RELEASE NOTES

Release 3.20 of Divar XF/700 Series Control Center, Configuration Tool and Archive Player software and Divar XF/700 Series Firmware 

(c) Copyright 2010 Bosch Security Systems B.V.
All Rights Reserved.


Table of Contents
A) Installation requirements of Control Center, Configuration Tool and Archive Player software.
B) New features and improvements of Control Center, Configuration Tool and Archive Player software.
C) Known limitations of Control Center, Configuration Tool and Archive Player software.
D) Installation requirements of the Firmware
E) New features and improvements of the Firmware
F) Known limitations of the Firmware


A) Installation requirements Control Center, Configuration Tool and Archive Player software
The Divar XF/700 Series PC applications require the following minimum configuration: 

- Processor			: Intel Pentium DualCore, 3.0 GHz or faster
- RAM memory		: 2048 MB
- Free hard disk space	: 10 GB
- Graphics card		: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 or higher
- Network interface	: 10/100/1000-BaseT
- Operating System	: Windows XP (Service Pack 2) or
				  Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) or
				  Windows 7


B) This release includes the following new features and improvements:
1.	Expanded support for iSCSI disk arrays for network storage.
On Divar 700 Series hardware (with 1 GBit/s ethernet ports) iSCSI filers can be used for storage. Note that this does not work for Divar XF models.
The local and remote configuration menus provide dialogs for configuring the Divar device for recording on iSCSI filers.
Two families of filers have been verified to work:
* DSA-N2B20 and DSA-N2B40 iSCSI Disk Array Series and 
* Bosch DLA-AIOL0 1400 Series, DLA-AIOL1 1400 Series and DLA-AIOU0 1200 Series IP Video Storage arrays.

To learn more about installing and using iSCSI storage with Divar 700 Series recorders, please review the Application notes: "iSCSI configuration on Divar 700 Series recorders" and "iSCSI Target Configuration for Divar 700 Series Recorders".

The maximum size of LUNs has been increased.The LUN size limitation now is 480 million Tbyte per LUN. This used to be 2 TByte.

IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to minimize the risk of loosing video data stored on iSCSI disk arrays, customers are strongly advised to use suitable UPS equipment with iSCSI disk arrays.


2.	Upgrade of firmware over the network.
From firmware version 3.20 onwards, network firmware update is supported. 
An upgrade tool is provided that can update a batch of Divar recorders over the network.

To learn more about the Firmware Upgrade Tool, please refer to the Application note: "Using the Firmware Upgrade Tool with Divar XF and 700 Series recorders". 


3.	This firmware release supports both motion detection in the Divar XF/700 Series recorder (with the camera in Motion+ mode) or motion detection in the IP camera or encoder (IVA or Motion+ mode), though not at the same time.

To force the IP camera or encoder in motion+ mode and have detection done in the Divar XF/700 Series recorder: Define a non-empty motion detection area for this camera in the Divar XF/700 Series recorder.

To allow the camera to detect motion (using either IVA or motion+, whatever is selected in the camera using the camera web interface): Clear the motion detection area for this camera in the Divar XF/700 Series recorder completely. 

Note that for cameras in IVA mode the Divar XF/700 Series recorder does not receive and recognize IVA events but only a motion detected event.

Note that you can set the on detection mode per camera.


4.	The wrench symbol got back its original function: startup of the Configuration Tool.


C) This release includes the following known limitations:
1.	Stepping mode only available in single screen mode on Divar-2
Due to performance limitations on Divar-2, stepping mode is only available when
viewing a single camera image (single screen mode). In multi-screen mode the stepping buttons will be disabled.


2.	Stepping mode sometimes does not start on Divar-2
In some cases stepping forward or backward does not start when the step forward or step backward button is pressed. This can be solved by stepping in the other direction a few times before stepping in the desired direction.


3.	Configuration Tool for Divar-2 is not installed when installing the Divar Control Center version 3.20.
For remote configuration of a Divar-2 recorder, the Divar-2 Configuration Tool should be installed manually. This can be done prior or after installing the Divar Control Center. When the Divar-2 Configuration Tool is installed, Divar Control Center will start the Divar-2 Configuration Tool automatically (when attempting to configure a Divar-2 via the Divar Control Center).


4.	Due to the highly graphical nature of the PC application suite, in particular Control Center and Archive Player, a PC can run low on available (video) resources. This can hamper video/audio streaming and slow down (or stop) the response of the application. If the application becomes unresponsive, start up the Windows Task Manager (press CTRL+ALT+DELETE) and close down the application.


5. 	To ensure proper functioning of the PC application suite, make sure that:
* The recommended PC requirements are met,
* The latest graphics card drivers are downloaded and installed,
* The DirectX version is up to date,
* Sufficient network bandwidth is available.


6. 	To lower the required PC performance, the following measures can be taken:
* View only a limited amount of channels simultaneously e.g. do not use the 3x3 and 4x4 modes,
* Close down other applications while running the Divar XF/700 Series  software, 
* Run only one Divar XF/700 Series application at a time, 
* Use a single monitor display and limit the output resolution of the graphics card to 1024x768 pixels


7.	Divar XF/700 Series Control Center running on Vista/Aero with high frequency multi-screen switching actions can result in not responding of the Control Center. To avoid this, select the "Windows Classic" theme to limit the heavy graphical activities.


