Tips and tricks for your UL-TECH DVR

These UL-TECH digital video recorders for security cameras are available cheaply on eBay, Amazon, etc but there are some extra features not mentioned in the instruction manuals.

I have model CCTV-4C-4S-BK but these tips should apply to all models that look the same.

Note that there are two versions of these DVRs that look the same, but have different firmware. The change over happened some time after 2023.

Desktop Application

Note that there are at least two major versions of these DVRs. Early versions require Internet Explorer but later versions work in most browsers on Microsoft Windows.

Early Versions

The DVR has an application that mimics the functionality of the menus and controls that you use on the device itself.

Unfortunately, it is an ActiveX application which means it can only be used on the outdated Internet Explorer browser.

To access the application, open Internet Explorer and navigate to the IP address of your DVR. For example, type "192.168.20.112" in the address bar and press enter.

You will need to enable unsigned ActiveX controls in Internet Explorer's options > security > custom level settings.

If you want to download files from playback you will also need to run Internet Explorer as administrator.

Update: In a recent Windows update, Internet Explorer will no longer work and instead try and open the application in Microsoft Edge. The application will work in Edge if you configure the application to load in Internet Explorer mode. This can be done by going into Edge's settings, going to the 'Default browser' settings and adding an 'Internet Explorer mode page'. Then you can enter the address of your DVR, eg. 'http://192.168.0.100/'. Note that these annoyingly expire every 30 days so will need to be added again and again as needed. I have been unable to save video files when using Edge, even when run as administrator.

Update Feb 2024: The download link for the desktop application (http://www.topslink.net/TSWebClient_EN_SetUp.exe) that appears when you first try and access it is no longer working. You can download TSWebClient_EN_SetUp.exe from here.

Later Versions

To access the application, open your preferred browser and navigate to the IP address of your DVR. For example, type "192.168.20.112" in the address bar and press enter.

You should then see a log-in page but don't log-in yet. Click the Download ActiveX link next to the Login button and download then open the downloaded file to install the desktop application.

Once installed, you can then log-in and use the desktop application.

If you get the error message "the program can't start because msvcp140.dll is missing" during installation you will need to install Visual C++ redistributables. Go to the Microsoft support page and locate the download links on the page. You will need to download and install the X86 version even if you have a 64-bit version of Windows.

You can then run again the ActiveX installation which will then uninstall the last attempt and then install again.

If you get the same error again then you might need the X64 version of the Visual C++ redistributables too.

IP Cam Viewer Lite

Early Versions

If you don't want to use UL-TECH's cloud-based service then you can use an app like IP Cam Viewer Lite to view the live feed from your DVR.

IP Cam Viewer Lite doesn't have an option for any UL-TECH devices but I found that the device "HISUNG 3016B DVR W/ RTSP Port" worked fine with the default settings.

To use this from outside of your own local network you will need to follow the instructions below for external access setup.

Later Versions

To use IP Cam Viewer Lite with later models select the make "Generic URL" and model "Generic RTSP over TCP".

For the URL enter the following, substituting your IP address or domain name if you have one, and specifying the camera number as the channel, and which stream you wish to use (0 for high quality, 1 for low quality):

rtsp://192.168.20.113:554/avstream/channel=1/stream=0.sdp

You will also need to enter a valid user name and password.

To use this from outside of your own local network you will need to follow the instructions below for external access setup.

Local network set up

By default the DVR is configured to automatically connect to your local network and your network (usually a modem/router) will assign it an IP address.

But ideally you would assign a fixed IP address (and this is required if you want to set up external access from outside of your network).

There are various ways to do this that will depend on your network set up but you would typically set an IP reservation for the DVR in your modem/router's LAN settings.

External access setup

If you want to access the desktop application outside of your local area network then you will need to set up external access.

How to do this varies based on your network setup, but you would typically need to assign the DVR a fixed IP address and then set up your modem/router's firewall or port forwarding to allow ports 80, 554 and 34567 through to the DVR.

You would also need a static IP address for your Internet service or use a dynamic DNS service such as dyndns.org.

Accounts and passwords

The default admin password is blank so if you do make your DVR available externally then you should create a password.

You may also want to create a separate account with the more limited "user" group restrictions (can only view live and playback) for use in IP Cam Viewer Lite or similar applications.