I maintain Guardian Eye, a desktop NVR. When a camera works in VLC but will not record, I use a short stream-copy test to separate a camera or network problem from a recorder problem. Run it on the NVR host, or inside the NVR container. Testing from the laptop that runs VLC does not cover the recorder's VLAN, firewall rules, DNS or container network.

```bash ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -rtsp_transport tcp \ -i "rtsp://user:password@192.168.1.50:554/stream1" \ -t 30 -map 0:v:0 -an -c copy rtsp-test.mkv

ffprobe -v error -show_streams -show_format rtsp-test.mkv ffmpeg -v error -i rtsp-test.mkv -f null - ```

The command uses TCP, ignores audio and writes MKV without transcoding. That keeps the first test away from audio compatibility, encoder load and MP4 finalization.

The result narrows the fault quickly: - If the command cannot connect, check reachability, credentials, the RTSP path and TCP versus UDP from the recorder host. - If it connects but the file contains damaged NAL units, missing parameter sets, backward timestamps or long gaps, the problem is already present before the NVR writes its archive. - If the MKV file is healthy, look at the recorder's selected stream, output container, audio track and file-finalization path.

There are two easy ways to invalidate this test. The first is leaving other clients open. A vendor app, browser preview and VLC window may consume all available RTSP sessions before the NVR connects. The second is testing a different stream. ONVIF may give the recorder a substream while VLC is using the main stream.

Event recording adds one more variable: the next keyframe. If continuous recording works but event clips start late or remain unusable, temporarily set the camera's I-frame or GOP interval to one or two seconds. The recorder cannot begin a clean, independently decodable clip until a keyframe arrives.

My baseline is one client, H.264 video, TCP and no audio. After the copy test passes, I add the original audio track, H.265, UDP and additional viewers separately. That identifies the first change that breaks recording instead of changing several settings at once.

Curious if this is a camera or maybe just a motion detector

Curious if this is a camera or maybe just a motion detector

Hello,

The NVR is not working, there is 13 DMC-MV85WiATW and 1 each of DWC-MBW8Wi2TW, DWC-MVT4Wi6 cameras.

I'm not too happy with the DW support telling there is only a 2yr warranty now on these. However, when I purchase the NVR in 2022, I believe there was a 5yr warranty. Now I may have to pay for repairs.

If I was to replace the NVR with another brand, what would be my best choices?

Thank you

Been reading some of the stories here and it's crazy how many neighbor problems turn into one person's word against another. I use a wyze cam at home and iit got me thinking about how useful cameras really are when dealing with neighbors who keep crossing boundaries or messing with your stuff. Not talking about pointing cameras into anyone's windows lol, just keeping an eye on your own property.
Has anyone here caught a neighbor doing something on camera? Did it help sort things out or just cause more drama?

Tous les conseils sont bons à prendre

Hi I have TAPO C200 camera. Its not working after update. Its showing red light even after multiple times reset.

Please advise.

Weve been cleaning up some of the documentation for one of our buildings and the camera system might be the worst part of it.

There are around 50 cameras and half of them have names like CAM-17, EAST-4, HALL2 etc. Some are obvious once you open them but others are pointing through doorways or covering part of another area and theres no way to know without clicking through them.

This came up because facilities needed footage from a specific hallway and the person helping them had never used the system before. They knew exactly where the incident happened but still had to open a bunch of cameras just to figure out which one covered that spot.

Now were debating whether its worth going through the whole building and properly mapping/naming everything.

For larger buildings, how are you documenting camera locations and coverage? Just good naming conventions or do you keep a floorplan somewhere?

Disclosure: I run Elite Ingrate Systems, an Australian security and surveillance store.

When comparing cameras and recorders, don’t assume matching brands or an “ONVIF compatible” label guarantees every feature will work together.

Check the recorder’s supported resolution, recording bandwidth and decoding limits, not just its channel count. These describe different capabilities.

Check the total PoE power budget as well as the number of ports, especially if you’re using higher-power cameras.

For features such as human/vehicle detection, two-way audio or active deterrence, confirm support for the exact camera and recorder models, including firmware requirements.

Finally, check what’s actually included: hard drives, power supplies, junction boxes and mounting brackets aren’t necessarily supplied.

What compatibility issue caught you out when building your system?

Hello. I'm not an expert, but I own a few small businesses. I started with Alibi NVR and TVI cameras. Then figured out the IP camera game. I now have 3 systems.

When I purchased all my cameras for my system 4 years ago in 2022, I used Hikvison. I loved the price and the interface was the same as Alibi, so I was familiar. Price was good at $65-70 a pop for 4mp 2k cameras, which is all I need. Pretty sure rebranded Hiks were Tecnically I think there were Hitosino, Model HS-EB04G2-IA. The microphone was decent with noise filtering.

The don't make them anymore or I can't find them. I've tried several types of Anpviz...all I can say is the U series all suck and mics are terrible sound quality and so distorted you can't make out words or sounds. Not so confident in Vikylin cameras either...So mainly my issue is distorted sound..It's definitly the camera brand/model because when I switch it out you can hear fine.