D) Installation requirements of the 3.20 Firmware
1. Upgrade procedure
When performing the upgrade, please take the following steps.
* Copy the firmware img file onto a USB stick,
* Power down the Divar XF/700 Series recorder,
* Insert the USB stick in a free USB port,
* Power up the Divar XF/700 Series recorder and accept installation of the new firmware.

NOTE: If you do not power down before inserting the USB stick, the Divar XF/700 Series recorder may return a message "Invalid Code Image".

On rare occasions the Divar XF/700 Series recorder is not able to completely upgrade the firmware.

In this case proceed as follows:
* Power down the Divar XF/700 Series recorder,
* Insert the USB stick in a free USB port,
* Press and hold down the fullscreen button and the 3X3 multiscreen button,
* Power-up the Divar XF/700 Series recorder, while keeping the buttons pressed for 10 seconds,
* The monitor shows the message: "Please wait, loading image from USB" 
* The monitor shows the question: "Do you want to install the new firmware?"
* Click the "Yes" button.
* Monitor shows the message: 
	"Updating firmware. This may take several minutes. Please wait."
* The Divar XF/700 Series recorder will reboot and the monitor will display: 	"No different image found on USB. Loading internal image"

Now the new firmware is installed and running.


2. When installing 3.20 firmware on the Divar XF/700 Series recorder, you will also need to use the accompanying PC application software release 3.20.

The following table lists the dependencies between Divar XF/700 Series recorder firmware and PC application software (PCAPPS) releases:

PC APPS release 	Compatible Divar XF/700 Series Firmware releases
1.01			1.22 and earlier
1.02			1.22 and earlier
1.21			1.22 and earlier
1.23			1.22 and earlier
2.0			2.1 and earlier
2.5			2.56 and earlier
2.51			2.56 and earlier
2.52			2.56 and earlier
2.56			2.56 and earlier
3.0			3.0 and earlier
3.1			3.12 and earlier
3.20			3.20 and earlier


3.	Do not install pre-3.1 firmware on Bosch 700 Series recorders. Older firmware is incompatible with the Bosch 700 Series hardware.


E) New features and improvements of the 3.20 Firmware
1. 	When setting back the system time more than 10 minutes will no longer lead to the erasure of recorded video data. When setting back the system time, the recorder will simply suspend recording until the system time is later than the last recorded video timestamp. At this moment recording activity is resumed.

If you do not want to wait, you will have to erase the video data manually before setting back the system time. Please note that changing the DST time has no consequence for the recorded timestamps.

Recorded timestamps are always in UTC.


F) Known limitations of the 3.20 Firmware
1. 	When using NBC series of Bosch cameras with Bosch 700/DIVAR XF Series recorders you are advised not to use the 1 IPS frame rate setting. The pre-event recording time is severely shortened and you will loose video. At 3 IPS or higher this problem will not occur.


2. Ethernet port 1 ("Connection 1" in configuration tool) has slightly more features than the (optional) Ethernet port 2 ("Connection 2" in CT): 
For Ethernet port 1 the IP address, Subnet mask, Default gateway and DNS server address plus options for DHCP or Auto DNS address can be set.
For Ethernet port 2 only the IP address, subnet mask and option for DHCP can be set. This means that on the second Ethernet port no routing to IP devices or workstations on other subnets through routers or gateways is supported.


3.	iSCSI maximum LUN size has been increased to 480 Million Terabytes.


4.	Due to design limitations the timeline in playback will show longer (up to 15 seconds) post motion event recording period than the actual duration of the recordings. When showing video at the end of such a motion event recording period, the cameo will not show any video.


5.	Due to design limitations, the playback of motion event recordings or alarm recordings will show the last picture of these recordings for a few seconds 
(as a static image) before blanking the cameo.


6.	When performing a store-set-recovery, make sure that all portals are online and in configuration mode before initiating the recovery. Video data that is on off-line disks will be lost after the recovery!
For more information on using and configuring iSCSI arrays please review the Application note: “iSCSI Configuration on Divar 700 Series recorders”.


7.	When using DHCP for giving IP addresses to network cameras, make sure that the server providing these addresses assigns a fixed IP address to the MAC addresses of the network cameras.


8. 	Due to design limitations of the text search feature, not all text messages will be shown when playing back video at any other speed than 1x.


9.	Use of IP cameras with Divar XF/700 Series recorders has been tested with camera firmware version 4.1.


10.	Due to issues in the software (camera firmware 4.10 build 42) in NBC 255 cameras, Smart Search does not work correctly with this type of camera. Some motion will go undetected. This issue will be addressed in a firmware update of the camera.


11.	SNMP support has been disabled.


12. The Divar XF/700 Series can not put easydome IP cameras in DHCP mode when configuring IP addresses of this type of camera. This limitation is due to firmware constraints in easydome IP cameras. Workaround is to use the camera web interface to enable DHCP in these cameras.

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