FastEddy

What's wrong with email? I don't like the idea of my personal info being sold to marketing companies, especially irritating are the automated telemarketers.

Norco, CA True enough. I contacted Avigilon directly and got a response within 12 hours. We stopped short of pricing when I questioned why they required my telephone number, but I'll bet I could restart the dialog in a heartbeat if I wanted to, but

Not bashing, but ok. Fair enough. I got a quote from a reseller in another country anyway (kinda strange when you think about it). I really like Milestone. As a noob, I like the easy setup, I like the way it works for me, I like the way all the different (web, mobile, client/server) pieces fit together, and I like the marketing model (free to start, if you need to upgrade you can pay as you go, buy it on eBay if you like). The pricing seems reasonable and affordable for me. So overall, there is a lot to like here. I have yet to try Aimetis Symphony, but Milestone has so much going for it already that I may never get around to it.

I wasn't, or at least I hope that I didn't come across that way. Avigilon may be a fine product and worth even more than the asking price, and maybe I'll even try the 30-day demo some day, who knows? But if I asked you to PM me the entry-level price, would you? Or would you not, out of fear that I might publicly reveal the quoted price from thewireguys? So I take that to mean that Avigilon isn't all that interested in my few dollars, so I will spend them with a company that does have an interest. But please know that I am not picking on Avigilon, I just get tired of reading how good the product is from the resellers when I can't even get a quote from those very same people.

Um, no. I like the way Milestone markets their products...start out with free, learn how the product works and if you need more, you have an easy upgrade path. You can even buy it on eBay if you like. Or you can pay about twice as much for Avigilon. I say about because... well, you know.

Avigilon is about twice the price of Milestone Essential. I say about because I don't really know what Avigilon sells for...nobody will talk about Avigilon pricing in public.

So does someone want to PM me with entry-level pricing on this POS [piece of software] so I will know if it is within my budget? I have a 5-camera 3MP IP camera setup and the confidential price sheet that I have seen on the internet puts me at $645 for an 8-camera version ('way out of my league, sorry to say...too many other lower cost options at that price point). Or not. I'm sure that a Bentley is a fine car, but I'll never own one.

Sad to say, I probably won't be trying it because I'm already thinking I can't afford it and I don't even know for certain what it costs. Why the secrecy in pricing? Evidently Avigilon does not have much interest in marketing to non-commercial users.

One of the things I would like to have is multi-camera playback, so that if you had several different views of an event that occurred at a given point in time, you can "sync" the different views in time for playback. Does Avigilon offer that feature? And it always bothers me when the price of something is only hinted at and whispered about...it's probably true that if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Awesome work, guys! Many thanks for your efforts. I feel like I might have dodged a bullet here [slight play on words]... I've noticed that the reviews on these HikVision cameras seem to generate a great deal of interest for some reason, seemingly more so than the reviews of other cameras. It's good to have such outstanding community support to smooth out the inevitable bumps in the road, especially for us noobs. EDIT: So I guess the take-away from this is that the DeryTech f/w prior to V5.0.0 130618 may have the admin password reset to some unknown value when flashed with either DeryTech or HikVision f/w, but that f/w V5.0.0 130618 or later is assumed to not have this problem? And that a potential remedy for the unknown password problem might be to tftp either the latest HikVision or DeryTech f/w ?

I notice that you flashed a DeryTech dome and I have the DeryTech bullet (NC-KBU32, f/w V5.0.0 130618) that was sold to me as a HikVision by Wrightwood. I don't suppose that makes a difference? And if the web flashing works without any special effort, why did buellwinkle raise the alarm in the first place? You also mention the DeryTech firmware, but I have not been able to find it. Where might that be found? Thanks to all for the heads up on this! EDIT: Curious, too, that you have the HikVision logo on your config page prior to flashing...very surprising that an unbranded OEM camera would have that logo, isn't it? Mine sure doesn't. Are you certain that this camera wasn't flashed with a HikVision f/w prior to this test?

Just curious...why the secrecy? Why not post it in public? Other than people that are trying to resolve the language mismatch, who really cares? Are you going to inflame some Chinese distributor and cause the prices of Chinese cameras to skyrocket? I think the questions to be resolved are that (to my knowledge) nobody has shown that those three bytes are the lone factor causing the language mismatch error and upgrading via the tftp process with a hex-edited firmware may be a viable option.

