All the gear no idea

Hi Tomcctv - new thread as you requested. Last month we installed CCTV to our property.We could view the cameras remotely via our mobiles and tablets.Yesterday afternoon the login appeared frozen on my iPad but I was still able to view on my iPhone.Then last night we had a “connect fail” message when we attempted to log in using a Samsung Galaxy tablet and Samsung mobile. However, I could still view using my iPhone.This morning I cannot log in on my iPhone either. On the Samsungs we press “log in” and just get the timer scrolling and eventually it says “cannot connect to server.” On the iPad and iPhone the log in button does nothing, it’s as if it’s frozen. We are at home so I’ve tried viewing both on our usual wifi connection and via 4G. It is still recording onto the hard drive and I can view via a monitor but the app is not working at all. Another poster on this forum had the same problem happen at the same time last night (see link below) but I don’t know how I can check if it is a Kestrel server problem their end or a problem our end and we need to reinstall the app. The Kestrel app has not been updated for 3 years! The app version is too old to work on my son’s new Samsung so he’s never been able to even download it. The CCTV uses Kestrel turret cameras and an OYN-X 8 Chn 4K POE NVR. https://www.jmcsecure.co.uk/kestrel-5mp-8ch-ip-cctv-kit-with-4x-ip-turret-cameras Wifi DCHP is ticked but status states “device not detected” and “wifi IP range in conflict with wired IP range.” SSID is blank. IP address shows 4 zeroes as does gateway and subnet mask. 3G/4G status as above, IP address as above. Lan DCHP is ticked. Connectivity P2P status: connection failed: connect to the server failed. Coincidentally the other poster has the same statuses as me! Why would we both have the same problems and status happen at the same time if it was a local/home issue rather than a Kestrel app server problem? Rather strange. Rebooted modem/router and NVR but no joy. I used the QR Code on the set up wizard to download the Kestrel app when the CCTV was installed. Cannot access the app to alter any IP settings etc. As per my user name, I’m not great at technology so an idiot’s guide would be an advantage. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Hi there. I just received email notification that someone had replied to this thread! I just checked and no I can’t log in either. Tbh we had them replace the hard drive last August because the original failed and since then we’ve not been able to access remotely at all. We can view via wifi at home but not when out of the house. For some reason it doesn’t seem to connect to the internet even though the cables are the same ones we used on the faulty drive. It’s probably just a setting that needs adjusting but we’ve looked at numerous YouTube videos and still can’t get it to connect. Once the server is working, any help much appreciated.

Hi All, I wonder if anyone can help me please? We have an OYN-X NVR 2TB with 4 Kestrel 8MP cameras. We have motion detect set up on 2 cameras which sends an alert and records whatever triggered it. On Tuesday morning I checked any overnight alerts as I usually do each morning. Although the alerts showed on the log on my ‘phone, when I clicked on them to playback they just stated “buffering” and then “connect fail”. I went to my monitor which is attached to the NVR to see if I could view them from there and when I clicked on play, it stated “no video”. So the motion detection had set off and logged the alarm but it didn’t appear to record it. I rebooted the NVR to see if that would solve the problem. It did not. However the hard drive did make a continuous “churning” noise (as if trying to read the disc over and over) when it was switched back on which was only stopped by switching it off and on again. I then thought perhaps the hard drive was full and for some reason was not overwriting the old recordings so I formatted it. It still didn’t solve the problem. I cannot view anything by remote playback at all not just the alarms. If I do a search for any recordings since Tuesday (when I formatted it) it says none found. On the hard drive details it states “normal” and total space 1.81TB and free space 1.81TB. Surely it should have used up some space to record since the Tuesday formatting? My system is set to “auto-reboot” every Tuesday at 2am. It was Tuesday morning when I was unable to view anything. Is this just a coincidence or significant? Is there anyway I can test to see if it is a hard drive fault or if it’s something else? The system is only 3 months old. I can still view all 4 cameras “Live” on my ‘phone and tablet when at home or away from the house so I don’t feel it is a network issue. Sorry for such a long post but any help would be much appreciated. Thank you for reading.

An update since my last post with some more (hopefully) helpful information… Yesterday I reinstalled Kestrel Viewer on my iPhone and iPad and since then they no longer show the “Alarm Notifications” tab as stated above. However, on my husbands Samsung tablet I didn’t reinstall Kestrel Viewer, I just used the new account log in. The “alarm notifications” tab DOES still show on there. However, if I go into the configuration I do get the “IP device does not support alarm settings” message. What does that mean please? I think that is the key here. Why is it saying that and how do I rectify it? Thanks for reading.

