Inherited IP Cameras from Home Purchase, Can't Set Up

[Parley]

Thank you everyone for the help so far! I will give these solutions a try.

Big first question, will the Loryta work ok with the Hikvision NVR?

I can confirm the previous owner did have Blue Iris on a PC. @wtimothyholman i had no idea on that IP, very helpful. My network has a different subnet but I go a old router I can use. Can I change the IP to something outside of that subnet? Mine is on 10.128.0.X.

@alastairstevenson thank you for the SADP tool recommendation. This is helpful and I will try that.

Yes. You have to use ONVIF on the NVR setup. I have those cameras plugged into my Hikvision NVR's.

 

[looney2ns]

Maybe ask the previous owner what the IP address range would be for the cameras?

 

[alastairstevenson]

I took down one of the Hikvision cameras from outside and brought it in. For the life of me, I can't get it to appear on anything. It lights up when plugged in and all that so I know it has power. I could not find any reset button the camera whatsoever. I can never get it to show up on the SADP tool. I've tried connecting directly to my computer, to the router, to the NVR. It never shows up.

It's odd that SADP can't see the camera, when the NVR apparently seems to find it.
What's the model of camera?

Suggestion :
In the NVR web GUI, System | Camera Management - what's the IP address set on the channel where the NVR complains about the password when you connect the camera?
It's likely to be in the 192.168.254.x range.
Temporarily change the PC IP address to be in the same range, for example 192.168.254.100 and connect the PC to an unused NVR PoE port while the camera is plugged in.
Using the PC browser, ideally IE11, use the IP address you noted from the camera management page.
Do you see a login page?

Maybe also try this with the PC (still with the temporary IP address) on the LAN and the camera powered with the PoE injector also connected to the LAN.

And as a long shot - update SADP to the newest version :

SADP

www.hikvision.com

 

[gkrizek]

Thanks for all for your help here. I went around the house and unmounted all the cameras to bring inside. This will be so much easier to get them all working then mount them back after.

Im also trying out SecureSpy because I have an extra Mac laying around I could use. I need to buy a PoE switch but if it works out it will probably be better than the NVR like you all suggested.

I haven’t tried to reach the cameras via network again yet but will try tonight. I’ll post results. Thank you all again!

 

[wtimothyholman]

Thanks for all for your help here. I went around the house and unmounted all the cameras to bring inside. This will be so much easier to get them all working then mount them back after.

Im also trying out SecureSpy because I have an extra Mac laying around I could use. I need to buy a PoE switch but if it works out it will probably be better than the NVR like you all suggested.

I haven’t tried to reach the cameras via network again yet but will try tonight. I’ll post results. Thank you all again!

I've been using SecuritySpy for years, so feel free to ask questions about it. You should consider purchasing an external enclosure and buy a hard drive that is optimized for security camera applications (e.g. Western Digital Purple). You don't want to record video to a solid-state drive over a long period. It puts a great deal of wear on an SSD.

 

[gkrizek]

@wtimothyholman thank you! I will. Are HDDs better than SSDs for this? I have an old 2 TB LaCie drive that’s HDD.

 

[Smilingreen]

Since you are running a MAC, grab a copy of LANSCAN. Plug your camera directly into your ethernet port on your MAC. Run LANSCAN on "EN0" and it should pickup the camera, unless it's IP address is not in the 192.168.XXX.XXX range. Or, you can get Hikvisions SADP tool for OSX. Another option is to download a copy of WireShark and do a packet capture. You can turn on the ARP filter and quickly see who is hanging around and on what IP address. Chances are, to access the camera, you will have to reset it completely to factory default.

 

[Smilingreen]

@wtimothyholman thank you! I will. Are HDDs better than SSDs for this? I have an old 2 TB LaCie drive that’s HDD.

You don't want a SSD for video. The best option is a WESTERN DIGITAL Purple drive, which are engineered for continuous recording of video from IP cameras.

 

[wtimothyholman]

@wtimothyholman thank you! I will. Are HDDs better than SSDs for this? I have an old 2 TB LaCie drive that’s HDD.

The general wisdom is that you don't want to use an internal SSD for a computer connected to multiple cameras that are configured for continuous recording. The constant reads and writes will reduce the lifetime of the SSD, which is definitely not good if it is soldered to the motherboard of the computer.

The LaCie HDD will probably work fine in the short term, but may fail in a few months. Again, the constant reads and writes are not good for a standard HDD.

What you really want are WD Purple drives, or Seagate Skyhawks. These are HDDs that are specifically optimized for security camera applications. And if they do fail, they won't take your computer down with them. But having said that, I've got WD Purple HDDs that have been running continuously for more than 4 years without a glitch.