JohnAJohnson

problem has been solved.

I've been researching this problem for two weeks on this and other forums and could sure use some help. I am running V5.1.2 build 140116 (patched to fix the "uninitialized" problem) on four Hikvision cameras and have been successfully writing video to a 4TB WD My Cloud NAS (SMB/CIFS) for a couple of years now. I just bought three more cameras and they contain V5.2.5 build 141201, and I can't figure out how to modify them to work with the WD NAS (to combat the "uninitialized" problem). I bricked one by TFTP'ing 5.1.2 to it and don't want to try that again. Best as I can tell from reading, you can't downgrade these but if you know a way, I've been happy with 5.1.2. Otherwise, can they be upgraded to 5.3? Would it be easier to patch than 5.2.5? I downloaded the patched 5.2.5 davinci.tar.gz from another site and can't figure out how to install it in the camera. I can telnet into the camera (putty), but the 5.2.5 firmware doesn't have ftpput or ftpget, and I have been unable to FTP into the camera even after successfully doing a "setFtpService start". If anyone has patched firmware (digicap.dav) that'll work with this camera, I'd appreciate a link. If not, or there isn't a practical way to patch the firmware on these new Hikvisions, I'm open to recommendations on a new NAS that will work with Hikvisions. Thanks in advance.

I'm also trying to access video stored on my WD My Cloud, without using a camera in preparation for the "bad guy stole my cameras" scenario. I can browse to the directory on the NAS, \\security\Back\datadir0, for example, and play any of the mp4 files, but I would like to have something that will go to a specific date/time, just like the camera's web interface or the various Android/iOS apps do. I've tried to use "Local Playback" but cannot figure out how to get it to access the WD NAS. Under "Playback", "Disk Name:", it only shows "Disk 0", and when that is pulled down, Drive c: is the only one available. I have mapped the NAS (running Windows 10 and also XP) at the root and in the various directories and it still won't show up. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Any help is appreciated.

The new 7-Zip files are indeed smaller, as shown below: If something were to go wrong, you have two options. You can use the TFTP Utility to reload the firmware even if you can't get to the camera through the web interface, or if your camera has a reset button, that can usually bring it back to life. But there is always the possibility of "bricking" the camera, so there is some risk. I am new to cameras and a novice at all things Linux. I'll invite other more knowledgeable people to elaborate on or correct my thoughts, above.

I've detailed the procedure for patching Raptor 5.1 so that it keeps the NAS in a "Normal" state instead of an uninitialized state. Works with Raptor 5.1.0 build 131202 and 5.1.2 build 140116. Doesn't work with DM365 v5.1 cameras. After downloading, change the extension to "doc" instead of "zip", and open in Microsoft Word or similar. Much thanks to Heuer and others for breaking the trail on this. NAS Patch.zip

My Hikvision cameras (DS-2CD2132-I and DS-2CD2732F-I, all running V5.1.0 build 131202) see the change from day to night to day as motion. My previous ACTi did it too so it isn't just a Hikvision thing. Anyone know the secret settings to get a camera to ignore the changeover?

I've used onboard SD Cards for testing, etc., but prefer a LAN based 4TB NAS (no need for WAN connectivity) to store the video offsite. I've tried Email and FTP and neither work as well as the NAS (I have a crappy DSL service with only 256k upload). But I don't really need an instantaneous alert. The perimeter alarms tell me if someone is approaching the house and If I'm away and get robbed, oh well. That's why I have insurance I guess. I can check the NAS daily or so and that'll be fine, but it's not like the sheriff will actually respond anyway. So provided the crackheads don't find the NAS (on my property but not in the house), the video will survive, even if they break or take the cameras. Another thing about video vs. snapshots... Seems that snapshots always trigger when the target is looking away or has already left the scene. Motion video at 2048 x 1536 X 20 fps, starting a few seconds before, and continuing for a few seconds after, really captures a lot of angles and 20 seconds lays down about 20 MB or so. Not bad, and with 4TB to play with, it'll archive a years worth of video with five cameras capturing the day/night change and my going in and out three or four times a day. That's always been my life-long goal

The two changeovers a day are about it. I've been running the cameras for about a month now and I had a bird trip one, and lightning one night tripped all of them repeatedly. Other than that, vehicles afar and people up close are the only things that'll trip. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the internal motion detection. The cameras can be broken off and taken, but whoever does it will be on video. Of course if they are masked, I'll have nothing. I do live in an area with a lot of meth types (Ozarks). They can be unpredictable, but aren't known for critically thinking through a problem.

