Uhoo Manual

Introduction

Ness Corporation’s uHoo smart video doorbell offers you the comfort of knowing who is at your door no matter where you happen to be. Take the call in high definition video and seamless two-way audio from the comfort of your couch, when travelling abroad or when you are hard at work.

uHoo video doorbell is battery operated and needs no wires so installation could not be simpler. When paired with the uHoo app, it can notify everyone in the family that someone is at the door. uHoo will take a snapshot of the caller (premium version) and ring your phone with along with the snapshot so you can see who is calling and provides you the option to answer the call or pass it on to another family member if you are busy. uHoo can also prompt the caller to leave a video message if the call is unanswered for later retrieval anywhere anytime (premium).

For security, uHoo can even take a snapshot of a person approaching or passing your door using its inbuilt motion sensor. The snapshots are uploaded to your uHoo Cloud account and into your gallery (premium version) just in case it is a face you need to remember.  A great security feature of the uHoo is that a visitor cannot tell if you are at home or not when you answer a call, a potential thief can no longer “case” your house to check if you are not there and will now just move on when you answer a call. You have the added bonus of a snapshot that you can share with police should any trouble occur in your neighbourhood.

The uHoo app also allows you to record video on demand or take a snapshot during a call which is then automatically uploaded to your gallery (premium version).

All Snapshots and Video are time and date stamped in your gallery and you can share the images via email or messaging services or send them to the storage of your choice for later viewing on a larger screen (premium version).

 

How uHoo works

When the Doorbell button on your uHoo is pressed your uHoo connects to the uHoo Cloud Server via your Home Router WiFi connection which can then direct the video call to your phone which may be anywhere in the world (as long as your phone  has a Data connection using either Cellular or Wifi).

Video and sound are streamed in real time to your phone so you can answer the call and speak to the caller in a full handsfree mode.

For convenience your uHoo is fully battery operated using 3 AA batteries which will give you from 1 to 3 years of battery life depending on usage. To conserve and maintain the extended battery life, power saving strategies are used by uHoo which you should be aware of, these include;

• When idle, uHoo is in a low power state with Wifi turned off.
• *When a visitor approaches uHoo the motion sensor will detect them within 1 to 2 metres and can take a snapshot of the visitor (optional in menu), this can be seen by the flashing of the two white LED’s on uHoo.
• ^When a visitor presses the doorbell another snapshot is taken of the visitor and the Doorbell is sounded locally (Ding Dong), the uHoo will now turn on its wifi and connect to your home router this can take up to 10 seconds, once connected uHoo then makes a connection to the uHoo cloud server and the server will call all phones which are currently online this could take up to another 5 seconds depending on your phones connection.
• During this connection period the Doorbell Light will flash slowly to let your visitor know that the call is in progress.
• If the call is answered by you the uHoo will operate in full handsfree mode so the visitor can just talk as normal and the two lights on the uHoo will be on during the call so uHoo can be used at night.
• If the call is not answered by you then uHoo will wait a fixed period of time and then ask the user to leave a message if they want to.
• At the end of the call answered or unanswered, uHoo will remain online to upload any snapshots or video’s that it has in memory, this is signified by the Doorbell Light remaining on steady and the two illuminating LED’s turned off, upload of videos and snapshots is a variable time depending on how many there are to send and your internet upload connection speed.
• Once complete uHoo will power down to a low power state.

*Note – Motion Detection,  the motion detector once triggered will go into a 5 minute sleep mode so that constant movement will not continually trigger snapshots and waste battery power.

The uHoo will only allow a maximum of 10 motion detected snapshots to be taken every 24 hours to conserve battery life.

^Note – The Motion detector speeds the wake up process of uHoo, if your motion detector is in a 5 minute sleep mode because of a previous motion detection the “Ding Dong” sound from a Doorbell press could be delayed up to 2 seconds while the uHoo wakes up from the button press.

