Dahua Hybrid DVR/NVR Snapshot settings

Hi-

I've recently swapped out an old DVR with a Dahua hybrid. I'm having an issue with the "Snapshot" setting, and hoping that there's another Dahua owner that can step in and help.

Basically the problem is: The DVR will never email snapshots. Email is setup/working correctly. If I enable motion detection, I get two emails, one for when motion occurs, and another for when it clears, but I never get the snapshot email.

I am almost certain that this has to do with the camera setting for "Mode" under Setup {Tab}, Camera, Encode, Snapshot {Tab}. The "Mode" setting for the camera is set to "Regular", so I think "easy fix, set it to 'Trigger'", which would seem like an easy adjustment, but after I have it set to "Trigger", when I click "Save", it says "Successfully Save!", and then when I click "Refresh", or return to the same setting, it's back to "Regular".

After thinking that it was an issue with the Web UI, I made the same change directly on the DVR using the remote. Now the DVR shows "Trigger", but the web UI shows "Regular", and I'm still not getting any snapshot emails.

I've read the documentation that I can find, and I have Snapshot checked under Setup {tab}, Event, Detect, Motion Detect {Tab}.

Anyone have any thoughts on where I should start? Each "owner's manual" that I can find for Dahua systems is a little different, but I think that I have the relevant settings covered.

Thanks,

Derek

Make sure in your email settings in the box that attachment is enabled. It usually is by default. Also in the detect menu, for a given channel make sure snapshot is enabled as well. If all is set right, it's your email provider that is causing it. Gmail has been working well for me now with my dahua. Also check your spam folder to make sure the picture email isn't getting dumped to spam because of the attachment.

Attachment is set under email settings. I tried toggling it again just to make sure, but it didn't make any difference. The checkbox for "Snapshot" is checked in both the Alarm configuration as well as the Motion Detect configuration (I've tried both when trying to make this work, neither has shown any success).

As for the email service - I had thought the same thing. The part that makes me reluctant to blame the SMTP provider is that I have a multi-function printer that uses the same SMTP server, and can successfully scan a document and email it as an attachment. That makes me believe that the SMTP provider doesn't have an issue with attachments (at least with PDF and TIF attachments, as that's what the printer is sending using the same settings).

It's not in the SPAM folder either. I've been patiently trying new settings for the past week to no avail. I get the Alarm email from the Dahua, and I get the Alarm cleared email. Just not the email with the Snapshot attachment.

Is there any sort of logging that can be shown that shows when a snapshot is sent out?

If you haven't, try gmail as the sender. I was using my ISP email account and getting a picture, but it was a grey blank shot- useless. I tried everything in the dvr. The minute I used my gmail account as the sender- bingo, all good. Just make note of the settings you have now so you can go back to them if gmail doesn't work at all.

Also check to see in the channel for detection that capture is enabled too, and that you enable the proper channel for the capture. If you're using channel 2, enable capture and make sure the 2 box in the channel line is pushed in; enabled. Otherwise you won't get pictures being captured upon motion events to the channel, and therefore there will be no picture to email. It's a good idea to make sure that in the snapshot menu, for the channel you're working on, set trigger mode to 1 second intervals. That's all you're interested in, trigger mode. Don't go to the scheduling menu and enable snapshots with scheduling or you will drop the channel into constant picture taking mode for that channel. Unless you want that, avoid it. Make all these settings at the dvr. In the playback menu you can also search for picture to confirm you're at least creating the snapshots for email, so you know that much is working. But like I said, if all seems to be set right, try gmail.

And one last thing, don't stress this one too much. I finally got picture email working right and I turned it off. NOT because the emails were out of control, because they weren't. I just never got a picture of a suspect, be it me really trying out there or anyone. It would email me pictures before I got in frame. Only once I was in frame and I could look at the email pic and say yeah, that's a usable shot. The rest of the time, the timing of the picture for email just could not be adjusted to get a useful shot. So, off it went. I MUCH prefer push notification in gdmss plus. Look at my vids to see a demo of it.

I'm giving GMAIL a try. I have everything setup to take snapshots, and it's configured how you mention. The only sticking piece that I'm concerned about is that when I use the DVR's website to set the encoding properties, they still show "Regular", however if I look at the same setting directly on the DVR using the remote control, it shows "Trigger". If I set the cameras to "Trigger" using the web interface, and then refresh, it flips back to "Regular". I'm assuming that this is some kind of a software bug, but I can't be certain.

