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Q1. What do the front panel Light (LED) flashes mean?
A. The table below describes the DVL/DVR’s front panel status LED.
| Operation
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Status Lamp Operation
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Description
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| Ready |
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Static green |
The DVR is ready to record. Video
and card OK. |
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| Video OK, No Card |
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Flashing long red / short green |
In stand-by or unable to record with card not present or
full. Video input OK. If card present, reformat with FAT32 |
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| No Video, Card OK |
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Flashing long green / short red |
In stand-by (or unable to record) with video not present but card
OK. Check Camera connection & power or check PAL / NTSC setting OK |
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| No Video, No Card |
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Fast flashing red |
Unable to record. Video and
card not present or full, or system fault. |
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| PC Connected |
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Flashing equally
green / red
(0.5s red / 0.5s green) |
DVR is under external control of the Configuration Utility. |
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| Rec. 100%
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Flashing green
External Recording Lamp also illuminated |
Recording OK. The longer
the green flash the greater the memory remaining. With a new card the Status Lamp will flash
for approx. 2.7 seconds on : 0.3 off. 50% remaining, lamp flashes
1.5 sec on : 1.5 off. 10%
remaining lamp flashes for 0.3 sec on : 2.7 off. |
| Mem. 50% |
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| Remain. 10% |
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| Recording, No Video |
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Fast flashing green / red |
Recording but video is not present, audio only is being recorded. |
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| Resetting or Busy |
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Static red |
System reset / preparing to record or card format. |
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Q2. What do the on screen display messages mean?
A. The table below describes the DVL/DVRs, On Screen Display (OSD) messages.
Note: These messages are available only on the recorded video & are not applied to the video monitor signal.
| OSD message |
Cause |
Solution |
| No Disk |
Disk not fully inserted, or simply
not there. |
Insert new disk |
| Disk Fail |
Disk is not FAT32 format, or has
failed. |
Check the disk format, & run
ScanDisk to recover |
| No Video |
Intermittent video connection or
signal. |
No video causes the monitor screen
to be blank. |
| Disk Full |
Recording memory full. |
Re-Format the disk to erase old
files. |
Q3. Can I get better quality video by manually setting the bit rate?
A. We offer variable bit rate versions of the Stack DVR (DVR2-500 & DVR2-540).
Our experience so far with VBR is :
- The VBR version needs very fast memory cards.
- Sometimes even the recommended cards have a small percentage (%) of sectors that don't work & these will cause pixellation in the video picture.
- Unfortunately, you can't even be sure that once you have found a good one it will remain OK. This is because some manufacturers have a wear levelling scheme which moves (re-allocates) file locations each time a new file is made.
Q4. Do you recommend a CF Card for use with Stack DVRs?
A. We are happy to supply Harsh Environment Compact Flash (CF) cards in various memory sizes and industrial or commercial grades. Please contact your dealer/ distributor for details.
Generally cards with greater than a x25 write speed (>4MB/s) will work, but read the answers to Q5 for reasons why they may not.
Note: Card manufactures usually quote the read speed for a card, which can be 10 to 20 times faster than the write speed. So take care to choose a card with a fast write speed.
Q5. What causes the picture to Pixellate (Pixellation)?
A. This can be caused if the memory card write speed is insufficient. Memory card speed is related to the byte locations, hence pixelation will tend to be at the same location on the card. e.g. Pixellation occurs 5 mins from the start of the card.
Notes:
- Static pictures are less likely to pixellate than a full action video picture, especially if recorded in Variable Bit Rate (VBR) mode.
- Memory cards that have a wear-levelling scheme will pixellate at a different location each time a new file is created.
Q6. How can I speed up the video file transfer into my PC?
A. Ensure you are using a USB2 based reader or a dedicated CF slot. All PC are different so try the available options to find out which is best on your PC. Direct transfer from the DVL/DVR unit is also an option.
Q7. What can I do if memory card media is not recognised by the DVL/DVR?
Answers:-
a) With the card in the PC check that the card is Formatted with ‘FAT-32’ & the sector size is set to ‘Default’. If the card is Not FAT-32, then Re-Format.
b) The DVL/DVR should not be switched off, or the memory card removed from the unit, when recording is active as this can create corrupted files.
Use the PC, ScanDisk utility, set to 'Fix errors automatically', to check for errors on the memory card.
Note: May succeed on the original file but will not work on a copy of the file.
If this does not recover the file then re-format the media with FAT-32 and try another recording.
Make sure that the recording is stopped at least 2 seconds before the DVR is switched off and the card removed.
c) Check that the memory card is at least 512Mbytes, Smaller cards are formatted with a sector size that is too small for the DVL/DVR.
d) Download and install the latest firmware for your DVL/DVR.
Now see if the DVR will recognise your media & records successfully.
e) Sometimes the video file format is not recognised by the media player.
- Try downloading a new ‘Codec’ from the Web. or use a different media player.
- Use different settings on the DVR for video picture size and quality.
If the information above hasn't solved your problem, more help can be found here in our DVR Troubleshooting section. Your Stack dealer will be happy to assist you further.
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