During a call you can take a snapshot of the visitor at any time by pressing the Camera Snap button in your App or you can record the whole video call by pressing Camera record icon in your App (Premium version)

You can also mute your microphone should you wish to just view the video in a Privacy mode, during this time you can still hear the sound coming from your uHoo microphone.

Your uHoo App will notify you of any new available Snapshots or Video and you can view these in your App (Premium Version). Once the images have been downloaded to your phone from the uHoo cloud server they are stored on your phone as standard MP4 video and JPG picture files and you can copy and share them however you like, this will allow you to copy them to a computer for viewing on a larger monitor if you like.

By using the uHoo Free app you can receive a video call anywhere you like on your phone without incurring any extra charges, if however you would like to be able to view snapshots or video then the uHoo Premium app has a small subscription fee to cover the cost of storage on the uHoo server.  You will note that the uHoo Free app will still show that snapshots and video are available but you cannot view them, if you choose to upgrade then you will be able to view a limited number of previously captured snapshots and video which have been stored on the server so you will get the benefit of the upgrade immediately with some images in your history.

You can have a mix of Premium and Free users connect to your uHoo so that anyone can receive a call and you do not then have to pay for all users only those that wish to view snapshots and video.

 

Screen 1 – Main Screen

 

1. Cloud Connection – When this is Green you are connected to the uHoo Server, you will only receive calls when you are connected to the server. When this is Orange or Grey you have no connection to the server, check that you have an Internet connection on your phone and make sure that you have the correct uHoo account login details in your Account Settings.
2. Menu Bar – Pressing this will open the Menu ( see next pages )
3. Battery Display – This is the battery state of your uHoo’s AA batteries. Your App will warn you when its batteries are low and need replacing.
4. Snapshot Gallery – This will open your gallery of snapshot thumbnails, if there is a number displayed as well then this is the number of unviewed or new snapshots
5. Message Gallery – This will open the page which will show every call that has been made from the uHoo and will also allow you to view any Video Messages or recorded video.
6. Volume Slider (Android only) – You can change the volume of your phones’ speaker during a video call.  For Apple phones you will need to use your normal Volume Up Down controls.
7. Mute – You can mute your phones’ microphone during a call for Privacy, this will not affect the microphone of the uHoo and you can still hear what is coming from your uHoo.
8. Snapshot Button – During a video call you can press this button to take a single snapshot of the current video display which you can later retrieve from your gallery.
9. Video Record Button – Pressing this button at any time during a video call will record the whole of the video call from the start i.e. right from the answering of the call, this allows you to capture all of the video if you had forgotten or had not thought to press the button earlier. The video recording will end when the call is ended, pressing the button again will not stop the recording.

 

Screen 2 – Menu Page

10. My uHoo’s – This is the Name that you gave your uHoo during the setup Wizard e.g. Front Door, Holiday House, Smith St, etc. If you have logged out of your Account or you have deleted your account then you can use this button to start the Setup Wizard and program your uHoo.
11. Account Settings – This is the Master email Address that was used to setup your uHoo, it is highly recommended that you use an email address that is secure and you always have access to, if you forget your login details they will be sent to this address. If you have logged out of your Account and no User email is shown here then use this button to log back in with your User Name and Password.  You must select if you are the Master User or not, if you are not the Master User then you need to enter the email address (User Name) of the Master user that was used to setup the uHoo as well as your User Name and Password.
12. User Manager – You can add (or delete)   more than one phone to answer your uHoo by creating extra Users (see User Page for more detail).
13.  My Connection – This shows which wifi router your uHoo is connected to, should you wish to change routers you will need to press this button and follow the prompts  ( Screen 13A. at end of manual)
14. uHoo Mic Volume – This changes the sensitivity of the microphone in the uHoo , be careful to not set this too high if the uHoo is used where there is a lot of ambient noise such as road noise as you only want to pick up the sound of a visitors voice and not the background noise. You can do this during a live call if desired.
15. uHoo Speaker Volume – This changes the volume of the uHoo’s inbuilt speaker, you may need to vary this volume if a visitor cannot hear you. You can do this during a live call if desired.
16. uHoo Snapshot – The uHoo can take a snapshot when it detects movement in front of it, i.e. somebody approaching.  Turning this on will use more battery power in high traffic areas, so always make sure you use Lithium batteries.  High traffic areas will cause a lot of nuisance snapshots so use this where appropriate.  Note that the snapshots will only be enabled after the next call is made as your app needs to tell you uHoo about the change in the next call

