Setting up your Hikvision DVR/NVR for remote viewing.

This brief guide will explain how to put your Hikvision DVR/NVR onto a simple home network (please note that for a managed network you may need to contact your Network Manager).

Your first step should be to set up the DVR/NVR onto your local network. To do this you will need to put your DVR/NVR onto the same IP range as the rest of your network.The first thing you need to do is find out your Router address (Default Gateway).

On a Windows PC/laptop go to your run or search bar and type "cmd" to open the command prompt.You should now see a black screen with white writing and a flashing cursor. Type ipconfig and press enter, you should see a screen like below:

Make a note of your Default Gateway IP address. You will need to put your DVR/NVR onto the same IP range. To do this you will need to go to your DVR configuration:

Then go into the Network settings, if DHCP is enabled then the DVR/NVR may have already detected the network and automatically completed a lot of the information. DHCP needs to be unticked (disabled) so that you can manually enter the information.

You need to give the DVR/NVR an IPV4 address that is on the same IP range as your Default Gateway (ie if your router address is 192.168.0.1 then your IPV4 address should be assigned 192.168.0.XXX) . The subnet mask is usually 255.255.255.0 although this could be different in the case of a managed network. The IPV4Default Gateway should be the same as you noted earlier (ie your router's IP address). Your screen should now look similar to the below screen (firmware dependent). Click Apply.

Your DVR/NVR should now be visible on your home network through a web browser by typing in the IPV4 address of the DVR/NVR into the web browser address bar. (At the current time we find Mozillla Firefox to be the most compatible web browser for viewing the video streams).

Now that you're able to view your system on your home network you can start to go through the steps of making the system allow remote viewing from outside of the home network (ie 3G/4G).

There are two methods for remote viewing. One method is by allowing 'Platform Access' (EZVIZ Cloud) this is the most simple method for getting the cameras onto your mobile phones etc. The other method is by setting up a DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System), Hikvision have made this easy and is a free to use service. The only complication that you may come across with using this method is port forwarding your router. As each router manufacturer has different methods for setting up the port fowarding we will not gointo that in this brief guide, you will need to refer to your router manual or an online guide (www.portfoward.com).

For easy set-up download the EZVIZ Cloud app to your smartphone. Go to your DVR/NVR menu and choose configuration>Network and you'll need to enable 'Platform Access'. With Platform Access enabled you should see a QR code on the screen which you can scan with your smartphone app to add the device.

To set-up a DDNS you need to have set up your port forwarding rules so that ports 80,554 and 8000 are open and directed to the IPV4 address of the go to your DVR/NVR (if you have changed the menu>configuration>network>DDNS and tick the Enable DDNS box. DDNS type should be set to HiDDNS and you can select your country from the location drop down boxes.You can now enter a domain name for your DVR/NVR. Please note the domain name will need to be uniqueand not one that has already been registered on the HiDDNS servers.The admin and username will be the same as you have already set on your DVR/NVR. Click 'Apply'. If you have chosen a domain name that is already in use you will see a message that states “Domain Conflicted”.If your port forwarding has been set up correctly, your DVR/NVR is on the network and the domain name you have chosen to use is unique then you should now see that the DDNS status is showing as normal.

You can now view your cameras by going to www.hik-online.com/'DOMAINNAME' where 'DOMAINNAME' is the name you have chosen.

Viewing on your smartphone. You will need to download IVMS-4500. Open the app and go to devices.Then add a new device.And then enter the details of your DVR/NVR that you have set up on the DDNS service.

It should look similar to the below image:

Now click on the save icon in the top right (floppy disk icon).

This should save the details within the app and allow you access to the live view and playback of your Hikvision CCTV system.