The URL is the same as the others.... I pulled the XML out with WireShark and split it up into sections. If there is a better way to post the XML let me know...WireShark makes it so nice and neat but other than doing a screen grab I don't know what to do. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>%s <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>%s <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>%s <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>%s I didn't mess with sharpness because it doesn't seem to do much at night...to be honest, the brightness level is the only additional thing I set differently between day and night...

Ok, got it...hue, saturation, contrast, brightness...I absolutely could not have done this without your help and your hard work, Ziegeid.

Wooooo boy, you are really pushing my limited understanding on this one. I have the tools but don't know how to use them. This is some good stuff right here. IMO, if there is one thing lacking in the Hiks, it is the ability to tweak both the day time and the night time settings and set up profiles so that you get good images in both. What I ended up with is a decent compromise, probably like everyone else, but with your script the optimum settings can be applied for both, and I am soooo excited by that prospect. What more can you ask of a camera that sells for under $200? If I thank you any more, someone is bound to slap me...but if you ever find yourself in the Inland Empire, I'll buy the beer and pizza.

It works. I rebooted after Win7 updated, and the task was still queued, so it persists even after a restart. Amazing. Again, I thank you, Ziegeid.

Well, if by settings you mean camera settings, I have 3 of the Hik bullets and I run the Dynamic Noise Reduction at 100% day and night on all 3. The WDR I run at 21, 34, and 67, based on how much shade is in the area I am viewing. With your program, we have the potential to get the best images possible from this awesome inexpensive camera, both during the day and at night. Can you extend this script to adjust the other settings (brightness, contrast, etc.)? I can see setting up different camera settings based on time of day, relative to sunrise/sunset...amazing stuff! BI allows you to adjust motion triggers for different profiles (schedules) relative to sunrise/sunset...that, coupled with being able to tweak the camera settings on the fly via your program, could potentially be a very interesting project.

I figured it out. Had to install ActiveState Perl for Win x64, install DateTime-Event-Sunrise package, edit the file for my location and tweak my $command to "at $t $0". It's running with a job ID = 1. We'll see what happens at 10 minutes after sunset... Many, many thanks to the OP!!!!

Would it be possible to port this to run in a Windows environment? This could be a very handy utility!

To sum this up, then, this is how I figger it: the main problem with upgrading the Swann with Hik firmware is that there is no going back...once a Hik, always a Hik, but once a Swann is enough (geez, don't you guys ever get enough?) (And don't answer that!) Somehow, I feel better for making that choice, but that's just me.

Well, for me, the decision came down to whether I wanted a Swann with Hik firmware (along with the cables and the Cosco liberal refund policy), or a Hik with Hik firmware. So it's Hik Hik hooray (sorry again!) for me and thank you Costco (which, BTW, this is the first ever Costco.com return for me). I shoulda done my homework in the first place, and maybe I coulda rescued the "bricked" camera...that would have been fun, and I really wanted to mess around with that, but I came to the conclusion that even if I turned a Swann into a Hik I would have always felt a little like I was somehow missing out on something even if I wasn't.

I just received a Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I (mfg. date 6/2013) with the 5.0.0 firmware and it has several useful features and settings that the two Costco/Swann v4xxx (mfg. 5/2013) didn't have so I tried flashing both the Swanns with the 5.0.0 firmware. One of them upgraded within a couple of minutes but the other one hung. Now I have a bricked Swann that I can't log into (Network Abnormal after slow loading the login page) and I can't see it with the Hikvision SADP software. The other Swann that took the upgrade has far fewer image and IR settings than the Hik has and the automatic white balance setting is completely gone...strictly manual white balance now. Also, the Advanced Configuration page/Network is messed up...the graphic is misaligned as far as the IPv6 settings are concerned, but I could still make those settings with the SADP software if I had to. Bottom line is that, in my experience, a Swann flashed with Hikvision firmware is a crippled duck (sorry!) If you want a Hik, buy a Hik, because a Swann with Hik firmware is very much less than a Hik with Hik firmware. Obviously, from the reports of others who have had success doing this, YMMV. When I got the Hik and saw the features that the Swann does not have, I knew that the Swanns were going back to Costco anyway, so I took a chance and lost. EDIT: I'll post some pics when I get back from Costco... EDIT2: Yes, the "3MP" resolution is there, but as others have already widely reported it is a misnomer and not true 3MP on either the Hik or the Swann. Essentially it is a scaling thing with some unknown interpolation that changes the view from a 16:9 to a 4:3 format, which could be handy if you need the additional vertical image space.