Best practice for Time Sync/NTP on Dahua NVR and all the cameras

Kinchyle

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  • Dahua NVR and 50 cameras
  • Cameras are not on the internet the NVR can be
  • Central Time and would like DST

Setting just the time on the NVR doesn't seem to work for the cameras. Does it require also setting the data/time on each camera?

Can the Dahua NVR work as a NTP server if you point the cameras at it?
If not seems each camera you need to setup timezone and DST ranges. Then point to a NTP server on the internal network. Then setup the NVR with time zone and DST ranges and update from the internet?

If it requires editing all the cameras, is there something easier with "batch updating" instead of visiting each camera?
 

Kinchyle

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Doing a little more research and testing it looks like this is working.
  • Uncheck all the Cameras System/General/Date-Time DST and NTP settings
  • On the NVR System/General turn on IPC Time Sync and set to 24 hours to update all cameras every day
  • On the NVR system/General/Date-Time you MUST uncheck NTP, then do Sync PC to get the clock right
  • On the NVR set the DST time to the following (except should be 2am and not midnight) NVR/Basic Setup/Date and Time - Dahua Wiki
Only wrench in this is you have to visit the NVR every so often(should be infrequent) to make sure the time is in sync.

If someone has a better way please post. I looked at trying to add a Windows NTP or add scripts to my router but seemed like a mess to configure all the cameras.
 

Shockwave199

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Time sync can be a real pain. Maybe this will help you. Old video but could help. Jump to 7:43. I use poe nvr so I set up windows time server in the nvr and have it update every 30 minutes

 

BillG

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After trial and error I came to the same camera and nvr settings as you on my 5232. When I setup a new camera all I do is set the time zone and date and time format and uncheck ntp and dst. The nvr ipc time sync will keep all the cams time up to date. I have an old 7 inch windows tablet with NetTime - Network Time Synchronization Tool on it that I just keep plugged in all the time and point the nvr's ntp to that on port 123. Has worked great for months.
 

crossStreet

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Can you please explain why you need to sync time to NVR manually? Because my setup, which is sync NVR with NTP, and sync all cameras on a signal from NVR, seems to work fine. Thanks.
 
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Kinchyle

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My understanding was if your NVR had ntp selected it would not do IPC camera sync. If that's not true I'll turn it back on for the NVR. Seems odd to design that way. Let me know if ya'll have it working and I'll turn it on and test
 

crossStreet

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I seem to have it working. If I manually set wrong time either on cameras on NVR, with time it gets corrected.
 
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Hi, Wanted to hopefully add some useful information to this thread. I believe I now have my cameras' time correct while almost following @Kinchyle instruction. I went ahead and pressed default and apply on the date/time settings of each of my cameras. Then on the NVR- set the IPC Time Sync to 1 hour(because why not), set DST, AND set NTP. After I hit apply and save, then did a reboot it appears that all times on the cameras and NVR are synchronized and correct.
 

cuz

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I need to check/test my settings too. I just assumed the NVR would take care of syncing the cams by default if they are connected to the POE ports.
 
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