How to Connect Surveillance DVR to Internet – Part One

Posted on 26. Jun, 2010 by Spy Geeks in Articles

Most surveillance DVRs nowadays have the capability of being monitored remotely via an internet connection. Running wires and making a few BNC connections might be simple for some people but getting the DVR connected to the internet may be like trying to speak a foreign language. This how-to writeup is a guide for those who would like to tackle this important step of setting up their DVR for remote viewing. It is designed to explain a scenario where you have a modem attached to a router attached to a DVR.

Step One: Connecting the DVR to your Router
Assuming you have your DVR is plugged in and running, and connected to a display monitor, take an Ethernet cable and attach one end of the cable into your DVR and the other end into an available port on your router. (Most routers are 4-port routers. This means if you look on the back you will see a plug-in for the internet connection from the modem and 4 additional plug-ins (labeled 1, 2, 3, 4) for your computers and/or peripherals.)

Step Two: Configuring DVRs IP Address
Press the “Menu” Button on your DVR. Find the section in the menu for “Network Configuration” or “Network Settings”. When you open the Network Settings menu there will be a list of items such as IP Address, Port, Gateway, Netmask, DNS 1, DNS 2. You are looking for the one that says something like “Mode” or “Connection Type” and will have either “Static”, “DHCP”, or “PPPOE” next to it. What you want to do is select “DHCP”. What this does is tells the router to assign the DVR an IP address and send that IP address to the DVR. Once you have selected “DHCP” write down the number next to the IP address.
Now scroll down to the setting for “Port” and change the number from 80 to 88 then exit out of the menu screens to the surveillance screen. As you exit you should see a message saying “System Updating” or “System Settings Taking Effect” or something along those lines.
Once back at the main screen, press the “Menu” Button, then select the “Network Settings” menu. In the list items next to IP Address the number you wrote down and the number that is being displayed should be different. The number you wrote down should be something like “192.168.xxx.xxx” or “10.x.x.x” depending on your router. The new number should also be something like “192.168.xxx.xxx” or “10.x.x.x” but the last few numbers will have changed. If this has happened you have success. Write down the new number and exit out of this menu. If not, double check the connection to the router from your DVR and try Step Two again.

Step Three: Checking your setup.
Go to a computer that is connected either wired or wirelessly to the router that the DVR is connected to. Open an internet browsing window and type in the new number you wrote down, making sure to also type in HTTP:// in front of the number and :88 at the end of the number. If you don’t manually type in the HTTP:// the connection sometimes won’t work. Once you have done this you should see a Username and Password screen. If you see this you have successfully completed the first phase of connecting your DVR to the Internet.

Tags: cctv, remote view, router configuration, video networking