jrmymllr

I really thought I was able to see the internal temperature of my 3MP Hikvision turrets (DS-2CD2332 and DS-2CD2335) at one time. But I've scoured the web interface and don't see it, and don't find it on Hikvision's command line guide. I've never upgraded firmware. Does this feature exist or is my memory failing me?

I have several DS-2CD2332-I cameras mounted and set for VBR, 4096kbit/s bandwidth. They are recorded continuously with a VMS and each minute of video is a little less than 30 megabytes, regardless time of day. I also have one DS-2CD2335-I mounted in a similar environment and with the same settings as much as I can, as there are slight differences between the two. This one generates a little less than 25 megabytes/minute of video during the daytime, but then DROPS to about half that during night and returns to 25 MB/min during daytime. At first this sort of makes sense because night images are not in color, but the information I could find about this behavior (not Hikvision specific) says bandwidth typically INCREASES at night with higher levels of noise. But, then the 2332 cameras do not do this. Is this simply a difference in the h264 codec between each model? The night image looks ok, and it actually would be nice if all cameras did this to save on storage space.

I do not have experience with cellular cameras per se, but can answer some of your questions I think. 1. This depends. Consider coverage and how much data you'll be using. There's no universally right answer. 2. 2G is essentially obsolete. Some cell towers won't even support it. Anything expected to carry a good amount of data should be 4G. 3, 4, 5. Let me recommend another solution, if this works for you: I'd recommend having a camera or cameras connected to one DVR at a worksite, with the DVR connected to a cellular internet connection. This way you're not constantly streaming video (using bandwidth and costing money) that probably is 90% of no interest, and should the connection go down, you don't miss anything. The DVR can store as much video as you want, and someone can connect to it via cellular to take a look at what is going on. This to me makes far more sense since then you can use nearly any camera and DVR. You'll also save a ton in cellular data costs and not miss anything.

I have a few DS-2CD2332-I cameras that I have had set to maximum 2048x1536 resolution, because, well why not? It's the highest resolution and I want all the detail I can get. Well, just today I discovered if it reduce it to 1920x1080, I get a wider field of view, but less in the vertical direction. Makes sense in hindsight. I tried it and decided I like 2048 better. So I tried this on my installed DS-2CD2335-I and was shocked to find the field of view doesn't change at all. With the DS-2CD2332-I, reducing the resolution made an obvious difference in FOV. But the latter, none. I can see just as far to the left, right, up and down. Yet in 1920x1080, the image fills the screen nicely on a modern LCD, unlike how it looks in 2048x1536. How can this be? Obviously Hikvision is doing some trickery like stretching the image (which isn't obvious nor desirable) or using "black bars", although the black bar theory doesn't really add up either. Has anyone ran across this? I'm surprised the behavior is so different between two otherwise nearly identical camera models.

I question hardware damage, especially mechanical hard drives. They detect when power is lost, then use the spinning disks to generate enough power to park the heads.

Has anyone had Hikvision IP cams lock up? I have three in use, powered with a good midspan over cat6 cable. They've been installed since the end of October and hence, powered continuously since then (they're also on a UPS). One morning last week I noticed one was missing from my VMS, and I couldn't ping it either. So I power cycled the camera, and it worked again. Two days later, same thing happened to another camera. Maybe there's simply an increase in cosmic rays hitting my region or something (don't laugh: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_error#Cosmic_rays_creating_energetic_neutrons_and_protons). Which brings about another point: Why don't these things use a watchdog timer? As an embedded systems designer, I know this is simple and in some cases, free to implement.

Good to know I'm not the only one. But yours lock up every few weeks? Mine do this about every quarter unless I reboot them before that. I actually narrowed it down to 83 - 84 days for all 5 cameras. I have exact times, I just have to do some calculations... This sounds more like mine.

Good to know I'm not the only one. But yours lock up every few weeks? Mine do this about every quarter unless I reboot them before that.

I believe Xeoma will send a stream to another server running Xeoma, but I've never tried it. This means you'd need two licenses (they aren't expensive), and as for port forwarding, if it's sending it out, it may not need it. You could always get a trial and test it out.

perhaps the dvr system should be on it's own lan. the camera traffic is slowing down your routers? Camera traffic normally shouldn't be going through the router, except for maybe the built in switch in a router.

