Dahua SD22204T-GN can't download stored video from the Playback tab

patters

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By and large I'm pretty happy with this camera but the firmware does seem to have some significant bugs. Firstly, after a power loss it will always pan back to its origin point (in my case giving me a view of nothing but a pillar!). The camera ignores the PTZ -> Function > Power Up preset value.

By far the biggest problem however is that the camera will not allow me to download clips from the SD card in the Playback tab. I see a progress percentage, but nothing actually happens. This happens both on Safari on the Mac, and also on Firefox on the PC.

My camera is running the PAL variant of:
Software version 2.400.0000.4.R.T1.484 build 2015-06-07
WEB version 3.2.1.275072

Is there a newer firmware?
 

nayr

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also set the idle preset.. sometimes you need them both set because you dont know which one will trigger last.

Have you tried SmartPSS to export clips and recordings?

Also if you have settings that dont appear to work, reset it to defaults usually fixes it..
 

patters

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Oh my, I've figured out the answer to the missing downloads myself. Totally not intuitive, but it is working. I was kind of forgetting that the web plugin is doing stuff itself and not adhering to the usual paradigm of the browser offering a Save As dialog. The files are saved to a local folder in the background, and you can see which folder is used by inspecting Setup tab > Camera > Video > Path tab

Still need a hand with the Power Up PTZ setting...
 

patters

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also set the idle preset.. sometimes you need them both set because you dont know which one will trigger last.
Idle motion is disabled. My camera is just filming a fixed view most of the time, and I like to have the ability PTZ when I do connect. Ocassionally I will need to monitor a different view so I don't think setting the Idle motion option is going to be appropriate for me. My issue is that the view I want to watch the most has a tree with moving leaves so I have to set the motion parameters carefully to minimize captures (you don't seem to be able to define motion params for multiple presets). With the right settings I seem to get around a week's retention on my 64GB SD card. It would be more in winter because right now the tree's shadow also moves on sunny days and I do want to sense motion in that area.

My PTZ resets to the home position after the auto maintenance reboot (and also during genuine power failures). Got back from holiday to find it had recorded a pillar for days.

Have you tried SmartPSS to export clips and recordings?
Not yet. Since I only have this one camera I want to avoid that unless absolutely necessary.
 

nayr

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idle motion dont mess with using the PTZ, it just sets the default view incase its left looking at something else for longer than the idle timeout.. if you need to reframe it then simply update the preset.

Set up a hotkey to fire off this command: http://username:password@hostname/cgi-bin/ptz.cgi?action=start&channel=0&code=SetPreset&arg1=0&arg2=PRESET-NUMBER&arg3=0

since my car could be parked any place on the street I just manually frame the PTZ and then hit a button that issues that command and updates the preset..
 

patters

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Thanks for the tip, but in my particular use case that wouldn't have really suited. My AliExpress seller was able to provide me with a much newer firmware which has apparently resolved the issue. So the camera does now return to the configured PTZ preset when power is interrupted or it is auto-rebooted.
It appears from the filename that the firmware for these cameras may be consistent for an entire family of products, rather than model-specific:
General_SD-Zi-Themis_Eng_P_Stream3_IVS_V2.400.0000.16.R.20160517.bin

Before (ignored PTZ PowerUp setting):
Software version 2.400.0000.4.R.T1.484 build 2015-06-07
WEB version 3.2.1.275072

After (working PTZ PowerUp):
Software version 2.400.0000.16.R.T1.484, build : 2016-05-17
WEB version 3.2.1.345759

Thanks to Shenzhen Ancotech for the service.
 

patters

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Hmm. Maybe I spoke too soon. Motion detection now just seems to be recording continuously without showing any detection or threshold graphing when I go to Setup Tab > Event > Video Detect > Area Setup
Also, now that I'm inspecting the Playback footage captured with the older firmware I can see that the image quality is considerably worse on the new. Very little colour information being captured under the same night time street lighting conditions as before. Looks all smoothed out. Can't really see the brick pattern in the paving which was sharply visible before.
Is it good practice to hose all the camera config and start again when updating firmware?

EDIT - Looks like this firmware introduced a few new settings. There is now SVC on/off in the H.264 options, there is now an option to define a Region of Interest (Camera > Video > ROI) which trades off bitrate to focus on a particular area, and there are 2D and 3D noise reduction options in Camera > Conditions > Exposure (not sure if they were present before).

After lots of mucking around with settings I have spotted that a neighbour has parked with a windshield reflector in place which is reflecting the full intensity of the streetlamp back at the camera. After enabling Wide Dynamic Range (WDR) it seems to have significantly improved things. Motion tracking seems to have recovered once I deleted all my grid customization, saved, and re-designed.

EDIT 2 - Having carefully compared playback footage from the old firmware, the low light performance has really taken a dive in the new firmware. The whole image used to be sharper with more colour saturation. :(
 
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Qbert

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Hi,
I have SD22204T-GN-W as well. No problems so far, but I think it miss P2P feature, doesn't it?

Maybe it will come with new firmware but I can't find it either.

My Software Version:
2.400.0000.16.R.T4.484, build : 2016-05-17
 

bobsmith

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I'm looking buying the SD22204T-GN-W, rather than the wired only variant. I thought the wireless ability would be handy for the locations it's difficult to cable? I'm happy with the 4x zoom and I can install additional illuminators. Can it be used standalone and accessed remotely? I'm curently using a cheapy wireless ptz and while the build quality is lacking and pan/tilt sucks, I can easily login to it via an iphone app.

Qbert where did you buy from? I'm looking at Aliexpress, but a bit wary as it's new to me. Any issues with setup, updating firmware etc? Can you post some pics of footage?
 

Qbert

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I got mine from Aliexpress. It's pretty safe.

The cam works well and Dashua support told me that p2p wil be implemented soon.
 

bobsmith

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Thanks Qbert. I've ordered the wireless variant from Aliexpress, so here's hoping it works out. At the moment, can you access it remotely and ptz via a smartphone? I'm keen to move to this type of ptz rather than fixed domes or bullet cams as they give you much greater flexibility once installed.

I was also considering going for a NVR option (5216-4KS2), but getting the camera working standalone is the first step.
 
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