 

 

Screen 3 – Menu (scroll down)

17. Resolution Mode – Select the quality of your video stream and your manual Snapshot, Medium resolution is an equivalent 480P and High is equivalent to 720P.   Note that the snapshot taken when the button is pressed is always a Medium Resolution file.  Be careful to only select High resolution if you know that your internet connection is fast enough to stream a high resolution video.
     
    Note – This button may not appear on your uHoo App until you have made a successful call and answered it with your App as the information about your uHoo is sent during a call.
     
18. Daylight Saving – Your snapshots are saved with a Time and Date, select this button On if you need to change the time forward one hour to suit daylight saving time.
19. About uHoo – This is the current Firmware Version of your uHoo and of your App.  Your uHoo will automatically update it’s firmware over the air when an update is available.  If you have any issues with your uHoo and you need to contact our Customer Service team they will ask you the Version number of your App and uHoo.
     
    Note – The Firmware version of your uHoo will not appear here until a successful video call is made to your App as the firmware information is contained within the video call data that is sent.
     
20. Log Out Account – If you want to log into another uHoo or if you do not want to receive calls from your uHoo you can logout of your current account here.
21. Delete Account – If you want to clear your uHoo and re-use it you must clear your existing account on the server as the MAC address ( unique identifier found on the back label) for your uHoo is stored and you cannot set your uHoo up again without clearing it. You should only need to delete your account if you want to have a new Master User i.e. a different email address.
22. Exit Application – Your uHoo app is always running in the background so you can receive calls at any time, if you want to stop the app you can easily exit using this button.

 

Screen 4 – Messages

23. You can view the details of all answered calls on this screen, a Green handset indicates the calls that were answered and a Red handset indicates unanswered calls.
24. An Orange bar indicates that there is a video that has not been viewed
25. To view a video press this play button, the video is downloaded to your phone before viewing and will take some time to load, please wait after you have pressed the play button for the video to start.
26. You can delete any video’s or snapshots with this button
27. You can view the snapshot here if you like or from the Snapshot gallery.

 

Screen 5 – Snapshots

27. Snapshot – when orange you are in the Snapshot thumbnail Gallery, this will display all snapshots taken either by the Motion sensor, the Doorbell Button being pressed or the Snapshot button in the app.
28. Video Gallery – When orange you are in the Video thumbnail Gallery, the thumbnail may be the snapshot which was taken when the Doorbell button was pressed i.e. the start of the video call otherwise it will be a snapshot from the start of the video when you pressed the Video Record Button.
29. Thumbnail – To view a full screen of the image tap on the thumbnail. This will also display the Date and Time when the snapshot was taken.
30. Orange box – An orange box indicates that the snapshot has not been previously viewed and therefore is not downloaded to your phone, tap on the thumbnail to download and view.
     
    Note – We endeavour to make the snapshot gallery chronologically ordered with the most recent snapshots appearing at the top of the list however if you have very many snapshots stored in your uHoo due to prolonged periods without making a call the order may appear slightly confused, this is because the snapshots are only uploaded to the server from your uHoo at the end of a call in blocks of 8 or 10 (depending on size of the snapshot files). So a new snapshot that happens at the next call will appear at the top of the gallery but older snapshots which have been queued to upload will get uploaded at each subsequent call until all snapshots have been uploaded from the uHoo memory.

    The reason that the uHoo will not upload all snapshots in memory at one time is that it may prematurely deplete your batteries due to the extra load placed on the batteries to upload files. The only time your uHoo fully powered and able to upload snapshots is at the end of a call, otherwise your uHoo is normally inactive in a battery saving low power mode when idle.
     

