HIKVISION - Plug N Play - 4 Out of 9 Fail

I spent some time late yesterday playing with a HIK Vision NVR and some HIK Vision cameras. At first it went very nicely. The first cameras picked up fairly quickly, and the resolution of a the 3MP camera was very nice. Then I ran some wire and threw four more cameras on the system. Of those only one picked up plug-n-play as it was supposed to. In fact out nine still sealed NIB cameras four of them failed to be picked up properly. The system would see them, but not as PNP. They all came up as .1.64.

I set up a separate isolated network to make sure everything was clean. Defaulted the cameras, and reprogrammed them several different ways. With different IPs and gateway that made sense. I tried them as DHCP as well. They would get an IP from the NVR, but not one that made any sense. It still did not PNP. Then I would unplug them from independent power and switch them over to the NVR. The NVR would show them, but would not display them or allow me to add them manually.

It was getting late when I decided to shelve the project. The only other thing I could think of was maybe to upgrade the firmware on the cameras.

I would note that on my test network I was able to communicate with the cameras from my laptop, and I was able to view video from the cameras after installing the ActiveX plug-in on my browser.

Any suggestions?

Perhaps this is why ADI has them on special right now.

Reply to
Bob La Londe
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-------------------------------------------------- From: "Bob La Londe" Sent: Wednesday, August 05, 2015 10:25 AM Newsgroups: alt.security.alarms Subject: HIKVISION - Plug N Play - 4 Out of 9 Fail

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Well, it took almost all day, but I finally got a response from tech support at HikVision.

** Bob, ** In order to better assist you, please provide the following information.

Most of which I already provided. Sigh. I guess Digital Watchdog is looking not so bad now. LOL. Maybe Mark was right. Maybe its me.

This isn't really a tech issue. It's a product issue. I know how to setup networks. I've been doing it since it was only affordable for most people to run a serial network, and a parallel connection to transfer data was scary fast magic. Hell I bread boarded my first serial port.

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Reply to
Bob La Londe

Bob, I only did one of these HikVision systems so I don't know if I can help much.

You did not mention if these cameras were HikVision cameras or not??

If not, then that could be some kind of issue.

The only other thought would be to hook connect all cameras and then power up the NVR. Or call tech support and hope you get lucky.

Let me know what you find. Very interested here.

Les

Reply to
ABLE1

Hi Bob,

I set up only 3 cameras on the workbench and then had other work to do. The customer is in no rush so I did some other more pressing work first. I'll be heading over to the job tomorrow to start wiring but it's a HUGE house. Has a 50 X 30 swimming pool inside attached to the house. I'm only working tomorrow and half day Friday and won't be back again until next week ... (m aybe) So it's going to be awhile before I can give you any feedback on my r esults. I've got to snake wires up outside insulated walls. (fun,fun,fun)

I'm also doing some TV and alarm system updating to .... so ......

I'll let you know the results when I get to the point of setting up the cam eras. Hope I fair better than you have so far.

Was it the same cameras and NVR that I got or different?

I was told by ADI that there is a local HIKvision tech support guy and gave me a number to call when/if I had tech problems. We'll see how THAT works out too.

I tried to call the main tech support number to ask some preliminary questi ons about the cameras and was on hold for almost an hour and finally hung u p.

If it works the same way with the local guy .... it'll be the last time I u se their products... Can't handle that shit. By the time someone finally pi cks up I'm already ballistic and I obviously don't get any cooperation with sarcasm in every question I ask.

I'll see what happens.

Reply to
Jim

Sorry, I missed the reading that you were using HikVision cameras as well.

As a point of how I started the system that I did. First I did not have time for any bench testing. I just had to wing it in the field.

Ran all cabling, did all the terminations, hung all the cameras. Connected all at NVR and powered up. Took about 5 minutes and all learned in as I was setting up other parts of the NVR. Then the customer wanted one more camera. Returned in a couple of days and installed. Plugged it in and it popped up in about a minute.

Needless to say you have had a different experience. Don't know the firmware version number I was working on, but, I agree that would one thing to look into.

Again let me know your progress.

Les

Reply to
ABLE1

Hi,

I am not sure if this will help you, but it might be worth a try. I do not have any experience with Hikvision and do not foresee ever.

