than two feet from the lens, and you’ll have So, if it was thirty-three minutes past nine in the morning on the fourth of no worries! December 2009, then the file would read: Exposure: [date] The RemoteCam will adjust exposure automatically, varying its gain setting 2009/12/04 automatically, reacting to the amount of available light. There are a couple of 09:33:20 things to bear in mind, however: • Shooting a dark subject in front of a bright background can cause the auto- • Save this file, naming it “tag.txt”. exposure feature of the RemoteCam to become confused, and drop the exposure • Copy this file to the microSD card. down so that the background is correctly exposed whilst the subject becomes a • With the microSD card already inserted into RemoteCam, turn the silhouette. Avoid brightly lit backgrounds, unless you want this effect. RemoteCam ON. • To decrease exposure, the RemoteCam shortens its electronic shutter speed, • The RemoteCam will read the text in the file, and update it’s internal clock to thus exposing each frame for a shorter time. This means that you’ll get better match the date and time as set by you. high-speed photographic performance in bright light – useful for shooting fast events, like sports. • On the other hand, in low-light, each frame needs to be exposed longer to get Notes: enough light into the (very small) lens. This can be effect can be minor (such as shooting in a shopping mall or a stadium under lights) or particularly serious • The date and time will be updated to the RemoteCam’s internal clock when (in situations such as shooting under a street lamp). it is turned on. Before this, the time will not be updated to ‘keep up’ with • The image quality, depth of field and exposure range will all improve realtime. Thus, if you set the time accurately in the settime.txt file and copy dramatically as more light is available. it to the microSD card, but then leave it an hour before turning on the RemoteCam, the time stored in the RemoteCam will be one hour behind. Tips & Tricks: Photography is an art - there is no right or wrong way to shoot. Practice really does make perfect - or, at least, better. The best way to get better • You may need to reset the time (i.e. go through this procedure again) if the results is just to keep using the RemoteCam. Besides, it’s not like you’ll be wasting internal battery in the RemoteCam is completely drained of charge, or you film; just delete the old data off the microSD card now and then, and you’ll be set! reset the RemoteCam by pushing the Reset button. 10 11 Connecting to your PC Using the RemoteCam as a WebCam You can read the data on the microSD card in the RemoteCam by connecting You can use the RemoteCam as a webcam. To do so, you’ll need to grab the the RemoteCam to your computer. To do this: drivers from our website, and install them to your PC. Then, you just have to • Locate the mini-USB plug on the side of the RemoteCam. change the mode of the RemoteCam once it’s connected to your PC. • Find a spare USB port on your computer.… • Go to http://www.swannsecurity.com/downloads/drivers/ • For maximum speed, find a free USB 2.0 port on your computer, and avoid • Open the folder called “RemoteCam”. using USB extension cables or hubs. • Download and run the file named “SPCA1528_V2220_MultiLan_090217”. • Connect the spare USB port on your computer to the mini-USB port on the • Follow the onscreen prompts. This program will install the drivers for the RemoteCam using the supplied USB 2.0 cable. webcam. If you get any “User Account Control” messages, allow the • The RemoteCam will be detected as a USB storage device, and can be accessed installation to proceed (or the webcam functions won’t work). in the same way as you would any other USB flash drive. • Once the installation is completed, attach the RemoteCam to your computer • On this drive you will find a folder named “DCIM” - an acronym of Digital as detailed above. Camera IMages. • When the computer detects the RemoteCam as an external storage device, • In this folder there are a series of folders, arranged chronologically, named press and hold the power button for one second. 100MEDIA, 101MEDIA, 102MEDIA and so on. The number of folders depends • Your PC will automatically finalize installing the webcam. on how many photos and videos you have taken with the RemoteCam. • The RemoteCam will appear in lists of available video devices as “SPCA1528 • These folders contains all the recordings (both photos and videos) captured by Video Camera Device”. the RemoteCam in chronological order.

If it is more convenient you can use an SD card reader (either built into your PC or attached via USB) to access your pictures and video. To do so: • If necessary, attach the SD card reader to your PC. • Remove the microSD card from the RemoteCam by pushing it in and releasing so that it pops out. • Insert the microSD card into your SD card reader. You might need to use an SD-to-microSD card adaptor, if your card reader does not have a microSD card slot.