I looked at the files on the DVR, and I have definitely caught a couple of snapshots. I'm not exactly certain that they map up to when alerts are being fired or not.

The end game here is to not use the built-in motion detection, but to rely on a security system that can alert the DVR when something needs to be grabbed (alarm, doors opening, doorbell ring, etc). I've read that many of the motion detection setups don't work well, for exactly as you mentioned - not getting a picture of something appropriate...

I'll report back after I've had a chance to trigger an event, and see if GMAIL solves the issue.

So I have everything setup to email from GMAIL. I'm still getting the Alarm and Alarm clear emails, but I'm not getting any snapshots emailed to me. I see that there are a few "picture" files created in the snapshot directory from a few events yesterday, so it seems like the unit is grabbing snapshots on occasion. I'm still wondering if the cameras are set to "Trigger" under their encoding settings. The menu on the DVR using the remote control tells me that it is, but the web interface is telling me that it's not.

I've captured screenshots of my settings for motion detection and camera encoding in the attached images. It also shows how it resets back to "Regular". I'm using the refresh button to show how it sets back to "Regular", but the same thing would happen if I navigate away from the screen and come back.

The screenshots are probably worth 1000 words.

Everything looks right there. From memory, the Web interface is a little whack with the snapshot menu. I believe that it shows the regular setting just as a default. It's not that trigger isn't set. When you choose trigger it should show what you saved. But either refresh or exiting and going back in will show regular because it defaults to showing that one first in the lineup. As long as your custom settings are saved, it's no problem. Can you post your email menu screen shot? I can't think of anything else except maybe check the firmware for the Dvr and make sure it's up to date. But one more thing to see is the email menu.

Is this channel for a megapixel camera? If so, it might be that you have to go into the camera Web interface and set it.

I'm attaching a screenshot of the email settings. I've anonymized the email addresses before I grabbed the screenshot.

These are just analog cameras that I'm testing with.

What I find really odd about the encoding settings (and sorry for continuing to go back to this) is that the other settings seem to "stick" (or persist) through the refresh, just not the "Mode" setting. Check out the screenshot - I can alter the Size / Interval, and they survive a Refresh or a navigation change.

Set it up in the Dvr so you know the settings are taking. Two things to change in your email settings. Port should be 465 and encryption should be SSL. Try that.

I changed the Port and Auth settings. I read online that gmail port 587 uses TLS and 465 uses SSL. Both configs successfully send out emails from my experience. I'm running with SSL and 465 right now.

I went to the DVR, and manually set all of the cameras to use "Trigger" for the Mode under the Encode | Snapshot menu. After doing this, I'm still not getting the snapshot email - I'm getting the motion detection event email, and the alarm cleared email, but nothing with an attachment. I've also noticed that nothing under the web Snapshot menu matches what I entered on the physical DVR menu, even though on the web menu, the settings from one camera to the next aren't showing the same. On the physical DVR menu, I set everything the same for each camera, and I haven't saved any settings since...

Under Storage | Settings | Snapshot, I had the schedule for Snapshots set to MD&Alarm. Not sure if this possibly overrides the normal snapshot settings and the trigger from the camera, so I've now turned this off. My schedule for Snapshots is now blank.

I went back yesterday and searched in the playback menu for "Pictures". I have 4 (seemingly) random pictures that don't coincide with a motion detection event from what I can tell. I know that the motion detection triggered once this morning, and I have no snapshots from this morning, however that was before I changed the snapshot schedule.

Here's my firmware version: 3.200.0001.2, Build Date: 2013-12-24

One last thought - is it possible that the motion event isn't lasting long enough, and that's why I'm not getting a snapshot? Something to do with either the Anti-Dither or something else?

Your settings look fine for motion detection and everything pertaining to picture email. I would think it's something with the firmware maybe. You'll have to reach out to your vendor for that. I don't get involved with firmware stuff with people. I tried, but I'm out of bullets with this. Sorry I can't be of more help. Good luck getting it going.

Have you tried to change your receive email to something else? Another email client? It sure seems like your email client is blocking the email attachment. Try Gmail for receive as well.

