How to Connect Wireless IP Camera to DVR

Is it a must you have an NVR to monitor and record your property with IP cameras? A simple answer, NO. If you already own a security camera system with DVR, you could add a PoE or WiFi Cam into the mix. This will not only save you some bucks but also enable you to monitor the high-value locations in crispier quality.

Although it will be a topic of another day, IP cameras also have a wide range of features and intelligent technology than analog ones. If it’s something like facial recognition or package detection, many analog CCTV doesn’t support the feature yet. You could even add a PTZ outdoor security camera, which usually uses PoE technology to work.

Can I Add Any IP Camera To My DVR?

First of all, we usually have two different types of IP (internet protocol) cameras that you should keep in mind: WiFi and PoE. A webcam is also an internet camera, but in many cases, IP refers to surveillance cameras.

Secondly, both PoE and WiFi wireless security cameras can be added to the DVR unit. However, the respective camera and the DVR have to support ONVIF compliance to configure and function properly. It’s a very crucial step, albeit many technicians forget to mention it when advising their clients.

Thirdly and most important of all, your DVR has to have IP camera support for this hack to work. These machines are usually referred to as hybrid DVR since it has an analog and network camera signal. A good example is the ANNKE 5MP Super HD DVR, which has eight channels for BNC cameras and 2 channels for IP cameras. This gives a total of ten cameras that you can even improvise further (if interested) to have like five IP cameras and five analog BNC cameras.

Do You Need to Add an IP Camera to DVR?

In general, IP cameras are superior to the analog camera in several ways. The top 5 benefits that you can enjoy after adding this camera to your DVR include:

Resolution: While we can spend the whole day arguing, IP cameras, especially PoE, record crispier images than the analog models. This is so from the use of a network cable, which translates the digital signal in a much cleaner way.

Distance zoom: Thanks to the crispier images, IP cameras have better zoom-in capabilities than analog cameras. They pixelate less and even have a wide field of view to offer a larger coverage.

Intelligence and analytics: As was mentioned, IP cameras have various advanced programs to enhance your monitoring experience. They are more like small computers with unique commands to detect motion, smoke, face, cars, packages, tampering, or even count people. Many analog cameras only have basic motion detection, which is usually “software-based”.

Smoother Videos: if you shop around, you’ll notice IP cameras have a higher frame rate than the analog counterparts. And if you can remember our recent talk on 4K 30fps cameras, a higher frame rate’s the best to record fast-moving objects.

Tighter security: Last but not least, IP cameras usually work with an encrypted video signal, thus transmission is secure.

Also, Hybrid DVRs usually have some extra free channels (two to four) that you can connect to your IP cameras. Hence, enabling you to further expand your CCTV system and cover more grounds of your property.

Quick Guide: How to Add IP Cameras to DVR

There are some steps you have to follow to successfully add your IP camera/s to the security camera recorder. We have divided our article into two parts as both WiFi and PoE security cameras require a slightly different configuration setup.

How to Connect PoE IP Camera to DVR

What You Need

• PoE switch- to provide power to the cameras
• Windows PC- to conduct all the configuration processes
• DVR recorder- A hybrid model that supports IP cameras
• IP cameras- cameras compatible with the DVR, in particular resolution
• Internet router- ensure the DVR and the IP cameras are on the same local network

When you have all this hardware ready, everything else should be straightforward. The setup is only a four steps process that only requires you to:

1. Confirm your DVR recorder supports IP cameras
2. Connect the cameras to the PoE switch
3. Configure DVR to your local network
4. Configure the cameras to your local network as well
5. Add the cameras to the DVR recorder

Step (1) Confirm Your DVR Supports IP Cameras

To do that, open your security camera DVR video management software and key in the login details. Then, click the camera option from the menu page and you’ll see whether your DVR has an IP camera category or not.

Step (2) Connect the IP cameras to the PoE Switch

Once you’re sure the DVR will work with IP cameras, you can now proceed with the next step and connect the camera/s to the switch. It’s a simple step as you only need to connect the cat5 Ethernet cable from the PoE switch port to the camera.

Step (3) Configure the DVR recorder to your local network

Now connect the DVR to one of the ports on the network switch using a CAT5 cable. Then, pick another cable and plug it into the uplink port of the network switch to link with the internet router.