I use this too and love it, except for their seemingly chronic issues around not being able to keep track of the correct time. So did you get your free license yet for posting this?

Does that DVR support any type of cloud storage? Otherwise, as another person said, maybe it's on a botnet.

It's still not apparent to me that these are fake hardware. I'm not being argumentative, I'm just trying to learn. I realize that Hikvision doesn't sell on eBay, but what stops someone from buying them in China from Hikvision and selling them on eBay? For the firmware, this doesn't seem all that odd to me. I don't know the specifics of how the F/W works on these, but let's say someone in China buys a large lot of them (with Chinese lang. F/W) and reflashes with english firmware, but perhaps older versions of english F/W are easier to flash over the Chinese F/W. In addition, if these were indeed fake hardware, why not claim it's a newer version of F/W? My original understanding is the hardware is authentic Hikvision, but firmware has been fiddled with (which voids warranties, etc), but it sounds like you're saying the hardware is also fake.....but I can't find any discussion of this anywhere else online.

No, I did not know this. This is counter to what I have read up to this point. I was of the understanding that gray market are Chinese market Hikvision reflashed with English language firmware. I find it hard to believe that otherwise reputable US resellers are selling essentially counterfeit products. Do you have any links or info on this? I'm genuinely curious. Hik from Shenzhen. Are not made by hikvision they are a copy / gray market. We have a avigilon 5mp from Shenzhen .... Does that make it copy ?? Yes. A genuine hikvision can have firmware for any region problem is it has to be a true hikvision. Look at all the hacks on this forum for the Shenzhen china copies.... Hik have now stopped telnet and also factory passwords ...... You now generate a user name and password on first plugin. Look at the ops link ........ 2 years warranty is with hikvision ......hik will not deal with end user.........that is the first give away it's a copy. Second is like all copy and gray it tells you it is on v5.3.3. Which is not supported by hik. I'm a bit confused. When you say from Shenzhen, are you referring to a seller called this, a manufacturer, or the city? Because everything I could find about the gray market Hikvisions indicate they are real Hikvisions with hacked firmware. For example, the ones I got match exactly with what many websites describe as Chinese version Hikvisions with hacked english firmware, down to the box they came in. I couldn't find anything about faked Hikvisions (that actually try to appear as a Hik), but I'd like to see some pics or information if they exist.

No, I did not know this. This is counter to what I have read up to this point. I was of the understanding that gray market are Chinese market Hikvision reflashed with English language firmware. I find it hard to believe that otherwise reputable US resellers are selling essentially counterfeit products. Do you have any links or info on this? I'm genuinely curious.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how much risk one is comfortable with vs. how much less they pay. Nothing to do with risk. Hik have changed there ipc setup and are about to update there software ..... Then see how the gray market works out for you. And regarding price ....... Newegg costs more .... For the brand listed. Newegg 12 months warranty ...... Hik gives 3 years as standard It is based on risk. I bought 3 gray market cams more than a year ago and they work great. Now if one or more fails before 3 years, I'm probably out of luck. If not, I'm good and paid less for them. Barring any hardware failure, they will continue to stream video just as they are right now regardless of F/W version. I don't know how much more legit ones are because it's difficult to figure out who is authorized....but my guess is, based on numbers I've seen in various places, they cost quite a bit more. So, if legit ones are say 25% more, I'd prefer that. I'm not sure what IPC setup is (SADP tool?), but based on all the gray market cameras being sold, I guess I'll be in good company if they somehow become bricked intentionally by the OEM. EDIT: I decided to look again at Hikvision's list of US distributors. Most appear to not be setup to sell to small end users. MCM does, but their IP cam selection is somewhat lacking. Then I found Norfolk Wire seems to be setup to allow direct purchases. I happened to find my camera, DS-2CD2332, and they want $313 for one. LOL. I paid less than that for three (3) from a US retailer, new in box, shipped. No wonder there's so many gray market customers.

Maybe, maybe not. Depends on how much risk one is comfortable with vs. how much less they pay.

