Playback of Dahua DVR on iPad/iPhone

[andyh747 0]

Hi All,

 

I have recently installed a 16CH i-Apollo PRO DC DVR. This is a Dahua DVR branded in the UK by Adata.

 

Anyway the setup went well and I have access both within the LAN and via the WAN. I've downloaded both the iPad and iPhone app (iApollo Pro) and these are working well for realtime viewing. My problem however is playback via the iPad or iPhone. If I select playback mode and enter a time range it comes back with no footage and on the iPad displays 'Search Failed!'. iPhone is similar but think the message is 'No Record'. Playback works fine on PSS.

 

Anyone any advice on why it's not working on the iOS devices through the apps? I've tried both locally and remotely with the same result.

 

Thanks for any pointers.

[jharrell 0]

I had the same problem with the Q-See branded Dahua. Your DVR may be different, but for mine this was the issue:

 

The iOS client is hard-coded to connect to the "extra" stream not the main one. This applies to playback as well. However the DVR is not setup from the factory to record the extra stream, so when you go to playback in iOS it can't find any recordings it's compatible with.

 

You should be able to enable recording the extra stream under the "Record" menu and set it from Stop to schedule just like the main stream, if your DVR supports this. If not the iOS playback may not work.

 

There is still problem with this though, the pre-record buffer doesn't exist on the extra stream, so if your recording motion you will end up only getting video after the motion trigger on iOS which will be missing much of what occurred if it was fast like someone walking by the camera. The main recording will have it and can be seen using the PC software. Q-See tech support said this is a hardware limitation and there is no fix.

 

It would be really nice if they let you connect to the main stream through iOS to get full res video and avoid all this playback non-sense.

[yakky 0]

Yep, agree with the above, the POS iOS client relies on the extra stream. Hopefully they fix that soon.

[lowpro 0]

I could have sworn there was a $10 app for the ipad that let you actually see the main stream instead of the extra stream. It's on my ipad at home. I'll let you guys know what it is. I do remember it has HD at the end of the name. Got me thinking now....

[lowpro 0]

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/idmss-hd/id496176795?mt=8

 

Ok, you guys tried this? iDMSS HD for the ipad

[jharrell 0]

The Q-See QC HD app is a rebranded iDMSS HD and is free. I know because I bought iDMSS HD in my desperation to get playback working, it has the same limitations as the Q-See versions.

 

The only nice thing about iDMSS HD is that it is a slightly newer build than QC HD, so they polished up some of the icons and layout and it supports the E-Map feature. I am sure the Q-See version will get these features too in a future update.

Edited November 20, 2012 by Guest

[lowpro 0]

I found a Q&A where Dahua says this about the iDMSS HD iPad app

Dear sir: iDMSS HD view dvr only can with extra stream, cannot with mainstream

 

I also did find an old thread here where some thought that the video looked better via iDMSS HD.

 

Oh well....

[jharrell 0]

The extra stream is really quite good quality and much better on bandwidth if using cellular to view, but not having a pre-record buffer for playback is just silly.

 

However if they allowed us to connect to the main stream as an option when the bandwidth is available would give us the pre-record buffer, and be able to use the retina display to it's fullest.

 

Giving iOS access to the main stream is a software change, so it could be done. Any recent iOS device can easily decode multiple HD H.264 streams so it's not a issue.

 

Still skeptical the pre-record buffer on the extra stream is a hardware limitation since the DVR can record both streams at the same time, so why can't it be recording the pre-buffer at the same time, there is no difference between a pre-record buffer and a normal one other than managing the cleanup of the unused pre-record data in a ring buffer.

[andyh747 0]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Enabling the extra stream to record has worked. Agree though it would be better to be able to view the main stream but at least I've got playback now.

 

Many thanks.