Hi Tom, Thanks for replying and for trying to help me. I’ll try to explain myself better... 3 months ago I set up motion detection alarms for the cameras on the original NVR. This worked perfectly and we received alarm notifications via Kestrel Viewer on our ‘phones and tablets (we have both iOS and Android devices) and we were able to playback the alarm alerts on our devices. The HDD failed on the original NVR so it was replaced with a new NVR. With the new NVR, I plugged in the original cameras into the back and was able to view them “live” on the monitor attached to the new NVR but not on the Kestrel app - when I accessed the cameras on the app it stated “this equipment has been offline.” I couldn’t work out how to get the live view working on the app so decided it would quicker to just set up a new kestrel account and use the QVR code to have the remote viewing. Live view and remote playback both work on the new Kestrel account however alarm alerts do not. When the new NVR was plugged in, the motion detection areas that I had set up with the cameras (the cameras have not been changed) were still there so I did not need to set them up again. With the original/old Kestrel account I could view alarm alerts remotely via Kestrel Viewer. With the new Kestrel account I cannot. On page 2 of this link https://ssscctv.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/How-to-activate-PUSH.pdf it shows the configuration button under the “alarm” section. If I click on it under my new Kestrel account and click on my camera device name I get the message “IP directly connected device does not support the alarm settings”. On page 4 of that link it shows “alarm notifications” under “PTZ steps”. On my old Kestrel account this button was there. On my new Kestrel account this button is NOT there! I have uninstalled and reinstalled Kestrel Viewer ensuring Push Notifications are enabled but the “alarm notifications” never shows now. I appreciate you saying that this is an old app but it’s the one that came with the NVR so, unless there is another one compatible, I’m stuck with it! I just can’t understand why the alarm notifications button has disappeared for the new account. I’ve changed nothing on the camera set up, only the NVR has changed so why does it now say that the IP device does not support alarm settings? I can view alarm alerts on the monitor attached to the NVR. I’m close to throwing the NVR out of the window! Please help. I’m stumped.

Well new NVR arrived today. I’d hoped it would be a straight forward plug in cameras and go, but no such luck! As soon as I switched it on I got the SAT1 needs formatting message! I formatted it and this time it is recording. I have checked remote playback and alarms on the monitor and both play videos. I couldn’t get my old Kestrel Viewer account on my tablet or ‘phone to pick up the Live View (it stated “the equipment has been off-line). I couldn’t work out how to fix this so I set up a new account name and could now Live View. Remote playback also works. I didn’t need to redo the motion detection areas because it was still stored from previously. However if the alarm goes off I can view it on the monitor but not on my tablet or ‘phone! I know this is user error and something I’ve set up incorrectly but when I go into alarm configuration on my ‘phone I get this message “ip directly connected to device does not support the alarm settings”. What does this mean please? It supported it on my old NVR until the HDD went wrong so what have I done wrong? I need to be able to view alarms from my ‘phone. Any help gratefully appreciated. Thank you.

Have sent the NVR back to retailer today so fingers crossed they can sort it.

Thanks for helping me. I’m not very techy and I can’t find out where/how to factory reset. Also if I do factory reset will it go back to the default password because I don’t know what that is? Thanks. Edit: I’ve looked on YouTube and it states under “maintain” there’s a “default” button. There is no default button on my system under that tab.

I just changed the weekly scheduled reboot for a few minutes ago (usually it’s 2am Tuesday) so that I could see what happened. Upon start up I got an error message “hard disk not formatted” then an icon of SAT1 with a “?” and SAT2 with an “X” (I think it said SAT, it definitely began with S) I went into the HDD settings and it says: 1. sda Status Not formatted 2. No disk I clicked on 1 and then “Format” and the status changed to Normal. I rebooted again. Same error message came up about the hard disk not being formatted? Why is it showing unformatted when I just did it?

Thanks. As it’s only 3 months old then I’ll contact the retailer about repairing/replacing the NVR only. I don’t really want to open it up in case it voids my warranty.

Thanks. Kestrel was the app given on the Setup Wizard. This is what we have: https://www.jmcsecure.co.uk/kestrel-8mp-8ch-ip-cctv-kit-with-4x-motorised-zoom-ip-turret-cameras Yes, I added the alarm notifications myself for motion detect. I cannot watch any of the alarm videos or any remote playback from the actual NVR. I can watch live cameras from the monitor connected to the NVR and also through the Kestrel App so I don’t think it’s a wifi or app issue. I can also view the live cameras when I’m not at home.

