In this video, Ray from CCTV Camera World shows a real hybrid wireless and PoE security camera setup using WiFi cameras, wired PoE cameras, an outdoor wireless access point, a PoE switch, and an NVR. This is the kind of setup we use when a property needs cameras in several areas, but running Ethernet cable to every camera location is not practical.

The system in this demonstration uses five wireless security cameras and three wired PoE cameras. The WiFi cameras send video back to an outdoor access point. That access point is connected to a PoE switch, and the PoE switch also connects the wired PoE cameras and the NVR. Everything records to the NVR over the local network.

The important point: this type of professional security camera system does not need internet to record or operate locally. Internet is only needed if you want remote viewing from outside the property using a phone app or computer software.

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Video Transcript

View transcript: Hybrid Wireless & PoE Security Camera Setup

0:00 Hi, thanks for tuning in to another video from CCTV Camera World. My name is Ray, and I am the manager.

0:05 In this video, I will show you how to set up a hybrid wireless and PoE camera system that combines the flexibility of WiFi cameras with the reliability of PoE cameras. I will guide you step by step, including how wireless cameras connect to the PoE backbone and how everything ties back into the NVR.

0:26 We will also include a demo of the video you should expect here from our test bench. The main thing I want to drive home is that you do not need internet to set up this kind of system. Our professional PoE cameras and wireless or WiFi security cameras do not need internet to operate. They are CCTV or local network-based cameras. As long as you have an NVR, you can send video either by wire or by WiFi back to the NVR.

1:02 Before we begin, I am going to provide an overview of why we set up this kind of system, the site layout, where these products are going, and what to expect. The WiFi cameras in this system are transmitting about 200 feet back to a WiFi access point that is connected to the network where the NVR is connected. That network has no internet. It is just a local network without an internet connection.

1:35 Let me show you the site layout first. The solid yellow dots represent WiFi cameras. There are three dots, which represent three poles where multiple WiFi cameras will be oriented in a linear fashion to the right-hand side of the building. The red dot is the WiFi access point. The green rectangle is where the NVR will be placed inside the building. The open yellow circles are wired PoE cameras.

2:08 The wired PoE cameras will be hardwired back to a PoE switch where the green rectangle is. The access point, shown as the red dot, will also be wired back to the NVR location. It sends a WiFi signal to the cameras and then links everything back to the NVR. The WiFi signal from the cameras goes through the access point and into the NVR.

2:39 Now let me do a little show and tell. I will walk through what I have set up. This system is for a particular customer. We configured the system, and we like to make videos like this to educate the customer on how to put everything together when they receive it, and also to educate the YouTube community on what professional security camera systems from CCTV Camera World can accomplish.

3:15 Here I have five wireless cameras set up, along with my NVR recorder, access point, PoE switch, and three wired PoE cameras. Before I get deep into the step-by-step walkthrough, let me give you a demo of what these cameras can do. As you can see, I am standing in front of the cameras. I am going to wave my hand, and you can see how much in sync the video is on the monitor. There is very little delay.

3:40 These are weatherproof outdoor rated cameras. The outdoor bullet cameras are 2K resolution, 20 frames per second, with a built-in microphone. The dome cameras are 2K resolution PoE cameras with 30 FPS recording and built-in microphones as well.

3:57 On the recorder, there is a mouse connected to it. The mouse lets me control the recording unit and pull up cameras in full screen view. When I do that, I can also listen to the microphone. As you can see, the audio is in sync and almost real time.

4:17 The point of these wireless cameras is that they are not going to a cloud. They are over a local network. It is speedy connectivity, and you have minimal delay or lag in the video. This recorder also lets me do functions like video playback right on the recorder without having to use an app or PC.

4:34 I can select cameras for playback, choose a point on the timeline, zoom into the timeline, and jump around as needed. There is also motion detection, where I can go in, set up video detection, and set regions. These Avalonix Premium systems let you set up four different color regions with different sensitivities. If you have different areas in the picture that you want to make more important than others, you can do that.

5:12 You can do this for both the wired and WiFi cameras. Since we are not dealing with ONVIF or other compatibility issues in this system, the cameras are all known to work with each other. I can also go into the camera encoding section and change the encoding settings. I can even turn audio off if I want to disable it on the mainstream and substream.

5:40 In addition to watching the system on a monitor and controlling it locally, you can connect it to an internet connection and use a phone app or PC software. Of course, you need internet to do that remotely. If you had WiFi connected to this network and only wanted to view it in-house, you could use the phone app in-house without ever connecting the system to the internet. You would connect your phone to the same WiFi network as the camera system and view it locally.