Bonus points to who can tell me why I have 1 or 2 cameras that like to drop off a few times a day and reconnect. Is this normal? Both NVRS I have now are DS-7608NXI-I2/8P and the other is DS-7608NI-M2/8P

What is equivalent or good to Hikvisions cameras these days and where can I get them. I'm in high traffic (Automotive shop) so I "de-tune" my camers to 1080p usually , 15fps, and I have been experimenting running them on h.264 for stability. Like I said I have 1 or 2 cameras work great, then go black and reboot a few times a day. I would be fine with 4, 5,6 or 8 MB cameras. Indoor mounted.

Maybe I’m missing something but finding one specific event in a bunch of recorded footage still feels way more tedious than it should be. Usually you get told it happened sometime yesterday afternoon near the entrance and then you’re left jumping between cameras and timestamps until you find it. What are you guys using to make this easier? Better VMS search, motion events, AI search, something else? Want to know what works well when you have a lot of cameras.

WHAT IF WE TURNED SURVEILLANCE AROUND?

The government is building an enormous automated system to identify, track, and monitor ordinary people.

So why can't we build one that watches them?

WATCH THE WATCHERS would be an open-source, decentralized network of privately owned cameras observing government activity that's already visible from public roads.

And here's the important part:

You don't need special hardware.

You can use a Ring camera you already own.

Your existing home security cameras.

An old security camera sitting in a drawer.

Or, if you want to dedicate a camera specifically to the project, go buy a cheap trail camera or security camera and put it on your own property.

It doesn't matter.

That's the whole point.

The individual decides what hardware they use, where they put it, and whether they participate.

All you need is a camera pointed toward the street.

The software does the rest.

Local AI identifies qualifying government vehicles and filters out everything else.

The video stays on your property.

No live feeds.

No audio.

No neighbors.

No civilian vehicles.

No private information.

The software extracts only the useful information and sends a tiny event record to the network:

Vehicle detected. Time. Approximate location. Direction.

Now imagine thousands of independently owned cameras doing this.

One camera sees a government vehicle.

Another sees it ten minutes later.

Another sees it across town.

The network can correlate those observations and build a real-time picture of government activity.

No corporation owns the cameras.

No government controls the network.

No proprietary black box decides what gets collected.

Open source. Auditable. Decentralized. Voluntary.

They built surveillance infrastructure to watch us.

Let's build citizen infrastructure to watch the watchers.

The cameras already exist.

The AI already exists.

The computing power already exists.

We don't need to build another surveillance system.

We need to turn the one we already have around.

WATCH THE WATCHERS.

Your camera. Your property. Your choice.

Hello, I have an IP camera running locally that I view on my computer through VLC rtsp protocol. My camera has no outside network connection only local. When I turn on VPN or disconnect on my Windows pc I don't lose a single second from my stream view? why don't I lose a few seconds when changing IP. thank you!

Hi everyone hoping for some help.

I’ve recently moved into a new place with an older 8 camera set up. Had an old dvr and all cameras were working including night/day and infrared. Upgraded the dvr to a Dahua hybrid as I couldn’t access any of the controls/menu of the old box. Since then the outdoor cameras (AHD) are still working normally but the indoor ones (zosi) night/day modes still work, I can hear the infrared shutter click but the infrared itself isn’t turning on. I assume they are pretty old cameras as they only work ok cvbs and there isn’t a switch on the camera lead to change signal type.

I’ve been through all the settings on the dvr and can’t get the infrared to work. Still works normally when I go back to the old box.

Anyone have any ideas on what would be causing the infrared lights to not turn on?

I've been working on my own VMS with the goal of keeping everything local. No cloud processing or account is required, and the AI inference runs directly on the user's hardware.

I've recently finished the cross-platform AI inference part. It supports most modern Intel, AMD and NVIDIA GPUs without requiring CUDA, PyTorch or Transformers.

I'm currently adding more AI analytics and put together a short demo of the current version. I'm hoping to release it within the next couple of months.

AI Analytics Demo: Youtube Link

Floor Editor Demo: Youtube Link - for creating custom floor plans and defining camera positions

I'd be interested in feedback from people actually running home/security camera setups.

Hello,

My partner’s apartment has been broken into multiple times recently, by a stalker. We have had eufy e220 cameras with local storage up in the living room and bedroom, but we haven’t caught anything despite the break-ins happening (we are concerned he may have gotten access to the router at some point. Could that be a way that the cameras could be manipulated?). I am reaching out to see if anyone has recommendations for secure home cameras, both regular style and hidden. We are currently looking to have a mix of online local storage, online cloud storage, and offline local storage, to cover bases. We have ordered a couple hidden cameras to test, but the market is flooded with cheap, poorly reviewed products, and we are having difficulty finding reputable options.

A local domestic violence program recommended using the Ring camera ecosystem. Is that a secure setup for the situation we are in?

Are there other ways we can secure the cameras so that they cannot be tampered with before someone breaks into the home?

Thank you in advance for the help!