Dahua versus an Apple eco system

quest100 · Sep 26, 2018

I have been trying to set up a new Dahua system with an Apple Macintosh computer running High Sierra. And failing miserably.

Has any one had recent success in setting up and running a Dahua system (NVR and cameras) from a Mac? If so how? Any links? Config does nothing. SmartPSS does not seem to write to its database or remember cameras after a restart. So far I can see no way to setup IVS zones or tripwire lines on a Mac.

The latest software I can find from Dahua is dated 2017-01-10. It looks like Dahua has abandoned the Mac.

aristobrat · Sep 26, 2018

If you haven’t upgraded to Safari 12, the plugins on Dahuas website should let you access the NVR and cameras. That’s def one of the cons for most professional grade cameras... they seem to assume that everyone has a machine running IE around.

quest100 · Sep 26, 2018

Had the same problems with the last version of Safari 11. Have since upgraded to 12.

tangent · Sep 27, 2018

Give this a read: How to view Dahua cameras without browser plugins

They still depend on outdated plugins on Windows that are hard to use today. Overall, you may be happier with a refurbished pc running Blue Iris than a Dahua NVR.
SmartPSS works on a Mac, but you'll have to tweak your security settings to allow apps that aren't from the app store. App Store & Signed Apps is enough, but you'll get an error and then have to click "open anyway" under security the first time you open it.

quest100 · Sep 27, 2018

Some of my notes from trying to use SmartPSS
1. I have downloaded at least 4 different versions of SmartPSS from the Dahua site. Only one version is even partially working.
2. The one that partly works is the most recent version 2.00.0 with a build date of 2017-01-20.
3. Able to see NVR and cameras. Images in live view appear fine.
4. When I quit and restart SmartPSS everything is back to ground zero
  1. First page asks me to set admin password (auto login fails with invalid password)
  2. Second page ask me to login again
  3. Third page presents blank Devices page
  4. I can add each camera and re-supply its password.
  5. Repeat if quit SmartPSS
5. Tried to use System Config —> Backup/Restore —> Backup but nothing saved. File not in specified location and could not find on disk.
6. I was able to save a snapshot. The file was saved but the write to the database failed. No idea where it is supposed to be located so I could not check permissions.
7. Trying to setup Events and storing to HDD. On one of the cameras I go to Device CFG —> Storage —> HDD Manager. Nothing appears under local storage and FTP does not allow setting <user, password>. I was expecting a link to the NVR somewhere.
8. On the NVR going to Device CFG —> Encode —> Video I set the encode type H.264. Hit save and look again and it is back to H.264H.
9. Have not seen where I can setup zones and/or trip wires in SmartPSS. Do not see how it can be done on a Mac at all,

quest100 · Sep 27, 2018

I will try the non-Safari browsers tomorrow. I have almost, but not quite, given up on using a Mac with Dahua. Really hoping someone here has been able to do it and get me started.

tangent · Sep 27, 2018

quest100 said:
I will try the non-Safari browsers tomorrow. I have almost, but not quite, given up on using a Mac with Dahua. Really hoping someone here has been able to do it and get me started.

The only ones to bother with are Google Chrome and Firefox ESR 52 (rename it so you can keep the new version as firefox.app)

quest100 · Sep 27, 2018

I now have a web browser working using FireFox ESR 52. This is after I updated my Mac to macOS Mojave, 10.14. My steps:

Downloaded FireFox ESL 52 from Directory Listing: /pub/firefox/releases/52.0esr/
When first run, FireFox automatically updates itself to the most recent ESL version.
Re-download, unplug from internet, start up a new copy, and turn off auto updates.
I have downloaded plugins from http://dahuawiki.com/Template:Software and from within my IPC-HDBW81230E-Z camera (by clicking on link http://192.168.1.110/webplugin.pkg from the camera window). Not sure which will be used of differences.
Now when I run FireFoz and look at a camera the view window has “Activate Speco Technologies Mac Viewer”. Enabled.
I can see my camera in a web browser and draw regions for IVS.

This fixes one portion of my problems using Dahua on a Mac. Have not yet checked to see if all cameras work or if problems still exist.

