SLOWBRA

I fiddled with the camera for many hours and finally called a tech guy to see if he could help. We went through all of the procedures and determined this NVR doesn't support that camera no matter what I did. I have boxed up the camera for a return. I've also sourced an older bullet camera (new in box) since I know it will work. I don't need the 4K resolution, but it would have been nice instead of finding older cameras. If/when this NVR goes belly up I will be getting a Hikvision NVR and not a Swann. The Swann folks have not supported this NVR well from a firmware perspective, which is depressing based on the price I paid for the unit. However, I am happy with the system I've had for nearly 4yrs and the cameras perform well.

I've been struggling to get a Hikvision IP Camera DS-2CD2142FWD-IS to work with my Swann NVR16-7200 system. Any thoughts if this should work and/or suggestions on what to try to make it work. Below is a list of what I have tried. It's worth noting that over the years I added one Hikvision 2CD2132-I and two 2CD2032-I cameras to this Swann system. Unfortunately, I can't remember what I had to do to make them work, if any thing specific. I'm still in the return period and, if I can't make this camera work, I'll look harder for the older 2CD2132-I. I chose the DS-2CD2142FWD-IS since it was a 4MP and easily available thinking it should work. Things I've done: 1. Activated the camera using the SADP software per Hikvision directions and reset PW 2. Plugged it in to see if it would work 3. Set the IP address of the Camera to that of the specific POE port on the NVR, changed the setting of the port to manual (instead of plug-in-play), and verified the PORT on the camera and NVR were 8000 4. Tried #2 above, but left the port to plug-in-play 5. Logged into the camera's IP address to ensure I could reach it I'd appreciate any advice I can get.

Hmm. That is good feedback. I can't recall what MP the cameras were that came with my system, but we essentially have the same system. I was able to add the 2032/2132 cameras a few years ago, which were both 3 MP. I'll go into the new camera settings to see if there is a way to reduce the output resolution as a test.

I'm looking to talk with other owners about their experiences and suggested settings when using the Swann NVR. I recently hooked up 8 bullet cams (1080P, rebranded HIK-2032) with the NVR16-7200 NVR (combo pack with cams) that I purchased from Costco. Installation was straight forward, but the options available to me to adjust camera settings in their NVR don't seem complete. For example.. The cameras have terrible nighttime lighting performance compared to the pictures I've seen others on here post from the same cams. Each camera has a large bright spot dead in the middle of the picture and I cannot find any settings that would make this better. I'm wondering what other Swann NVR users are doing to correct this. Could I log into the cam directly using Hikvision software and change settings to help with this (without changing firmware). I am struggling to get the time to display correctly. No matter how often I try to change the time in the NVR, it never saves it and always is an hour off. I thought maybe the DST stuff was wrong, but I checked that too. The motion settings are difficult to manage. When on the lowest setting it does not pick up anything. I move it up 1 notch and it records every movement. I heard its hard to get this to work nicely with outdoor cams, but surely there has to be something to adjust sensitivity a bit better. There are ~8 settings for this and the two lowest ones seem to be on opposite extremese of each other. I did also receive one bad camera that tends to fog up throughout the day and is almost impossible to see our of after a few hours. The Swann tech support folks have not been pleasant to deal with. After hours spent in the phone (troubleshooting and being disconnected multiple times) I was told they would ship a replacement through their warranty department. At first they wanted me to send mine back before they would send another one, but they finally agreed to just send a new one since I just bought the system. It's been two days since they said that and I still have not received an email acknowledgment about the replacement shipment (maybe because of the weekend). I wanted to share my experiences thus far and ask for some help from other Swann owners. I'm hoping a lot of my challenges are because I am new to ip cameras. Shawn

I've had my system up for a little over a month and recently noticed that a bat and small birds love hanging out on my bullet cam. This wouldn't be a big deal, but this is the cam on my front door / porch. There is literally crap all over the cam and on the ground. Any ideas on how to keep them away?

That was my first thought. Need them for my mailbox too.

I get it. Thanks for the feedback.

I'll try tinkering with the settings. When I look at network camera critic's review of this camera his night pictures are nowhere near as pixilated. It's hard to see from my pic, but at full resolution on my monitor it still looks worse than the picture on the review. Maybe I need to verify the settings a bit deeper.

