Setting the 8000 and 8100 series DVR's to record is relatvely straight forward. After having turned on the DVR, if the hard-drive is unformatted or you have just installed your own, you will be prompted to format the disk. If you are seeing this prompt click confirm. This format is necesarry in order for the DVR to be able to record at all. If you do not receive this prompt, or another explaining it does not detect a hard-drive it means the DVR is prepared to continue.
Upon completing the hard-drive format you will be left at the main screen. Right click the mouse hooked up to the DVR and you will be prompted to log in to the DVR. The default password is 666666. 
After loging in you right click the mouse again to bring up the sub-menu as shown below. Select the "Set Recording" option in the sub menu.
When selected you will be presented with a window displaying the option to set automatic recording, manual recording, or stop recording. Select the "ALL" button next to the "Manual" option. Alternatively you may select individual channels to set continuous recording on.
Finally hit "Confirm" and you will receive a message confirming the change.
You should now be set up to record continuously on the selected channels. You may confirm you are recording by looking for the green "R" located in the top of each camera image just left of center as shown below.
