Hik-Connect Stability of Hikvision and Hik-Connect notifications?

[mkerton]

My plan was to install a secure and robust professional CCTV system, and not buy into a "hobby" "project". Hikvision seems, at the moment, rather flakey. One minute it works, the next poof!. Off line and no warnings re Hik-Connect. One minute I get loads of "motion detection alarms" on Hik-connect. Even when away from home today (3rd April 2023). Then, this same afternoon whilst still away from home (so no chance of "playing around" with the kit in the interim), no more alerts. When I get home and wave my hands around to actually "test" that cam. Nothing. So, at home log into NVR4.0. All cams on-line. Back to Hik-Connect, on-line, but no events. Log out of Hik-Connect. Turn off my Android. Nope. Then I notice "system date" of NVR is an hour early. O.K, it's been a while (26 March when clocks go forward), but may as well do that even though Hik should have been up to this. Voila! cams start bunging out all manner of alerts again. Even on MS Outlook, which worked perfectly until this afternoon. Was it the date disparity, I don't know-yet?

I've seen this so many times before and should have heeded. Chinese products are brilliant-ish. But ergonomics seem absent (an expensive luxury). A mate challenged me "why is your 10MP pocket camera ten times the price of my 10MP camera?". My reply-I don't need a 1,000 page manual to use mine!

My background in electrical, reminds me that a unreliable test instrument is of no use. Rather, they are dangerous. Better to have none, that live with a false sense of security.

I have a reliable and fast static IP fibre to the premises (FTTP). Is it Hik-Connect. Is it IvMS? I don't know. My 4 cams on an I series 16 channel, top of the range NVR are online (at the moment). I will work it out. And then disable all "upgrades". But, confidence in this kit, for now at an all-time low.

 

[JB1970]

My plan was to install a secure and robust professional CCTV system, and not buy into a "hobby" "project". Hikvision seems, at the moment, rather flakey. One minute it works, the next poof!. Off line and no warnings re Hik-Connect. One minute I get loads of "motion detection alarms" on Hik-connect. Even when away from home today (3rd April 2023). Then, this same afternoon whilst still away from home (so no chance of "playing around" with the kit in the interim), no more alerts. When I get home and wave my hands around to actually "test" that cam. Nothing. So, at home log into NVR4.0. All cams on-line. Back to Hik-Connect, on-line, but no events. Log out of Hik-Connect. Turn off my Android. Nope. Then I notice "system date" of NVR is an hour early. O.K, it's been a while (26 March when clocks go forward), but may as well do that even though Hik should have been up to this. Voila! cams start bunging out all manner of alerts again. Even on MS Outlook, which worked perfectly until this afternoon. Was it the date disparity, I don't know-yet?

I've seen this so many times before and should have heeded. Chinese products are brilliant-ish. But ergonomics seem absent (an expensive luxury). A mate challenged me "why is your 10MP pocket camera ten times the price of my 10MP camera?". My reply-I don't need a 1,000 page manual to use mine!

My background in electrical, reminds me that a unreliable test instrument is of no use. Rather, they are dangerous. Better to have none, that live with a false sense of security.

I have a reliable and fast static IP fibre to the premises (FTTP). Is it Hik-Connect. Is it IvMS? I don't know. My 4 cams on an I series 16 channel, top of the range NVR are online (at the moment). I will work it out. And then disable all "upgrades". But, confidence in this kit, for now at an all-time low.

Time wise everything should be in sync or you will certainly have issues. The fact that the notifications returned after you corrected the time shows that. I always set the NVR to sync its time via NTP every 60 minutes. The cameras connected directly will sync their time with the NVR. You can also use Hik-Connect to sync the time and that will override the NTP settings. I prefer to just use NTP. The system will only keep its time synchronised if you set it up to do so:

1 - The timezone must first be correct
2 - The NVR should be then set to update its time via NTP or Hik-Connect (only if the system is using the Hik-Connect service.
3 - The daylight savings must also be set correctly. NTP synchronisation (above) is based on an offset from UTC, so your system will remain an hour out after the DST change in March/October unless the DST is set.

Hik-Connect is a free service. There may be times when the service is down or notifications are delayed. Ensure that you are not using your internet service providers DNS servers in the NVR network settings. It should be set to 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4 or 1.1.1.1. Though today is a bad example as there's a very large outage affecting some providers and DNS servers. Virgin Media has been on and off since about 2 AM nationwide.