Using An Amcrest Smart Home Device with an Amcrest NVR

Most Amcrest Smart Home devices, excluding Smart Home battery cameras, can be connected and record to an Amcrest NVR. This is possible by allowing the NVR to automatically detect the camera from your network and registering it into the NVR. This allows the Amcrest Smart Home camera to be viewed and for events to be recorded and stored to an NVR providing a hard drive is installed on the system.

During setup, the Amcrest Smart Home device must be connected to the same network as the Amcrest NVR for this to work. To verify this, you can use the Amcrest IP Config tool to ensure the NVR and the Amcrest Smart Home device are connected to the same network during setup.  To download the Amcrest IP Config Tool, click here.

Note: When in use on an NVR the device can only be used for live view and recording purposes only. Any settings or other adjustments to the smart home device must be made through the Amcrest Smart Home app. Do not attempt to adjust settings for the device in the NVR.

The device you are connecting to the NVR must be set up first using the Amcrest Smart Home app so it can be detected in the network. All device features, such as spotlights, sirens, or any other device-specific features will only be controlled using the Amcrest Smart Home app. For more information on how to add your device to the Amcrest Smart Home app, please refer to the quick start guide provided with your device, or to access similar articles for your specific Amcrest Smart Home device, click here.

For more information on how to add your Amcrest Smart Home to an Amcrest NVR, please refer to the information provided below. 

Adding the Device to an Amcrest NVR

Before adding your device to the NVR, ensure it has been properly connected to the Amcrest Smart Home app and is on the same network segment as the NVR. Ensure the device is on and ready to use before proceeding

Note: The instructions provided in this menu are performed in the local user interface, however, the same steps can be applied if accessing the NVR’s web user interface in a web browser. For more information on how to access the web UI for your device, click here.

Step 1: Ensure the Amcrest Smart Home device and the NVR are connected to the same network and log into your NVR.

Step 2: In the Main Menu, click on the Camera option in the Management menu.

Note: Some older model NVRs may require you to click on the Camera option located in the Settings menu.

 

Step 3:  Click on Device Search to locate the IP address for your device that should be connected to the same network as your NVR.

 

 

A list of all connected devices will appear. Select the device from the list by clicking on the checkbox next to the device. Click Add to add the device into the Added Devices menu.

 

 

Note: If the status light is red, it may indicate that the device is not connected properly to the NVR. This could be because the password for the device is not entered properly. To update the password for your device in the NVR, click on the Edit icon (pencil) located in the Edit column in the Added Device menu. 

Select the Password field and use the on-screen keyboard to enter the password for your device. Click Connect, then click Save to continue.

 

Once the password has been entered correctly, click Refresh and the Status indicator will turn green indicating the camera has been properly added to the NVR. 

 

The device has now been successfully added to your NVR and is ready to view and record. A recording schedule can now be applied to the device if needed, however, please note, this is not necessary as by default, “General” (continuous) and “MD” (motion detection) events are set to record 24/7, however, for steps on how to create a recording schedule, please refer to the information provided below.

Setting a Recording Schedule

Once the Amcrest Smart Home device has been added to the NVR a recording schedule can be applied. For more information on how to set up a recording schedule please refer to the information provided below.

Step 1: On the Main Menu, click on Storage located on the Management menu.

Note: Some older model NVRs may require you to click on the Storage option located in the Settings menu.

 

Step 2: Click on Schedule.

This menu allows you to configure a recording schedule. By default, Regular (24/7) and MD (Motion Detection) recording types will be activated for all days as indicated by the different colored bars.

 To choose a channel (or device) for which to configure, click the number next to Channel, then select either a single channel or All if you would like the schedule to apply to all channels currently connected to your NVR: 

The NVR will have the schedule for each recording type to record 24/7. Also note, that the NVR uses military time from 00:00 to 24:00 instead of 12 a.m. to 12 a.m.     

To edit a recording schedule, select a recording option from the colored boxes. Each recording option is color-coded: Green: Regular (24/7 recording), Yellow: MD (Motion Detection), Red: (Alarm), Orange: MD&Alarm (a combination of motion detection and alarm recordings), and POS (not currently available on Amcrest devices). Select which recording type you would like to modify and then use your mouse to adjust the time via the time bar for your specific recording type.

Click the eraser icon to the right of any day if you would like to clear the entire row of blocks.       

To add or remove motion detection blocks to the grid, mark the yellow checkbox next to MD, then click individual cells or click-and-drag for multiple blocks:   

To the left of each day, there are small boxes that can be marked to ‘link’ days together. This is useful if you want to save time by instantly making changes to multiple days simultaneously.    

In the below example, Sunday and Monday are linked, so any blocks that are added or removed for Sunday will automatically and immediately reflect the same for Monday and vice versa:  

Another way to configure recording schedules is by manually setting time periods. Click the “gear‟ icon to the far right of any day to open the Period page:   

Here, the periods (Periods 1 - 6) will be displayed in chronological order. You can set either Regular, MD, Alarm, MD&Alarm or POS, checkboxes. You can also copy the period settings over to other days by checking them individually or checking All. Make sure to click Save when finished.     

Now that you have finished configuring the recording schedules, you may need to copy these settings over to other channels (or cameras). By default, D1 (Channel 1) will be selected unless you immediately selected All in the channel window previously. Please note, you can copy these settings directly over to another channel by clicking Copy. 

In the Copy window, you can select individual channels for any cameras you have added to the NVR or select All:  

Click Save when finished.      

When finished on this screen, click Apply to save your changes.      

Viewing Recorded Events

Motion and general recordings can be accessed in the Playback option on the main menu. A hard drive must be installed to access and view recordings from this menu. To access the playback interface, click on the Playback option located in the main menu.

In some older model NVRs, the Playback menu will be located in the Operation field by clicking the Search icon.

To view recordings from the playback menu, select the camera you wish to view from the Camera Name section by clicking on a checkbox next to the device.

A timeline of the recordings will appear in the interface.

Click the Play button (  ) to play all recordings available on the timeline.

All days with recordings available will be highlighted in the calendar portion of the interface with a dot.

To select specific days/months or years, use the navigation arrows provided in the calendar. A file list of recordings can also be shown by clicking on the File List icon (  ) located in the interface. Once clicked, a list of recordings will be shown based on the time the events were recorded.

Note: In the File List menu, “R” stands for regular/continuous recordings, “M” stands for Motion.

To play a recording from the File List menu, double click on the file you want to view. The recording will automatically begin to play in the interface.