6:06 If you are privacy minded, this is the type of system to go for because at CCTV Camera World we carry professional CCTV camera systems. That includes hybrid wired and wireless systems, PoE camera systems, and WiFi camera systems.

6:21 Now let me walk through how all the cameras are set up. Again, I have five wireless cameras here. There were three dots on the layout, so basically two cameras are going on one pole, another two cameras are going on another pole, and the fifth camera is going on one pole. They all transmit back to an access point, which is the radio we configured for the customer.

6:48 The access point goes up in a vertical fashion so that the radio beam goes in a 180 degree pattern in the horizontal plane. When mounted, the cameras also have their antennas pointing up because the waveform is transmitted perpendicular to the tip of the antenna.

7:08 The cameras transmit their WiFi signal to the WiFi access point. The WiFi access point sends its signal and data back to the PoE injector that is meant specifically for this access point. This white brick is not meant to connect any camera. It is used only with the WiFi access point because it uses a special kind of PoE.

7:28 On the injector, there are two connections. One is labeled PoE, and that goes to the access point. One is labeled LAN, and that goes back to your network. The LAN cable takes data back from the radio into the switch. The cable plugged into PoE takes power over Ethernet, both power and data, to the access point.

7:58 That access point takes the power and data. Data goes into the PoE switch. This PoE switch is a four port PoE switch, so it has four PoE ports, but it also has two data ports. Those data ports are not PoE and do not send power.

8:18 You plug the access point into one of the non-powered ports. In this case, it is port 6. The other Ethernet cable is plugged into the NVR. That is also a non-PoE port, and it is going into the LAN connection on the NVR.

8:31 The NVR happens to be a WiFi NVR. If I wanted, I could have connected cameras directly to this. But because of the distance of transmission and the fact that we are going through a building with a concrete wall, it is better to have a radio on the outside. That is the way we configured this system. If there were indoor cameras, we could have used the integrated WiFi on the NVR, but that is not the case here.

8:56 The NVR is a standalone NVR that lets you connect an HDMI monitor or VGA monitor. It has a power plug for its power cable and a USB port for a mouse. I can control the NVR with the mouse by moving around and navigating on the screen.

9:09 The WiFi cameras themselves run off power. They come with 12 volt adapters that plug into 110 power. On the camera there are two connections: power and data. The Ethernet plug is not used once the cameras are configured. In this case, we already configured the cameras to connect to the WiFi radio. There is no reason to use the Ethernet plug, but we do not cut it off because we may need it in the future to reconfigure the cameras.

9:47 The wired PoE cameras are black dome cameras. They are 4 megapixel cameras selected for this project. They are connected only with their Ethernet connection, and that Ethernet connection goes back to the PoE switch. The PoE switch sends power and data to the cameras. The cameras also have a 12 volt jack, but you do not use that because they are getting power over the Ethernet connection.

10:15 What we have done is create a hybrid system. The PoE switch is the integral part. It is the backbone for the whole system. It takes the PoE data from the wired cameras and the WiFi data coming from the WiFi cameras through the access point, mixes it all together, and then sends it back through one Ethernet connection going into the NVR.

10:39 Another important thing to discuss is the lights on the front of the cameras. There are solid green lights because the cameras are paired successfully to the access point. If you are not getting solid lights, that means the cameras are not getting a strong signal.

10:52 To troubleshoot that, make sure the camera antennas are pointed up and the WiFi access point is mounted in the correct direction. There is a mounting mechanism that comes in the box. Try to stay away from metal because that can cause issues. Use a PVC board or wooden block on the back if you need to screw it into a metal building.

11:15 The antennas go in the vertical orientation and emit a horizontal beam. Make sure the access point is also showing the green light that tells you it is connected. The camera lights are the indicator for a successful WiFi signal.

11:37 What you have is a hybrid wireless and wired PoE security camera system. This is what a professional camera system can do. This is part of the Avalonix Premium Series of systems from CCTV Camera World.

11:53 Hopefully this demo and step-by-step walkthrough gave you an idea of the professional quality of security camera systems that we offer at CCTV Camera World and what you can get from us compared to competitors. If you are in the market for a professional hybrid wired and wireless camera system, a WiFi camera system, or a PoE camera system, please give us a call at 716-229-0080 or visit cctvcameraworld.com.

12:24 If you liked this video, please leave a comment, press the like button, and subscribe to our channel. Thanks for watching.

What This Hybrid Camera System Shows

This video is not just a product overview. It is a practical walkthrough of how wireless and wired security cameras can work together on the same NVR. Ray shows the site layout, the test bench, the camera video, and the connections between each part of the system.

The setup is useful for properties such as schools, churches, parks, farms, warehouses, storage yards, and large homes where some camera locations are easy to wire and others are too far away or inconvenient for cable.

