Hik Connent timeline playback not matching camera time

[Geordie564]

I've noticed the playback time on the Hik Connect timeline does not match the time showing on the camera OSD, it's out by about 20 seconds.
Also the cameras are all out from each other by a few seconds.

Firmware is up to date on the NVR and cameras, Hik Connect app is the latest version.

I've tried rebooting the NVR, it made no difference.

Ive tried using NTP and DST but they don't work, the Hik Connect app jumps an hour ahead and the NVR changes to an hour behind, it's a mess.

 

[Geordie564]

Can anyone help?

 

[JB1970]

Can anyone help?

Was the timezone definitely correct when you checked it on the NVR the other day? Also when you set up HikConnect app did you select Europe and UK the first time you opened it? Incorrect timezone can cause issues.

With regard to the cameras being out, the first thing to check is to go into the local NVR menu > Camera Settings. In the top right corner click the icon to put them in list view. Then on each camera click the edit icon to the right of the IP addresss. In the resulting pop up box, the third box from bottom "Enable IP Camera Time Sync" should be ticked as that is what ensures the cameras have the same time as the NVR. It should be ticked by default and I've never seen the issues you're having, so while you're in that pop up box can you also confirm that adding method at the top is set to "Plug and Play" for each camera. If it's set as "Manual" and the camera was set up manually BEFORE being added to the NVR then that'll be the likely cause of your issues as the cameras time settings may be set differently. Post back here what you find but don't change it to Plug and Play if it isn't already as you'll lose connection to the cameras and you'll need to reconfigure to find them again.

Another thing to note is that the cameras clocks while viewing multiple cameras, won't necessarily look exactly in sync. As the NVR is decoding streams from multiple cameras to the screen, the time may be correct on the cameras, but the image being displayed on screen may lag a little due to processing limitations of the NVR. If you hover over an image on the multiscreen, you're able to change the "Live View Strategy" for each camera between Real time, Balanced and Fluency to suit.

 

[Geordie564]

Thank you very much for your reply, I really appreciate it, I'm a total novice and trying to teach myself the basics!
When you say local NVR menu, do you mean plugging a monitor directly into the NVR or accessing it online?

I've tried putting the IP address of the NVR (which I got from the NVR) into the search bar online and it didn't load the page, I'm probably doing something obviously wrong!

 

[JB1970]

Thank you very much for your reply, I really appreciate it, I'm a total novice and trying to teach myself the basics!
When you say local NVR menu, do you mean plugging a monitor directly into the NVR or accessing it online?

I've tried putting the IP address of the NVR (which I got from the NVR) into the search bar online and it didn't load the page, I'm probably doing something obviously wrong!

Yeah the local NVR menu is what is displayed on a monitor or TV connected directly to the NVR - it's probably easiest to use that menu to diagnose the issue. To access the NVR using a browser you want to be entering the IP address in the address bar rather than the search bar. If the IP address for instance is 192.168.0.100 enter http://192.168.0.100 in the address bar. However if whoever installed it has changed the default http port from 80 you'd need to find out what http port is in use and add that to the address http://192.168.0.100:8080 for instance if the http port is 8080.

 

[Geordie564]

There is no option to sync the time on the camera settings

 

[Geordie564]

What I did notice is that the cameras are running different firmware, the two bottom cameras are the ones with different times.

Could this be causing the problem?

 

[Geordie564]

Ok I've managed to log in to the NVR remotely but still can't login into the cameras using their IP address, it just says page cannot be found

I've now realised the problem is that the cameras are about 9 firmware versions behind and two of them are running a different version of firmware to the other two.

So I now need to update all the firmware to the latest but I'm beat at the first hurdle, I can't login to the cameras.

I'm typing the camera IP address into the top bar, just keeps spinning around.

 

[JB1970]

Ok I've managed to log in to the NVR remotely but still can't login into the cameras using their IP address, it just says page cannot be found

I've now realised the problem is that the cameras are about 9 firmware versions behind and two of them are running a different version of firmware to the other two.

So I now need to update all the firmware to the latest but I'm beat at the first hurdle, I can't login to the cameras.

I'm typing the camera IP address into the top bar, just keeps spinning around.

OK

So starting with that there's no option for the IP camera time sync. It's not a problem - mine are configured manually so I guess it's done automatically without an option when using plug and play.

Out of date firmware would be unlikely to cause a time sync issue but there's no harm and its usually recommended to keep NVR and cameras up to date.

While you're logged into the NVR with a web browser go to Network > Advanced > Other and enable "Virtual Host". Once you've done that you can access the cameras via the NVR IP address appended with the port number (65001-65016) Example - your NVR is at 192.168.0.100 and you want cam 3 - you'd go to http://192.168.0.100:65003. Another way is to login to your NVR via the browser and go to System > Camera Management. Once Virtual Host is enabled you'll see a web link for each camera which will open it's page without typing the address in as I previously described.

Most topics like how to update firmware, enabling Virtual Host etc are covered in the threads that Use-IP have written and are located above all of the recent posts in the Hikvision section. It's worthing browsing through them as there's much to learn!

 

[Geordie564]

Great thanks! I can now get onto the cameras configuration page

Since I'm 9 firmware updates behind can I just jump to the latest update or will I need to go through them all one by one?

4 cameras, 9 updates on each will take quite a long time!

 

[JB1970]

Great thanks! I can now get onto the cameras configuration page

Since I'm 9 firmware updates behind can I just jump to the latest update or will I need to go through them all one by one?

4 cameras, 9 updates on each will take quite a long time!

Depends what version you’re on. Example - if a camera is on 5.1.1 and you wanted to get to 5.4.9 it would be wise to first go through any single 5.2.x and 5.3.x version before updating to 5.4.9 (3 updates regardless of how many are listed) However if a camera was on 5.4.1 you’d jump straight to 5.4.9 even if there was a 5.4.2, 5.4.3 etc. Hope that makes sense.