Firmware M Series 5.04.020_241106 Released - Issues/Avoid

[JB1970]

M Series 5.04.020_241106 Released. Due to multiple issues I'd recommend avoiding this build...

No release notes. Just loaded it on mine.

- Prompt to enter region, timezone and daylight savings at first login

- Sub stream and Main Stream Live View works in MacOS Safari as does playback. Previously the timeline progressed while leaving a frozen image (Hallelujah, praise the lord, let's see how long that lasts before they [Hikvision] break it again

- New web version V5.0.17_R0102 build 240903. Seems to support Human, Vehicle, Smart Search but doesn't work in MacOS (unsupported - use Windows ugh)

- New encoding version V5.0 build 241101

- Preview windows now appear correctly within the menus for MacOS Safari. Line Crossing setup looks correct on those previews but motion detection polygon does not match what is set in the camera.

- You can now enable/disable human/vehicle filter while Smart Search icon is selected (previously they were mutually exclusive). Smart Search working for G5 platform but not for G3

- BROKEN. 1 CLICK HUMAN/VEHICLE SEARCH. Previously in normal playback clicking the Human (and/or Vehicle) icon would display timeline markers for all configured motion detection and line crossing events. These buttons now do nothing. The only way to get the same results is to configure a Smart Search which takes an age to manipulate a box, filter the results, change the playback strategy to skip unrelated (as the setting is not sticky). You can see this in the image of the timeline below:


- BROKEN. EVENT PLAYBACK MARKERS. Previously selecting Event Playback would show all markers for Motion and Line crossing events. Since update the timeline no longer shows the markers for Motion, only Line Crossing (not sure about Intrusion as I don't use it)

- New prompt regarding downgrade. A warning in the web UI that downgrade will wipe the NVR settings and return the HDDs to uninitialised status:

- BROKEN. HIK-CONNECT TIMELINE MARKERS. Since update, clicking the Human and/or Vehicle icons in the Hik-Connect app no longer populates the playback timeline with markers for motion detection (only line crossing). This feature still works when selecting a playback timeline period prior to the update and clicking the icon(s)

- BUG. PLAYBACK LOCAL UI. In the local UI select Playback then select any one camera - the timeline is missing/empty. Uncheck that camera and select another - the timeline is present as expected. Deselect that and reselect the first camera you selected - the timeline is now present as it should be. This is repeatable time after time. It doesn't matter which camera in the group is selected first. Furthermore you can't just deselect and reselect the same camera again as the timeline will still be missing - you have to pick a different camera.

- BUG. PLAYBACK LOCAL UI. In the local UI start Playback, click the gear wheel in the lower right corner and change the Play Strategy to Skip Normal Video. Click OK to Save. Now close Playback on the toolbar at the top of the screen and re-open it; video will play continuously. Clicking the gear wheel and going back into the Play Strategy settings you'll see that Skip Normal Video has turned itself back off, despite being previously 'saved'

Anything else I notice I'll add to this post above...

 

[johnfitzy]

Prompt to enter region, timezone and daylight savings at first login

I wonder why? Have you ever seen NVR firmware ask this before?

 

[Batfin]

I think this is the version is was mentioned to fix the access control devices, so will be interested to see if that’s the case!

 

[JB1970]

I wonder why? Have you ever seen NVR firmware ask this before?

The Region setting is something that's been added to newer NVR firmwares. I've noticed it in other models recently.

 

[JB1970]

This seems to be another buggy release so far as AcuSense and Smart Playback are concerned:

Previous versions:

• In playback clicking the Human/Vehicle icons alone would immediately show markers for all those events.
• Clicking the Smart Search icon would disable the Human/Vehicle icons, display the green rectangle along you to do a search for motion or line crossing in a defined area (this search didn't work properly and only displayed events according to the pre applied Human/Vehicle filter in the event setup - otherwise no results were displayed)

New version:

• In playback clicking the Human/Vehicle icons has no effect. Markers will not appear on the timeline despite events being recorded
• Clicking the Smart Search icon no longer disables the Human/Vehicle icons. It puts the green rectangle on the screen allowing a search within a defined area. This now works correctly allowing you to filter for Human and/or vehicle within the area OR see all motion events.
• Line crossing momentarily appeared to work in Smart Search before failing.

