Need help with Costco Swann Varifocal IP cam on Lorex NVR

[Alan2000 0]

I'm having a hard time figuring out how to connect the Swann CONHD-C1080 camera to the Lorex LNR280 1080P NVR. Swann tech support has been useless. First time they said to call Lorex. 2nd time I called I asked for setup details for this camera. All that is included with the cam is a very generic user manual that has no setup or specs info at all. Swann said they had a detailed setup sheet and would email to me. What I got was the generic dummy's guide for another camera. Lorex says their NVR only works with Lorex cameras, period. That is despite the fact the DVR has a manual camera setup menu with other protocols than Lorex.

 

Costco site says " If using a different brand ONVIF compliant camera with a different brand ONVIF compliant recorder they may not be “Plug-n-Play” and some configuration may be needed at setup." Unfortunately neither Swann or Lorex level 2 support has been able to provide any useful information.

 

The Swann camera looks identical to Hikvision DS-2CD2632F-I if that helps.

http://www.ezcctv.com/product/DS-2CD2632F-IS-1150.htm

 

I have minimal experience setting up IP cams which makes this even more frustrating. Appreciate any help. Thanks!

[buellwinkle 0]

This has been discussed in another thread and apparently the manual setup on Lorex does not work, even to setup Lorex cameras.

 

One approach may be to get to common ground, which may be over your head and you'll void all your warranties, but if you update the firmware on the camera and the NVR to Hikvision firmware and you don't brick either, you should be able to use both together. So there's risk and possible reward. Just my 2 cents.

 

But in defense of Swann and Lorex, they do advertise that their cameras are only supported with their NVRs and they probably only train their support folks on that setup, anything that strays from the norm means you are on your own. It's not like they make the cameras or have deep knowledge of the product that only the manufacturer would have.

 

If it was me, or WWBD, I would return or sell the NVR, buy a PC and run NVR software on it that supports many brands of cameras with decent support like BlueIris, Milestone XProtect or others. Sort of future proof as you may find other cameras you like to add, why be restricted to Swann or Lorex.

[Alan2000 0]

I was able in 5 minutes talking with Hikvision to get information that nobody in level 2 "support" at Swann or Lorex could figure out despite Hikvision not being able to support other branded products. The Hikvision non-support was 1000 times better than the Lorex or Swann "support".

 

So far I was able to download the Hikvision software (SADP) that allowed me to located the camera on my network. Form there I was able to change the IP address on the camera so I can now view it on my browser. Next I will attempt to get it to work on the Lorex NVR.

 

The Costco CONHD-C1080 camera is identified on the software as a SWNHD-880CAM camera. The user name is admin and password 12345.

[Alan2000 0]

Hey buellwinkle - Thanks for insight. Looks like we were typing at the same time. I have considered flashing the firmware but I want to first try to get all running on stock setup. Costco has the world's best return policy but before I try the firmware updates I want to make sure I know what I'm doing in and out. I have not considered using a PC as a NVR. Food for thought and one more thing for me to research.

 

I didn't want to clutter up the Costco NVR thread with info more specific on how to get this camera working. At this point I don't know if the Lorex camera did not work on the manual settings because their tech support is right that nothing works in manual mode with their NVR, or just because I did not reboot the NVR after making the changes. The Lorex camera would not even work in plug n play mode until I rebooted the NVR. Need more time to reboot, wait, change settings, reboot, repeat. LOL.

 

Now that I know how to access the cameras and change settings with my PC progress should be much faster!

[JoeyJoey 0]

I have a Swann vari-focal dome that I got working on a Lorex LNR280 NVR.

I did not change the Swann firmware.

I have flashed the Hikvision firmware on the NVR.

 

I didn't use the camera in plug and play, I set it up manually, works fine.

 

In the newest two versions of the Hikvision NVR firmware, plug and play isn't working very well, if at all.

Things changed in their network settings. I have used the base firmware, which is the equivalent to the Lorex version fine.

[Alan2000 0]

Hi JoeyJoey - That is great news! Were you also able with the firmware swap to use the 6 stock cameras in 3MP vs the reduced 2MP mode they come shipped from Lorex? Would you mind posting the steps you took to flash your firmware and the link to the firmware file you used that worked for you? If (when) I try it I want to make sure I follow a known good process.

 

On PCs you can often save the old BIOS firmware in case you want to flash back to the older version. Do you know if there is a way to save the Lorex firmware to a file in case you wanted to revert it back to stock?

 

I played some some more with the Lorex in manual camera setting. So far zero luck to get even the Lorex camera to work in manual mode despite all the settings matching the plug n play settings and rebooting each time. I think maybe Lorex has crippled the NVR so that it can only be used with Lorex cameras. (I hate when companies do proprietary stuff like that. )

[Alan2000 0]

In the Costco $999 Lorex NVR thread godzuki solved the problem, and put the Lorex and Swann tech support reps to shame. Here is the solution and a screen capture of the camera image. I'm pretty happy with it. I didn't even fine tune the focus yet. It is fully zoomed in this shot. Image file had to be shrunk down and compressed to allow it to post here. I'm pretty impressed with the sun shinning almost right into the camera you can see details of the neighbor's door that is in a dark entry way.

 

Thanks godzuki!

 

To get my SWANN cameras to work with the Lorex DVR in "plug and play" mode I just logged into the camera's web interface manually and changed the network address setting from static to dhcp, then changed the admin password to 000000.

 

I also received the older design dome cameras... Received the order on the 12th. Called Costco, who referred me to Lorex and they acted like they didn't know what I was talking about, but that if there was an update to the dome camera, they would replace it under warranty.

[mikesd 0]

Here is what I did to make Lorex nvr form Costco with 4 cameras to work with another 4 Swann cameras.

My setup is as follows:

Lorex NVR with 4 Lorex cameras attached to it.

Another 4 cameras are on separate POE switch.

 

So to make them show in the NVR and record first I changed the password to 000000.

Then set the cameras with ip addresses from my network.

At the end just added the cameras manually in Device Parameters menu to the NVR. Now they are showing and recording fine.

[atari37 0]

This is great news. I might have to reorder the Swann camera again to give it a second try. I couldn't get the Hikvision tool to detect the camera but the same tool detected my Hikvision branded cameras. I guess it's possible that I had a bad Swann dome.