Once done with that, you can now configure the DVR to an IP address that’s compatible with your router’s address. This will help ensure the two can communicate seamlessly without “IP conflict”.
To configure the DVR to the local network:

• Open the DVR management software and go to the main menu
• From the setting option, click “Network” and choose TCP/ IP
• The system will now display the IP addresses of the connected devices. The “IP Address” is the address for the DVR and should be matching with the router’s address (listed as “Default Gateway”).
• If the DVR’s IP Address doesn’t match that of the router, you can easily correct it from this page. Only the first three octets should be similar as the fourth one is the unique identity of the respective device. If the router’s IP address is 192.168.1.1, you assign your DVR an IP address like 192.168.1.200. That way, the first three octets are identical and our DVR is configured.

Step (4) Configure the cameras to your local Network

To configure the IP cameras is the same as we’ve talked about the DVR. You need to assign them an IP address similar to that of the router for them to communicate without issues. Don’t forget to assign a static address to all of them to prevent the router from giving them a new one after every reboot.

Step (5) Add the cameras to the DVR recorder

Now that the DVR and cameras are on the same network, you can sync them up to start recording. To do that:

• Open the video management software and click the Camera menu.
• Scroll to the “Channel Type” option and enable the IP camera section for all the channels. The DVR will then reboot to activate the feature for the next step
• After the reboot, go back to the Camera menu and open the “Registration” option.
• Now click the “Device Search” button to sync all the cameras on the network. Then, check them and hit the “Add” button to activate them.
• At this point, your added IP camera/s should be visible on the live view window screen. If it displays a “no signal” sign, chances are that you have missed the configuration of the DVR or IP camera. So, you’ll have to check either of the two.

How To Connect Wireless IP Camera To DVR

What You Need

1. Windows PC- to conduct all the configuration processes
2. DVR recorder- A hybrid model that supports IP cameras
3. IP cameras- wireless cameras compatible with the DVR
4. Internet router- ensure the DVR and the IP cameras are on the same local network

To connect a WiFi wireless IP camera to the DVR, the process is pretty much the same as that of the PoE camera. Only a few steps will change here and there as we won’t be using the PoE switch in this case.

Anyway, the first step in the setup is to configure the DVR to your local network. But since we have already done it in Step A (3) above, we need not repeat it and go to connecting the camera/s. To do that:

1. Configure the wireless IP camera/s to your local network

Put simply, you’ll need to sync up the WiFi camera with your home router. As was noted when looking at how to remotely view security cameras, you need to download the app, scan the QR code, and bam, the cam is streaming.

2. Assign a new IP address to the wireless IP camera

After configuration, your camera will have the dynamic IP address issued by the host network (router). As such, you’ll need to give it a fixed (static) IP address to ensure continued communication with the DVR after restarting.

To give the new IP:

• Open the DVR video management client (software)
• Repeat Step A (5) (b) above. Then, wait for the DVR recorder to finish the reboot
• Confirm the DVR is on the same network as the home router. Then, add the wireless cameras to the same scheme
• After inputting the first three octets of the router’s IP, add the fourth with a new number to give your camera/s a new identity.

** Now the camera/s has a fixed IP address and will connect to the DVR even after restarting.

3. Enable the Wireless cameras on the DVR

While still at the client software, click the Camera menu and choose the “IP Camera” option. Your configured camera/s will be displayed on the “Uninitialized” or “Unadded” section. So, the next step is to check them and click the magic “Add” button to have it/ them on the “Added Device” list.

4. Preview and Live-View

If you have set the IP address of the router and camera correctly, your online devices will show a green active status. You should be able to see it/ them on the live view window screen alongside all other analog cameras connected.

To Conclude:

Adding an IP security camera to DVR isn’t just an easy process but also a cost-effective one. If you don’t have enough funds to switch to High Def. PoE or WiFi cameras at once, you can add a few for the high-value areas. Then, when you now save enough for an NVR, you can connect your IP cameras with the rest.

Even so, it’s worth noting various DVR and CCTV video management client have a different setup, as well as arrangement. So, you might find some steps don’t align exactly like ours, whereby we used an XVR and Hikvision DVR.

But again, the process is same across all models. So, the only thing that might be confusing is the naming.