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LIVE VIDEO DISPLAY
This is the main monitoring screen.
Across the top is the status bar showing your cell (mobile) provider and signal level and WiFi signal level, time, and battery level.
Below that is your live video. You can zoom and position the video image by using pinch and drag gestures on the image area. You can also double tap to zoom in.
In the upper left of the live image is the date and time overlay, this is in the format YYYY/MM/DD and should be very close to your iPhone/iPod/iPad time (it is set automatically).
In the upper right of the the live video stream is the Monitor Status Indicator. If this is green and showing 3-4 bars then motion monitoring is active and working well. If this turns yellow, or is off, motion monitoring is disabled. Information on how to address this is on the troubleshooting page.
To the right are the motion and alert meters, the alarm status indicator, and mic button.
MOTION AND ALERT METERS
The green bar on the right above the camera icon is the motion activity meter. The height of the green bar indicates the current amount of motion. The pointer on the bar indicates the motion threshold. Anytime the green motion meter is above the motion threshold the alert meter slowly rises. When the motion meter is below the motion threshold pointer, the alert meter drops, first slowly then more rapidly the longer the motion meter remains below its threshold.
The pointer on the alert meter indicates the level necessary to trigger the alarm. If the alarm is enabled and the alert meter passes the alert threshold, the alarm will sound. The alert threshold is specified as the number of seconds of continuous motion with the motion meter above the motion threshold required to sound the alarm.
ALARM STATUS INDICATOR
Above the motion and alert meters is the alarm status indicator.
The alarm is disabled under settings. The motion and alert meters will still operate but no alarm will sound. To enable the alarm change the "Alarm Enable" switch in setup.
The alarm is on and will sound if the alert meter exceeds the alert threshold. Touch and hold for one second to turn the alarm off.
The alarm is on and will sound if the alert meter exceeds the alert threshold. The alarm is scheduled (under setup) to be disabled at the indicated time. Touch and hold for one second to turn the alarm off.
The alarm is muted and will NOT sound. Touch to turn the alarm on.
The alarm is muted and will NOT sound. The alarm is scheduled (under setup) to be enabled at the indicated time. Touch to turn the alarm on.
When the alarm is first turned on, or after the alarm sounds, it will be paused until there is no motion. This is to prevent immediate re-triggering of the alarm. There must be no motion for at least two minutes before the alarm will be enabled. At any time you can touch this to skip waiting and enable the alarm.
Motion has stopped and the alarm is still disabled. If motion remains stopped for the two minute countdown the alarm status will switch to being on and and green. If motion resumes during the countdown, the status will switch back to waiting for no motion and the countdown timer will be reset.
ALARM
When an alarm is triggered, it sounds continuously until you touch the Mute Alarm button. Touch the button to turn off the alarm and switch back to the Live Video Display.
After the alarm is muted, if the mic is off it is turned on automatically for one minute. If the mic is already on it stays on.
MENU BUTTONS
At the bottom of the Live Video Display are the menu buttons. These hide automatically after a few seconds of inactivity to prevent you from accidentally pressing them.
To reveal the menu buttons, tap anywhere on the screen.
Choosing clock from the menu switches the display to a simple clock. In the upper right is the Monitor Status Indicator. You can adjust the brightness by touching and dragging left and right. A single tap switches back to the Live Video Display.
The Border button turns on and off the border display. The border is shown as a green overlay and can be adjusted by touching and sliding side to side. Motion in the green border area is ignored.
The Motion button turns on and off the motion display. Motion is shown in red. You can use this to help set the motion threshold.
The Lock button locks the SAMi app. While the SAMi app is locked, motion detection is still running. Locking the SAMi app prevents accidental changes to the app while you have the iPhone/iPod/iPad device in your pocket. While the app is locked the screen is dimmed to save power. If the alarm is triggered, your device will vibrate in addition to sounding the alarm.
