Help please - IP settings

[GrumpySmurf]

Quick help please! I have a hikvision POE IP cam connected to a Hikvision NVR which is connected to my LAN. The camera is detected and working great on the NVR.

On my PC, running SADP, I can easily find the NVR - even if I muck around with weird IP address. However, SADP does not find any cameras.

I need to find the cameras so that I can change their IP and Subnet.

Why can I easily see the NVR, but not the cameras?

 

[aster1x]

The HIK NVR PoE switch is on a different subnet (191.168.254.X) than the LAN port of the NVR which has IP 192.168.1.X. and therefore the two LANs (the cameras and the NVR) are isolated. Since firmware version 2.3.8 of the HIK NVR, there is a bridging feature (HIK calls it Virtual Host) between the two different LANs. Each camera port is connectable to the external NVR LAN port through a logical network port. Therefore the first camera has a PoE switch IP of 192.168.254.2 which is accesible as 192.168.1.X:65001 (the NVR LAN IP). The IP 192.168.254.1 is reserved for the NVR internal gateway between the cameras PoE switch and the NVR internal network and it is defined in the NVR native menu (not in the NVR web interface). You can see exactly the IPs of the cameras from the NVR web interface at menu Configuration>Camera Management.

If you do not have this firmware with the Virtual Host feature the alternatives to access the cameras are:
1. Disconnect the camera from the NVR PoE switch and connect it to the same switch that the NVR LAN port is connected to. You must provide external power to the camera through the camera pigtail. Not a convenient permanent solution but usefull for temporary work. Then set your computer LAN card IP to an IP of the same camera subnet. You can also use the HIK SADP utility.

2. Connect the camera to the NVR PoE switch. Connect a patch cable from the NVR PoE switch, to the external switch that the NVR LAN port is connected to, thus creating a loop back. Carefull if the external switch can not handle PoE power going in to the switch. If you are not sure or do not want to risk it, use a patch cable that does not have wires in the RJ45 pins 4,5,7,8 (the pins that carry power to the cameras). Mind you that now two subnets appear on the external switch. The subnet 192.168.1.X of the NVR and the 192.168.254.X of the cameras. You cannot access both subnets from the same computer with one IP. You must change the computer IP to an IP belonging to the subnet you want to connect to. Therefore set your computer LAN card to anything like 192.168.1.Y to connect to the NVR OR set the IP to 192.168.254.Z to connect to the cameras subnet. The advantages of the 2nd option is that the patch cords between the cameras, the NVR and the external switch can be left permanently and you only have to change the IP of the computer. The disadvantage of the 2nd option is that you loose one PoE port of the NVR that would connect to a camera. Of course you can always disconnect the loop back patch cord at any time and recover the camera PoE port.

The choise is yours.

 

[GrumpySmurf]

Thank you! What you say seems to make sense.

Unfortunately, I think my NVR (Hikvision DS-7608N-E2/8P)which is NOT DS-7608NI-SE-P-8 is a different model. It looks like it may be a cheaper (though some specs are higher - 50mpbs bandwith with 8 POE ports) "Project" model. My current firmware is V3.0.5 Build 140508 which seems "higher" than what most people are using. So, unfortunately, it looks like I do not have this Virtual Host function on my NVR.

Also, so far, I don't see any way of adjusting the WDR of the cameras within the NVR - so I might have to manually log into each camera

 

[aster1x]

That is interesting. The project and family labeled NVR products have appeared on chinese sites lately and therefore seem to be newer products. In fact the previous 7608NI-SE/P product had 8 ports for cameras but only 4 of them were PoE enabled.
The latest firmware for the 76XX family of NVRs is version 3.0.9 build 140928 at the european portal.
Unfortunately the release management of firmwares from HIK Vision is not structured or dicumented properly.

Please post a screen from the camera management menu. It is interesting that you do not see the Virtual host feature anywhere. Try to upgrade to the newer firmware by using a USB flash stick, do not use the remote upgrading from the web interface, it is not reliable. Before you upgrade, ensure that you understand how to recover with the TFTP utility in case that something goes wrong and the NVR gets bricked. There are a few posts about de-bricking the NVR in this forum.

Also the WDR along with other usefull camera functions are not controllable from the NVR (or this family of NVRs, they may be controllable from other more expensive NVRs).

 

[GrumpySmurf]

I am documenting some obervations on this *new (* as yet unconfirmed whether they are new) line of NVR on this thread - http://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php?1285-New-range-of-Hikvision-IP-NVR-s

Here's a screen shot of the camera settings page (from browser). I have looked on the NVR itself, using the browser, as well as using iVMS-4200 - I cannot see "Virtual Host" anywhere.

According to some documentation, it should be visible (only) using the browser, not on the NVR, under <Configuration>, <Network Settings>, <Advanced>. This is per the screen grab I had above. There should have been a checkbox for Virtual Host.




I am reluctant to try and change the firmware at the moment, as I think any version 3.0.9 may be a completely different version. I see on an European site that they list my fimware (V3.0.5 build 140508) under a different model al together - http://www.hikvisioneurope.com/portal/index.php?dir=Product Firmware/Recorder/7600NI-E1(E2) 7700NI-E4/V3.0.5 build140508 English/#