How the Wireless and PoE Cameras Connect to One NVR

In this setup, the wireless cameras do not record to the cloud. They connect over WiFi to a dedicated outdoor access point. The access point is then wired back into the network through a PoE injector and switch. The wired PoE cameras connect directly to the PoE switch with Ethernet cable.

The PoE switch becomes the backbone of the system. It carries video from the wired PoE cameras and the wireless cameras, then sends that camera traffic to the NVR through one network connection.

The basic flow is:

  • WiFi cameras connect wirelessly to the outdoor access point.
  • The access point connects back to the local network.
  • Wired PoE cameras connect to the PoE switch.
  • The PoE switch connects to the NVR.
  • The NVR records the wireless and wired cameras together.

Products Used for This Type of Setup

For the recorder, you can use a wireless-capable NVR such as the Wireless NVR Recorder. The NVR provides local recording, playback, monitor output, and remote viewing when internet access is available.

For the wireless cameras, several WiFi camera styles can be used depending on the installation:

For the wireless bridge, this type of setup uses an outdoor access point such as the 2.4GHz Wireless Outdoor Access Point for IP Cameras. The access point should be mounted with proper antenna orientation and a clear path toward the wireless cameras whenever possible.

For the wired portion, the system uses a network switch from our PoE switches category. The switch powers the wired PoE cameras and ties the network together. Additional wired cameras can be selected from our IP cameras category.

Why Use Wireless Cameras and PoE Cameras Together?

A fully wired PoE system is usually the most reliable option when cable can be run to every camera. The problem is that not every property makes that easy. A camera may need to go on a pole, across a parking lot, on a separate building, or on the far side of a property where trenching cable would be expensive.

That is where a hybrid wireless and PoE security camera setup makes sense. You can keep the wired cameras where cable is easy, and use WiFi cameras where cable is harder to run. The NVR still gives you one place to view, record, and play back the cameras.

Does This Security Camera System Need Internet?

No. The cameras, access point, PoE switch, and NVR can all work on a local network without internet. The cameras send video over the local network, and the NVR records the footage locally to its hard drive.

Internet is optional. You would connect the system to the internet if you want to view cameras remotely from a phone app, use PC software from outside the property, or receive remote access when you are away. But for local recording and live viewing on a monitor, internet is not required.

Best Practices for a Hybrid Wireless Camera Setup

Wireless camera systems need to be planned correctly. In the video, Ray points out that antenna orientation matters. The camera antennas should point upward, and the access point should be mounted in the correct vertical orientation. That helps the wireless signal travel properly between the cameras and the access point.

For best results:

  • Use a dedicated wireless access point instead of relying only on a router inside the building.
  • Mount the access point outside when cameras are outside or across a property.
  • Keep antennas vertical unless the equipment instructions say otherwise.
  • Avoid mounting the access point directly to metal when possible.
  • Use a clear line of sight whenever the property allows it.
  • Use wired PoE cameras anywhere cable can be run easily.
  • Use WiFi cameras for locations where cabling is difficult or expensive.

Local Recording Without Cloud Fees

Another benefit of this setup is that the cameras record to the NVR instead of depending on cloud storage. That means there are no required monthly fees just to record video. You can view the system locally on a monitor, use playback from the recorder, and manage cameras directly from the NVR interface.

For customers who care about privacy, this is a major advantage. The system can stay local, record locally, and continue operating even if there is no internet connection at the site.

For more on this topic, see our guide to security cameras without subscription and our article on cloud cameras with no monthly fee.

Who Is This Type of Camera System For?

A hybrid WiFi and PoE security camera system is a good fit for larger properties that need a mix of wired and wireless coverage. It is also useful for customers looking for commercial security camera systems or those who want professional recording to an NVR but cannot run cable to every camera location.

Common uses include:

Final Thoughts

This hybrid wireless and PoE security camera setup shows how flexible a professional NVR-based camera system can be. You are not limited to only wired cameras or only wireless cameras. With the right access point, PoE switch, cameras, and NVR, both types can work together on the same system.

If you need help planning a similar setup, CCTV Camera World can help match the right WiFi cameras, PoE cameras, access point, PoE switch, and NVR for your property.

Call us at 716-229-0080 to build a professional wired, wireless, or hybrid security camera system.

Ray graduated from NYU with a degree in Chemistry and Computer Science. He strongly believes in a buying process that involves customer education and involvement. His vision to make the security camera buying process transparent began with video samples we make of our cameras. We continue to work under Ray's leadership to provide expert, ethical, and expedient support to our customers.

Connect with Ray via: Email  |  YouTube

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