LewisO

Hi all, I've been struggling to understand Hikvision's access when trying to use them on Mac OS X computers. First, several stand alone cameras seem to work just fine with Safari Browser access. I've installed the web compenent plugin, I can access the cameras, get a grey themed login screen and it all works OK. In trying to access some Hikvision NVR's and some newer cameras, I get to the login screen, but it's a red or maroon color background, and inputing the user and password, results in nothing happening. So, I'm wondering if this is a firmware issue? a browser issue, a plugin version issue, or simply a Mac issue. I really need Mac access and not fall back to a PC. Interestingly enough, iVMS 4500 in my iPhone works OK, on accessing any of these cameras or NVRs. I also noticed iVMS 4200 on a Snow Leopard computer cannot connect to the NVRs, but iVMS 4200 on a Mavericks Mac can. Though these too have issues with image quality, connecting to cameras, etc. It just seems there's no consistancy in getting the Hikvision systems/cameras to work with Mac OS X. I know Apple has been releasing OS updates almost yearly, perhaps this is part of the reason? Though I've had issues with browser access in Windows too esepcially when trying to reach NVRs. Any insights into what is going on, would be absolutely most appreciated.

Yes, it looks like Hikvision isn't keeping up with the ability to use their gear with Mac OS X. It's a shame, as it's the primary reason we started using their offerings. I'm not convinced that iVMS is being keep current and making it more Mac accessible. I wish Hikvision would devote some of their large engineering talent to their software offerings and compatibility. Thanks for the feedback, it's the same thing I've observed with their NVR's. – L

Using Hikvision with Mac OS X. So far, what I've discovered. Hikvision seems to have a iVMS 4200 v1.01 and a Hikvision v1.02, though the v1.02 says Lion, it seems to just plain work better in everything I've tested from OS X 10.6.8 Snow Leopard to OS X 10.9.x Mavericks! I can connect to earlier cameras and later cameras and more importantly, it seems to connect to Hikvision NVR's which v1.01 seems not to. As far as the Mac OS X browser plugin – that's even worse. I can connect to some older cameras I have using Safari in OS X 10.6.8, but anytime the red login window comes up, the newer cameras and the Hikvision NVR's, it doesn't want to connect at all! I get the feeling the Mac OS X browser plugin is poorly supported and updated. It's too bad as it's quick and easy to show someone a Hikvision system and it's quality by going to a browser and entering the IP and the username and password. What I too like about the browser, when it works, is that one can not only drag the magnifying glass icon to zoom in on a section of the image, but one can go literally full screen view which looks great. You cannot do these with the iVMS 4200 software. Plus I actually think the browser image is better looking than the iVMS image... ie. better color, more realistic, subtle but there. If anyone can shed some light on what works and what doesn't work with Mac browser plugins, OS X Snow Leopard to Yosemite, and with which browser, please contribute to this posting, please! That Hikvisions work with Macs is such a huge plus in our investing in them, I would like some much to encourage Hikvision to continue and improve it's support of the Mac community.

Hi, I've been playing around with a couple of single Hikvision cameras, they are DS-2CD2432F-IW and the DS-2CD2032-I. Very nice. I want to get a Hikvision NVR and more cameras for a business location. I'll likely use more of the same model of cameras. Questions: as the NVR's seem to have only half their ports POE, how does one say put 14 POE cameras on a 16 port Hik NVR with only 8 ports POE? Then, I can easily enough see the cameras in a web browser when using single cameras, reaching them via IP/port number. On Mac OS X in Safari, they open to a grey login screen and I can login. I've tried to login to a Hikvision NVR a friend has and I get a maroon login window, and I input the login info and nothing happens. I can reach this NVR via iOS iVMS 4500 app, but it just doesn't want to work using any web browser I've tried in OS X. Any thoughts as to why it's not working? I do have the web components plugins. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for all the input. I'm likely to go with a 16 channel Hikvision NVR so I have enough channels in case I go over 8 cameras. I'm still puzzled by MindVisions suggestion to not use NVR's POE. It seems that most of the Hikvision NVRs have about half their ports as POE. Why not use them and use a POE switch for the cameras that go beyond the number of POE ports. Is it that POE ports die out, that they use more power and produce more heat? Again most of the NVRs from Hikvision look to incorporate POE. Thanks too for the info that POE switches connect to the router! and not the NVR. I'll just have to make sure my router has enough ports available. Also, it seems that a lot of the NVR ports and POE switch ports are 100m ethernet and not gigaspeed, I'm guessing this doesn't matter too much? The cameras we're looking at are all 3mp cameras. Thanks again all, very much, for the insights that you've provided me!

Do not mess "channels" and "ports". An 8 channel NVR will only allow you to use 8 cameras, no matter hoe many network ports you have. So, if I want more than 8 cameras, and I'm getting my POE on the switch, are you saying I need an NVR that has the number of channels equal to the number of cameras that I want to run? Thanks!

OK, not to sound dumb, but if I get a POE switch, do all the cameras connect to the switch and then only one (or two?) ethernet connection is made to the NVR? That way, it sounds like I could use a 16 port POE switch to cover all my cameras, and then could U use a smaller 8 port NVR or do the number of cameras have to match the number of NVR ports?