RECORDINGS
Recordings are made in the SAMi camera and then transferred automatically to your iPhone/iPod/iPad. These recordings are organized in groups shown here. Recordings can appear in multiple groups, for example a recording that has been locked will appear in the All Recordings group and the Locked Recordings group. If you delete a recording, it will be removed from all groups except the Deleted Recordings group and the SAMi Camera SD card group.
New recordings contains any recordings that have transferred since you last after the last time the recordings menu was viewed.
All recordings contains all recordings (except deleted recordings).
Recordings made in the last 24 hours contains recordings whose start date and time are within the last 24 hours.
Alarm recordings contains all recordings that are marked with the alarm tag. Recordings are automatically marked with the alarm tag if the alarm sounded near the recording time. You can also manually mark recordings with the alarm tag.
Locked recordings contains all recordings that are marked with the lock tag. Locked recordings are never deleted. Alarm tagged recordings are automatically locked. You can also manually marks recording with the alarm tag.
Recordings older than a week contains recordings older than a week that have not been deleted.
Deleted recordings contains all recordings that you have marked for deletion. Recordings included here can be recovered (un-deleted).
Recordings on SAMi camera SD card contains all recordings still on the camera's microSD card. This includes recordings that have already been transferred. You can remove the microSD card (make sure the camera is off first) and transfer these recordings to your computer using the SD card adaptor in your supplies packet. If a recording has been deleted from your iPhone/iPod/iPad, it can be recovered from here.
Hidden recordings (shorter than xx secs) contains all recordings shorter than the “Hide Shorter Than” selection in Settings.
Each recording appears as a separate entry, listed in order with the most recent recording at the top. Each entry includes the date, time, and duration of the recording. A recording that has been transferred to your iPhone/iPod/iPad has a thumbnail and can be played immediately. A recordings that is in process of being transferred shows a circular progress indicator. A recording that is on the Camera's microSD card shows the SAMi camera icon.
Recordings marked with the alarm tag have the purple bell icon. Locked recordings show the black padlock. Below these icons is a horizontal progress bar showing how much of the recording has been viewed.
Recording lengths range from 10 seconds to 300 seconds (5 minutes). If motion continues longer than 5 minutes, SAMi creates multiple, sequential recordings.
To play a recording, touch it. If the recording is on the iPhone.iPod/iPad it will play immediately. If not, it will first transfer then play. Press the “Older” and “Newer” buttons to skip back and forward through the recordings. Press the “Recordings” label in the upper left when you want to return to the list of recordings.
Touch the screen anywhere to show the playback transport controls.
Important recordings should be locked to keep them from being automatically deleted to make space for new recordings.
You can also touch the delete button to delete recordings you don't want to keep. They will be deleted once you exit back to the recordings list. If you change your mind before exiting then touch the "Will Delete" button to undo. Note that deleting is entirely optional; unlocked recordings will eventually be deleted for you.
You can also manually add and remove the alarm tag.
To email a recording, touch the Email button. You will be prompted for the email address. Note that you must have an email account set up on your iPhone/iPod/iPad for this to work. Instructions on setting up an email account are here. If the recording is long, it may be split into parts.
Once you are done playing the recordings, touch "Recordings" in the upper left to return to the list of recordings. Your most recently played recording will be at the top with the recording time in bold.
To delete a single recording, swipe from right to left on the entry you wish to delete. Then touch the displayed "Delete" button. Remember, recordings are marked as deleted, but not actually deleted until space for new recordings is needed. If you do this in the deleted recording group, the recording will be removed from all groups except the Recordings on SAMi camera SD card group.
Touching "Edit" in the upper right switches the recording list into edit mode. Touch recordings to individually select and deselect them. You may also use the selection buttons in the lower left to select all or just unlocked.
Once recordings are selected the operation buttons in the lower right become active. You can use these to tag or delete the selected recordings.
HELP
Touch "Help" for links to the online User Manual, installation instructions, and the Support Center.
If you experience a problem, you can help us help you by sending a log file. Press the “Send log…” button in the upper right to compose an email with an attached app log file. Please edit the email to include additional information that describes the issue. The log file only includes information about the operation of the app; no recordings of any kind are included.