On a recent and my 1st IP camera add-on install that was on a 16ch 960H dvr, I was able to install 2 out of 3 IP cams only. The dvr has firmware installed with the ability in the menu to set up IP cams, up to 4 total. All the IP cams and the dvr were on the same gigabit network switch. No matter what I did, the 3rd cam was not viewable. It kept searching with no result. After calling tech support from our supplier, he suggested downloading an IP tool program from their website in order to program the IP cam correctly. He mentioned that sometimes, the IP cam is not setup correctly in its software and that the only way to correct it is by using that IP tool program. It is an exhaustive program that will get the work done.

I am not a network administrator, but I have learned a few things over the years. With the IP cam, they are set to certain gateways and specific IP addresses. It was only with this comprehensive IP tool program that I was able to view why that IP cam was not showing up on the dvr. The gateway and its IP address were not even close, even though the dvr menu program had supposedly set it up correctly. My guess is that your nvr is not actually able to pick it up and setup the IP cam because in the IP cameras inner menu, it is setup to very a different Ip gateway and address. You should be able to find an IP cam tool program from your supplier's tech support, if they are a supplier that is worth buying from. If not, you can contact me and I will send you a link.

In regards to Ip cam firmware, it is possible that this is why your nvr is not able to pick it up. And it is possible that upgrading it may make the nvr see or communicate with your IP cam finally. I prefer to view directly into the IP cam software so that I can understand what is going on. If I do not have to upgrade firmware, it is less risky in my estimation....Yes, it is probably the reason why ADI, or Hikvision in the background, were discounting them...

As with all things in the computer world, it is the smallest overlooked item that stops all progress.

Hope this helps you in some way.

Reply to
E DAWSON

All HIK Vision Cameras. All supposed to be Plug N Play.

The NVR would see the cameras. They would be shown below the list of available preconfigured slots associated with the built in POE switch.

I was able to get into the cameras using the SADP software or my web browser. I found the browser to be easier to activate and configure the cameras. No matter how I configured them from default to artificially setting the same network configuration as the pre configured ports it didn't connect up. I tried all kinds of variations.

I did finally get a response from HIK Vision. They think that the issue may be a new security password configuration and protocol in the cameras and suggest that upgrading the firmware in the NVR may solve the problem. I'll have a duplicate system on the bench tomorrow. I guess I'll spend part of my weekend testing it all out like I should have before taking it to the field.

The actual tech response when I finally received one was quite comprehensive. I'll see how it works out on the bench and go from there. If they work ok I plan to use a couple of these as machine monitors in the CNC shop as well. I already winged it in the field and made myself look incompetent to the customer. LOL. I'll be back at their site on Monday (90 miles out of town) hopefully with all the answers.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Well, I updated the firmware on the NVR today, and it picked up all the newer firmware cameras right away. I also finally installed the client software on one of the client's computers. It's a little cludgy to use and figure out, but seems to be pretty powerful to use once you get past the fact that not everything is obvious. I also ran across a note with one of the firmware packages (wrong one for this NVR) that said it would not work with cameras made in 2015. Anyway, after the firmware upgrade everything was plug-n-play like it was supposed to be.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

Bob,

Glad to hear you had success.

Did you try the Web interface for the NVR??

I have not installed the Client Software for the system I installed. It seemed to be more than I needed. On the other hand maybe I should install it to make a comparison............. when I have time.....................

I did find out that the iOS mobile app needs a large amount of free memory to work properly. Basically more than I have in my phone. I can get connected but getting all functions to work is slow at best.

Customer is always on site when the place is open so for him looking at the store when it is closed does not do much for him.

Which model NVR and Cameras are you using?? I need to make notes.

Thanks!!

Les

Reply to
ABLE1

7608 E1/E2 if I recall. I'll pull some part numbers off some boxes later.

Yes I tried the browser interface. Even after I installed the plug-in it would not show video for the customer. The iVMS 4500 client software worked ok after I added all the cameras. I installed it, added the cameras, and tested how it works with the customer watching. Talk about pressure. LOL.

I have not used the smart phone clients yet. I intend to test their client software and also see if it works with the Robert Chou's IP Cam Viewer after their IT guy gets the outside connection setup. He intends to give me a 1:1 external IP. I notice there are two different iVMS4500 aps in the Android store. one is iVMS4500 and the other is iVMS4500HD.

Most of my customers want remote access for video these days. Some only allow it within their VPN, but many want it on their tablets and smart phones.

Reply to
Bob La Londe

FWIW the unit I installed was the DS-7716NI-SP/16. Maybe I had updated firmware at the time.

Reply to
ABLE1

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