Lorex conundrum

kenus

n3wb
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Pennsylvania
I am posting here to try to get some advise to an ongoing problem I have with a brand new Lorex NVR system (bought last Christmas). I have spent well over a thousand dollars on both the install and for this Flir/Lorex equipment that does not function.

I have also spent tens and tens of hours on many, many calls to what is called Lorex support. I have had multiple Lorex technicians remote into my system to do the same thing over and over again without any improvement. I admit some of the early newby calls on system setup were resolved by level 1 support ok. But when it came to the missing events it became just repetitious tweek this or tweek that without success.

I have talked to people who posed as managers, and even a "Technical Tier 3" manager. I demonstrated the problem to the "Tier 3" manager while he was on my system but he fails to put that in his report, only that I did not persist in troubleshooting the problem by getting my 68 year old ass up on a ladder to my second floor to take down a camera that I paid to have installed, so he could see how it works when mounted lower. I thought he was f'in crazy. He did not report to his office that I demonstrated, and he observed the problem of failure to mark an event but he only told them that I did not help him diagnose the problem. He said my cameras were installed properly where they are, as that is a question I wanted cleared up from the beginning. In fact they work fine except with this one Important problem. I don't know what else I can do. Should I put up a sign asking intruders to please be sure to run past my cameras when they go to kick in my door so they will mark an event as they should.

To get right to the point, the problem is that multiple , I have seen this with 3 of 4 of my cameras and probable the last one too (if I wanted to waste even more time then I already have), FAIL to mark an EVENT when an intruder walks into the zone. But if the motion is quick, a person running, then it works ok. It will usually catch UPS or cars coming in at a quick pace but if a car come slowly up my driveway and backs back down it wont mark an event for that either.

They wont give me a refund because it is more that 6 months. But they know I have been working with them for at least that long! One trick they do is to close your existing incident number and issue a new one when you call back in so it looks like separate incidents that have been resolved. This practice disgusts me.

So Please Help! Similar experiences. Past experiences with Lorex. Even opinions! The only reason I bought their equipment was I saw they were bought out by Flir whom I respected as a company. But now, to me this doesn't say much about Flir.

My equipment is ;
4K Ultra HD IP NVR system with 4 Outdoor 4K 8MP IP Cameras, 250ft Night Vision

NVR model NR900
The bullet camera is LNB8973

I see Lorex recently came out with a new HP camera with Sony sensor. Could the reason be because they know about the problem with my camera model?

Any suggestions would be helpful. Right now I am out a lot of money on a system that does not protect my home. Since this if my first system I don't exactly what to expect from it or support.

Thanks.

Note:
my camera may in fact have the Sony sensor as best I can tell from looking at Lorex’s web site.

That may account for the problem and it may just need a patch for their firmware.

As I said before, otherwise I like the picture quality of these cameras and the system in general. But at any sensitivity even at 100 they just don’t work. I have never been known to be politically correct, but some times their support to me has been like working with a third world country. They just don’t have that can do attitude. So what is your solution Lorex?

Any suggestions, things to check would be appreciated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,902
Reaction score
21,274
@kenus If you purchased at costco/sams you can return anytime. Otherwise call your credit card company.
More than likely you have set something incorrectly...you would need to post your settings. Lorex is owned by dahua, and they could care less about your complaints etc...changes in camera options and sensors have nothing to do with defects. There are always new models...
 

mat200

IPCT Contributor
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
13,945
Reaction score
23,252
Welcome @kenus

Problem: "FAIL to mark an EVENT when an intruder walks into the zone. But if the motion is quick, a person running, then it works ok. "
Camera and NVR:
NVR model NR900
The bullet camera is LNB8973

So, here's the issue:
MOTION DETECTION technology is not a perfect tech. ( camera based motion detection )

This is why you want to combine your setup with an appropriate alarm system.

The Camera is a good quality DAHUA OEM camera. However, it is missing what Dahua calls IVS features ( Lorex strips these from the firmware ) - which can be used to give better results - but does require more DIY learning.

What to do?:
Note: As it looks like this is a kit you bought directly from Lorex you have limited return options.

Do check for updated firmware for the NVR and cameras.

The NVR has alarm ports on the back of the unit - thus I recommend combining alarm sensors with this kit to increase accuracy of intrusion detection.

You can read what others are doing in the security alarm section here.

You can also decide to go the route of augmenting your setup with a Blue Iris PC - you can send the video streams to the Blue Iris system and have it do the motion detection and intrusion compute, and use the NVR also as a place to store your videos - this would give you 2 places you can store the video for reliability and potential protection of the video assets if you hide one of the units from home invaders. If you decide to try the BI option, go to the BI section of ipcamtalk and see how others are using it. You would need a PoE switch also if you want to go this route.
 
Last edited:

th182

BIT Beta Team
Joined
Sep 11, 2018
Messages
690
Reaction score
1,205
Location
Minnesota
I have a lorex system and bought due to the Flir brand as well. Same experiences with tech support marking tickets as “resolved” even though no one from support responded to me.

My lorex system hogs my network bandwidth if connected to the internet (its a HDCVI system so the internet connection is only for remote viewing). Support was useless when I did get through to them. I told them if I unplugged the network cable my network problems went away but then I couldn’t use the remote access features. They saw unplugging the cable as a successful resolution of my problem and closed any support options I had. The dvr could be on my LAN if I firewalled it from reaching the WAN. Once it could reach out to the internet it killed my entire network.

