The invention provides a method for discovering and connecting digital cameras at different network segments in a
local area network. The method includes the following processes: 1, monitoring and receiving an ARP message from a
local area network; 2, extracting a network card IP sent by a terminal and a
network segment where the network card IP is located from the ARP message, and recording the terminal IP and the
network segment thereof; 3, according to the
network segment where the terminal IP is located, when a user searches for a
digital camera, adding an unoccupied
IP address of the recorded network segment to a local network card, and reserving an original IP of the network card; 4, sending a
search protocol message to the terminal by using the same network segment IP, and obtaining feedback information; and 5, the user performs
data connection on the
digital camera by adding the network IP where the
digital camera is located. According to the method, through the mode of addingan IP on a network card of a video recorder, the camera in the
local area network can be discovered through a broadcast
search protocol, the camera can also be connected, and the phenomenon that theuser performs cumbersome IP allocation and configuration can be avoided.