craigspc

Hello, Like you, I also have a DS713+ and some DS-2CD2032-I cameras. I posted a similar question (on the synology forum) a couple of months or so back, but unfortunately I didn't get a reply: http://forum.synology.com/enu/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=87945 While PSIA mode offers 20fps support, I find that it keeps resetting the camera's internal quality settings back to low quality each day. ONVIF also offers 20fps, but you loose the ability to use internal camera motion detection. Synology appear to have implemented native support for the DS-2CD2032-I in one of the very first device packs, so I'm guessing that they haven't updated the support for this camera since then. Craig.

Sorry if I've given the impression that I was looking for advice on upgrading the firmware on my camera. My post was only intended as a response to @thewireguys, who mentioned that he'd heard about OEM Hikvision cameras having some sort of feature limitation in the future. I thought that my camera might just be an example of that, but I wasn't sure. With me being new to the forum, I decided to post the info that I had on my camera - purely in the hope that it might help. I purchased my camera from cctvdiscover.com (model DS-2DF7285-K20), but I don't actually know if it's a true Hikvision camera. All I can say is that it has the 5.02 Hikvision firmware (minus the Hikvision logo) and it works with Hikvision's software. The only additional thing I've noticed, is that the last firmware update (from cctvdiscover.com) resulted in the OSD Date being displayed in Chinese. I don't use that feature though, so it doesn't bother me too much. Craig.

Hi, We currently have a 720p PTZ camera with a 20x optical zoom connected to a 720p TV. Picture quality is fantastic within the optical zoom range, but we use the camera for wildlife observation and one particular Owl Box is a bit out of reach. We therefore enable the 2x digital zoom (ie. 40x zoom) in the camera’s firmware, which obviously does nothing for the quality - but it makes the viewing size more comfortable to watch. We are now looking for a second camera, but based on the fact that we are using a 720P TV, I’m actually wondering if I’d really need to be looking for a camera with an even greater optical zoom, or whether a 1080P version of the same camera would in effect solve our problem for a reasonable price. To clarify where I’m coming from - I do realise that with a 1080P camera and a 720P TV, I could use the camera’s 20x optical zoom and then manually crop the viewing area (via the DVR/NVR) to show a central 720p region without digital interpolation. However, that isn’t practical for the people using our camera, who will only have basic Pan/Tilt/Zoom functionality (edit: with a joystick). With that in mind, I guess I’d still have to revert to enabling 2x digital zoom in the camera’s firmware, resulting in an interpolated 40x zoom range. The question is – will the additional resolution of a 1080p camera result in a significantly better 2x digital zoom? I hope that makes sense and thanks in advance for your comments! .

Thanks Jeff. I do not mean to harp on about the 720P display, but there is a valid point that I’m trying to make (I just think I’m doing an awful job of explaining it). I know you had some other questions, but I think it's best I address this point first, because it seems to be causing the most confusion. I think I've found a way to explain what's in my head with the following examples... Example 1) If I had a 1080p monitor and 1080p camera, it's clear that if I zoom in to 20x optical – that’s all i'm going to get. I have a 1920x1080 image on a 1920x1080 TV with a 1:1 pixel ratio. In this scenario I would have no option but to enable digital zoom or buy another camera. Pretty clear cut. Example 2) Now let’s pretend that you have a 1080p TV, but throw a camera with a significantly higher resolution into the equation (for the sake of highlighting the point - let’s say 20MP). In this scenario, zooming the camera lens to 20x would give you exactly the same image on the screen as the 1080p camera gives you. What you’d really want to do now though, is zoom into that 20MP image – not enable digital zoom on the camera, which would result in the camera cropping a central region of the original image and then resizing it back up to 20MP. With each additional level of digital zoom performed at the camera end, you'd significantly reduce the resolution (detail) in the picture being sent out to your DVR. Example 3) If I hook up a 1080p camera to a 720P TV (my situation), the original image is twice the resolution of my TV. This means that I should have the potential to zoom into the larger 1080p image, but it is *this* last step that I'm lead to believe won't work with the PTZ joystick. Enabling digital zoom at this point would result in the the original footage on my DVR being lost – getting replaced by the cropped version that the camera has resized. If the image would still look good on the TV though (which is what I wasn't sure about - is that what you were trying to tell me?), I could live with that compromise. Thanks and best regards, Craig.

Thanks for your reply, but this is what I do now (see my question in post 1). My last post was just to explain which limitations force me to enable digital zoom within the camera. Considering that I have a 720p display - the inability to "zoom" into a 1280x720 (1:1 pixel) region of a 1080p image is where part of my problem comes from (a solution to that would fix everything). However, if enabling digital zoom within the firmware of a 1080p camera would still provide a significant enough advantage over doing the same on a 720p model of the same camera - it might still suffice.

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it’s very much appreciated! I understand that if I had a 1080p camera and a 720P display, I could, in principle, zoom into any 1280x720 portion of that image in order to achieve the equivalent of a greater optical zoom. However, I’m not sure how I could make that work in practice for us… The problem in our setup is that Pan/Tilt/Zoom controls are (at least for now) only offered to people in the form of joystick, which I fear will limit zoom to the maximum focal length of the lens (unless I enable digital - interpolated - zoom) I can see that there’s extra potential there, but I can’t see any clear way to make use of it without getting rid of the joystick (which people really like) and replacing it with a PC and mouse. Sorry for not explaining that properly in my original post.

I actually registered on this forum today to ask for help with purchasing a second 'HikVision' PTZ camera, but as I scanned through this form, I noticed that one of my own questions might be indirectly applicable to your comments. I have a 720p PTZ camera that has a Hikvision 20x camera module and a v5.02 firmware that looks identical to the v5.02 firmware found on genuine Hikvision PTZ cameras (with exception of the missing logo). It's compatible with HikVision's IVMS-4200 Client software and it worked with other mobile applications that I tested as a Hikvision device... However, when I contacted the supplier to ask if I could download and flash Hikvision's latest 5.1.x PTZ firmware, they responded very quickly with "NO!". The explanation was that while the Camera module/firmware was from HikVision, the PTZ component of the camera was not compatible with the Firmware offered on the HikVision site. This left me with three thoughts: 1) Maybe it's an OEM camera with subtle changes that require a custom Firmware 2) Perhaps they are obliged to hide the fact that the original Hikvision firmware would in fact work 3) I just have a chinese camera with a Hikvision camera module (in which case I'm probably wasting your time) Needless to say, I haven't tried installing Hikvision's own firmware for fear of "bricking" my camera. .