SETTINGS
Settings are used to add, remove, and manage your SAMi camera as well as customizing the behavior of the app. Press the Reset button in the upper right to restore all the settings to their defaults. This does not change your camera settings or affect your recordings.
DEVICES SECTION
The Cameras section lists all your camera options. The cameras on your iPhone/iPod/iPad are always listed and you can use these cameras for trying out the app or for demonstration purposes. Note that the SAMi app only makes recordings from the SAMi network camera. It does not make recordings from the built in cameras .
ADDING A SAMI-3 CAMERA
If you are installing a new camera, follow the instructions in the Quick Start Guide. If you are connecting the app to a camera that was previously set up, you will be prompted for the passcode. When you have completed step 4 in the Quick Start Guide, select "Add SAMi-3 Network Camera".
The SAMi app will search for the camera on your network. If the search takes longer than 30 seconds, press cancel and confirm your iPhone/iPod/iPad is connected to the correct network and that the camera is on and connected to your router with an Ethernet wire; try again.
Once connected the app will prompt you to select the Wi-Fi network you want to use and for the network password. Once complete your camera is ready for use.
You will then see the camera listed under the devices section. The check mark indicates that the SAMi camera is selected, you can change cameras simply by touching them.
ALARMS SECTION
Enable Alarm – The normal setting is ON. OFF prevents the alarm from ever sounding. When the alarm is set to OFF, the motion and alarm meters will still show activity, but recordings will not be marked when the alarm meter passes the threshold.
Motion Threshold – Sets the motion threshold, which is represented by the arrow to the right of the green meter on the live video screen. Normally this should not be adjusted; the default setting of 25% works for most cases. After adjusting this setting you can turn on the Motion view of the live view screen to see the source of the motion in red and how much motion the camera is recognizing. The green meter will be displaying the value of that motion and you can then determine if the threshold is set appropriately. If you set this to 100% the alarm will never sound.
Alarm Threshold – Sets the alert threshold, which is represented by the arrow to the right of the red meter on the live video screen. This is the most important control for the alarm. The setting is calibrated in time. A setting of “20s” means that the alarm will sound when the motion meter stays above its threshold for 20 seconds. A lower threshold number causes the alarm to sound faster but might allow more false alarms. A higher threshold number might have less false alarms but also might miss shorter or less continuous events.
Sensitivity Boost – Normally this should be left at the default setting of 0%. Boosting the sensitivity does two things. It increases the sensitivity to very small movements. It also makes the Alert Meter less responsive to pauses in motion. Increase the Sensitivity Boost if you are trying to pick up very subtle movements and/or the motion you are looking for is not completely continuous.
Max Pause Time – This limits how long the alarm can stay in the “paused” state while there is motion. Normally this is set to “inf” (infinity); the alarm stays paused forever if the motion never stops for more than two minutes. You can reduce this to as short as 10 seconds.
Border Size – Sets the size of the motion border region. The border defines the area that is the central monitored area for the camera; everything outside the border is the border region. Motion that occurs in the border region does not trigger the alarm but it still triggers recordings. A higher setting increases the size of the border region, which decreases the size of the central monitored area. You can also see and adjust the border from the live view screen by touching the “Border” button.
Smart Edge - This is a specialized use of the border region. If motion occurs in the border area the alarm system behaves as if the alarm has been triggered. This will set the alarm state to "Off waiting for no motion". It will stay in this state until there is no motion anywhere. Then it will rearm. The intent is to automatically suppress the alarm if a caregiver comes into the camera's field of view. Caution, when you use this feature you lose the feature of ignoring motion in the border region.
Beep on Camera Fault – This setting causes a periodic beep alert to sound if SAMi is not sensing motion. The normal setting is ON. This also enables the beep if you get an iOS notification that pauses the SAMi app, for example a battery low warning. Note that the alert will only beep if the alarm is enabled or if the mic is on.
Beep on App Not Active – When on you will get an alert if the SAMi app stops running. If you touch the alert the SAMi app will restart. Note that if you immediately exit the SAMi app again you will not get another alert; the app must be running for a while for this alert to re-arm. Note also that we recommend using “Guided Access Mode” instead of this alert if you can as “Guided Access Mode” will automatically restart the app if it is stopped.
