Alarm.com SVR Beta Test Discussion

Questions to consider regarding the use of the SVR:

How easy was it to connect the SVR and set it up for continuous recording? What issues did you run into during setup if any?

How would you rate the video timeline user interface and its integration with the existing Alarm.com interface? Are there any specific changes you would make to the controls?

After a period of use, are the system features intuitive?

Are there any features you feel are missing and would like to see added?

suretyDIY is excited for the impending release of the Alarm.com SVR and we will be posting our own impressions as well. Feel free to add any feedback to this forum topic beyond the questions above if something strikes you.

Excited to test this thing out! :smiley: Really easy to setup, just plug into Ethernet and power on.

An issue I ran into was the instructions didn’t mention waiting until Green (some products don’t go Green until fully setup ala Apple Airport devices). Even with Green I had to cycle it because ADC saw the SVR, but then couldn’t connect and told me to cycle. I also didn’t realize the front power button could power cycle, I unplugged the cord instead.

The other thing I saw from a possible usability standpoint is it said Mac/Windows computer required and the instructions showed it being plugged in by USB, but I don’t think I have a regular USB to regular USB cable, but then internet setup worked well. So it’s a mixed message for end-users in my opinion.

The SVR asking to either do independent HDDs or in a raid-array was awesome, I wish more network drive products would do this.

After setup I thought it was recording, but I had to go setup a recording schedule manually. Maybe I missed a setup here. I also got my recording schedule and ADC told me “Your device isn’t recording”, but a refresh cleared this error.

These are all just possible usability things I can see end-users having issues with. Overall it was easy to setup.

The thing is incredible and so far it is really easy to use. I love how easy it is to access on computer or phones. I’m impressed.

Going to keep running it, but the delay to access saved video clips isn’t really that long.

I am immediately struck by the ease of access to the drive bays. There are two 1TB WD hard drives included. The internals are designed so that the drives simply slide up and out, and to replace, they simply slide back in with static ports rather than internal cables. This all makes me assume user-upgradeable storage was intended. I will verify this with Alarm.com.

There is an imposed limit of 4 cameras per SVR. With two drives, extended storage times will be easily accomplished.

During setup, the drives are formatted.

The option of using both drives independently for maximum storage space, or to use one drive as a concurrent back-up of the other, to me, is a pretty smart feature, again easy to setup. See image below.

Confirmation steps troubleshoot the process as well:

This recording schedule has been successfully saved to the SVR. Check the channel number 1 LED; it should begin blinking within a few seconds. If not, make sure the SVR and the selected camera are connected to the same router and powered on

If the HD space is upgradeable (say, two 3TB drives) then I am a bit disappointed in the 4 camera limitation. However, it was never intended as a stand-alone device, and for typical home usage this likely is not a problem. It also matches up with the basic cloud service limit, so the limit makes sense.

Looks like the obvious answer is indeed obvious. See image below.

SVR will show up as a device same as the cameras in your video device settings section. Here you can select the different settings tabs for the SVR. Below image shows the Drive Management section, which confirms the Hard Drive upgrade assumption.

Just got the ADC SVR…

The idea (at least in my case), is to have 2TB of local streaming video recording storage in event of say the internet is cut…the cameras will continue to record, and the stream will be saved locally to the 2TB HDD.

Normally, if the internet is lost (or purposely disabled/cut), the alarm.com cameras go offline…

@Jason

I see you went with the RAID 1 config? Is there an option for RAID 0?

Yes, but I would always prefer RAID 1. Typically in NVRs, given the frequency of fully overwriting the drive’s capacity, you see hard drive issues sooner than you would in a normal PC application.

Here is my installation/setup…and observations (there was a small setup issue)

ADC-SVR100 Installation and setup
The SVR setup was pretty much painless. Its pretty much identical to seeing up a camera…Ethernet to router, then navigate to www.alarm.com/addcamera, wait till the lights are green, and then start the setup.

There were a few hiccups along the way, first few times the setup failed, but then it took. You have the option to run the HDD’s in RAID 1 (mirrored) or not (RAID 0). I chose not to run a mirror config (RAID 0).

A few minutes to format…all in all, setup was quick.

This SVR is LAN only. No wireless, and it can only use the newer HD ADC cameras (my V610PT was not a selectable option, but my V520IR was).

Yes, unfortunately the older X10 model ADC cameras will not be compatible. It makes sense for the product, though. The X10 cameras will reach end of life and lose support far sooner than the SVR will.

I would like to see a wider range of FPS options between say, 3 FPS and 12 FPS, for easier capacity management. 5 FPS is a good option to maximize saved video without losing activity, but 10 being the next option is quite a leap in file size.

1 FPS is not really a usable option.

I do especially like the 30 fps option at high 720p res. I was not a big fan of the alarm.com 5fps limitation.

Also, the drive maint options are nice… For warning in event drives have issues.

Now say one wanted to use this SVR strictly local (after the initial setup), and view stream/video…does one use the front/back USB pprt to connect to a PC for video access? Or is this more for connection of a monitor?

Resetting the SVR functions as expected. The management all feels identical to camera management.

After reset you can format and select your RAID arrangement again.

This may or may not be a glitch, I didnt check settings prior to SVR setup, but I noticed after setting up the SVR that my V520IR saved fps was at 1fps, when I had it previously set to 5fps.

Quite the unique feature, the SVR timeline integrates with Alarm sensor activity, placing tick-marks at the appropriate spots on your timeline.

No cross-referencing times and events needed.

Fancy.

@ rive, The settings listed for the camera attached to our SVR match those set through the SVR recording schedule.

Jason…

Did you see my previous two posts?

Now say one wanted to use this SVR strictly local (after the initial setup), and view stream/video...does one use the front/back USB port to connect to a PC for video access? Or is this more for connection of a monitor?
This may or may not be a glitch, I didnt check settings prior to SVR setup, but I noticed after setting up the SVR that my V520IR saved fps was at 1fps, when I had it previously set to 5fps.

My SVR fps is at 30fps… Two different settings…

SVR V520IR continuous:

V520IR Saved recordings (rules based events):

Good catch. Yeah it looks like a bug.

Anytime I select for the SVR schedule to record more than 5 FPS (max of the cloud saved video) the camera in the schedule then shows its cloud video setting as 1 FPS

Does this on all FPS settings over 5.

Ahhh… And the USB ports and offline PC access?

RE: Local storage access

Say for example, intruder cuts phone lines and cable lines in effort to kill communication/IP cams…

The SVR LAN enabled cams will continue to record… Can the offline footage/feed then be later accessed/recovered locally like via USB connection to PC?

To me this is the SVR’s value… Locally accessable storage of continous HD video footage.

Couldn’t tell you. You could probably charge your phone off of it?

It is possible there may have been developmental tools that used the USB ports, but they have no commercial function that I am aware. I had hoped they might be a secondary delivery method for firmware, but doesn’t appear to be the case.

The board was likely adopted from a different or previous design and USB ports are just there, sans employment.