Hikvision NTP Problem

I ran into a problem with some of my Hikvision IP Cameras and their NTP (Network Time Protocol) update time being off even though the time zone was correct. Now what was weird was it wasn’t on all cameras(Different FW, Different Region).

What I had to do was swap the DST start and end times. 

Example

Before Swapping:

After Swapping:

The start time was now the end time and the end time was now the start time. And it worked!

Hikvision DS-7616N-E2/16P NVR

Recently I  decided to purchase a Embedded NVR for my IP Camera as my Zoneminder setup was getting maxed out and I needed to add a couple more camera's to my system. So I purchased a Hikvision NVR with 16 POE ports and it recently arrived so I thought I would post some pictures and some of the specifications.

NVR Front

NVR Back

NVR Inside

Some Specs:

• 16 100MB POE Ports
• 16 Channels
• 2 SATA Ports
• 1 HDMI
• 1 VGA
• 2 USB Ports (1 Front, 1 Rear)
• 1 RCA Audio In
• 1 RCA Audio Out
• 1 Gigabit Ethernet LAN

Partial output  of cat /proc/cpuinfo:

[root@dvrdvs /] # cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor       : ARMv7 Processor rev 1 (v7l)
processor       : 0
BogoMIPS        : 1987.37
processor       : 1
BogoMIPS        : 1993.93
Features        : swp half fastmult edsp tls

Partial output of cat /proc/meminfo:

[root@dvrdvs /] # cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:         526256 kB
MemFree:          239404 kB

The NVR turned out to be a good purchase, I like the features and performance. Although it is the Chinese version modified to English it still works great (although I am afraid to upgrade the firmware). 

I heard that Hikvision is trying to stop these Chinese market cameras and NVR's from being made to English and sold abroad for cheaper, but I do not think they realize that they will be severely reducing their sales by doing so, they sell more Chinese versions which are later modified to English than region specific hardware. This is due to the lower cost, thus making this affordable to people who would of been purchasing lower end no name device's. Hikvision should not mess with something that works!, their business and professional customers will continue to purchase official region specific hardware as they are already buying cameras at those prices and or higher. These customers are coming from expensive professional brands such as Acti, BOSCH, Axis, etc.

Look at Nintendo for example, they stopped the original Wii came out with something that was less hackable and their sales are suffering severely.

I do not condone or encourage any illegal activity. The contents of this posts are my personal opinion and are just a form of expression.

Hikvision NVR Sub Stream Unavailable

So I ran into an issue with with iVMS Android APP being unable to stream fluent mode or sub-stream from my Hikvision NVR. The option for Balanced and Fluency was Greyed out.

Here is how to resolve it:

1) Factory Reset the IP Camera from the Web Browser.

2) Once the camera is back up, then power off the camera by removing the power plug or POE cable connection going to the camera. Wait 30 seconds and then plug it back in.

3) Sub-stream should now be available.

You will have to reconfigure your settings and preferences on the camera. Hikvision no sub stream problem should now be fixed.

***I take no responsibility for damage to your device or any re-percussion's for following this information. My usual disclaimer also applies. This worked for and and I am posting in case I come across this issue again and do not remember what to do.

Hikvision TFTP Tool

Hikvision TFTP Tool. I am uploading a copy here for my archival purposes.

TFTP.zip(tftpserv.exe)

This was originally downloaded from Hikvision's Website.

Stream Linksys WVC54GC IP Camera VLC

One of my first IP cameras I no longer own but some of you may have it so here is the streaming URL for the Linksys WVC54GC IP Camera:

http://username:password@192.168.1.100/img/video.asf


Stream Linksys WVC54GC IP Camera using VLC or Zoneminder.

Access Hikvison IP Camera Directly

Here is how to access your IP camera's directly through the NVR. In this setup the IP Cameras are connected to a Hikvision NVR without virtual host feature.

Note: Your IP address setup may differ, so I will explain the IP Scheme. Also you will have to set your IP cameras to have static IP addresses configured on the web interface of each camera, then add to the NVR manually instead of Plug and Play.

NVR is connected to your home router with the IP of 192.168.1.200 for example, so your laptop connected to WiFi would have IP of for example 192.168.1.210 on the same subnet as your NVR.

Now your cameras are connected to the POE ports at the back of your NVR. The Cameras have an IP such as:

CAMERA 1 - 192.168.20.10
CAMERA 2 - 192.168.20.11
CAMERA 3 - 192.168.20.12
CAMERA 4 - 192.168.20.13

And the NVR's IP Address for the Internal NIC would be on the same subnet as the IP Cameras such as 192.168.20.1.

Set the IP Cameras default gateway to that of the IP Address under Internal NIC IPv4 Address in the Network Configuration page of the NVR (might not be visible from web interface, connect to the NVR directly using HDMI/VGA and mouse).

Once the Cameras IP address and default gateway is configured and the cameras have added to the NVR manually and can be viewed through the NVR. You can Telnet into the NVR and enter the command:  
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward 

Now you should be able to type in the IP Address of the IP camera in your web browser and access the cameras directly. http://192.168.20.10

Note: You will have to re-enter the command "echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward " if the NVR ever reboots.

If this does not work for you, you may have to setup a static route in your router such as:

Destination LAN: 192.168.20.0
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.200

DS-2CD2432F-IW Zoneminder

This is how I got my Hikvision 3MP Indoor Cube IP Camera DS-2CD2432F-IW working in Zoneminder.

Adding the camera to Zoneminder:
   i) Create a new monitor and choose source as ffmpeg

  ii) Click on source tab, add rtsp://username:password@192.168.1.120:554/cam/realmonitor?channel=1&subtype=0?tcp to  the source(change your IP as neccessary on your network, and your username and password.

 iii) Colours is 24 bit, Width is 1920, Height is 1080(I choose 1080P mode instead of 3MP), Click save and it should now work. 

If you cannot get a live stream in Zoneminder, try to increase the shmall and shmmax values. I was not getting an image in zoneminder until increased my values to the following. Note your shmall and shmmax values could be more or less depending on how much RAM you have.

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

Now add or change the following in the file:

# Increase the maximum shared memory
   kernel.shmall = 1073741824
   kernel.shmmax = 1073741824

Save and exit, you may also need to reboot.


At this point you should have the camera working in Zoneminder, if not you may have to install H264 on your Zoneminder server by following the instructions here.