Cctv live view not working

[#1]

My in laws have a setup HIK vision cameras connected to a NVR in the loft which connects to the router via Ethernet using Tp link power adapters. The setup worked flawlessly when they were with sky. Since changing to plusnet they are having issues viewing the live cameras through the app on there phone which is connected to the router via wifi.

Live view most of the time just won’t work, internet error messages appear. They can however view past motion triggered events which is strange. I’ve tried everything to my ability and knowledge, tried turning off firewalls making sure there is no parental locks or blockages through the plusnet router settings. We’ve tried resetting the adapters etc

I was going to purchase a new router to see if that solved the issue, anyone have any ideas? Thanks

[#2]

@dn12gee   Welcome to the forum.

First forget about buying another hub for now.

From what you say, the way this works is that the cameras are connected to the NVR and the NVR is connected to the hub using the powerline devices. You then look at live view using a phone app connected to you hub over WiFi.

Assuming that you do not also have Cloud back up then data is not going from your home network into the wild blue yonder so this talk of the Internet is a confusing red herring. It also has nothing to do with firewalls.

As you can view past events this is indicating that your problem is nothing to do with the camera or NVR, it is simply a bandwidth problem between the phone and hub.

The key is therefore relating to the WiFi connection from phone to hub. Which model phone are you using? Have you tried it with a different phone?

Which Plusnet hub are you using? Please note that I will not use the word 'Router' in this context as current Plusnet Hubs are NOT as Plusnet insist on calling them, Routers, they are COMBINED MODEM & ROUTERS, as people find to their cost when they try to replace them with a third party Router, They can get quite upset when they are advised that they also need to buy a Modem before it will work with a Plusnet service.

So, please advise:

The model phone.

Model Hub.

Your download speed.

The download speed using the phone connected to the Internet.

This should give us a clue of where to go next.

[#3]

I presume they are using Hik-connect app.

Is it the Android or IOS version?

The Hik-connect app offers more than one way of connecting to the DVR/NVR.  The default method is by using the app to scan a QR code from the DVR/NVR.   This is the cloud/p2p method and is designed to circumvent all internet firewalls etc when accessing DVR/NVR away from home!

Or there is the traditional Hik-connect domain method and finally the IP/domain method, where firewall will block access.  If uPnP is enabled on both the DVR/NVR and the plusnet hub, the DVR/NVR will open the necessary port 8000 on the router.

fwiw, I can't get the newly install of Hik Connect android edition to work in Live View on android 11 phone and android 9 tablet, with a new DVR installed recently using IP/domain method.  The live videos buffer to say 90% and stop because the app is not asking for the encryption key when setting up the app for the first time.  Playback works fine.   Live View works fine in cloud/p2p mode though.    Looks like a software bug to me in current android edition.

I forgot to add, we don't use Plusnet hubs at the 3 locations where the Hik DVR is installed and where the app is used remotely.

[#4]

thanks for the replies guys, I messaged the installer of the cctv to see if they had any ideas as to why this is happening, he suggested, turn off router, turn off nvr & power adapters, wait a while, log out of the app, turn everything back on and log back into HIK connect, cameras loaded instantly, so its working "for now" but we had this before when we did a simple reboot it would work fine for a week or so then end up going back to not loading the live view. Very strange. also what's strange, we have the same exact system at our house and never had this problem, but when I am connected on my phone to their plus net wifi, I get the same message intermittently connecting to my cameras so the issue here definitely seems like its wifi/router issue with plusnet as soon as I disconnect from their wifi and use 5g my cameras load instantly.

[#5]

Did you try using 5g to connect to your parent's NVR ?