SCHEDULE SECTION
You can use this section to configure the alarm to automatically turn on and off on a schedule. When the schedule is enabled, the alarm turns off at the Alarm Off time and turns on at the Alarm On time. This is independant of the recording schedule.
Note that you can still manually turn the alarm on and off at any time by touching the alarm status indicator on the live video screen.
AUDIO SECTION
Use these volume bars to specify the microphone and alarm volumes.
Alarm Volume sets how loud the alarm sounds.
Note that if you set this to zero the alarm will not sound and you will not see the alarm mute button but recordings will still be marked. This is useful if you don’t want to be disturbed but you still want help finding the potentially important recordings.
Alarm Sound gives you a choice of six different sounds.
Vibrate on Alarm (only available on phones) enables and disables the vibrate function.
Microphone Boost increases the microphone level for both the live view and recordings. This increases the microphone sensitivity so you can hear quieter sounds but also may cause distortion with louder sounds.
Microphone Noise Reduction: This will reduce the background noise you hear when the room is quiet.
VIDEO SECTION
Minimize Video Delay - Normally this is off and the live video delay is automatically adjusted longer and shorter to reduce video dropouts. Turning this on disables the automatic adjustment keeping the video delay as short as possible. This also reduces the delay before the alarm sounds. Note that this should only be enabled if your SAMi camera is connected to your router with an Ethernet wire or if you have a very strong Wi-Fi signal.
DISPLAY SECTION
Screen Timeout to Clock – When this is set to ON, the display automatically switches to the Clock screen after the specified Timeout Delay.
Timeout Delay – This setting is calibrated in time. For example, a setting of 60s means that the display switches to the Clock screen after 60 seconds.
Large Thumbnails – (iPad only) This increases the size of the recording still images in the recording browser.
RECORDINGS SECTION
Enable Automatic Recording Transfers – If turned off recordings will not be transferred to your iPhone/iPod/iPad. This setting does not suppress recordings being made, only the transfer. Recordings will still exist on the SD card. This feature is useful if more than one iPhone/iPad/iPod is used to run the SAMi app but you would like to have all of the recordings on one particular device.
Storage Limit – This setting allows you to limit the amount of storage used for SAMi recordings. When the limit is reached the app will delete recordings starting with the oldest recordings in the deleted folder. If there are no more recordings marked as deleted and space is still needed, unlocked recordings will be deleted starting with the oldest.
Hide Shorter Than – This hides recordings shorter than the specified time from the general recordings folders. Usually very short recordings are not useful so this reduces the number of recordings you need to scroll through. The hidden recordings can still be found in the “Hidden Recordings” group.
iCloud Backup – iCloud backups are used to restore your data to your iPhone/iPad/iPod if you need to replace it. Normally SAMi recordings are not included in your iCloud backup as they use a lot of data. You can choose to include just the locked recordings or all recordings. Note that this only allows the recordings to be backed up and restored, there is no way to view them through your iCloud account.
CAMERA SETTINGS
The camera settings are stored on the SAMi camera. If you have multiple iPhones/iPods/iPads connected to this camera, a change made by any of them will be reflected on all of them. This is unlike the non-camera settings (such as the Motion and Alert thresholds) which can be set individually for each iPhone/iPod/iPad.
Camera Status - This indicates if the camera is online (connected to the SAMi app) or offline (not connected). Press the “Remove” button to remove the camera (for example if you need to replace the camera with a new one).
Camera Password - This shows the current camera password. This password is required to connect another iPhone/iPod/iPad to your camera. Press “Edit” to change the password.
Camera Wi-Fi [ssid] - The “ssid’ is the Wi-Fi network the camera is currently configured to use. The signal quality at the camera is to the right. Press “Change” to configure the SAMi camera to use a different Wi-Fi network or to update the Wi-Fi network password.
