Although you may need to be sure the router is broadcasting both 2.4 and 5.0 signals, connecting any device to a wifi signal is a function of the device (DVR for the cameras), not the router.

Some devices are not dual band and you need to make sure whatever band it's looking for is being broadcast. I have several such things, older equipment that's 2.4 only.

Can you connect it via an ethernet cable directly to the router? I have several such devices like that too, ethernet capable but without wifi ability. Or, you can get something like an IOGear ethernet to wifi adaptor. You adjust the wifi settings on the little IOGear device, then plug in an ethernet cable from it to the device needing a "network" connection. The IOGear device handles that in lieu of using the device's internal capability (which may or may not be working).

I have several of them for different devices - one, for an old network music player that's both Ethernet and wifi capable, but the wifi died and it's not near an Ethernet connection. Another, for a cell phone range extender that's Ethernet capable only but that I want to put in a more central location than where the router is. The IOGear device connects via wifi and supplies the signal down a wire to the ethernet-only range extender, which has no idea how it got the signal but it doesn't matter.

thanks so much for your reply! both the router and dvr are new equipment. the dvr is currently connected via ethernet to the router and it is not being discovered

Unless the router was set to bar new connections and only allow permitted ones (though I don't think that's operative for a wired connection), it's puzzling. Could that have been done?

Try going through the setup/installation routine again for the DVR. Does it offer both Ethernet and Wifi connectivity, does that need to be specified? Is the Ethernet cord new and are both ends in the right sockets?

Does the light at the Ethernet socket on the DVR blink?

should it pose an issue if the dvr has a static ip setting as suggested by the tp link support agent? and the issue here is that i would have to figure out how to access the dvr directly as until now i was only accessing it via internet on a browser

If you're accessing the DVR over the internet using a browser, that means the DVR is connected to your home network and can be found by the router with its fixed IP address.

Maybe I misunderstood, what's the problem?

so that's what i understood from my minimal knowledge. unfortunately though, of the 10 clients listed as per the screenshot, the dvr is not one of them! and again, perhaps the tp link representative was misleading my stating the reason the dvr is not discoverable

What is the method prescribed by the DVR documentation to install it on a home network, connected and ready to go? Can you go through that install sequence again from scratch, as if it were the first time?

Have you solved this problem?

1. If not, do you know the IP address of the DVR?
2. What is the brand and model of the DVR?
3. Does the DVR have an ethernet jack?