NVRs

NVRs lists the network video recorders your connectors sign in to. Everyone sees the NVRs and their cameras; connecting, disconnecting and testing needs the Operator or Tenant admin role; adding, editing and deleting NVRs, changing their sign-in and their cameras, and optimising them for live view needs the Tenant admin role (Roles and permissions).

The NVR list

Column	Shows
Name	The NVR's name; opens its page.
Site	Its site, if any.
Connector	The connector that reaches it.
Address	host:port (with https:// when it uses HTTPS).
Status	What the connector last reported (Statuses); hover it for the last error.
Wanted	Connected or Disconnected: what you asked for.
Cameras	Number of cameras.
Last seen	When the connector last reported the NVR.

Each row has Connect or Disconnect, Test, Edit and Delete, depending on your role.

Add an NVR

Add NVR opens Add an NVR: The connector signs in to the NVR on its network. The password is stored encrypted and never shown again.

Field	Meaning
Connector	The connector on the NVR's network (offline ones are marked (offline)).
Driver	Dahua (and compatible), or Simulated NVR (trial) (Trying Sphere with the simulator).
Name	Your name for the NVR, e.g. Warehouse NVR.
Site	A site, or No site.
Address	The NVR's LAN address as the connector reaches it: an IP address (e.g. 192.168.1.108) or a host name.
HTTP port	The port of the NVR's web interface and API (80 by default).
RTSP port	554 by default.
Time zone	The NVR clock's zone; empty uses the connector's. If you leave it empty, Sphere takes the zone the NVR reports when it can read it. Recording times are converted with it.
Use HTTPS	When the NVR's API is on HTTPS (use its HTTPS port). Its self-signed certificate is accepted.
User name, Password	The NVR account Sphere signs in with.
Connect now	Sign in right away (ticked by default).

Choose Add NVR. Without a connector the dialog says Install a connector first: it is what reaches the NVR (Connectors). A connector drives one NVR per address and port: the same address twice is refused.

The NVR's page

• Status: the status, Wanted (connected or disconnected), the Last error, Last seen, Connector, Site, Driver, RTSP port and Time zone.
• Device: what the NVR reported: Model, Serial number, Firmware, Channels and Cameras.
• Sign-in (tenant admins), Cameras, and Recent jobs (operators and tenant admins): the NVR's last connector jobs with their Type, Status, Created time and Error.

On a connected NVR, tenant admins also have Optimise for live view (below).

When the NVR's connector is offline, the page says The connector of this NVR is offline: nothing can reach the NVR now.

Edit an NVR

Edit changes the Name, Site, Address, HTTP port, RTSP port, Time zone and Use HTTPS. A connected NVR is signed in to again with the new address. The connector, driver and sign-in are not edited here.

Delete an NVR

Delete asks for confirmation: The connector signs out and forgets this NVR, and its cameras are removed. The NVR itself is not changed. Its alarms stay in the log.

Connect and disconnect

Connect and Disconnect sign Sphere in to and out of the NVR (Signing in to the NVR…, Signing out of the NVR…).

• Connected: the connector stays signed in, checks the NVR every 30 seconds, reads its channels, receives its alarms, and serves its video.
• Disconnected: signed out. Its streams stop, no alarms are received, and its cameras cannot be watched until you connect it again.

The change reaches the connector within seconds; if the connector is offline, it is applied when it reconnects.

Test

Test signs in once more, whatever the wanted state, and shows the Test result on the NVR's page (from the list, Test opens the page):

• RTSP reachable, or RTSP not reachable: live video and playback will fail (Sphere tries to play channel 1's sub stream);
• N cameras found;
• Warnings, for example a channel whose main or sub stream is H.265 (browsers may not play it) or MJPEG (cannot be relayed), no video channels, or a time zone the NVR did not report.

A successful test also refreshes the NVR's Device details and its cameras. The test failed: … gives the reason, for example the NVR did not answer or refused the credentials. Testing needs the connector online.

Optimise for live view

A live picture can only start at a keyframe: a viewer who opens a camera waits for the camera's next one. Dahua cameras send one every 2 seconds by default, which adds up to that much to every switch to a camera. Optimise for live view (tenant admins, on a connected NVR's page) makes each camera's sub stream, the one grids show, send a keyframe more often:

1. Choose Optimise for live view.
2. Under A keyframe every, choose 1 s (recommended), 2 s, 3 s or 4 s.
3. Choose Optimise. The connector changes the setting on the NVR (Changing the cameras' settings…), and the dialog then says N changed, N already fine, N not changed, with the cameras not changed listed below with the reason.

• This changes settings on the NVR: each camera's sub stream gets a keyframe interval of its frame rate × the chosen seconds. An interval that is already as short or shorter is kept.
• Main streams, which the NVR records, are never changed.
• Sub streams use a little more bandwidth.
• Each camera is then checked in its stream: the connector watches its sub stream and measures the gap between two keyframes. Only what the stream shows counts:
  • A camera can take some minutes to apply what the NVR passes on. If it has not yet, it is listed as not applied yet: optimise again later to check it.
  • Some cameras keep their own setting (it even syncs back to the NVR). Such a camera is listed as keeping its interval: set its sub-stream I-frame interval on the camera itself (its web page, or in bulk with Dahua ConfigTool).
• The dialog says how many cameras were checked in their streams, and how many could not be (their stream did not answer in time).

Could not change the settings: … means the job failed, for example the NVR did not answer. Optimising needs the connector online. It is recorded in the audit log as nvr.tune_live (Audit log).

Sign-in

Sign-in sets the user the connector signs in with. User name is shown; the password is write-only: enter a New password and choose Save sign-in (Sign-in saved; the connector signs in again). The password is stored encrypted, fetched by the connector only when it changes, and never shown or logged. Use it when the NVR's password was changed, or when the status is auth_failed.

Cameras

Each channel of the NVR is a camera. The Cameras table has:

Column	Meaning
Ch.	The channel number, as on the NVR.
Name	The name shown in Sphere. Tenant admins type a new one and press Enter (or leave the field). Empty uses the NVR's title. (no video) marks a channel without a camera signal.
Title on the NVR	The channel's name on the NVR.
PTZ	Whether the NVR reports the camera as PTZ (PTZ cameras).
Codecs	The main and sub stream codecs, with H.265 — may not play in browsers where it applies.
Enabled	Untick to switch the camera off in Sphere: it cannot be watched, and live tiles say The camera is disabled. Recording on the NVR is not affected.

Watch opens the camera live. No cameras yet means the NVR has not been read yet: connect or test it.

Statuses

Status	Meaning	What to do
Online	Signed in and answering.	–
Offline	The NVR does not answer.	Check the Address, HTTP port and Use HTTPS, that the NVR is on, and that the connector's computer reaches it (ping, a browser on that computer).
Auth failed	The NVR refused the user name or password.	Enter the right password under Sign-in; check the user on the NVR.
Unsupported	The driver cannot drive this NVR.	Check the Driver: the NVR must be a Dahua or Dahua-compatible one.
Disconnected	Disconnected on purpose.	Connect to use it.
Unknown	Nothing reported yet, or the connector is offline.	Wait a few seconds after adding it; otherwise check the connector (Connectors).

Overview counts NVRs that are wanted connected but Offline, Auth failed or Unsupported as NVRs failing (Overview).