 

Screen 6 – Incoming Call Window

31. The name displayed here will be the name that you gave your uHoo in the initial setup wizard always followed by the word uHoo.  E.g. If you gave it the name “Home” then the display will say Home uHoo  or  Front Door  will read Front Door uHoo.
32. Snapshot of the caller – The Snapshot taken by uHoo when the doorbell button was pressed will be sent to all phones so that you can view who is calling before you answer or decline. ( Premium Version only )
33. Answer – Press the Green Handset to answer an incoming Call. Note that if multiple uHoo’s are logged in to the uHoo then the only the first to answer will take the video call, you cannot have concurrent calls to multiple handsets.
34. Decline – You can press the Red Handset to Decline the call, this will just stop the ringing at that phone, if more than one phone is logged into the uHoo then all other phones will continue to ring until there is an answer or they also choose to decline or the uHoo cancels the call to a video message after a fixed time.

 

Screen 7 – Call in progress Window

35. Video Window – The live stream video of the caller appears in this window, note the aspect ratio of the video will change slightly between Medium and High Resolution settings.
36. Phone Volume – For convenience during a call you can turn the speaker volume of your handset up and down with this slider (Android only) . For Apple phones you will need to use your normal Volume Up Down controls.
37.  Mute – You can mute your phones’ microphone during a call for Privacy, this will not affect the microphone of the uHoo and you can still hear what is coming from your uHoo.
38. Snapshot Button – During a video call you can press this button to take a single snapshot of the video which you can later retrieve from your gallery. ( Premium Version Only )
39. Video Record Button – Pressing this button during a video call will record the whole of the video call from the start i.e. right from the answering of the call, this allows you to capture all of the video if you had forgotten or had not thought to press the button.
     
    Note – The video recording will end when the call is ended, pressing the button again will not stop the recording. (Premium Version Only)
     
40.  Hang Up – You can end your video call at any time by pressing this button.

 

 

Screen 8 – User Manager Window

 

When you press the User Manager Button in the Menu you will be given this screen.

 

41. Username – Give your extra User a unique Username for logging in.
42. Password –  Give your User a Password, there is no restrictions on the size of the password
43. Video/Snapshot Button – You can give your extra User the right to view Video’s and Snapshots or you can disallow them if you wish.  Note that a User must be using the Premium App to view Snapshots and Video, if you don’t allow them to view snapshots or video and they have a Premium App they will still get the PreView before answer thumbnail for an incoming call and they can still Press the Snapshot or Video Button during a call to record images and video.
44. Save – Once you are happy with the new User details press this button to Save the User to the Server.
45. Delete – You can delete a previously programmed User using this button.
46. User ID – You can add up to 3 unique ID’s, if you have more than 3 extra potential Users then you can still allow them access by using the same Username and Password for another User.

 

Screen 9 – Free App

 

The Free App allows you to answer video calls from your uHoo there are some small differences between the Free App screen and the Premium App screen.

47. Snapshot Gallery Button – The number of new snapshots will still appear on the Button in the Free Version however you cannot view the Gallery or snapshots when you press this button.  Pressing this button will give you a Prompt Message about going Premium.
48. Message Gallery Button – the number of new messages will still appear on the Button in the Free Version however you cannot view the Gallery or videos when you press this button.  Pressing this button will give you a Prompt Message about going Premium.
49. Snapshot Button – This is not active in the Free Version. Pressing this button will give you a Prompt Message about going Premium.
50. Video Record Button – This is not active in the Free Version. Pressing this button will give you a Prompt Message about going Premium.