I have since set up a PC with Blue Iris and that grabs my feeds from the lorex DVR. Blue iris has been a million times more reliable with motion detection than lorex ever was. Much more configuration options too. My neighbor loaned me a lorex IP camera from his system and blue iris streams that too.

I also bought a lorex PTZ for my system and it was garbage from day one. The presets and tours were not reliable. Over time the presets would drift to the right and be nowhere near the correct position. I had to fight with them to let me return it and to get them to pay return shipping. And that was returning within 2 weeks of purchase.

My plan going forward is to build an IP camera network with better cameras as the lorex ones start to fail, eventually phasing our my lorex dvr. Over time they start to have color issues in sunny areas. Greens start to turn purple and everything goes to hell.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

kenus

n3wb
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Pennsylvania
Thanks for the great feedback. This site is awesome.

Cameras mounted at second floor ceiling height. The one pointed directly at the driveway is slightly lower. Each camera covers the front, sides and back yard.

I WILL definitely try to set up blue iris. And will provide my camera settings soon as I can.

I do commiserate with the other Lorex users experiences. I hope my cameras hold up as I do like the resolution and color they provide. As far as the internet I have seen them use up to .8 mb of my 2.6 dsl line. I don’t know what the high watermark would be though. This can be a nuisance when trying to stream some shows.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,902
Reaction score
21,274
Thanks for the great feedback. This site is awesome.

Cameras mounted at second floor ceiling height. The one pointed directly at the driveway is slightly lower. Each camera covers the front, sides and back yard.

I WILL definitely try to set up blue iris. And will provide my camera settings soon as I can.

I do commiserate with the other Lorex users experiences. I hope my cameras hold up as I do like the resolution and color they provide. As far as the internet I have seen them use up to .8 mb of my 2.6 dsl line. I don’t know what the high watermark would be though. This can be a nuisance when trying to stream some shows.
Once you try blue iris you will see what a toy the lorex NVR is. Be sure to read the wiki on both the proper hardware for the blue iris machine as well as the proper setup of the software.
 

th182

BIT Beta Team
Joined
Sep 11, 2018
Messages
690
Reaction score
1,205
Location
Minnesota
Definitely read up on system requirements, blue iris needs a decent machine to run well. I also found some videos on YouTube by “HomeTech Video” to be helpful in configuring and understanding the thousands of settings blue iris has. HomeTech Video


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

kenus

n3wb
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Pennsylvania
BlueIris seems like it would be nice if it worked.

When I put in the proper pw it scans and finds a device it calls Digimerge. I highlight it and click ok

Then I get the message screen says inspecting and finally, no automatic configuration done.

Guess I am sol right?
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,902
Reaction score
21,274
BlueIris seems like it would be nice if it worked.

When I put in the proper pw it scans and finds a device it calls Digimerge. I highlight it and click ok

Then I get the message screen says inspecting and finally, no automatic configuration done.

Guess I am sol right?
Blue iris works. You need to add it as a lorex/dahua/ or amcrest rtsp, its in the dropdown list.
 

kenus

n3wb
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Pennsylvania
I am not sure how to do this as the cameras are wired to the nvr on “its” own local network.

10.x.x.x addresses if I remember, so I can’t access the cameras directly. Only the cameras are wired to the nvr. I admin the Lorex nvr via wi-fi on its assigned local 192.168.x.x address.

For BlueIris I thought I would use the address of the nvr (192.168.x.x) and it’s I’d and pw and it would find the cameras. Is this how it is supposed to work?

I thought someone said Blue Iris could talk to or through my existing nvr. Two are betterThan one, right. And I have already paid for this nvr. I just can’t find any good doc on this configuration.
 

fenderman

Staff member
Joined
Mar 9, 2014
Messages
36,902
Reaction score
21,274
I am not sure how to do this as the cameras are wired to the nvr on “its” own local network.

10.x.x.x addresses if I remember, so I can’t access the cameras directly. Only the cameras are wired to the nvr. I admin the Lorex nvr via wi-fi on its assigned local 192.168.x.x address.

For BlueIris I thought I would use the address of the nvr (192.168.x.x) and it’s I’d and pw and it would find the cameras. Is this how it is supposed to work?

I thought someone said Blue Iris could talk to or through my existing nvr. Two are betterThan one, right. And I have already paid for this nvr. I just can’t find any good doc on this configuration.
you can stream from the nvr itself..or there are ways to get direct to the camera....many threads discussing it..a better solution would be to use a poe switch...that way you dont rely on the nvr.
 

kenus

n3wb
Joined
Oct 13, 2018
Messages
6
Reaction score
0
Location
Pennsylvania
Thanks Fenderman. I just wanted a simple plug and play solution, now I am a network administrator. Oh, the time.

Did I say Lorex sucks. Oh, I think I already did.

What do you think of the;
UbiqUiti EdgeSwitch 8 150W
The EdgeSwitch ES-8-150W is a fully managed, high performance PoE+ Gigabit switch with two SFP ports, and 10 Gbps total, non-blocking line rate.

You have so much information on this site. This was helpful https://ipcamtalk.com/wiki/ip-cam-talk-cliff-notes/

Thanks.
 
Top