The 4MP Motorized Admiral Series - 16 Channel HD Customizable Security Camera System

This camera is commercial grade, and is made of cast aluminum and ceramic molding, instead of the typical plastic molding common in the industry.

This product has passed vibration tests, can withstand an electrical surge up to 6,000 volts, and the casing will prevent intrusion of both dust and water into the internal component space. The screws and mounting hardware are made of stainless steel that have passed SUS410 salt spray anti-corrosion testing. We use automotive grade LEDs and anti-reflection glass (which means better infrared results). In short, this camera is going to hold up over time.

This camera has Anti Reflective Glass.

Anti Reflective Glass allows better light transmission vs standard glass. Standard Glass cameras often come with a foam ring around the lens to prevent infrared light from bouncing back off the glass and entering the lens. This bounce back can cause extreme differences in infrared lighting, which makes some items too bright and others too washed out if the ring is loose, ripped, or removed. Anti-Reflective Glass prevents this issue. Also, people have a tendency to accidentally destroy, damage, throw away, or lose these foam rings. Anti-Reflective Glass reduces maintenance and user error.

This camera has Car Grade LEDs.

Many IP cameras include low quality infrared bulbs that fail over time. This camera has Car Grade LEDs, and you should expect the same sort of longevity from them as the headlights in your car.

This camera has Headlight Compensation.

Vehicle headlights directly into the camera lens can render many cameras useless. Headlight compensation reduces glare and overexposure due to car headlights.

At SCW, we try not to use the misleading term "License Plate Camera." The term "License plate cameras" is used rather flippantly by the security camera industry, has no real definition as a term, and can sometimes mean simply the presence of HLC; be careful with companies offering a simple solution to a very complex task of capturing license plates.

For more info, please read our knowledge base article on What they don't tell you about License Plate Cameras.

This camera has a 0.37 inch image sensor, which is larger than most competing products. (The industry typically uses 0.33 inch image sensors.)

A larger image sensor allows more light to be absorbed, allowing the camera to take color photos as it gets darker, (a lower lux rating). Lux is the measurement of light in an atmosphere. Twilight is about 3.4 lux. A full moon is somewhere between 0.05 and 0.36 lux, depending on cloud cover. A moonless night is somewhere around 0.001 to 0.002 depending on cloud cover. Adding lighting like flood lights, night lights, or streetlights will increase lux in your area.

This camera can take a color photo all the way down to 0.02 lux (much of the industry can only take a color photo at 1 lux), but that may require some adjustments to your shutter settings...

Lux is a complicated topic, please read our knowledge base article on why you shouldn't choose a camera based on the lux rating, but rather image sensor size.

This camera has an Adjustable Shutter Speed in a range between 1/30s to 1/100,000 of a second.

The shutter in a camera controls how long the camera takes to take a picture, but faster doesn't mean better. The faster that a camera shutter opens and closes, the more likely that you will get a clear, blur-free image. The longer that the shutter is open, the more light you let in and the better your image will be in low light. Shutters that are open for an extremely long time allow you to take color pictures at night/twilight without having to switch to infrared mode, but can result in motion blur.

There's no one-size fits all approach to shutter speed, so we give you full control (and free tech support) to set it up the best way possible.

With this NVR, you can record your SCW cameras continuously, via motion, or even via VCA (video content analysis) events (like line crossing or intrusion detection).

You can create individual schedules for each camera, including hours for motion recording mode, hours for continuous recording mode, hours for event recording mode, or even hours when that camera is off completely.

This NVR has Snapshot Email Alerts.

You can set up your recorder to email a series of pictures you when motion is detected by one of your SCW cameras (or if one of our other VCA event is observed). You can choose specific dates and times for these alerts to be active and other times for these alerts to be ignored. Some Snapshot email options are based upon your current recording mode.

Q. Why use email and not push notification? Email is a permanent record which has audit logs, confirmed delivery, and long term storage of the photos (in case your recorder is stolen).

See how how Snapshot Emails work

Some snapshot FTP options are based upon your current recording mode. When a VCA event happens, the NVR can capture a series of snapshots and upload those images to a FTP server of your choosing. When motion is detected, the NVR can capture a series of snapshots and upload those. When in Continuous mode, the NVR can upload an image at a certain interval, such as every hour. If you have a NVR or cameras with alarm inputs and you have connected an alarm device to those inputs, the NVR can capture a series of snapshots and upload those images to a FTP server of your choosing when an alarm goes off. There's no monthly fee for this, as it uses your FTP server.

