I have only been runnign BI for a month or so now so this might be buried and don't know about it.

BUT, is there a way to preview cameras before adding them ?

Problem:
I will often lose a connection of a camera and when re-adding it the IP address changes (dhcp).
When you have list of more than a few cameras there is no way to know what the physical camera I am adding.

Is it possible when discovering cameras to get a thumbnail of that camera before adding it ?
If not this would be a great feature request if possible.

Not that I'm really aware of other than possibly by virtue of connecting to the camera web interface directly prior to importing. For instance, if you think you want to add camera at 192.168.1.200... prior to adding it you likely had to make some config settings (or will after adding anyway) on the web interface. If your camera supports live previews (some do, some don't) you could verify that way.

Ultimately you may want to look at creating dhcp reservations or configuring your cameras with static IPs. If you get your whole BI system set up and a camera loses power because you move it, power outage, etc... you would potentially have to set stuff up again because the leases on dhcp expired and everything is now different. A lot of cameras have the MAC address on a sticker on the actual device - or you could pull that info once it's on your network. I personally have all my cameras set with static IPs and maintain a spreadsheet matching device name to IP address to MAC address.

Matts1984 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 07, 2020 12:07 pmI personally have all my cameras set with static IPs and maintain a spreadsheet matching device name to IP address to MAC address.

Ditto. It's been a lifesaver for me a few times.

Setting reserved IP addresses for the cameras in your router is highly recommended. After you have everything running and setup, record all the IPs and MACs of the cameras for future reference.

yes I am beginning to realize that makes a lot more sense. I also need to put the cameras on their own subnet.

This is a nice feature of Synology surveillance system, I can see thumbnail of a camera before adding it.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate your perspective.

Lee