Night Vision Mode - The default (and recommended setting) is “Auto+”. “Auto+” disables the IR filter giving you excellent motion detection performance both during the day and at night. The trade-off is the daylight colors are not accurate. “Auto” mode enables the switching of the IR filter and restores the color fidelity. You will hear a “click” as the filter switches on and off with changing light levels. “On” is identical to Auto+ but is always in black and white. Off is not recommended as night vision will be disabled.
IR Illuminator Mode - The IR illuminators are the dim red lights around the lens used to light the room when it is dark. The default setting of “Auto” will switch the lights on and off with the light level. The “Off” setting keeps these light off all the time and is useful when you are using the external SAMi IR Light. The “On” setting will turn the lights on all the time. This can be useful in rare cases where the camera is sensing the room is light when it isn’t light enough for good motion sensing. If you use this setting be aware the IR illuminators may wear out prematurely and be sure the Night Vision Mode is set to “Auto+” or “On”.
Record Mode - The default setting of “Auto” records automatically when there is movement. “On” always records resulting in continuous, back-to-back five-minute recordings. “Off” disables recordings.
Record Threshold - This allows you to control the amount of motion that is required to start and continue a recording. The lower the setting the less motion is required. Setting the value low will result in more and longer recordings. Setting the value higher will result in fewer and shorter recordings. If the movement you are interested in capturing is very small (like foot wagging, or finger tapping) then set this very low. Otherwise, the default setting of 20% is usually best. Please be aware that setting this too high may result in missing events, including alarmed events.
Record Schedule - Press “Edit” to control the times the camera can make recordings. By default, the camera is set to record all day, every day. You may set up to 4 individual recording stop and start times and days of the week. The recordings will still only be made based on the record mode criteria, but recordings will not be made during the scheduled off times. This is commonly used to stop recordings from being made during the day. The multiple schedules allow you to accommodate differences like weekend versus weekday schedules, or nap times.
To start using the scheduling system touch the Schedule 1 line. This shows the default setting of every day, all day. To set specific start and stop times, touch the green “all day” button.
This will display the spinners for setting the start recording and stop recording times. You may also touch the days of the week buttons to deselect or select the days the schedule applies to. Select the back button in the upper right to create the schedule. To disable a schedule, select the schedule, then touch “disable”, and then select the back button.
Here we can see that the weekend days are deselected, so recording will start at 9PM (21:00) and will stop at 7am (07:00) on weekdays only. You can now select "Back" in the upper left to return to the list of schedules and select a new schedule to set.
Here is schedule 2 set to accommodate a later bedtime and wake up time on weekends (still probably too early for teenagers).
This is the modified schedule. Be careful, it is easy to make a mistake and possible miss recordings. Also, do not set up overlapping schedules that are both active. If you do the behavior is unpredictable.
SD Card shows the number of recordings on the camera’s microSD card. Press “Format” to erase all the recordings on the camera. Use this with caution, as any recordings that have not been transferred to your iPhone/iPod/iPad will be erased and cannot be recovered easily. Note that this is a "quick format". It may be possible to recover recordings after formatting using forensic software tools.
Dropbox - This lets you manage the automatic upload to Dropbox feature. When connected to Dropbox the SAMi camera will automatically upload all recordings to Dropbox as they are made. It does this even when the SAMi app is not running. Note that if your Dropbox account runs out of storage these uploads will stop until you make additional space available.
Internet Viewing - This lets you manage the viewing over the internet feature. See here for details.
Power Light Flash on Internet Viewer - This is a security feature that flashes the power light whenever the camera is being watched remotely over the internet.
IP Address - By default the camera uses DHCP to automatically get an IP address. This is an advanced feature that lets you set a static IP address for the camera in the rare case it is necessary.
Restart Camera - This lets you remotely restart the camera (the same as unplugging it and then plugging it back in).
Factory Reset - This will return all settings on the camera to the factory defaults and format the SD card. Use this if instructed by customer support or if you are transferring ownership. After the camera is reset it will be removed from the SAMi app. In order to use the camera again you will need to perform the "Add Camera" steps again.
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