I can't say if the system for $499 is any good, but in general you get what you pay for. The problem with some of these all-in-one systems is sometimes (but not always) you may not be able to add additional cameras unless they are the same brand. I personally really dislike bundled systems since I prefer generic systems that will work with anything else. Or, say the NVR fails. Are you locked into buying a replacement from the same company, and will those cameras work with a PC-based NVR? Another advantage of piecing together your own is you can buy one camera, try it out, and buy more if you like that one. Or, buy slightly different cameras for different locations, e.g. different focal lengths. Just my opinion of course. Many people buy bundled systems and are apparently happy. I don't have any experience with 4MP cameras, but I'm quite happy with my 3MP. My advice would be to buy 4MP if your budget allows. In my opinion however, 3MP does quite well. Yes that switch would be fine. But, you likely don't need gigabit just for 6 cameras. The Hikvision cameras I have will run up to 12Mbit, so even that's under what a 100Mb switch would handle with 6 cameras. But I have my cameras set to 3Mbit and it's just fine. I can't see the need to run them anywhere close to 12. 100Mbit switches are much cheaper.

Sorry, I am completely aware that most of these cameras are Chinese made, what I mean was that I have been reading a lot online that these cameras have a lot of knock offs made in china. I prefer to have the ability to be able to upgrade the firmware Just from what I have read online. Yes, I know reolink is made in china. I am not opposed to chinese made cameras. Reolink might be ok, but I haven't come across those on this forum. Hikvision and Dahua are common. If you are worried about Hikvision knock-offs, I think you're concern may be misplaced as I've never heard of this. See here: viewtopic.php?f=53&t=46131 I don't know where you can buy authorized Hikvision, although I thought I read B&H Photo is a reseller. My philosophy on the firmware issue is if the camera streams video, I'm good. F/W upgrades are nice, but I'm not willing to pay that much more. However that's purely my opinion; the opposite argument is not wrong.

I'd recommend what I did, Hikvision turrets (or dome or bullet if you prefer). They're fairly cheap and seem to be reliable and well-liked, and have withstood a little over 1 year of MN weather. For storage/NVR, I personally can't recommend an off-the-shelf system; it locks you in to it's faults and if you don't like something about it, you're screwed. I built my own NVR with simply a computer and a license of Xeoma, but use whatever software you prefer. I've found Xeoma to be light on resource requirements, reliable and nearly idiot-proof. Those items together with a PoE network switch, or non-PoE along with a midspan from Ebay. Even new midspans that retail for hundreds of dollars sell on ebay for 1/10 that. I've had this type of system running for over a year and I'm very happy with it.

Whoa, that one sentence needs a lot of clarification. "They are Chinese made" Yes, and so are almost all others. Get ready to open your wallet if you want to avoid that. "and hacked with english firmware etc" These are gray-market cameras. Same hardware, but reflashed for western markets. If you are ok with not upgrading firmware and limited to no warranty, they're fine. I have three and they work great and I saved a bundle. Some will disagree but worth the risk in my case. "and its hard to find a real hikvision manufactured camera, they are all knock-offs." No. Who told you this? And as for Reolink, while their website doesn't give an address, they do give hours in UTC+8, which includes China. Guess where Reolink is likely also made.

I believe most of these NVRs use a proprietary protocol. The Qsee I used to have had a terrible mobile app and there was nothing I could do about it.

To answer some of your questions... I use Hikvision 3MP turrets, and they are set to 3Mbit/s and still look fine. They max out at I believe 12Mbit/s but I'd say you get diminishing returns. The bitrate chosen is independent of the FPS; if you keep the bitrate the same but lower the FPS, each frame will be better quality. As for the DVR, I made my own out of a standard computer about a year ago and run a commercial CCTV software on it, and couldn't be happier. I don't want to be stuck with what a given off the shelf NVR has, e.g. I can change the CCTV software and get to keep my hardware, and can use the server for other purposes in parallel with CCTV. Generally speaking, if the camera support standard streaming protocols, and if the software does too, there shouldn't be any problem. The CCTV software I use is made by a company that doesn't make any hardware yet supports any camera that support rtsp:// If you're familiar with computers, and you mention you are, IMHO I'd avoid an off-the-shelf NVR like the plague. I just feel you're getting less for your money, inability to repair it when it breaks, and a whole lot less flexibility.

To explain this further, the BNC jacks are for an analog signal. The megapixel cameras with RJ45 are digital, IP based communication. Two totally different systems.

I'm aware of the existence of these drives, but can't see how a special HDD will be of any real benefit on a system with such low bitrates (960h).