2 switches, 13 cameras, and 1 massive headache. Having NVR trouble and would love some advice from the pros!

Hey /r/networking, I have recently been assigned to a project that requires a decent amount of networking. Networking is in no way my field of expertise, but I find myself grasping the concepts very well. Seeing how I've only been doing the just a few short weeks, there is a slow learning curve.

The Setup:

We have a system setup with 2 Unify 24 Port PoE switches that are both powering and receiving data from 13 different HIKVISION Cameras. We have a Unify Security Gateway as well, giving us internet and DHCP assignment to the switches. The building we are working is is large, so using 2 switches is a must. There is a security rack in the the back of the building that contains an ALIBI NVR5032P (Model: ALI-NVR5032P). I have all cameras connected into the switches, powered through PoE, and placed on a security VLAN. From there, I have an additional port jumping from a switch to the LAN on the ALIBI NVR (this port jump is also on the security VLAN).

The Issue:

The NVR won't pull up any of my damn cameras! If I plug into any of the 16 ports on the back of the NVR, it shows only one camera. All of the cameras IPs are being recognized by the NVR. Funny thing is, depending on which port I plug into, a different IP camera will show up! But only one at a time!

My gateway and switches are working on the 192.168.1.X scheme, but many tutorial videos and forums are showing the NVR to be on a 192.168.3.X scheme. I assume this is okay, especially because I am seeing the cameras.

Questions and Concerns:

1) I understand the NVR should be set to static, but what should my IP address scheme be? 192.168.1.X or 192.168.3.X?

2) Is there a particular configuration for my subnet mask and gateway that is recommended?

2) Should I manually assign IP addresses to the IP Cameras? If so, should they match the IP scheme of the NVR?

3) Could I possibly have my security VLAN configured incorrectly?

4) Is the NIC address necessary to configure?

5) Is there some facet of this conglomerate we call networking that I might not be aware of that is/could be an issue?

I'd like to reiterate the fact that I am entirely new to this, so this issue that I find difficult to solve could be simple to you all. Then again, it could be quite difficult. I wouldn't know.

Any advice, suggestions, or answers would be much appreciated!

Thanks