Cannot view surveillance cameras remotely.

[furmomma44]

Problem: Cannot remotely view my security cameras unless I am in the house on same wifi network.
I do not understand very much about routers etc but I am trying to learn.
This is what I have: Router is Mikrotik RB 951
DVR is q-see model QT428 with 8 cameras. It has a static IP
Because I did not understand port forwarding I asked my internet provider (Alyrica – a local company) to port forward 85 and 6036 which they said they did.
I still cannot access the cams from beyond my house. I have Windows 10 and an iPhone and after downloading the q-see app, can view on both with no problem. Outside my wifi range I get “connection timed out”
When I use canyouseeme it gives me a different IP from the one that is supposed to be the gateway, thus it cannot see the ports. I have checked it via command/prompt - ipconfig etc.
I have tried the q-see help desk but they were no help. I was told they did not know about Mikrotik routers.
If anyone can give me help with this I would be so very appreciative. Have been trying for several months to get this working.

 

[punkncat]

You are not on a static IP unless you are paying for it. You need to pay for an IP updater service so that it will tell your console where to look for your system.

 

[furmomma44]

Q-see told me that by unchecking the "obtain ip automatically" the ip would be static. The ip for the DVR has not changed since I have been working on this.

 

[punkncat]

That is within your LAN, I am talking WAN side. ISP quit providing static IP address years ago. It's an add on now. There used to be a bevy of "free" IP updaters out there, but they all charge now. Basically, you install a program on one of the computers within your LAN and it sends a packet to a website updating your current IP to them on schedule. You then configure your viewer to check with the updater service instead of actually putting in a static number that changes. The way a lot of camera providers have gotten around this is to have a service you log into with them specifically that basically does the same thing, so look there first. If not you have to either pay your ISP for static, or an updater for the service.

 

[furmomma44]

Thank you for your response. If that is the case then I am guessing that going via the q-see site (QTView on computer and QT classic on the iPhone) will take care of that.
I am still unsure where to go next to get this working.

 

[punkncat]

It appears from looking through the user manual that "My Q See" is the portal you have to register and set up through for the manufacturer provided option. It would be the easiest to set up. I didn't look forward any further to see if there were other options. Typically they would involve a console program that you use to view the cameras at the settings you provide. This My Q See console is likely it.

Basically it works like this. You set up a static WAN IP so you can "find" yourself from the (world side) Internet. The updaters I mentioned do this as well. You have to then open a port on your router/modem telling that port to forward to the set IP on the LAN side you set that DVR at. Thus, you dial in the ip/port on the WAN side from the remote viewing device, and then your router forwards that request on to your DVR.

Chances are pretty good that it will have some manner of phone app that does a similar thing as that program and site I listed above.

 

[punkncat]

As a side note to the above post...I do security and cameras for a living, at least in a prior lifetime. I haven't been "in the field" for a few years now. In my experience almost all of the "cheap option" online ordered DVR as well as the big box store options have a really poor user interface and are a total pain for the uninitiated. I have run across several of them that I couldn't do anything with, even with the manual, and user (call in support) was even worse. Unfortunately camera systems and a well thought out interface are subject in a bad way to the get what you pay for rule.

This doesn't by any means infer to say they don't work well for what they do. I have seen a lot of cheap systems make GREAT video, but the interface to view them can be really bad. If it is that important to you to view these while away I might suggest you return that system at look at something like a Milo, etc.

 

[furmomma44]

I really appreciate you trying to help with this. I will agree that the service from these people (q-see and also Defender which I also have) is very poor. Sadly this is something that I wish I had known when I made the original purchase. When this works, the cameras are good and clear but the knowledge from q-see is appalling. Every time I make contact they tell me something different. I don't have the option to return these so somehow I need to find a way to make them work.