JoeyJoey

The NVR's network settings are DHCP in my system, I have a reserved DHCP address in my router that gives out the same IP address/DNS/gateway each time. See the two images here. I do not know if the Swann system will act the same as the Lorex, but I think it would. Are you using the hikvision firmware in the NVR and the cameras? Can you edit the cameras in the camera management section, add/delete cameras in the Hikvision NVR version of the firmware? In the Lorex version it is for display only, I have to do this via their windows app or on the local UI with a monitor connected. I have not flashed any camera myself, as I don't have the Lorex firmware to put back on in case I have to. I'm not sure of the protocols required on the systems for communication, have you tried manual settings and the ONVIF option?

Huh? Same subnet is fine. 192.168.1.xxx See my post with my diagram, connect with a cable.

As long as you change the cam to use dhcp and manually add them they get be on either LAN. You can connect both the nvr-lan and the nvr-poe-lan to your lan.

I use manual on mine, POE still works. The Lorex NVR doesn't specifically require that the camera IP addresses are set to anything. By default the cameras have dhcp disabled, they use another Ethernet layer to communicate.

Does this issue apply if we don't expose the web admin port to the outside internet and only expose the client/mobile two ports?

I would verify to make sure that you don't have soft video At night, yep, but not in the day time.

Did you put the grease on the Rj45 connectors? There is a chance that you shorted them together. Did you try resetting the camera, with the button on the back? Can you connect to the camera when its plugged into the NVR-POE port? Plug your local LAN into an unused NVR-POE port, aswell as the NVR-LAN port.

Here are the default 3 settings for the Hikvision app, I find the balanced to work well and of course the fluent on my 1.0+ Mbps upload DSL. When playing back stored video (motion alarm video etc), the visual quality is much better (but jumpy as it can't keep up) and that is defined in the settings in the NVR. The motion settings have to be equal or worse than the continuous settings.

See the attached pic for my settings. The red settings do not change via the NVR, they are fixed once set in the camera. The green settings can be changed by both the NVR and the mobile app. So don't even bother setting anything besides the marked red settings in the sub stream, as the app will change those when you use it. The i frame is decided upon by you, if you have a good connection, a high number is good. I have 30 set for both streams, which means every 30 frames the camera sends a full image, between those it sends the differences only. If you have a network problem and miss frames, then it could look choppy and garbled. The lower the number the faster network you need. Did you try the Hikvision iVMS 4500 software? That will adjust to your network quality if you set the different settings. Hope this helps.

Did you notice any improvements besides the higher camera resolution with the Hikvision NVR and Camera firmware over Lorex's?

http://support.slingbox.com/get/KB-2000081.html has good info about the i frame. It is the full refresh frame, where the rest of the frames are the difference frames, its part of the compression scheme. You can use this app too, people have said that it is better. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ivms-4500-lite/id441697527?mt=8 I use the Android equivalent on the Lorex. It has more options than the swann app, check it out. The playback feature, scrolling through events is really good and smooth. By going with constant, if you see it working, with all cameras in constant mode, you know it works. With variable, you don't know how it will act under different conditions, and when things don't work smoothly, it could be a reason why it isn't.

I changed all my cameras to be constant, VLC plays the stored mp4 video well, with variable it had problems. For the mobile viewing, I use either the Lorex App or the Hikvision 4500 app on Android. I have the sub stream max rate set to 512Kbps on my 1.4 Mbps upload. I use this app to aim the cameras. When changing the viewing quality on the app, this changes the quality setting in the camera via the nvr, balanced(sub), fluent(sub), clear(main stream), custom (sub or main). So be careful when you change these, as you can change the main stream too, which affects the stream being recorded. I don't like how this works. Your iframe number could be higher on the substream, 30 I think mine is. Hope this helps.

Pick a camera that at least has a brand name of some kind, ACTi/Axis/Hikvision/etc. Otherwise with an IP camera, you'll have no idea why it won't work, as it depends on working software inside.

I have my outdoor camera where WDR is enabled, the noise reduction is set to 100. You can disable motion detection during the night. Reduce the number of active motion squares on the grid to a minimum.

What is the Image Sensor of the Lorex or Swann? Maybe Image Sensor Size: 1/3" ?

Plug your home lan into both the nvr lan port and an nvr poe port. See my previous post for a simple wiring diagram. Connect to the nvr web interface, camera config, the camera ip addresses are listed.

Those are in the camera to absorb the moisture that is in the air when it is sealed up during production, or when you take it apart to change the lens.

They have them inside already.

You can do as you did, but you have to manually add the network cameras. No custom firmware is need to access the nvr on the network.

People here say that this is the equivalent camera, both made by Hikvision. http://www.hikvision.com/en/products_show.asp?id=7326 Much lower temperatures are listed in that camera specs. minus 22 deg F. I have used a camera that could operate to minus 4 deg F. At about that temperature the sensor stopped working, and a little bit lower, I couldn't communicate. But as the temps rose, it worked again.

Do you have noise reduction enabled on either of these images? On mine that are in almost total darkness I have it enabled and set to 100, it really cuts out the noise.

From that Amazon page you linked to: High Definition Recording The purely digital NVR can record in real-time 1080p or 720p. It offers a clear, quality image that provides peace of mind and security with a noticeable resolution. To fully take advantage of the HD resolution, the NVR comes with an HDMI® port and HDMI® cord that connect to any 19" or larger TV or monitor for a clear, large image when monitoring live feeds or playing pack recorded footage. -- HD 1080p: 1920×1080, 120 FPS Total (30 FPS per CH x 4 Cameras) -- HD 720p: 1280×720, 120 FPS Total (30 FPS per CH x 4 Cameras) -- D1 704×480 Pixels, 120 FPS Total (30 FPS per CH x 4 Cameras)

@buellwinkle Can you confirm that the DS-2CD2032-I set to a resolution of 2048*1536 runs at the full frame rate of 30fps?. Mine is limited to 15fps at that resolution. I got my unit from Aliexpress & it is running firmware version V5.0.0 130412 Your results match the spec of the DS-2CD2132-I http://www.hikvision.com/en/Products_show.asp?id=7330

That Lorex dome camera has much higher operating temperatures, they don't go down anywhere near as far to negative temperatures. What is an advantage for using the dome camera, just aesthetics?

From reading the manual, it looks like it just copies files over, its not RAID. I asked Lorex tech support for my ftp id/password so that I can retrieve the files that way and auto backup to an external NAS. They didn't say no, but they told me to call the 800 number and closed the ticket. hmm