Unknown cameras to Hilook

[Rewmer]

a couple of years back I bought a cheap 4 Chanel wireless system, the wireless system was patchy at best so I hard wired the cameras with cat 5 to a switch and then the switch to my home network. Was all working well, but last month the nvr died so I replaced with a Hilook system hoping to use the original cameras but can’t get them to connect. I can access them via my pc and have the IP addresses. The hilook doesnt see them to auto add so I manually input the ip and have tried activating with the password I setup but they report abnormal network. I can acces the hilook through the pc ok.
I’m a bit lost now what to try, I did try reducing the resolution on the cameras as suggested in another thread. Am I flogging a dead horse with these old cameras.? I was always happy with the picture quality so would like to keep using them or is it time for new ones ?
I don’t know much about the cameras except they ar IPC brand. .

 

[bp2008]

It is probably possible to keep using the cameras, but you will need to figure out how they actually do their video streaming. Like if they are sending H.264 using RTSP then they should be compatible with most PC-based NVR software, but you need to figure out what the URL is to access the video stream.

 

[TonyR]

To add to what @bp2008 stated, is there a model # on that IPC brand? Here are some URLs.

 

[Rewmer]

Thanks guys. I will interrogate a bit more see what I can find on the cameras. Will keep you updated.
Where do I input the URL in the camera config once I have it ? I dont remember seeing anything about it.

 

[TonyR]

Where do I input the URL in the camera config once I have it ? I dont remember seeing anything about it.

You don't put it into the camera; the URL is the address, path and instructions from a browser, video player or VMS that directs the video stream FROM the camera to the medium playing that stream.

The free VLC player is a great way to test and play those URLs on a PC. Or Tinycam on an Android device.

 

[Rewmer]

Ok, so whilst checking out the link TonyR posted for the IPC cameras, I downloaded Ispy and went through the adding camera wizard and have now got two of them working through Ispy. I guess its a short step to get them working through the HiLook ? just not sure how. I tried lifting the ip address from web server setting page and played with the ports, but the best I got was "connecting"

 

[TonyR]

1. Does the cam have a model number?
2. Have you tried using VLC?

 

[Rewmer]

Ok, I found some URLs and put these into VLC and got a stream OK. I used the wizard in Ispy and chose IPC 1.2.0 as the camera. Question is how do I get this information into the Hilook ?

 

[alastairstevenson]

Question is how do I get this information into the Hilook ?

Does it support the 'Custom Protocol' choice in the camera configuration, like its big brother NVRs?

 

[Rewmer]

I haven't seen that option whilst trawling through the menus and setup pages.

 

[alastairstevenson]

I haven't seen that option whilst trawling through the menus and setup pages.

This is what appears when the Custom protocol button is used in the Camera Management page of the NVR web GUI :



I believe HiLook, like HiWatch, deliberately has a reduced feature set over the non-consumer series, despite using the same hardware.

 

[Rewmer]

Thanks for the help guys, but I have given up and bought new HiWatch cameras. Worked straight out the box with a little configuring.