So I haven't had much time to look at this since my last update. Just out of pure curiosity, I went back to the web interface, and looked at playback. I was basically checking to see if there had been any snapshots captured on the DVR. I searched over the past week, knowing full well that I hadn't made any changes, motion detection IS on, and the Snapshot checkbox is checked. There's zero snapshots that have been captured over the last 7 days.

I'm thinking that this is the root of the problem - I don't think that it's actually gathering snapshots when it goes off, and therefore has nothing to send.

• Am I correct in my assumption that if there's no snapshots visible from the DVR that there wouldn't be an email? Every email that contains a corresponding snapshot should leave a snapshot on the DVR, correct?
  

The other thought that I have - since I can't tell what settings are actually being "saved" in the DVR since the menus don't seem to show what has been selected, or possibly they're not saving the settings. Is there anyone that's familiar with the XML that you get when you export the config on the DVR? I'm wondering if I can verify the settings / change the settings by manually changing the XML (I'm technical, and understand XML - just looking for help on the definitions that Dahua uses).

You are getting motion recording for video playback correct? If you're not getting picture email, one thing is possible in that if you're not actually getting snapshots taken, it may not send the second email. Or, it would send the second email but with no picture attachment. But one thing is absolutely for sure- you have to record snapshots for any chance of receiving them via email. Email snapshots is not a separate thing- it is dependent on the unit taking/recording the snapshots to begin with. If you must adjust any settings remotely, do it in PSS rather than web service if web service isn't behaving properly. Ideally, make the adjustments at the drv though. I've looked back over this thread and I can't see anything wrong with how you have it set up. I can only assume that if the unit isn't taking snapshots, it's a problem with the dvr itself- be it a firmware update or a replacement. In which case, get in touch with the vendor who sold it to you for that support.

OK, so I just got a surprise. Motion event, and an email with a picture in my inbox. Here's the two things that I toggled - one of which made a difference. I thought that I had these setup like this before, but to be honest I've tried so many things it may not have been this exact combination:

1.) Under Event | Motion, I unchecked snapshot for the camera that has motion detection configured, then I "unpressed" the 2 button next to "tour" even though "tour" isn't checked, and I saved. After that I checked the checkbox next to snapshot, and I saved again. (so basically I toggled this setting to null and then back to selected, saving in between)

2.) Under Storage | Schedule | Snapshot [tab], I went to camera 2 (the camera that has motion detection enabled, and I had already nulled out all of the checkboxes when I was trying things to get this to work. I changed it so that it's set to "MD" 24x7. Nothing else is checked. Saved changes.

That's all that's changed, and all of a sudden I got an email with an attachment. I'm pretty sure that I've had it setup this way before, except the schedule may have been set to "MD&Alarm"... Not sure if it has to be set to only "MD" for this to work. Realistically I want to convert this over so that Motion Detection is disabled, and I'm grabbing snapshots based on feedback from my alarm panel (such as doorbell rings, door opens, etc). There's far too much motion in my area for this to be "reliable".

Thanks for the help. I'm going to leave it this way for a little while, let the dust settle, and see if I can later get Alarm to work instead. I should probably export the config now that it's working as well so that I have a backup....

Great! Well you got it, finally!

Although this is from couple of years ago, I am having almost exact same issue with my new purchased Dahua NVR:

From web, no matter how many times I changed to trigger, after refresh, it back to timing;

From console, I can change to trigger, and save, however, after a reboot, it changes back to timing itself!

Do you still have the device?

So I haven't had much time to look at this since my last update. Just out of pure curiosity, I went back to the web interface, and looked at playback. I was basically checking to see if there had been any snapshots captured on the DVR. I searched over the past week, knowing full well that I hadn't made any changes, motion detection IS on, and the Snapshot checkbox is checked. There's zero snapshots that have been captured over the last 7 days.

 

I'm thinking that this is the root of the problem - I don't think that it's actually gathering snapshots when it goes off, and therefore has nothing to send.

 

• Am I correct in my assumption that if there's no snapshots visible from the DVR that there wouldn't be an email? Every email that contains a corresponding snapshot should leave a snapshot on the DVR, correct?
  

 

The other thought that I have - since I can't tell what settings are actually being "saved" in the DVR since the menus don't seem to show what has been selected, or possibly they're not saving the settings. Is there anyone that's familiar with the XML that you get when you export the config on the DVR? I'm wondering if I can verify the settings / change the settings by manually changing the XML (I'm technical, and understand XML - just looking for help on the definitions that Dahua uses).