Hi, Thanks for replying. Kestrel app was recently updated, June I think, so that it worked on newer ‘phones. Bought it and installed ourselves and paid for retailer to upgrade HD from 1TB to 2TB. Looked at system this morning and the storage had decreased from 1.81TB to 1.64TB so it looks like it’s recorded or tried to record something. However, when I try to playback anything on the system it brings up the video player “window” but there’s nothing to play. If I move the “dot” along the play line further still nothing plays. I tried to attach a photo on here of the screens but it won’t upload because it stated it’s over 1.2mb. Based in Lincs.

No it uses the Kestrel Viewer app.

Had an email from QVIS support this morning. It says they are currently looking into the issues with the Kestrel Viewer App.

Thanks. All apps deleted. I’ve reinstalled Kestrel Viewer but it still behaves same as before, as if the screen is “frozen” so I can’t type anything in to log in.

Thanks. QR code displayed on monitor tried to connect me to kestrel app. QR code on bottom of NVR tried to connect me to QVS website which it says is insecure! Input serial number manually and it doesn’t work. Asks for a security code. Why does everything on my system point to Kestrel if that is incorrect/out of date? I’m also concerned that by trying to rectify it yesterday (thinking it was a home wifi problem) I’ve inadvertently changed some system settings especially as it now says “network abnormal” on the upgrade version. I wouldn’t know how to change it back. Perhaps as the Kestrel P2P server is down they will have rectified it soon. Fingers crossed.

I have deleted Kestrel App. I have downloaded and registered at DMSS. I’ve tried to add device by using the QR code but when it scans it says the SN doesn’t exist. After scanning, the pic of the S/N is just lots of XXX http is blank and it also says please enter the security code. I have entered the the serial number manually but it says unable to detect device. The NVR is OYN-X. The sticker with the serial number on the back of the NVR says Kestrel. When I click on menu for the NVR is says the model is Kestrel-NVR-8BB type 8 release date 16/1/19 However where under the heading “update firmware version” it states “network abnormal”.

Under SETTINGS I don’t have a Network tab. It shows: display, general, info, config, account, maintain. On main menu I have a STORAGE section which contains these tabs: HDD, Network, Back up. I also have a different NETWORK section which contains these tabs: IP Address, DDNS, P2P, Email I cannot see a NAT tab under any of them but I may be looking in the wrong section or it’s within another tab. Sorry, I’m probably not being much help.

I used the QR code that was on my set up wizard which was for Kestrel. For some reason it won’t let me upload the screenshot on here. The IE Web says http:/kestrelp2p.com Hope that helps. Someone on the MSE forum tested it and said the Kestrel P2P server is down. If you know another app that works on modern devices that I could use that would be great. I do appreciate your help. Thank you

Please let me know how you get on and if it works, which app you used. We contacted QVIS last month re their app not working on modern ‘phones and we were told they don’t speak to the public! Eventually they grudgingly told us that the problem was with our ‘phone not the app! Sorry to write on your thread again but no response on mine and I really think the problem is with the app not us. I am guessing that Tomcctv possibly has an older ‘phone/tablet which is why it still works for him. The poster on MSE forum installed it on an old mobile and it worked but won’t on his current, updated ‘phone. I think there are going to be a lot of disgruntled and frustrated customers this weekend.

Interesting. Another iPhone user has had the same thing happen to them. They think it appears to have happened since a recent iPhone update. I guess Kestrel Viewer not updating for 3 years means QVIS is not keeping up with the latest technology. Why they’d not update an app that is required to remote view their product is beyond me? Pretty poor service if that is the case and this will affect many users. Perhaps an expert/installer on here could contact them on our behalf because they refuse to communicate with consumers of their product. Could they possibly be updating the app this weekend which is why it’s not working? I hope that’s the case. Thank you.

New post done. Link below. Kestrel app was on the set up wizard on installation. Sorry KMc for hijacking your thread but I thought as both our problems started at the same time and are exactly the same then it may not just be us. Fingers crossed we can get it sorted.

Same, Kestrel Viewer. App stopped working Friday evening.

Please could you tell me how I check that? Is it under Network settings? Sorry I’m useless at this stuff so I need an idiot’s guide! Yes we used QR codes to set up app. Cannot log into app at all. It stays on timer for ages and then says connect fail - that’s on a Samsung ‘phone. I can’t even press anything on my iPhone or iPad it’s like it’s frozen. I’m in East Mids so nowhere near KMc, but like them I find it a huge coincidence that both our remote viewers stopped working at pretty much the same time.