See how how Snapshot FTP Upload works

This NVR has video analytics based motion detection.

Motion detection can also be used to send you email alerts when motion is detected or to record when recording on motion events. You can modify the sensitivity level, so that more or less movement is required for the motion detection to trigger. You can create inclusion areas (places where you care if there is motion) and define the rest as exclusion areas (places where you don't care if there is motion). So, for example, you could create a motion based alert to notify you if someone was in your yard, but ignore them if they were on the sidewalk or in the street.

With this NVR, you won't miss out on important motion events - and you can even go back in time before the event happened to understand why it happened.

Many consumer grade cameras uses PIR sensors to trigger a camera to turn on when something gets close enough to the sensor. This is bad design as there's a slight delay (0.5-3 seconds) that can cause the camera to not record what happened. Our cameras not only don't have a delay when triggered, but allow you to go back in time to see what happened before the motion event.

How is this possible? With our professional grade systems, motion based recording work differently than lower end consumer cameras. The cameras/NVRs are actually always on recording video feeds but watching the footage for you to look for changes in the frames of the video. When motion detection recording is turned on, and the camera/NVR does not detect any changes, it deletes the video rather than stores it. If it does detect a change, it will save the event and a customizable amount of time before the event happened.

With this NVR and a Admiral Line Camera, you can be alerted when your camera detect people, objects, or vehicles that do specific things, such as:

Crossing over a line (aka tripwire)

Entering or Lingering an area

Covering, damaging, disconnecting, vandalising, or moving the camera lens

When a face is in an area

When a abrupt noise is detected

In addition you can search your video footage for these events* and run reports on the number of people, vehicles, or objects that enter and leaving through an area.

*Each feature must be enabled and setup before it can be searched. Not all features can run at once. Some Admiral line cameras only support some video analytics.

This NVR can be set to alert you or record based on people, objects, or vehicles crossing a configurable virtual line.

Want to know what happened to the packages on your porch? It's easy to find out what happened to it, just set up line crossing on your porch stairs, and then search by who crossed that line.

Discover the Use Cases, Best Practices, and Limitations of VCA: Cross Line Detection

This NVR can be set to alert you or record based on people, objects, or vehicles entering and staying in a set region on the view.

Have a valuable asset like a cash register or air conditioner unit that disappeared? It's easy to find out what happened to it, just set up an intrusion area around it, and then search by who entered into that area.

Discover the Use Cases, Best Practices, and Limitations of VCA: Intrusion Detection

This NVR can be set to track and record the number of people enter and leaving through an entrance (or cars or objects). You can view these stats on your NVR or download a CSV file to view it on your computer. (People Counting is a new feature in the industry and should be considered to be in beta. It works reasonably well when mounted directly above a doorway, looking down. It is less accurate when mounted across a room and aimed at a doorway. People counting does not understand identity; it will not learn who you are. It will count someone entering, leaving and then coming back again as two visits.

Discover the Use Cases, Best Practices, and Limitations of VCA: People Counting

There are three different VCA alerts aimed at camera vandalism. Video Loss, which happens when a the NVR loses communication with the camera, such as if a cable is cut. Scene change, which happens when the camera is pointed in a new direction. Video Tampering, which happens when the lens is covered.

Discover the Use Cases, Best Practices, and Limitations of VCA: Vandalism Detection

This NVR can be set to alert you or record based on the detection of a human face. You can then search for video footage based on a person's face. (Face Detection is a new feature in the industry and should be considered to be in beta. They require the person to be rather close to the camera. Face detection does not understand identity; it will not learn who you are or group similar faces.)

Looking for someone specific? Turn on face detection mode and search by the faces that the camera detected.

Discover the Use Cases, Best Practices, and Limitations of VCA: Face Detection

Recording audio is more heavily regulated in the United States than recording video. Whenever you record audio, you must always be certain that you are not breaking the Federal Wiretap rules. On our IP cameras with audio page, we go over a very basic description of the Federal Wiretap Act and the differences between 1-party and 2-party state rules for audio recording. Please be aware many cities and counties have passed their own regional rules regarding audio recording. Consult a lawyer before recording audio.

Audio detection can tell you when there is a sudden rises in volume, a sudden fall in volume: a sudden changes in volume, or if volume exceeds a threshold.

