NVR Stand alone does not detect camera

[guesswho 0]

Hi,

 

I have 4 ACTi-3401 dome IP camera (BRAND NEW that I opened). I had them connected to a computer (that I built) but had no luck detecting them using the software that came with them. I tried so many times with no luck. Long story short, I decided to invest in the Stand alone ACTi ENR-1000 and made sure I got it same brand to avoid compatibility issue. My same problem is still their. It will not detect the cameras.

 

Here is how I have everything connected right now:

 

4 IP Cameras > POE > ENR > Monitor

 

When I connect the POE to the router, the cameras get assign IP (I used IP utility software to see that). But I don't to use my router to assign the IP since ENR has its own bult-in network and prefer the cameras to get the IP from it. I am getting to a point were I don't know what is happening anymore (feeling lost). Can someone please help me or direct me what I need to do to get it to work?

 

Thank you so much

[buellwinkle 0]

When you first got the cameras and plugged them into a PoE switch that's connected to your router, they get a DHCP address. I use a free smartphone app called Fing (for IOS or Android), put my phone in WiFi mode and it scans for everything on my network and the ones that say ACTi are your cameras. Then I use Internet Explorer to connect to each one (admin/123456) and change the IP to a fixed one. Not sure about their NVR's, never tried them but their NVR software is very good.

[guesswho 0]

Thank you for the tip. Now I am able to access each camera through the web browser, but when I connect it to the ENR, its not detecting any of them. The camera video is at MPEG4. I was reading in the manual that it has to be H.264 video quality, but the camera is not giving me the option to switch only to MJPEG. Do think this is the reason its not detecting the cameras?

 

 

Info might be helpful:

The ENR Gateway IP is the same as the Gateway IP cameras.

[guesswho 0]

I got ENR to connect to one camera using RTSP. The system shows "This compression is not supported."

The ENR supports H.264 video compression. The ACM-3401 only have the option between MPEG SP and MJPEG video compression. Is their anyway I can have ENR to display these cameras with that video compression? Like go around it to get it to work. I appreciate your time.

 

Thank you for your help.

[SunnyKim 2]

Most of chipsets used in the NVR(ENR????) can support to de-compress the format in MPEG or JPEG or H.264 (more upgraded from MPEG-4-standard compression). The ENR seems not to support MPEG compressed stream, yet. You may contact their tech support team for your ENR. They will tell you whether your ENR can be firmware upgraded or can not be upgraded at all, because the chipset itself may not support MPEG decompression at all.

[guesswho 0]

I called ACTi regarding ENR-1000 to see if they have an update for the system. They said that this system would only work with H.264 video compression IP cameras. So it looks like this NVR would not work with my cameras. If anyone is interested in NVR, let me know. Its like brand new with everything it came with.

 

On the other hand, I was looking at DAHUA NVR4216 NVR. Its showing that it has MPEG4 video compression compatibility. I just want to make sure that this model would work with my ACTi cameras? Also, if anyone can give me feedback on this model or recommend a another brand, I would appreciate the info.

 

Thank you!

[SunnyKim 2]

To keep your Acti cameras, return ENR and get Acti's new-recent NVR, if I am in your shoes.

[guesswho 0]

The only one that is compatible with those cameras is GNR-3000 and its really expensive.

[dexterash 0]

On the other hand, I was looking at DAHUA NVR4216 NVR. Its showing that it has MPEG4 video compression compatibility. I just want to make sure that this model would work with my ACTi cameras? Also, if anyone can give me feedback on this model or recommend a another brand, I would appreciate the info.

Check this:

http://www.dahuasecurity.com/spartner-2.html

 

It's not a simple compression/codec problem, but rather the protocol used to communicate with the camera besides the video encoding. Also, not all manufacturers implement the same way the codec. There should be "something" that replicates the same settings used to encode in the NVR/decoder.There are lots of other facts, like Motion Detection, Playback, Alarms etc.

[guesswho 0]

Thank you for the link. I almost ordered it yesterday, but decided to wait until I get more feedback.

 

Do you know any NVR that supports ACTi ACM-3401 cameras that doesn't cost an arm or leg?

 

Thank you

[dexterash 0]

I doubt you'll find a good NVR that's non-ACTi. Your best shot would be a PC + NVR Software.

 

If I were you, I would return the cameras too - they are kind of old and MPEG4 compression (non-H.264) requires a lot of space&speed/bandwidth - and get whole solution from a single manufacturer.

[guesswho 0]

I would love to do that, but the problem is that I have 11 cameras that I already bought a while ago and 8 of them are installed already. So I really can't return them :/.

 

I tried using a pc + NVR software, but I had a hard time configuring it. Now that I found out about this forum and have a little more experience, I will just have to give it another shot. Thank you for all the help and info.