Foscam - Qcam NVR - ONVIF Camera Problems

LemonAden

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Good afternoon folks! I am hoping this is the right section of the forum.

3 years ago I purchased an Qcam NVR system with 8 ip cameras (huge mistake because they discontinued it shortly after and no longer offer updates). I ran ethernet cables underground and set up the system nicely on my property, with the NVR output to a huge flat screen TV in my workshop so we could keep security cameras on our farm.

Unfortunately the cameras were cheap and the bases started to come apart and after trying to fix a few of them and tightening with an allen wrench, the camera frames broke. The whole reason I putchased this system was because it was entry level and Foscam told me at the time that I could use ANY ipcam with it.

I called Foscam to replace the 2 broken cameras and were told that they no longer sell compatible cameras and I had to buy refurb. I received one of the refurbs and its scratched so I hopped on Amazon a few weeks ago and got a cheap SVEC ipcam to see if I could get it to work and am running into frustrating issues.

On the back end of Qcam I entered in the camera IP, port, user name and password. Nothing happens and it says the camera is offline. Then I plug the camera directly into my router which is next to the NVR and it its coming up in the NVR, but only when I plug it into my router, and not when I plug the ipcam into the NVR. I have confirmed the correct IP, port, user name and password (which I don't even need to enter when plugging it into the router, it automatically adds to the NVR settings), but when unplugging it from the router and then putting it back into the NVR, it no longer works.

I am pulling my hair out. I need to get through the end of the year with this system and then plan on using all your advice to get rid of this thing and upgrade to one that can do many more camera as my property has expanded and I need new runs going to my other buildings. Any help you can offer to help me get these third party ONVIF cameras working would be great. Thank you!
 

SouthernYankee

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Not a expert on this NVR or your system.... But..
On some nvrs the cameras are set to a specific IP address based upon the port. Also the NVR cameras are on a different subnet.

For example the camera on the NVR would have IP address
10.0.1.21
10.0.1.22

While the camera directly connected to the router IP may have an ipaddress of 192.168.1.165...

Look at the NVR and check your IP addresses of you cameras.
,,............
Test the port on the NVR, the port do go bad.
Test the camera on the NVR with a short new cable.
 

LemonAden

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I had stopped short of trying to change the ip and port of the new generic camera to match the previous IP series from the cams that came with the NVR. This morning I logged in to the camera directly with an app that came with the camera and changed the IP and port, and it locked me out of the camera. Now I can't access it with the app to change it back so I guess I need to return it. I am going to close out this post now, and I think its time to discuss switching to something that I have more control over so I will be making a new post here to hear all your advice.
 

alastairstevenson

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This morning I logged in to the camera directly with an app that came with the camera and changed the IP and port, and it locked me out of the camera.
It probably didn't - more likely the camera is now on a different IP address range than the PC the app is running on.
That would make it inaccessible.

Suggestion:
Temporarily change the PC IP address to be something in the same (unspecified) IP address range as the one you used the app to change the camera to.
Confirm the app can now see the camera again.
Then you can experiment with plugging it in to the Qcam NVR as you were going to.
 

SouthernYankee

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Once you change the IP address it will lock you out. The camera is now on a different subnet.

1) plug the camera into the NVR and see if it works
2) change the IP address of the PC to be on the same subnet as you set the camera too, connect the PC directly to the camera, not thru the router.
3) do a physical hard reset on the camera, this may require opening the camera up.
 
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