I have resolved many of the issues. All that is left is the image performance at night. I tried tinkering a bit in the cameras menu, but was curious if after looking at the enclosed pic you still think the brightness and contrast will fix this. Most of my cams look like this at night. Very grainy with a bright center.

I was able to hit the camera and log in. Thanks!

That's the exact same way I set up my Dahua cameras and NVR, works perfect. I'd like to do this eventually. Any chance there are some step by step instructions?

Thanks. I'll try this tonight.

Do you have to go through the first few steps regarding the local area connection reconfiguration? I tried without doing this based on another post and it didn't work. I have the ip addresses for all the cameras and have plugged in my laptop to the NVR. Also - I don't understand what do regarding the IE activeX configuration change. I'm a total newb when it comes to network so be gentle.

Thanks for posting this up. You saved me $300. Anyhow, I have this Swann kit and overall I am happy. Costco confirmed this is the same kit as the one they advertised earlier this month that was 1080p. What are the negatives / positives in your experience for this kit? I have another post on here with some initial feedback. Overall I feel I made a great choice. I researched things to death before I went this route. I wanted an all-in-one NVR system with built-in POE that was easy to setup. This kit did it. I did have to call their support team to help setup the remote viewing, but they resolved it easily. Ask me any specific questions and I'll be happy to help.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Thanks for posting this up. You saved me $300. Anyhow, I have this Swann kit and overall I am happy. Costco confirmed this is the same kit as the one they advertised earlier this month that was 1080p.

I may try using the cams directly. Glad to hear you like them.

Lots of good info here. I'm glad to see more Swann owners. We can all learn from each other.

I'm waiting on the replacement cam to come in. It's new and under warranty so I'll let them handle it.

Thanks for the link to your post about how to hit the cameras. I'll give it a shot.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll wait for the replacement camera to come in next week before tinkering with it more.

After months of reading through the great posts on this forum I have decided to go with the Hikvision DS-2CD2132 dome cameras. They seem to offer a good picture for the price point. I haven't decided on the lens that would work best, but it sounds like most are happy with the fixed 2.8mm. My setup will eventually require ~13 cameras (all domes). This is where things start to get messy for me. I like the idea of an NVR from a plug and play standpoint especially if it has built in POE ports for at least most of the cams. My goal is to make the setup as easy as possible and have a system that can scale with me. I'd initially start with 2-4 cams and expand over time. The Hikvision DS-7608NI-SE/8P is something I have been looking at as it can power 8 cams and will be fully functional with the cams. However, since I will eventually have 13 cams I will likely need two of these units. What do you guys recommend for situations like this? Does it make sense to get two of these units or look at something else? I am also not certain this can handle recording of all 8 cams in 3MP since it is rated at 40Mbps. Is that true? The user interface also seems easy to use from what I have seen online. I also read the specs on a Eyesecu 32-channel NVR that has 8-POE and input of 80 Mbps. On paper it seems to me this would fit my needs better (1 unit instead of 2 units to support 13 cams and better input rating) but I can't find any reviews on it online. Anyone have feedback or advice on this unit? I want to ensure it would work with the cams without any loss of functionally and be reliable. I am not against building a PC to work for my application, but that would take a bit more time to setup and I am not convinced it would be cost effective Since I have a budget of 3K for the entire setup. I look forward to hearing from the experienced people on here and contributing as I go through my experiences of setting up a new system in the near future. Thanks, Shawn

I ordered the Swann 16 channel with 6-1080p and 2-1080p varifocal cam system a few moments ago. Should be here next week. I'll provide as much of a review as possible when it comes in and gets installed. I am ok with the bullet cams as most are very tiny. For a beginner, I think this system will meet all of my needs and be easy to install. I prewired my home with Cat5e in the locations where I wanted cams. Now I need to decide the best place to put the 2 varifocal cams on my home. Any suggestions?

No, this one comes with the NVR16-7200. Any idea what the warranty is on these? I couldn't find that anywhere on the Swann or Costco site.

Yes, the small size certainly helps make the case even stronger. I didn't realize the varifocals can record locally. Thanks for the heads up.