How to Set the Date and Time on a Recorder
The correct date and time on your recorder are essential for accurate recordings, playback, event timestamps, and exported video evidence. If the date or time is incorrect, it can make it difficult to find recordings and may affect the reliability of saved footage.
Choose Your Recorder Model
The steps to update the date and time vary depending on your recorder model. Select your recorder below to view the correct instructions for your system.
Swann Security Recorders
What to do if date and time are not updating automatically
- DVRs are able to automatically adjust the date and time if they have a connection to the internet or to a local time server if you are operating one. Make sure your DVR is connected to a router first.
- Check the NTP setting of the system. By default, the Server Address is ‘pool.ntp.org’. This server is inactive; in the meantime, you can use: time.google.com
If your DVR does not have internet connection, we recommend that you set up the following manually:
What time zone to set if you are unable to find your city
Time zone is based on GMT or UTC. Options range from -12:00 to +12:00.
Here are the conversions for common regions if you are unable to find your city in the dropdown:
| Time Zone | GMT |
|---|---|
| Pacific Standard Time | GMT -8:00 |
| Mountain Standard Time | GMT -7:00 |
| Central Standard Time | GMT -6:00 |
| Eastern Standard Time | GMT -5:00 |
| United Kingdom | GMT +0:00 |
| Australian Western Standard Time | GMT +8:00 |
| Australian Central Western Standard Time | GMT +8:45 |
| Australian Central Standard Time | GMT +9:30 |
| Australian Eastern Standard Time | GMT +10:00 |
| Australian Central Time | GMT +10:30 |
If you are not in the regions above, use Google to convert your location's time zone in GMT or UTC format. E.g. Pacific Standard Time in UTC is -8:00.
What to do if time is 1 hour ahead or behind: enable DST
Daylight Savings Time is applicable to the following regions where the clocks offset automatically by 1 hour.
- Access the Menu by right-clicking on the recorder, then go to System > Date and Time
- Tick the box beside Enable DST.
- Time Offset is 1Hour.
- Set DST Mode to Week.
- Then set the following Start and End Times based on your region.
| Region | Start Time | End Time |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Oct. The 1st Sun. 02:00:00 | Apr. The 1st Sun. 03:00:00 |
| USA | Mar. The 2nd Sun. 02:00:00 | Nov. The 1st Sun. 02:00:00 |
| United Kingdom | Mar. The last Sun. 01:00:00 | Oct. The last Sun. 02:00:00 |
HomeSafe View Recorders
DISPLAY > LIVE > Date Format
- This appears for NVR-7450.
- This will change the date and time on the live feed which will of course, also affect the recordings.
- Options to choose from:
- MM/DD/YYYY
- YYYY-MM-DD
- DD/MM/YYYY
SYSTEM > GENERAL > Date Format
- This is for the following recorders: DVR-1590, 1600, 4575/4580/4590, 4780, 4980.
- This affects the way you search on the unit.
- Affected menus are Events, Quick Shot, or Log; basically, those that have a calendar icon when doing a search for recorded videos or images.
- Options to choose from:
- MM/DD/YY
- YY-MM-DD
- DD/MM/YY