After attempting to do a Smart Search with Line Crossing and selecting Human filter, the interface froze completely. The NVR local UI is completely locked up. I've managed to access the web UI to reboot. After a full power down and restart the Line Crossing Smart Search is now working correctly.

To summarise:

• Smart Playback seems to be completely fixed with the ability to do a motion or line crossing search in any part of the view. The results correctly show markers on the timeline reflecting whether a Human, Vehicle, or no filter is applied.
• Playback 'Human' filter applied (without Smart Search) is broken. Previously clicking the icon would show timeline markers for all pre configured Human events (as set up within your event configuration). Now clicking that icon only appears to show markers for Line Crossing NOT motion. If I want to search for Human Motion I'll have to mess around doing a Smart Search and defining the area. Was a one click operation; now its 7 clicks and 30 seconds - not good.

 

[Ianc]

As usual then... one step forwards... seven steps back.

 

[Paesano]

@JB1970

Is that FW for the NXI M series? The reason I ask is because I have never seen the FW versions for the M series NI and NXI NVR's line up with the FW version number and build date.

On the USA site an NXI NVR shows that same FW version number and build date your posting about: iDS-9632NXI-M8/X

The NI NVR's still do not show a FW to download but here are the release notes for the last build that was up: https://assets.hikvision.com/prd/pu...\K21B1_V5.03.020_build240904_ReleaseNotes.pdf
Notice it only shows NI NVR's in the related products list at the bottom.

 

[JB1970]

@JB1970

Is that FW for the NXI M series? The reason I ask is because I have never seen the FW versions for the M series NI and NXI NVR's line up with the FW version number and build date.

On the USA site an NXI NVR shows that same FW version number and build date your posting about: iDS-9632NXI-M8/X

The NI NVR's still do not show a FW to download but here are the release notes for the last build that was up: https://assets.hikvision.com/prd/public/all/files/202410/releasenote\K21B1_V5.03.020_build240904_ReleaseNotes.pdf
Notice it only shows NI NVR's in the related products list at the bottom.

It shouldn’t be unless Hikvision screwed up. It was found using the serial number of the NVR. I’ll look into it further but the NVR would reject a .dav file for a different platform as invalid. It’s working fine currently.

Edit: It is the correct firmware and platform. Here is the search on HPP with my serial masked:

I hope I don't need to downgrade as I've just found this new message in the web UI maintenance page:

 

[JB1970]

The first post is further updated with more issues and broken features. These are all obvious as I can see the different behaviour pre and post update.

I hope that when the M series firmware re appears on the normal Hikvision firmware pages, that it is not this build as it's the worst I've seen.

 

[alfaclvi]

Hi JB
Did you test with cameras on v5.7.18 or you also tried cameras with v5.7.15?
Similar issues for me and NXI-K started with v5.7.17 and v5.7.18

 

[JB1970]

Hi JB
Did you test with cameras on v5.7.18 or you also tried cameras with v5.7.15?
Similar issues for me and NXI-K started with v5.7.17 and v5.7.18

No the G5s are on 5.7.18 but they were working fine prior to the update. The issues are affecting G3 models as well on much older 5.5.820. My feeling is that this update is a monumental screw up. As of this moment there isn't any version of M Series firmware available to download on UK, EU or Global firmware or product pages - it's all been pulled.

 

[fullboogie]

Kinda makes you miss the "obsolete" I-series, doesn't it?

 

[JB1970]

Kinda makes you miss the "obsolete" I-series, doesn't it?

Well I've got a couple sat here and it has crossed my mind! Hardware wise the M Series (IMHO) is far superior because of the incoming bandwidth and decoding performance. With regard to firmware all I'd miss going back to the I Series is the ability to filter AcuSense events in the Hik-Connect app (which is possible in an 8 year old K Series). The version 5 firmware is a car crash.