System Requirements for Webcam Functions:

Interface Type USB 2.0 Processor Pentium IV or above RAM 1GB or greater Video Card Intel 945 or greater Hard Drive Space Minimum 1GB free Operating System(s) Microsoft Windows XP® Microsoft Windows Vista® Microsoft Windows 7®

The drivers for the webcam functions are not compatible with Mac-based systems. Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. Mac is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries. 12 13 Troubleshooting Technical Specifications

Video Problem: I’ve recorded videos, but the microSD card seems to be blank. Solution: Chances are that this problem is caused by turning the RemoteCam off Video Format AVI before the video files have been properly saved to the microSD card. Always use Video Resolution 720 x 480 the Rec/Pause button to stop recordings and waiting until the LED has come back Video Size Variable (avg. > 10, 000kbps) on before turning the RemoteCam off. Photo Format JPEG Photo Resolution 1280 x 1024 (Interpolated) Problem: The RemoteCam won’t turn on. Photo Size Approx. 350KB Solution: The most likely culprit is the battery. Check out the instructions on page 5 regarding charging the battery. Try completely charging the battery. When doing so, avoid using a USB hub - some USB hubs will not provide a full 5V to attached Audio devices and thus will not charge the battery properly. You can also charge the Microphone Yes (built in) RemoteCam from a stand-alone USB charger. Audio Range 3m (typical)

Problem: My videos and pictures seem blurry. Solution: If the lens becomes dirty or obstructed, this can cause the RemoteCam’s videos to be distorted, soft and/or blurred. The lens on the RemoteCam is tiny - so Recording even small particles of dust and grit can have a profound effect. Recording Mode Manual Frame Rate 30fps Problem: My videos seem too shaky. Storage Type MicroSD Card (not included) Solutions: As a general rule, this usually indicates that the mount you’ve used Storage Capacity Up to 8GB for the camera (or arm, if you’re shooting hand-held) needs to be more stable. Storage Time >10min/GB Generally, this will occur if you are moving or travelling in a vehicle which is moving. Generally, you’ll achieve the best results holding the RemoteCam with both hands in front of you, resting your elbows on your torso. That way, your body General and both arms form a kind of rudimentary tripod, greatly steadying your videos. Battery Type Rechargeable Lithium-Ion

Record Time per Charge 60 mins Charging Method USB Dimensions 2.0” x 1.2” x 0.5” 50mm x 30mm x 13mm

14 15 Helpdesk / Technical Support Details Swann Technical Support All Countries E-mail: [email protected] Telephone Helpdesk USA toll free AUSTRALIA toll free 1-800-627-2799 1300 138 324 (Su, 2pm-10pm US PT) (M 9am-5pm AUS ET) (M-Th, 6am-10pm US PT) (Tu-F 1am-5pm AUS ET) (F 6am-2pm US PT) (Sa 1am-9am AUS ET) NEW ZEALAND toll free USA Exchange & Repairs 0800 479 266 1-800-627-2799 (Option 1) INTERNATIONAL (M-F, 9am-5pm US PT) +61 3 8412 4610 See http://www.worldtimeserver.com for information on time zones and the current time in Melbourne, Australia compared to your local time. Warranty Information

Swann Communications Swann Communications Swann Communications USA Inc. LTD. PTY. LTD. Unit 13, Citilink 12636 Clark Street Stag Gates House Industrial Estate, Corner Santa Fe Springs CA 63/64 The Avenue Ingles & Turner Streets, 90670 SO171XS Port Melbourne, Victoria USA United Kingdom

Swann Communications warrants this product against defects in workmanship and material for a period of one (1) year from it’s original purchase date. You must present your receipt as proof of date of purchase for warranty validation. Any unit which proves defective during the stated period will be repaired without charge for parts or labour or replaced at the sole discretion of Swann. The end user is responsible for all freight charges incurred to send the product to Swann’s repair centres. The end user is responsible for all shipping costs incurred when shipping from and to any country other than the country of origin. The warranty does not cover any incidental, accidental or consequential damages arising from the use of or the inability to use this product. Any costs associated with the fitting or removal of this product by a tradesman or other person or any other costs associated with its use are the responsibility of the end user. This warranty applies to the original purchaser of the product only and is not transferable to any third party. Unauthorized end user or third party modifications to any component or evidence of misuse or abuse of the device will render all warranties void. By law some countries do not allow limitations on certain exclusions in this warranty. Where applicable by local laws, regulations and legal rights will take precedence.