Then you should install PIRs/motion detectors, and forget about video motion detection (which will give you false positives). Thanks Mind. I'll research PIRs.

Excellent suggestions Kawboy. Thank you. Both the wife and I are ex-military and we are well armed. Most all your suggestions are done (driveway alarms, gates, strong doors, etc.), and the camera system is a last resort. But I sure would rather have it work than not. The sheriff is a long way off so we don't rely on them at all. I've been building a system of free standing IP cameras (without the need for a computer running external software) that can write to an email box, ftp site, or NAS outside of the home. The Hikvisions are really doing this job well right now and really meet my expectations well. Only the one problem of day/night changeover remains...

After you are killed, you really won't care. That's not the point. The idea is for these cameras to deter. This can only happen if the bad guys know they are being recorded (I have signs up) and that nothing can undo those recordings. I record to a NAS offsite so even if the house is burned down, the videos are available. Only other variable is if someone is willing to review those recordings after the event. Deterrence comes from bad guys being arrested because of video. The sooner we all make that closer to a probability instead of a possibility, the greater the deterrent. Overly paranoid, maybe. But if I show a home invader his uneraseable mug shot and license plate and convince him that leaving now will only get him two years in prison vs. the needle, he might believe it.

Me? Detect legitimate motion and record that motion clearly, 5 seconds before, to 5 seconds after. I live in the country and I built this system for a worse case: If I am the victim of a home invasion and killed, I want the police to be able to look at the recordings and identify the bad guys. I don't want them looking through days of video just to weed out squirrels playing, or the sun rising or setting, or other non-pertinent events. I want every recording to be meaningful, otherwise, it'll be trivialized and they might give up before hitting the pertinent recording. I know it would be simple but it probably isn't done because a lot of us are fine with substandard quality. See ssmith10pn's and ak357's posts, above.

That's your I Frame Interval, and most people usually set it to match their Frame Rate (Liczba klatek). I have mine set at 15 and 15 and the camera seems to work fine.

That did it. I have the Hikvision reliably writing video to a 4TB WD My Cloud when motion is detected. Even after multiple reboots/power downs for both the My Cloud and Camera.

Thank you Heuer

I have a Hikvision DS-2CD2732F-I and a WD My Cloud 4TB NAS. Yes, I read that it may or may not work but I thought I’d give it a try now that Hikvision’s firmware (5.1) supports NAS with SMB/CIFS, and not just NFS. Unfortunately, under “Storage Management”, the My Cloud shows up as “offline” if I select NFS, or SMB/CIFS without also making the drive private and password protected. Then, and only then can I format, and it formats fine, albeit with datadirxx directories as described by others. And while if I don’t mess with it, and if there is motion, the video actually gets written to the My Cloud. But touch anything and the My Cloud goes right back to “offline”, requiring a reformat to be usable. I’ve tried v5.1.0 build 131202 (release), v5.1.0 build 140217 (beta), and v5.0.0 build 130412 (NFS only). I haven’t been able to format it as NFS, and when trying to use the patch described in Heuer’s post, above, davinci has not been extracted from the tar, so I can’t edit it. I’ve pulled davinci.tar.gz out and then extracted the davinci from it, and the string specified cannot be found. This is with build 131202 and 140217. I assume that the extracted davinci gets patched with this string only when the drive is NSF, and since I can’t seem to get it to appear online when NSF is selected, I’m totally unsuccessful. Are there any other tricks I could use to get the WD My Cloud working with the Hikvision software? Or, if the problem is on the camera end, what are the odds of Hikvision fixing their software to be compatible with the My Cloud? I’m trying to determine if I should send the My Cloud back but if this is a problem on the Hikvision side, I don’t want to waste time and money trying to find a NAS that’ll work with the Hikvision if none will perform any better than the My Cloud. Barring that, is there a known, good NAS that’ll work with the Hikvision cameras? I don’t really care if it is NFS or CIFS, I just need to be able to access its video files from Windows Explorer, an ftp client, or from the Hikvision tablet apps.

