Cameras are here but nothing works, what am I doing wrong?

[sumguy]

Default. Go to Wikipedia and after the definition of 'default - computer science' it says: "Default values are standards values that are universal to all instances of the device or model and intended to make the device as accessible as possible "out of the box" without necessitating a lengthy configuration process prior to use. " I maintain that the process' some have mentioned to change a default ip have failed this condition big time. Isn't this obvious?
I rest my case.

 

[wittaj]

Default. Go to Wikipedia and after the definition of 'default - computer science' it says: "Default values are standards values that are universal to all instances of the device or model and intended to make the device as accessible as possible "out of the box" without necessitating a lengthy configuration process prior to use. " I maintain that the process' some have mentioned to change a default ip have failed this condition big time. Isn't this obvious?
I rest my case.

And in the case of these Dahua OEM cameras, setting them back to the known default IP address of 192.168.1.108 is making it as accessible as possible for their intended market.

And it isn't just Dahua and Dahua OEM. Hikvision OEM default IP address is 192.0.0.64.

Further, you have to remember that the homeowner isn't the Dahua and Hikvision target audience, it is the professional installers that are authorized to sell and install this gear, so we cannot purchase directly and thus they will not take your phone call for support related questions or suggestions - they will tell you to talk to the installer you purchased from. Many people have bought a "Hikvision" or Dahua from Amazon or some shady foreign website and when they call Hikvision or Dahua for support they basically tell them to go pound salt. We simply are not their intended market to sell to and they will not take your call for support...Lot's of threads here confirming this, including one from a few months ago where someone tried to call for support and they told them sorry talk to your installer....

So yes, it is obvious that a factory reset is making the device as accessible as possible to their intended audience - the installer.... They know based on the manufacturer what the IP address will be for the camera and not have to hunt it down to what some router may have assigned it. Stick it on a system with 100 devices and trying to figure out which IP address the system assigned it would take awhile to find that camera. This makes it simple.

We are just fortunate to be able to get our hands on these types of cameras and a forum like this to help us troubleshoot when needed. If you can't follow along, then go with consumer grade stuff.

We simply are not their intended user, so if you want it simpler, then you need to go to consumer grade stuff like Ring, Arlo, Nest, Reolink, Blink, Eufy, Night Owl, etc where you simply scan a QR code and you are good to go. Not very secure and the imagery won't be as good, but it is simple to get going.

I rest my case....

 

[Mike A.]

Isn't this obvious?
I rest my case.

Not really. The cams come with a known IP address. There is no "lengthy configuration process." It takes all of about 15 seconds to do if you know how. There's nothing implied in your definition that whatever can be done easily by someone with little to no knowledge of the device/process. Lots of things with perfectly fine default settings to make them operable for whatever they may do that I'm completely clueless about and couldn't even start to turn them on. In this case you need some basic understanding of IP networking. If you have that, then it's trivial to do in a variety of ways. If you don't, then, yeah, it's going to be more difficult. They could have them default to DHCP (as some of the Amcrest cams come) but then that has its own complications and you need to understand that.