What you need, before you sign up
Four things. If you have all four, setup takes about ten minutes. If you do not, we would rather you knew now.
You will need
A supported recorder
Hikvision, HiLook, Dahua, Imou, CP Plus, Uniview, Tiandy, or most ONVIF-conformant units.
A Windows PC at the site
On the same network as the recorder, left switched on. Any ordinary office machine. It does not need to be new.
The recorder's login
Admin username and password. Typed in at the site, stored on that PC, and never sent to us.
An ordinary internet connection
No fixed IP, no port forwarding, no firewall changes. The connection only goes outward.
About ten minutes. Most of it is finding the recorder's password. If the setup program cannot reach your recorder, it says why in plain language rather than failing silently.
Step by step
Nothing here needs an engineer. If you can install a printer, you can do this.
- Create an account and add your site. You will be given a one-time enrollment code.
- Download the WatchLog agent onto the site PC.
- Run it. A setup wizard asks for the recorder's address and login. If you do not know the address, it searches your network and offers what it finds.
- Paste the enrollment code. The site appears in your portal within a minute.
- Add who gets the report, and on which channel — WhatsApp, email, or both.
What the wizard does for you
- Scans your local network for recorders
- Works out which make it is and which protocol to use
- Tests the login before saving it
- Lists the cameras it can see, so you can check nothing is missing
- Tells you plainly what is wrong if it cannot connect
What leaves your building, and what does not
Stays at your site
- Your recorded video — we never receive it
- Your recorder's username and password
- Frames that did not pass the false-alarm filter
Sent to us
- Event records: time, camera, type
- One still per event that passed the filter
- Health signals: when each camera was last heard from
We cannot view your cameras live, cannot pan or zoom them, and cannot browse your recorded footage. The connection only goes one way, and there is no route back in.
Have all four? It takes ten minutes
And if your recorder turns out not to be supported, you will know before you pay anything.