TECHNICAL NOTE
How to set up remote viewing on NVR
Document ID TNN0011Released on November 8, 2011
Updated on February 10, 2012
Revision History 2012/02/10: Re-formatted and revised document 2012/01/05: Added figures and notes
2011/11/08: Initial release
Applied Product(s) Compro RS-2104, RS-2208, RS-2212 network video recorder
Type of Technical Note □ Troubleshooting ▣ How to ...
□ Feature Description □ Product Integration □ Others
Copyright © 2001-2012. Compro Technology, Inc. No part of this document may be copied or reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of Compro Technology, Inc.
1 Introduction
This document aims to provide instructions to Compro NVR users on how to configure the NVR and Compro cameras in order to remotely view live camera video on NVR. If you have any questions after reading this document, you can send your question to
[email protected] along with detail description, settings and firmware version. Our experienced support staff will be glad to be of service to you.
2 Pre-check
Before attempting the troubleshooting steps below, you may want to check the firmware version and network configuration first.
2.1 The firmware version of IP
camera
Please check your firmware version first and ensure that you are using the latest version available on ComproUsa.com. The firmware version information of your IP camera can be found on the maintenance information page as shown below. You can locate the page by going to [setup] > [maintenance] > [information]. You can check the latest firmware version by logging onto http://www.comprousa.com/en/download.html. Please only download and use the firmware provided for your model. The following is an example of the firmware version page.
Table of Contents
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Pre-check ... 1
2.1 The firmware version of IP camera ... 1
2.2 The firmware version of NVR ... 2
2.3 The configuration of your network environment ... 2
3 Remote viewing setup ... 2
3.1 Basic flow ... 2
3.2 Step one: port forwarding ... 3
3.3 Step two: add the camera ... 4
2.2 The firmware version of NVR
Please check the firmware version of your Compro network video recorder and ensure that your network video recorder is using the latest version of firmware. You can check the NVR’s firmware version by logging into the NVR’s IP address on the Internet Explorer, and then navigate to [Setup] > [System Setup] > [Firmware upgrade]. The firmware version will then be revealed in the firmware upgrade screen as shown below.
The latest firmware can be downloaded from http://www.comprousa.com/en/download.html.
2.3 The configuration of your network environment
To avoid some bandwidth or connection issues, we highly recommend that you connect all devices (computer, NVR, IP camera) to one router, be it a wired or wireless one. And ensure that all devices share the same class of private IP. For example, set the IP address of each device as 192.168.1.x.
3 Remote viewing setup
The following section provides step-by-step instructions about setting up remote viewing on NVR.
3.1 Basic flow
There are 3 basic steps that need to be taken for remote viewing.
the cameras themselves can be accessed from the Internet. Afterwards, the user has to add camera connections on the NVR using the camera’s public/WAN IP address.
3.2 Step one: port forwarding
In this step, the user has to set up port forwarding for the IP cameras that need to be viewed on the NVR remotely. For any given Compro IP camera, there are two service ports involved in port forwarding setup. They are the HTTP port and RTSP port. On a Compro IP camera, by default, HTTP uses port 80 and RTSP uses port 554. The user must set port forwarding for the camera’s HTTP port and RTSP port in the port forwarding table of a network router to which the camera is connected.
First, find out the HTTP and RTSP port number of the camera you want to view on the NVR, which can be
achieved by logging into the camera and then go to [Setup] > [Network]. The port information will then be found in the network information table.
Once the camera’s HTTP port and RTSP port are determined, you can then log in to your network router’s administration interface and start configuring port forwarding for your IP camera. The figure below exemplifies a typical port forwarding configuration on router. (The steps in navigating to the port forwarding setup menu differs from router to router. You may have to resort to the user manual of your network router for instructions.) The following figure gives an example of port forwarding settings on router.
Important:
● If you have multiple IP cameras installed on a network, you will need to change the HTTP and RTSP port on them manually so each one of them will use a different port. E.g. Changing the HTTP and RTSP port for the 2nd device to 81 and 555 respectively.
● When configuring port forwarding/mapping on your router, note that the public RTSP port must be equal to the internal RTSP port used by the IP camera. For instance, if the IP camera uses RTSP port 554 internally, then its mapped public RTSP port on the router should be 554 too. Though the same does not apply to the camera's HTTP port. The camera using HTTP port 80 can have 8080 as its mapped public HTTP port on the router.
3.3 Step two: add the camera
After you have finished setting up port forwarding on your router as prescribed in the previous step, you can go ahead to add camera connections on the NVR. To do so, log in to your NVR and then hit the [Setup] button in the upper-right hand side of the live view screen to enter the main setup screen. After that, press [Add Camera]. When the “Edit Camera” window comes up, you then furnish all the information required to add this camera connection. But most importantly, before you click OK, you need to fill in the camera’s WAN IP address. (See next step.)
3.4 Step three: WAN IP address
In the “Edit Camera” window you see in the last step, there is a “WAN IP (Optional)” field. What you have to do here is enter the camera’s WAN/public IP address into this WAN IP field. If you do not know the public/WAN IP address of the camera you are adding, you can use a PC that connects to the same LAN network as your camera to visit a website that offers IP address lookup service, such as www.whatismyip.com. The website will provide information on the public/WAN IP address of your camera. The following figure is an example.
your NVR over the Internet. For more information on remote viewing, refer to the NVR’s and the camera’s user manual.