 

[johnfitzy]

I hope I don't need to downgrade as I've just found this new message in the web UI maintenance page:

Hi @JB1970 ... I'm sure you know this but just in case you forget/overlook it... I'm pretty certain downgrading in this particular case (where device parameters will be restored to default) would result in the "blacklist" issue ... as you're an installer it probably wouldn't be too big a deal for you but @BuddyLove ran into this recently:

Hikvision support are saying I need to go via distributor to get blacklist remove, they won't help end users. They are forcing me to pay a distributor to check and rasise a ticket with them.

I've found this can be avoided by DISCONNECTING AND UNBINDING the NVR from Hik-Connect before doing a firmware upgrade (or downgrade) and then re-binding and connecting again after the firmware change.

 

[JB1970]

Hi @JB1970 ... I'm sure you know this but just in case you forget/overlook it... I'm pretty certain downgrading in this particular case (where device parameters will be restored to default) would result in the "blacklist" issue ... as you're an installer it probably wouldn't be too big a deal for you but @BuddyLove ran into this recently:



I've found this can be avoided by DISCONNECTING AND UNBINDING the NVR from Hik-Connect before doing a firmware upgrade (or downgrade) and then re-binding and connecting again after the firmware change.

I had forgotten about that. I've never had the issue previously but if I downgrade I'll be sure to disconnect and unbind first. Hopefully when firmware appears again it'll be a newer build date and I won't need to downgrade.

 

[JB1970]

BROKEN. HIK-CONNECT TIMELINE MARKERS. Since update, clicking the Human and/or Vehicle icons in the Hik-Connect app no longer populates the playback timeline with markers for motion detection (only line crossing). This feature still works when selecting a playback timeline period prior to the update and clicking the icon(s)

 

[elderflower]

Have Hikvision updates always been like this where they fix one issue but also create a few new ones? Why don't they allocate more resource to software development? Or just testing their updates before release would be another option! Seems like their updates are beta..

 

[JB1970]

Have Hikvision updates always been like this where they fix one issue but also create a few new ones? Why don't they allocate more resource to software development? Or just testing their updates before release would be another option! Seems like their updates are beta..

Not really. Sometimes genuine bugs are fixed and some minor new one appears and sometimes Hikvision put it down to a 'change of use/method'; that's to say that the way a particular feature works changes. They do warn about this in their release notes, but the release notes lag way behind the firmware release.

In this instance I've jumped the gun and installed it before anyone else it seems. The link to the buggy release has still not been removed from the installer app (Hik-Partner Pro) and no version at all is available in the usual sites. Thankfully I have a copy of all previous releases so can downgrade if a better build doesn't appear soon.

I agree that updates can seem as though they are beta releases. In house testing can never be on a scale where the majority of bugs are found and fixed, as the products will be used differently according to sector (residential, retail, commercial, industrial). This particular model is now 2 years old and I've not seen a version that had everything working correctly. The new NVR 5.0 user interface looks great but it's unnecessarily complicated in operation. I have a few customers with this model and their systems remain on older version 4 firmware as I do not want the backlash if I upgrade it during service.

 

[elderflower]

The new NVR 5.0 user interface looks great but it's unnecessarily complicated in operation.

I'm still learning to navigate around the minefield that is NVR 5.0! Like you say, the interface looks great and up-to-date but so many menus and options! I often find myself trying to remember where a particular menu item would be at before resorting to clicking on every single menu to find it *sigh*. On the flip side at least you have the control to have your set up exactly how you want it.

 

[alfaclvi]

the Hik-Connect app no longer populates the playback timeline with markers

Similar issue for NXI-K latest firmware. The Playback timeline when entering in "All" state shows no Events in timeline.
By selecting Event(red) or Person(green) or Vehicle(yellow) the events, without the blue timeline are seen OK. By deselecting previous selection of Event or by now enabling again the "All" option, everything is fine. Timeline and events(red green yellow)
Till now I believed this was again a HikConnect issue, but this seems its not