 

Screen 9 – Free App Incoming Call

51. Incoming Call screen – You cannot view the Preview snapshot of the caller in the Free Version but you can still answer or decline an incoming call (screen 10 )

 

Screen 11 – Firmware Update

52. Your uHoo will prompt you when there is a newer version of Firmware to apply to your uHoo, because the uHoo is battery powered and not normally powered on it can only do this once it has made a call and communicated with the server (uHoo is powered on) and it will show this window at the end of a video call. Firmware updates may include new features or firmware fixes. It is strongly advised that you always keep your uHoo up to date as it may become incompatible with later releases of the App. The Firmware update will occur at the end of the next call, after you have agreed to an update it may take up to 3 minutes to download from the server and apply, during this time the uHoo will be inactive (you cannot make calls) and the Doorbell light will remain on for the duration of the call. You can force the update immediately after you have agreed to the update by just making a video call, answering it with you app and then hanging up then the update will occur.

    Your uHoo will most likely want to do its first Firmware update once you have done your initial setup and made your first test call, you should always agree to this update to ensure your new product is correctly up to date. If you have any issues when you first setup your uHoo our customer service team will advise you that you must do the update if you notified at setup time otherwise they cannot be certain what issue may be affecting your uHoo.

 

Screen 12 & 13 – Logging Back in

If you have logged out of your uHoo Account Account and no User email is shown in your Menu under Account Settings then you will use this button to log back into your uHoo into a different uHoo. To do so you must have a User Name and Password.

 

Screen 12 – Logging into your uHoo using a Master Account

 

53. Make sure this slider is Green for Master
54. Use the email Address (Username) that your uHoo was setup with.
55. Password – Enter your setup password
56. If you have forgotten your password it will be sent only to the Master email address.

 

Screen 13 – Logging into your uHoo using a User Account

57. Make sure this slider is Red for a User
58. Email – This must be the Master email Address
59. Username – This is the Username used when setting up the account
60. Password – Enter your setup Password
61. If you have forgotten your password it will be sent only to the Master email address.

 

Miscellaneous

 

1. Batteries – We recommend that you only use the Energizer AA Lithium Batteries as supplied with the product; use of any other battery will drastically reduce battery life.  In an emergency if you cannot obtain Lithium batteries then you can use alkaline batteries in the short term until you can get some Lithium batteries.

Lithium Batteries may be purchased online from nesscorporation.com.au.

2. Reset Button – The reset button is located between the batteries in the back of the uHoo you may be prompted to press this button if you need to change Routers or during initial setup, you can just use the end of the Allen key supplied to press the button.
    
   Note – When pressing the button the batteries must be in place i.e. Do Not Remove the batteries to get access to the button, if the batteries are not in place pressing the button will do nothing!
    
   Warning – If your uHoo has been setup already DO NOT PRESS the RESET BUTTON unless prompted by your app, pressing the button will delete all of your setup data and server information and you will be required to setup your uHoo again.
    
3. Reprogramming a Previously programmed uHoo.
   When a uHoo is successfully setup and working the key details for your uHoo account are saved in uHoo Cloud Server.  If your uHoo needs to be factory reset for any reason then the account details must be cleared in the Cloud Server before the uHoo can be re-programmed.
   The only way that the uHoo Cloud Server details can be cleared is that you must have the Master Login details (Username and Password), that were used when the uHoo was first setup.
   To Clear and re-program your uHoo follow these steps:
   1. Login to your App using the Master Username and Password.
   2. In the Menu Select “Delete Account”, your App will warn you that Deleting your account will clear all Snapshots and Video’s.
   3. Press OK to delete the account. When you delete your account your App will revert to its Factory default mode and ask you if your uHoo has been programmed previously or not.  Just say no and your Programming wizard will start.
   4. Locate the reset button in the battery compartment of your uHoo and Press and Hold this Button for at least 3 seconds or until your uHoo says “I’m Ready”.
   5. Your uHoo is now reset and ready to be re-programmed just like brand new, the Doorbell Light will remain on until you have either re-programmed your uHoo or it will time out of the program mode after 5 minutes if you do nothing.
   6. Follow your Wizard in your App to program your uHoo.

 

 

Screen 13A – Changing Routers & Reset Button location