Hik-Connect Hikvision camera losing its main stream settings (after access via the Hik-Connect mobile App)

[rompik]

Yes, sub-stream settings are still being lost.
HD settings for my cameras are not lost anymore but:
- 2 out of 4 cameras (the same EasyIP3.0 family) have problems. When set to HD they either don't load at all or freezes after a few seconds and Hik-Connect is restarting the stream continuously or show Error 260015.
- even on working cameras switching SD / HD / Basic causes cameras to re-focus. Screen goes dark for a while and then slowly lights up again. And I think this darkening gets recorded but i need to double check that.

So it looks like some fix has been done and it may be workable for some people but changing streams in Hik-Connect still changes something in the camera (even if Main Stream settings don't change).

@7he4Ce, I have all cameras shared via Hik-Connect only. ivms-4500 always shows Clear / Fluent / Custom (not HD / SD / Basic like in Hik-Connect) even though I access cameras in ivms4500 via Hik-Connect. I can view them remotely and it works flawlessly (even changing quality). So not quite sure why you have problems with this.

 

[Tredstone]

I am having the same problems . iP cam is the ds-2cd2545fwd-is and my NVR is the ds-7608ni-i2/8p . Viewing via the hik connect app is a pain and same for ivms 4500 . Changing between fluent and clear changes the bitrate in the cam settings back to default 128kbps and the custom option is grayed out .

Selecting the clear option causes lag and stutter and so does fluent. Viewing when I'm out and about is rubbish . Why the hell can the cam not save it's bitrate settings? I can't even select custom in the ivms app the option is greyed out . 128kbps is not a viable option ,it's like watching a video while rinsing your eyes with acid . I Wish I never purchased this crap now ! I have the fastest broadband available on virgin media 360mbps download and 21mbps upload . My phone is the galaxy note9 with a 4g network speed of 47mbps download and a upload big 24mbps . Surely I should be able to view my cams at 1024 kbps instead of 128kbps this is ridiculous.

 

[Phil]

What firmware versions are you running on your NVR and camera please?

 

[Tredstone]

What firmware versions are you running on your NVR and camera please?

The NVR is only a couple of weeks old purchased from useip running firmware version v4.1.11 build 171204 and the camera is on v5.5.82 build 181211 .

 

[Phil]

Your cameras are on the latest firmware.

Can you please update your NVR to the latest firmware V4.1.64 and test again:
HIKVISION UK PORTAL

 

[Tredstone]

Your cameras are on the latest firmware.

Can you please update your NVR to the latest firmware V4.1.64 and test again:
HIKVISION UK PORTAL

Thanks. I've updated the firmware the default max bitrate has gone from 128kbps to 256kbps but any changes made are not being saved . I increased it to 1024kbps but as soon as I open the app and select basic it resets itself back to 256kbps . Very frustrating

 

[Phil]

Hik Tech Support have asked if they can take a look at your account, cameras, etc.
If you are happy for them to do so, please share your credentials with me (to pjs(at)use-ip.co.uk)
BTW - If you currently have a password that you would prefer to use long-term, then perhaps set a temporary one as a replacement to share for this testing.

 

[Tredstone]

Hik Tech Support have asked if they can take a look at your account, cameras, etc.
If you are happy for them to do so, please share your credentials with me (to pjs(at)use-ip.co.uk)
BTW - If you currently have a password that you would prefer to use long-term, then perhaps set a temporary one as a replacement to share for this testing.

hi phil

ive been away for a while and could not reply to your last email regarding hikvision doing a live view of my nvr camera setup . i think i found what the problem was and the problem seems to be the ezviz app . for some reason viewing my cameras via the android app set the cameras substream to its default values . the DS-2DE4A225IW-DE would default to 512kbps and the DS-2CD2545FWD-IS defaulted to 228kbps no matter what i set them at they both would change back when viewed through the ezviz app and not the hik connect app . just thought i would let you know for your information . thanks for all your help

 

[Tredstone]

Hik Tech Support have asked if they can take a look at your account, cameras, etc.
If you are happy for them to do so, please share your credentials with me (to pjs(at)use-ip.co.uk)
BTW - If you currently have a password that you would prefer to use long-term, then perhaps set a temporary one as a replacement to share for this testing.

just tested it with the ivms 4500 app and that resets the bitrate also . so i guess its just the hik connect app i will be using . thanks

 

[Phil]

Thanks for sharing

Just FYI, a new update of Hikvision's Hik-Connect App is imminent:
Hik-Connect App Release Notes

 

[Jetcamper]

Hi everyone. I've got this issue as well. Just found this topic on the internet. Actually it wasn't easy to find. Looks like nobody is interested in this problem which is weird.
I'd like to share a workaround for this problem that works for me.
I make a user account on cameras and connect them to an NVR with it.
Of cause it takes a lot of efforts due to problems with their batchconfig tool.. And also you loose an ability to keep the time in sync on the NVR and cameras. But it works and what is more important your costumers watch their cameras how it was promised..