I've been adjusting an E73 for two weeks without success and believe this camera will not meet my expectations. I’ve tried it at two different outside locations; front and rear entrance doors to my home. The front door area is completely dark, and the rear is dimly lit by a security light 100’ away. In all cases, I am looking for motion detection that’ll provide facial recognition video or snapshots at 10-20’ day and night, and vehicle recognition at 30-40’ during the day only. I must have IP Cameras with the capability of storing photos or videos at a remote location (email or FTP). I’ve used NVR3 and while it is good, I need IP outdoor dome cameras that can take a snapshot or record on motion all by themselves. I would very much appreciate any recommendations for cameras that will meet my needs. Or, by reading below, if you see where I’ve done something wrong, any advice is also greatly appreciated. Specifically, here’s what the ACTi E73 and I have been up to: I’ve tried the latest firmware and the previous firmware for the E73. Using the Web Configurator, I can adjust motion settings to barely meet my criteria during the day (Runtime MD Profile) and I can adjust motion settings to barely meet my criteria during the night (Event MD Profile). I say “barely” because to detect a human size target 100% of the time, the Sensitivity or Trigger Threshold must be set low enough that clouds slowly passing over, or a trees shadow moving in the scene, or the camera’s own constant iris adjustment trips Motion Detect. Same problem with vehicles. It catches 75% of vehicles passing 40’ away that fill 75% of a motion box. To catch 100% of vehicles, I have to set Sensitivity to 75% and Trigger Threshold to 25% and it falsely alarms all day long at these settings. Night (human detection only) isn’t quite so bad, but sensitivity must still be low enough to stop false motion alarms. The camera doesn't point into the sun or any artificial light at any time. At the switchover between day and night, within 30 minutes either side of the switch, the iris will start adjusting, tripping the Motion Detect every couple of minutes. With no real motion detected, I can count on 100MB of video recordings simply because the programmer adjusting the iris didn’t tell the programmer writing the motion detect routine to ignore light changes for a second or two. I tried Switch from Day to Night Mode values of 20, 40, 50, 60, 80 and it didn’t seem to matter. Day/Night switches daily within 10 minutes, regardless of this setting. It helps greatly to turn Slowest Auto Shutter Speed to 1/120, and to keep the AE Reference Target low (below 100). Of course I have to jack up brightness to >65 just to be able to get a satisfactory image. It also helps to keep WDR Low or Disabled, which kind of defeats the added cost of the WDR feature. I find Snapshot timing (barn door is closed after the horse went thru) unreliable and am recording video to an internal SD card for 20 seconds. Since the video’s resolution is only adequate on higher (3MP) settings and at fast frame rates, each 20 second video is approximately 10MB. So on a day with no legitimate motion, I can expect at least 20 files of 10MB each. This might be acceptable if there was a good RAW video reader but the ArchivePlayer is [at best] poor, and the Demo Player wipes all camera settings, including the hard earned motion detect settings. This wouldn’t be so bad if the camera firmware had an option to back up its settings, but it doesn’t. One can FTP into the camera and copy RAW videos, but not delete them. This also wouldn’t be so bad but Web Configurator’s File Management won’t let you delete more than 10 or so at a time and this too turns into an effort because of so many false motion detects.

Problem solved. E73 returned. Got a Hikvision DS-2CD2732F-I on order. Thanks Buell.

> facial recognition video or snapshots at 10-20’ day and night Good to know. I’ll stay away from too high of a resolution. Matter of fact, I’ll drop this one down to 1080 and see if it helps, although I don’t like the lost FOV. > vehicle recognition at 30-40’ during the day only Don’t need license plates. I’d be happy just knowing that a vehicle drove by. Currently, with Motion set as below (top picture), Region 3 will not pickup a Mercedes UPS Truck if he pulls up slowly and stops, even though his truck occupies over 50% of Region 3. If he drives right on through, it’ll pick him up. If I set the Sensitivity any higher or the Threshhold any lower, shadows from clouds, etc. will trip Motion Detect. I have tried a small Region 3 area in the center of the driveway, and small Region 2 and 3 areas on each side of the porch columns (where the vehicles would come into view initially) with vehicles filling over 100% of the Regions, still without reliable detection unless I settle for lots of false alarms. Top is day (Runtime) settings, bottom (Event, with Region 3 off) is night settings. By the way... Thanks for the great review site. I've been all over it the last couple of months during my research. Here's the view from the other side. The camera is mounted above the front door, under the porch.