Discover the Use Cases, Best Practices, and Limitations of VCA: Audio Detection

Save time reviewing footage by filtering and searching for events based upon video analytic criteria. Quickly review footage by filtering by motion detected in specific areas of the screen, by the face captured, by intrusion into certain areas, or by line crossing. (Requires setting up these video analytic features in advance).

See how how VCA Smart Search works

Our Windows/Mac application is a full featured, easy to use, desktop video management software. You can combine multiple Admiral or Imperial systems, even at multiple locations and seamlessly view, control, and manage them as if they were one system. Just about anything you can do on your NVR you can do on our free SCW ViewStation.

SCW View Station is both Mac and PC compatible and is 100% free.

Our browser plugin supports Internet Explorer.

Why no plugins for Chrome/Firefox? How Patent Wars have changed Browser Support for the Entire Surveillance Industry

SCWGo is availible for both Android and iPhone/iPad.

You download these apps from your phone's app store. Just look for the SCWGo app.

Tired of chasing down firmware from the manufacturer, downloading the firmware, uploading the firmware to the device, and then restarting the device? Don't bother!

This device checks for firmware and then downloads and installs it, itself, with one click.

In 2017, there were a bunch of very high profile hacks where outside actors like foreign governments or professional criminal enterprises used the processors inside millions of both low cost cameras and some big name cameras to conduct cyberattacks on critical USA infrastructure like power plants and internet service providers.

The cameras plugged into the Admiral line NVR's POE ports directly or plugged into the Imperial Line NVRs Lan2 Network directly are not visible or accessible on your computer network. They run on an isolated network. The only way to access these cameras is to plug a computer into those POE ports or Lan2 ports. There's a physical barrier from the cameras to the main network. In addition, there's also a subnetwork running on the NVRs, which means that even if you do plug a computer into the NVR's physically separate, isolated network, you would also need to know their subnet mask.

This has several advantages:

1. Faster Networks. Unlike traditional NVRs the camera's video feeds do not slow down your main computer network when plugged into NVR' isolated network

2. Isolated Cameras. Since they are on both a physically separated network and a subnet, your cameras are not visible on your computer network or to outsiders. You can connect to the NVR remotely and log in and the use the NVR as a bridge to watch the cameras, but neither you nor a hacker cannot log into the cameras themselves, without either logging into the NVR or being physically present to plug into the NVR and possessing knowledge about your NVR's specific camera subnet mask. (You can customize this camera's subnet, if you want). 99% of all security camera IOT hacks are through the cameras - not the NVR.

3. Less maintenance. Our new 2018 line has 1 click firmware updates straight from the NVR/Camera: meaning: you don't even have to search for, find, or download the footage on a computer. You just click a button when using the device and update the firmware automatically. So, the update process is not difficult to begin with. In addition, you don't have to worry about updating the cameras for cyber security reasons, since the NVR is the only device that can be accessed remotely. It is much easier to keep one device up to date than dozens or hundreds.

Our devices didn't seem to be affected by any hacks in 2017, that being said, it is always best to follow our best practices for preventing IOT hacks.

This ADM16P15 NVR has 16 POE ports on the back for connecting and powering cameras.

SCW 2018 cameras will plug and play automatically with this device without having to do anything. Just plug in the camera and the NVR powers it, gives it an IP address, and set up the generic settings for you. It just works!

These ports are also ONVIF Profile Q compliant. That means that the POE ports on this device will allow the plug-and-play feature that you're used to when connecting SCW brand cameras with SCW brand NVRs (i.e. you plug it an it works), with any ONVIF profile Q compliant camera. (please note that ONVIF compliant does not mean ONVIF Q compliant! ONVIF Q is new and we know of only one other camera brand who has embraced it.)

Q: Can I use another brand's cameras with this NVR?

Yes, you can any ONVIF compatible camera (the open language that any surveillance camera can speak - check your camera for ONVIF compatibility), but only SCW IP cameras or ONVIF Profile Q compliant cameras work with the POE ports on the back of the NVR. ONVIF Profile Q ports are self-configuring and Plug and Play (automatically configuring the camera's video settings, network settings, and power). ONVIF Profile S, Profile G, Profile C, Profile A, or Profile T are not necessarily Profile Q compliant. Profile Q is new in 2018 and we only know a few manufacturers who have embraced it yet. ONVIF compliant (but not ONVIF Q compliant) cameras will need to be connected via an external POE source appropriate for the power needs for that camera.

Q: Can I connect cameras somewhere else on my network (I.e. not plugged into the NVR's on-board POE Switch), like a traditional NVR?