 

[Dny2004]

Had the same issue with DS-2DE2A404IW mini PTZ until just now when I updated the firmware. BTW updating to 5.6.0 has different interface in iVMS4200 for remote configuration which I don't like in particular. Acces to some settings are missing now or I don;t see them in the new web interface style that they offer now. However, try using iVMS4200 lite, adding the camera as Encoding device and you can get acces in the usual interface to the settings as before the upgrade. Hope this helps.

 

[alruf]

I hope I won't get flamed for reviving a thread that has been inactive for a few months but the issue described above is driving me up the wall.

I have 10 Hikvision IP cameras around my home that record both on their SD cards and a new NVR I recently added.

Two 8MP cameras are trained on the street in front of my house. One of them, the latest I added, is the 2385 turret. This camera is intended for both security but also speed tracking of the cars racing up and down my street. For this application I need 30fps, constant bitrate, 264 codec, and the best possible video I can get.

I am not sure whether any of the other cameras have this same issue, but it feels like the turret is the only one where it is very visible mostly because of its intended purpose. The issue is that the quality of the video keeps going up and down on its own... The only thing I noticed that seems related is that the bitrate downgrades from 16384 to a mere 32 on its own. I can't tell whether it is just a web interface issue, or whether the bitrate is actually as low as 32 (isn't that just way too low?) but setting it back to 16384 seems to make the video perfect. However, there have been cases where the configuration page said 16384 and the video was bad... simply hitting save would make the video good again. This may just be due to the page not updating the setting that got flipped in the background.

While writing this, I refreshed the config page 3 times and the setting changed:

I removed the security software running on my QNAP NAS, and eliminated anything that might access the cameras from it. I eliminated all IVMS software on Windows and Android devices. I only use Blue Iris 5, tinyCam Pro on Android, and the Hikvision 7732 NVR. I looked through ALL settings trying to pick the best option that would not mess with quality but the issue is still there.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rompik]

@alruf,
I guess you are on firmware 5.6.2 (I'm not sure which camera from your firmware screenshot is causing problems)?
This issue has been fixed some time back (it did affect me so i spent a lot of time testing various FM versions) so the only thing i could recommend is:
- reset to factory and reboot the camera
- as you have a NAS drive try to create a share on NAS and record straight to that NAS folder
- re-flash the FM

 

[fullboogie]

Are you guys setting max bitrate, etc. on the DVR, or in the actual camera interface through virtual host? You have to set it on the camera, not the NVR. Once set, reboot the NVR and you'll see the changes in the NVR interface.

 

[alruf]

@rompik @fullboogie Thank you for the tips.

I recently noticed that when viewing the cameras using tinyCam Pro on my Note8 Android phone, the data throughput occasionally drops to ~40KB from its usual ~2000KB. When that happens the image quality is very poor just like when the bitrate drops to 32Kbps on the 2385G1 camera (fw 5.6.2). In other words, even though I don't believe any of the other cameras are having issues with the bitrate dropping in the GUI, it certainly appears that more than one camera is suffering from decreased throughput that makes the video quality useless (or nearly).

The common denominator is the NVR. Before the NVR I never had issues of this type. I set the image/video settings in the camera GUI and then ensure it matches on the NVR GUI. I did not know there was a need to reboot the NVR... and since I do not have a screen connected to the NVR, it is a bit hard to do but I will try.

I also wondered whether networking issues might be causing issues however I have a dedicated 24p gigabit switch dedicated to the cameras and the NVR is on the same switch so all internal traffic should be isolated to the switch. In the attached image you can see the NVR and NAS however the NVR is actually connected to a remote switch downstream from the switch in this rack (to keep it on the same switch as the cameras). That remote switch is connected to the core switch seen in this picture via fiber (mostly for electrical isolation purposes).

One suggestion was to reset the camera (and I assume the NVR). Would I be able to restore the settings after doing so without potentially re-introducing the issue? Having to set everything up again is a scary thought.

As for the NAS suggestion: I am recording video on the SD Card as well as the NVR. Are you suggesting I compare the video on the SD card to the video on the NVR to see if the issue appears on the video stored on the SD card as well? I used to record video to the NAS but it was causing lots of network traffic, working the more expensive HDDs hard and was limiting how much I could back-up to it so I ended up getting an NVR with larger but cheaper drives to resolve that.

