Is it possible to change a camera IP if plugged in to NVR PoE?

[chippy]

Below is my setup. After plugging in my cameras with plug and play turned on, I noticed that all my cameras are on a different subnet(?) than my network. My network is 192.168.2.x, mask 255.255.255.0 All the cameras are on 192.168.254.x, same mask. I can get into the camera guis okay by either using their IP or by using the correct port going through the NVRs virtual host.

I thought the NVR was basically just a switch and that my routers would assign them an IP on my subnet, but it seems to me that the NVR is assigning the IP to the camera? Which seems odd to me since I changed its IP(static) to my network subnet instead of something like 192.168.254.x. The router's DHCP is enabled. That's about all I can think of that is relevant. I'm sorry if my terminology is off... obviously my networking knowledge is elementary.

I would like to change the camera IPs to be on the 192.168.2 subnet, same as my router, if possible. I've tried going through the camera gui and changing the IP there, but when it asks if I want to reboot the camera, it always reverts back to its old IP.

This all came up because I was trying to add the cameras to ISpy. My cameras are on the camera wizard so I expected setup to be simple, but the only devices the wizard sees is the NVR. Am I doing something wrong or is it not possible to change the IP on the camera if it's plugged into the NVR?

 

[fenderman]

@chippy, this is normal. If you want to add the cams to ispy as well you need to use a (poe) switch for the cams. You can also stream from the NVR but too much load will cause issues. If you have an open port on the NVR you can use this method to try and stream https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/115-Hitting-cameras-web-pages-with-a-laptop-in-an-NVR-with-POE

 

[alastairstevenson]

I would like to change the camera IPs to be on the 192.168.2 subnet, same as my router, if possible

You can't do this without breaking the Linux kernel routing between the PoE interface and the LAN interface in the NVR.
You can't have 2 interfaces on the one device on the same address range.
But there is a way:

You've got Virtual Host enabled and working, so the NVR Linux kernel has 'IP forwarding' (not to be confused with 'Port forwarding' implicitly enabled.
You can access the cameras directly from the LAN at their 192.168.254.x address with these 2 changes:
Change the camera default gateway to the address of the NVR PoE interface, ie 192.168.254.1 It will likely be 192.168.2.1 currently.
On your LAN default gateway, usually your router, add a 'private static route' that will route packets for the NVR PoE interface network (192.168.254.0/24 (ie subnet mask 255.255.255.0) to the NVR LAN interface address of wherever it is in 192.168.2.x
When you've done that, confirm you can reach the PoE-connected cameras by pinging them, and opening their 192.168.254.x address directly in the browser.
At which point iSpy will be able to reach them directly.

 

[chippy]

Thanks to you both for the replies
@fenderman, what did you mean by "You can also stream from the NVR but too much load will cause issues?" Isn't streaming the only way to watch live? You aren't supposed to do that? I've been leaving live feeds on continuous. What kinds of "issues" will it cause? There's some good stuff in that thread you linked particularly with regard to power outages. We have lots here. I understand that thread to be telling people how to get into their camera gui while plugged into the nvr. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm already getting that... The nvr gui, through the browser, has links to each cameras gui which will open in a new browser. The link is the ip of the nvr:xxxxx followed by the port the nvr uses to connect to it. Is that the same thing?
@alastair, I think what you're describing is what I've already done as I can also specify the camera IP to get to the gui on the NVR (254) subnet. However, ISpy (which I'm not very familiar with) only shows what they call "adapter" which seems to be a synonym for the subnets it sees. In my case, it only sees the LAN subnet. I can see no way to make it see the NVR subnet. I have to choose the subnet for it to search on. Since the NVR subnet isn't an option, it never finds the cameras connected to it. Thus, my main reason for the OP. This is through the Wizard setup. Maybe I need to do it manually? I'll try that tonight.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks to you both for the replies
@fenderman, what did you mean by "You can also stream from the NVR but too much load will cause issues?" Isn't streaming the only way to watch live? You aren't supposed to do that? I've been leaving live feeds on continuous. What kinds of "issues" will it cause? There's some good stuff in that thread you linked particularly with regard to power outages. We have lots here. I understand that thread to be telling people how to get into their camera gui while plugged into the nvr. Maybe I'm missing something, but I'm already getting that... The nvr gui, through the browser, has links to each cameras gui which will open in a new browser. The link is the ip of the nvr:xxxxx followed by the port the nvr uses to connect to it. Is that the same thing?

When you stream the NVR view the web browser, you are not viewing the main stream. When you try to have the NVR send the main stream to ispy for 8 cameras, you may have problems..I have not tested this with modern NVR's as I no longer use them, but this used to be a problem. The link is for units without the virtual host capabilities but it does let you reach the cameras directly...though alastairs solution is better.

 

[chippy]

When you stream the NVR view the web browser, you are not viewing the main stream. When you try to have the NVR send the main stream to ispy for 8 cameras, you may have problems..I have not tested this with modern NVR's as I no longer use them, but this used to be a problem. The link is for units without the virtual host capabilities but it does let you reach the cameras directly...though alastairs solution is better.

Okay, I think I know what you're talking about... the nvr browser will actually stream to a 4x4 grid of cameras in one browser tab. An improvement over the older nvr's? I imagine improvements in router technology is a big help too.

I have a cheap HooToo camera connected to my router (its not PoE). Even it has a link in the nvr gui. Launches a new browser tab with the HooToo gui, crap that it is. I'll let you know how it all works when I get my second round of cameras connected.

 

[fenderman]

Okay, I think I know what you're talking about... the nvr browser will actually stream to a 4x4 grid of cameras in one browser tab. An improvement over the older nvr's? I imagine improvements in router technology is a big help too.

I have a cheap HooToo camera connected to my router (its not PoE). Even it has a link in the nvr gui. Launches a new browser tab with the HooToo gui, crap that it is. I'll let you know how it all works when I get my second round of cameras connected.

No, the 4x4 is a substream. You are trying to stream the mainstream from the NVR. If you try to pull multiple streams direct from the nvr you may have issues.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I think what you're describing is what I've already done as I can also specify the camera IP to get to the gui on the NVR (254) subnet.

As you can access the camera web GUI directly from the LAN then you've got everything set correctly.
I'm afraid I have never used iSpy - but it sounds from what you've described that it's unable to use targets outside the local LAN segment.