Yes, you can. You can edit the camera option so that it's manually added rather than Plug and Play. You won't need to directly plug the cameras into the NVR if you don't want to, but you will need to provide them Power with a POE switch or POE injector, if you aren't going to plug them into the NVR.

This NVR has SCW EasyConnect2.0 which allows it to plug and play with SCW Cameras up to 750 feet away!

Normally, ethernet cable has a limit of ~300 feet. After that you start getting data packet collision (your video data gets all mixed up and hard to figure out the order of the data). With this SCW Admiral NVR and any of the SCW Admiral Line Cameras, you can extend that distance up to 750 feet. This feature requires both SCW Admiral Line cameras and either a SCW Admiral NVR or a SCW Extended Transmision Enabled POE Switch to work together.

This recording device has VGA Out.

You can plug this recording device into any VGA enabled monitor.

Q: Do I have to use a monitor?

A. No, you can use either a monitor or a TV, as explained below. But, you don't actually have to use either. You can manage nearly all your settings remotely via our PC or Mac apps or via the web-interface. Quite a few of our customers hide their recorders or put them in a safe with a cable pass-through, to prevent them from potential theft. This is a perfectly fine solution. You will probably want to plug a monitor in to make your initial setup easier.

This recording device has HDMI Out.

You can plug this recording device into any HDMI enabled television. This means that you don't need to purchase a monitor unless you want to; you can connect a monitor with either HDMI or VGA cable.

Q: What if I plug in both the HDMI and VGA? Can I watch on two screens?

A. On all of our units, you can view the system on both VGA and HDMI at the same time. On the 4 channel Admiral, they will display the same image on both outputs. On the 8 channel Admiral (and the 16 channel Admiral - non-Pro), you can display different images on the VGA than the HDMI. On the 16 Channel Admiral Pro and every NVR larger than that, they have multiple HDMI ports and the first HDMI and the VGA port display the same thing, the additional HDMI ports can be set to a different view.

Please note that although our NVRs can all do 1080P and 4K output, all of them ship with 720P as the default. This is to prevent display issues for people who have older TVs or monitors that don't support 1080P or 4K. To change the output right click and then go to configuration.

A NAS or Network Attached Storage is an easy way to either increase the storage space available to your recorder or have a redundant, off recorder storage device - allowing you to have two copies of recorded footage.

You set both the internal and NAS hard drives into groups and assign the cameras to groups. This way you can set some cameras to record longer than others.

We don't sell NAS equipment, but you can purchase just about any NFS compatible NAS and have it work. NFS Is the most common communication protocol for NAS equipment. The most popular NAS equipment are made by computer manufacturers such as Western Digital, QNAP, or Synology.

This recording device has a Surveillance Rated Hard Drive.

We use high grade hard drives specifically designed for video surveillance. Surveillance hard drives, unlike PC drives, are built to write significant amounts of data, 24/7, for years on end, without failure.

Our surveillance hard drives come have their own 3 year warranties from major manufacturers like Western Digital or Seagate.

We don't use "knock-off" hard drives.

This device can record in h.265

H.265, also known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) or MPEG-H Part 2, is the video compression standard which replaces H.264. HEVC was a collaboration by many parties including Apple, Microsoft, CIsco, Dolby, and the Moving Picture Experts Group. In comparison to H.264, H.265 offers about double the data compression ratio at the same level of video quality, which means both substantially improved video quality at the same bitrate and lower storage requirements.

H.265 saves hard drive space and increases the quality of an image by splitting the screen into a grid and only updating the sections that changed from the previous frame. This focuses nearly all of the processing power of the camera on the areas of the screen with activity. The image quality differences of H.265 is most noticeable in situations such as attempting to watch your camera remotely if your internet upload speed is slow.

You can also record in H.264 if you need backwards compatibility.

This device is ONVIF Conformant.

ONVIF is an open industry standard encoding language for the interface of IP-based physical security products. (It's what allows your IP camera, your NVR, or any other device to talk with each other - Not all manufacturers are ONVIF compatible and may leave you in a scenario where you cannot record your footage without paying a monthly fee.)

Honeywell, Panasonic, Dynacolor, Sony, Samsung, Pelco, Bosch, Axis, HikVision, Arecont Vision, are ONVIF members. Check with your specific model number from these manufacturers to confirm ONVIF compatibility.

This NVR has a Industry Leading 3 year warranty.