EDIT: I reviewed a couple video feeds I saved from the NVR from my 2 street view cameras and they both switch back and forth between low quality and normal. At this point I am guessing it is the NVR and many, if not all the cameras suffer from this. It is just more noticeable with some. I'll try to post a sample.

 

[alruf]

I uploaded 30 seconds of video feed. The low quality issue starts at 2 seconds and lasts for the entire video. The quality appears to be worse at times... maybe at night it is when it is most detrimental. Sorry for being vague... up until now it was just a nuisance but now I am trying to setup something that will allow me to log speed of vehicles so I can make a case with local law enforcement to do something about it.

EDIT: Had to zip the mp4 as mp4 is not allowed for some reason.

 

[alruf]

Sorry for 3 posts in a row... I may have found the cause but I am not sure what the proper solution is.

I noticed that when I selected a small portion of the video, that portion would stay perfect even when the rest would decrease in quality. I am not sure why it is behaving like this given I have never had this issue and never used ROI... anyway, by selecting the entire frame, and setting a ROI Level of 3 or 4, the quality stays good. With a setting of 3 the data rate seem to be the same as before, with 4 it increased to 3.3MB/s. Beyond 4, the rate approaches 4MB/s and my Note8 starts choking (or whatever it is) and I get lots of dropped frames.

It would appear that something is telling the NVR, or camera, to drop quality to make up for a bad connection (weird that I've seen this happen at home on my Wifi just under one of my APs). I wish I could turn that off... My goal is to record at max quality all the video. Remote viewing at high quality is a bonus. I can always switch to the crappy sub-stream if needed.

 

[rompik]

@alruf,
You have more complex setup than I so I'm not sure if I can help much.
My only recommendation was to check whether the issue is with the camera itself or with your "bigger setup". This is why I thought of using NAS (or SD card), don't use NVR at all (don't even connect to it), reset camera to default without any fancy settings (ROI, smart events, etc) and leave it for 2-3 days. This is just to isolate where the problem is.
You will probably loose your settings and will have to re-do everything again but this is unfortunately what i have been doing for a year now

I love my cameras but I'm also getting frustrated by tons of issues I had in the past:
- recording to NAS that was finally fixed in 5.6.1,
- loosing stream bitrate was also fixed in 5.5.8x
or still having for more than a year
- eg. every now and then the video gets very pixelized, part of the screen goes gray/green and then camera recovers after 3-4 seconds;
- with FM 5.6.2 I hardly get any line crossing - maybe 1 out of 100 events;
- HD doesn't work on two cameras in HiKConnect app but it records ok to NAS, etc

Anyway, I will also be re-setting some cameras in next couple of weeks to see whether I can fix that or find a workaround. But this takes several hours and then several days to test so very laborious task.

 

[alruf]

@rompik - Thank you for your suggestions. I will definitely try them if the issues continue with the latest changes I made. By selecting the entire frame and setting a ROI of 3 or 4, the problem seems to have gone away. I still think it is a bug of some sort and that setting the ROI is a workaround but at least I am getting video of the quality I want. I would recommend you try this on the camera where you have sudden pixelation as it sounds similar to what I am seeing.

I also get the gray/green images. That typically happens when I use the main stream on a cellular connection and have 3 or more IP cameras on the same screen. It appears to be a mixture between CPU power of my Note8 phone and potentially issues with data throughput on my cell when using the cell network. When I am at home, if I switch to mobile network I have the issue, as soon as I switch to Wifi it goes away. If I use the sub streams then I do not have the issue. If I use UDP I get the issue a lot, while with TCP it is better. If I view a single camera, even on mobile - unless the connection is really bad - then it displays well. I also noticed that setting a whole frame as ROI and setting the ROI level to something over 3, the data rate needed pretty much doubles so I was getting tons of gray/green. When this happens it typically recovers faster than 3 to 4 seconds. This may be related to CPU power, network speed, or possibly other settings on the camera. I am NOT an expert so this may be off... but I set my I frame to happen multiple times each second. It is my understanding that this causes the camera to send a full frame more often so data rate goes up but quality and recovery from a stream loss should be faster. I have my doubts on the latter because a single full frame every second would also be a fast recovery but I figured it would not hurt to do so if data throughput was not an issue.

EDIT: 5.6.3 was just released. I upgraded all applicable cameras and will monitor to see if it fixes the issue on cameras where I did not implement the presumed ROI work-around.