Amcrest Surveillance Pro - How To Setup Views and Tours

Michael M.

June 29, 2018 15:55

How To Setup Views and Tours in Amcrest Surveillance Pro

Amcrest Surveillance Pro allows you the option to setup different views in the software. These views can be configured into a auto repeatable tour with a collection of views via a desktop/laptop.

The desktop/laptop can then be connected to a monitor/ TV to show the tour. For more information on how to setup views and tours in the Amcrest Surveillance Pro software, please follow the instructions listed below.

Download the Amcrest Surveillance Pro software for your desktop/laptop.

Compatibility:

Requires Windows 7 or later

Amcrest Surveillance Pro Download for Windows PC

Requires Mac OS X version 10.7.5 (Lion) or later

Amcrest Surveillance Pro Download for Mac OS

Add all applicable cameras/devices (NVR, DVR, etc.) to the software that will feature the tour. For more information on how to add a device to the software, please view the instructional video below:

Note: When creating a tour, at least 2 devices must be available or created. If you need assistance establishing a remote device on the software, please view the instructional video below:

It is highly recommended to create the views first in the software before creating the tour. If you wish to add additional views or cameras to a tour this can be performed at a later time via the tour and task settings page. This page will be detailed

For multi monitor setup, it is possible to have different tours on each Live View window on different displays that are connected to the same PC. For information on this process, please see the video:

Once all initial setups are done, you can begin creating a view. Views are beneficial when you have a large amount of cameras and prefer to see a specific set of cameras without having to search for them each time.

In this example, we will use several NVR and an individual IP2M-841 to create views and a tour.

Creating a View

A view is collection of camera/channels shown in a window. This can be a collection of devices from the same DVR/NVR or a collection from different devices in a single view. For efficiency purposes, it is recommended to keep cameras from the same NVR in the same view. Conversely, this is not mandatory and each view can be customized based on your needs.

Step 1: Navigate to the Surveillance Pro Home screen.

Step 2: Select Live View from the Basic menu.

This will open a Live view Window

Note: Views can be customized to a range of a single camera to 64 cameras simultaneously. Please keep in mind the more cameras that are opened the more network resources are being used.

Our recommendation is to set a max of 9 camera views or less but in our example we will use a wide variety to show the flexibility of the feature.

Step 3: Select the view that is necessary. In this example, I will a 9 camera view.

Each box highlighted represents a camera. In the organization menu, you will begin to group camera. In most cases, your devices are initially added to the Default group area. Use the “+” icon to expand and see the devices listed under the group. If you created additional groups with the devices or renamed, this may look a little different.

In a situation with multiple groups, please expand the proper group for the device.

If you are using a DVR/NVR with multiple channels, it is necessary to expand the device to show the individual channels associated with your device.

If you are performing this procedure on multiple computers, the process will need to be redone on each desktop/laptop. For this reason, we recommend to rename the cameras in a way to know which cameras/channels go together. For example, HW_Dock_V6, the ” _V6” refers to this channel belongs to View 6. Please keep in mind there is a character max of 12 in this field. Trying to rename past the character limit may cause the name to revert back to the previous name assigned before the change.

Note: In the organization menu, the cameras in green are the active channels shown in the current active view.

Step 4: Once the quantity and proper channels are selected, click on the floppy disk icon to save the current cameras to a view that can be used to see the same channels in the future without having to find them all over again.

A new small window will appear in the middle of the view to allow the naming of the view. The name can be renamed as you prefer but we recommend to use a name that describes the collection. In our example, we will call it Test_3.

Note: If you already a have tour created, you can add it to an existing tour using the set defaults. Defaults will be discussed later in this instruction set.

Step 5: Once all the selections are made, select “OK”.

In reference to the view, it will be saved and found under the “View” area located in the software.

Clicking on “View”, will open a view that is similar to individual channels.

Double-clicking the name of the “View”, will open the collection of channels you choose.

In our example, this would be Test_3. How quickly the cameras load will depend on a number of different sources such as; the number of channels opening simultaneously, network resources available at the time, type of resolution stream chosen, and other factors associated with the local network.

Any type of failure to load errors or lag to populate the channels at this point is a good indicator of the amount of network resources that are being affected with simultaneous connections opening. In this case, you will want to consider reducing the number of channels opened or adjusting some basic settings in the live feed.

In some case bringing the channels down to substream may help provide larger quantities to load.

Some setting like the different type of streams are available by right-clicking on any channel. A small setting window will appear.

Step 6: Repeat this process for any additional views. For this example, I will display the current assigned views below:

Test_1

Test_2

Test_4

Tour Setup:

When you have finished creating your views you can now start configuring a tour.

Step 1: From the Home Page, Select the button labeled “Tour&Task” from the Settings menu.

This will open the Tour&Task menu

Step 2: From this menu select Add to add a tour.

A new small window will appear “Manual Add”

Step 3: Select the Plan Name. Our recommendation is to provide a name that best describes the tour. A description box is optional.

For our example, I will call it Tour_2 and leave the description box blank. Then select “Add”

The name will appear under the add/delete section.

Note: If you have more than one plan, ensure that you are on the correct tour indicated with the highlighted area before starting to add views.

Step 4: Add the views to a plan/tour by clicking on the “+” button

A new window will appear called “task config”. This window will function very similar as creating a view and selecting cameras/channels.

It is also similar to the “Live View Screen" with group channels associated with the software listed on the right.

On the bottom of the screen you will notice a menu similar to the “Live view” screen where you can adjust the quantity of views to match the amount of views being added.

For this example, we will use Test_3 which is a 9 channel view.

Note: The quantity of cameras selected in the tour must match the quantity of cameras selected in the view. If the two functions do not match, the system will produce an error and the tour will not be created.

Select “View”

Then select the View desired to be the first in the tour by double clicking on the name of the view.

The camera on the view will appear. You can customize the name of the group and how long it will stay active before going to the next view here.

Each stay time can be customized to your needs. For our example we will keep all at the default stay times to 10 seconds except to test_4 with 64 cameras which we will set at 90 seconds to allow the necessary time to populate and see the cameras before switching to the next view.

Note: Stay time is the amount of time the tour is shown on the screen in the desired view before changing to the next view.

Once all selections are made to additional views, select “Save and Continue” and repeat the process for next view.

Once complete and you are satisfied with your tour settings, select “Save”

All the views should appear at this point. The pencil icon will allow you to make changes to the view, name, and stay time for any future adjustments. The “X’ icon will delete the view. Click and dragging the view on top of another view allows you to change the order to be seen on the tour.

On the bottom, the pencil icon will allow you to edit the plan name and description. The “X” icon will delete the plan.

This completes the setup of the tour task.

To activate the tour, go back or open Live view from the home page.

At the bottom, to the right of the floppy icon , use the drop down to select the tour task to display.

Locate the play icon and click on it. Once clicked it will change to a pause icon . This indicates it is active and will switch views based on the stay time previously chosen.