Now back to my problems with SmartPSS. Does anyone have any ideas why I have to re-login each time it restarts? Or why nothing gets written to its database? It appears as if SmartPSS is trying to write to a folder that either no longer exists or it does not have write permission.

quest100 · Sep 29, 2018

Some of my notes from tryin to use SmartPSS
1. I have downloaded at least 4 different versions of SmartPSS from the Dahua site. Only one version is even partially working.
2. The one that partly works is the most recent version 2.00.0 with a build date of 2017-01-20.
3. Able to see NVR and cameras. Images in live view appear fine.
4. When I quit and restart SmartPSS everything is back to ground zero
  1. First page asks me to set admin password (auto login fails with invalid password)
  2. Second page ask me to login again
  3. Third page presents blank Devices page
  4. I can add each camera and supply its password.
  5. Repeat if if quit SmartPSS
5. Tried to use System Config —> Backup/Restore —> Backup but nothing saved. File not in specified location and could not find on disk.
6. I was able to save a snapshot. The file was saved but the write to the database failed. No idea where it is supposed to be located so I could not check permissions.
7. Trying to setup Events and storing to HDD. On one of the cameras I go to Device CFG —> Storage —> HDD Manager. Nothing appears under local storage and FTP does not allow setting <user, password>. I was expecting a link to the NVR somewhere.
8. On the NVR going to Device CFG —> Encode —> Video I set the encode type H.264. Hit save and look again and it is back to H.264H.
9. Have not seen where I can setup zones and/or trip wires in SmartPSS.
10. But today one of the cameras does not have an image - it just reports “Search stream timeout”. Why? I was trying to see if I had to re-log into this camera. Accidentally double clicked on the camera and the image came back.
11. Any idea how to see the E-Map after downloading or if it is at all useful?

quest100 · Sep 29, 2018

Yesterday Firefox ESR 52 was working correctly. Today Live View reported the plugin crashed and that I had to reload the page. Can not use Live View anymore. Luckily I remembered someone else reporting the same issue. Before Live View has a chance to load an image, switch to a different tab. The camera views and overlays work elsewhere, just don’t go back to Live View.

aristobrat · Sep 29, 2018

I ran into that issue as well, but only when IVS was active. :banghead:

quest100 · Sep 29, 2018

Yes, I have IVS active. It's strange that the plugin will draw the overlays and display the camera video while doing IVS event setup but then crash in live view.

Edited to remove SmartPSS and replace with plugin.

guykuo · Sep 29, 2018

My current two working solutions are to ....

1. Let one of my Macs run an older version of OSX. This can be done (without a separate machine) by keeping a clone of the older OSX version and booting from the old clone. SuperDuper always earns its keep by letting me easily keep multiple, bootable clones. If you're using IVS functions, you'll need to do it this way to see the live view in Dahua's web GUI.

2. In an OSX environment, the NVR software solution of choice is SecuritySpy. It's not cheap, but active maintained, excellent software. Mine writes to a 12 TB array and has worked well for years.
I can view SecuritySpy's live image feed in one browser window while manipulating the Dahau camera web GUI in another. If the controls that are being adjusted are not image dependent, I don't even need to see the live image view. Obviously, this won't work for setting regions of interest in the camera GUI, but I let SecuritySpy handle motion detection and recording actions.

SecurtySpy handles my Dahua, Hikvision, and Sunba cameras all nicely. You don't do setup of the cameras within SS, but SS does all the recording, motion detection, and remote view streaming regardless of camera brand. Blue Iris would be its Windows equivalent.

quest100 · Sep 29, 2018

I would be OK with no live view in Dahua's web interface if SmartPSS worked. I seem to be able to set everything (IVS, motion detection, camera parameters, etc.) up in the camera's GUI. Everything gets saved back into the camera and shows up in SmartPSS. This is based on limited testing on just one camera and a few settings.

My big problem now is with SmartPSS not remembering anything after quitting. Each time I restart SmartPSS it's like I have never run it before. Once I re-add the NVR and cameras it is able to pull the information that was saved directly on the device.

quest100 · Sep 29, 2018

I finally figured out why SmartPSS would not remember anything after quitting. I got SmartPSS to crash. I looked in the Crash Report and noticed a line that stated the application had been translocated. Googled it. Instead of directly running the app, MacOS 10.12 and above will run some apps from a randomized path. This is a security feature that is applied to apps that have not been moved after unpacking. See App Translocation.

I had downloaded the file from Dahua and placed it into /Applications/Dahua before double clicking on the DH_SmartPSS....pgk. I checked in Activity Monitor --> Inspect Process --> Open Files and found file locations in /private/var/folders/.../random/... location. Moved SmartPSS into the main Applications folder and all is well.

Bottom line - if SmartPSS does not remember logins or devices after quiting, move it to a different folder.

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Dahua versus an Apple eco system

quest100

Pulling my weight

aristobrat

quest100

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tangent

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quest100

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tangent

quest100

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quest100

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quest100

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aristobrat

quest100

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guykuo

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quest100

Pulling my weight

quest100

Pulling my weight