Description
The third-party IP cameras are successfully added and displayed on the Camera Management list, but the status shows disconnected. The common causes of this problem could be network issue, improper device configuration and protocol incompatibility issue. In this article we will go through some basic cases and solutions of the problem.
Adding third-party camera failed (Web)
Adding third-party camera failed (QT)
Note:
We recommend updating the NVR firmware to the latest version before starting. The latest version can be downloaded from the Download Center|Milesight.
Cause
1. Network issue
2. Improper device configuration
3. Protocol compatibility issue
1. Network issues
Sometimes it’s easy to ignore the network configuration in a setup. As a basic factor of device communication, we need to make sure the network setting is correct when the problem appears.
1.1 Check network status
*Go to Settings -- Network Status page, check the LAN port IP and gateway setting.
NVR network status
Note: When the camera is connected to PoE port directly, the IP segment of the camera is supposed to be the same as LAN2 of NVR. For more details about PoE port setting please refer to this article: How to use PoE NVR
*Try to ping camera IP address to make sure NVR can get response from camera.
Ping test on NVR
Note: Ping test is a common way to check the network status. Also there will be some special cases where the ping cannot work as a proof. For example, when multiple cameras are forwarded by the same public IP, the ping could not work. Please make sure those cameras are assigned to different HTTP/RTSP ports, otherwise there would be port conflict for the cameras.
1.2 Bandwidth limitation
NVR devices have bandwidth limitation. When the connection bandwidth exceeds the capacity that NVR can take, NVR will judge that the cameras are not added successfully.
Bandwidth overloaded
When the bandwidth problem occurs, you can try methods below:
*Set the camera video resolution, frame rate or bit rate to lower level.
*Check third-party camera bit rate setting. For example, on some models of Axis camera the bit rate is a quite high value by default in ONVIF profile, shown as below:
When added, NVR will prompt “Bandwidth Limitation”. You need to adjust it to a proper value so that NVR can accept it. Here are the steps to modify bit rate.
1. Find ONVIF option in the menu:
2. Set the user to Administrator level:
3. Click on ONVIF media profiles, select a user for Video Source Configuration and modify profile_0 h264 bit rate. You can set the bit rate to 4096 Kbps or around.
ONVIF Profile
Modify ONVIF profile setting
4. When configuration is done, it is recommended to restart the camera to make the setting effective. Then the camera can be added normally.
Restart Axis camera
Camera added successfully
2. Improper device configuration
2.1 Video codec setting
Since Milesight NVR only supports H.264, H.265 video codec type, please pay attention to the camera's MJPEG, H.264+, H.265, H.265+ and smart stream options. Please check the camera stream encoding mode on camera when the NVR shows unknown error.
Unknown error
Dahua video encoding setting
2.2 System time setting
It is recommended to set the NVR and third-party camera system time to the same manually. This will help NVR get the camera status correctly.
NVR system time setting
Third-party camera system time setting
3. Protocol compatibility issue
3.1 ONVIF protocol
Milesight NVR supports ONVIF profile S and T. It’s necessary that third-party cameras also support these protocols so that they can be added successfully. Otherwise you can only add cameras via RTSP protocol.
To find out whether the camera supports ONVIF, you can test the camera on ODM(ONVIF Device Manager). ODM can be downloaded on Google directly. Please try to add the third-party camera on ODM. If the camera information is displayed on NVT after logging in, it means the camera can be added via ONVIF successfully.
Camera information
Input the corresponding ONVIF account and click Log in:
Ensure the RTSP stream is available. Check whether the video stream can be played normally after the camera is successfully added through ONVIF:
Even if the camera supports ONVIF, there might be some points that you will miss. Common cases are as below：
*ONVIF Protocol is NOT Enabled
Ensure the ONVIF is Enabled. For most of IP cameras, ONVIF is an optional protocol as shown in the figure below:
*No ONVIF Account
Ensure there is at least one ONVIF account available on the camera. Some third-party brand IP cameras, such as HIKVISION, need to add and enable an ONVIF account since there is no default one. For example, you can add this camera to NVR through either of these two ONVIF accounts as shown below:
*Incorrect ONVIF Port
Check the ONVIF port of camera. Ensure the filled ONVIF port is correct. In most cases, the port of ONVIF is 80, so the default port value of Milesight NVR ONVIF protocol is 80. But some third-party cameras' ONVIF ports are not, as Grandstream’s camera is 8080.
ONVIF port setting
3.2 RTSP protocol
RTSP is a widely used streaming protocol over the world. Most of the third-party camera can be added to Milesight NVR successfully via RTSP. If the ONVIF could not work, RTSP can be your second option. As a pure video stream data, cameras added via RTSP cannot be configured on NVR, so you need to modify the camera setting on the camera directly.
*RTSP Format
Please make sure the RTSP format is correct when adding the camera. Milesight camera RTSP format is as below:
Primary Stream: rtsp://IP:RTSP Port/main
Secondary Stream: rtsp://IP:RTSP Port/sub
Tertiary Stream: rtsp://IP:RTSP Port/third
If you are not sure what third-party camera stream format is, you can contact manufacturer for the information.
*RTSP lost connection in certain interval
The third-party camera can be added successfully. But you find that the camera is offline in certain interval. When you check playback on NVR, the time stamp shows as below:
Playback on NVR
This could be RTSP compatibility issue. To solve this issue, you can try:
1. Update NVR firmware to the latest version.
2. If firmware update does not help please contact Milesight support team directly: https://support.milesight.com/support/tickets/new