New RCA HSDB2A 3MP Doorbell IP Camera

BobDoh

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If you're using ezviz app, you should be able to see the video also with encryption on, if the user is the same.
Well, that's the thing; I am using same user/password and it still doesn't allow me to view the video on other devices unless I have encryption turned off.
 

rafale

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Well, that's the thing; I am using same user/password and it still doesn't allow me to view the video on other devices unless I have encryption turned off.
This is as expected. The encryption is proprietary and meant to only allow their cloud server to decrypt. The login/password only gives you access to the unencrypted stream.
 

TechBill

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Well, that's the thing; I am using same user/password and it still doesn't allow me to view the video on other devices unless I have encryption turned off.
it should have prompted you to entered the encryption code on other device or anytime you reinstall the app.

Code is on the sticker which is attached to the doorbell or on front of manual and I think totaling 6 characters if I recalled correctly
 

KC8DKT

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Ello all, not too be a jerk but we all need to stop posting things we have no clue about like its a fact that we know! The little power box thing that some have posted about several times being nothing but a resistor or some other "nothing that can go bad or stop working" thing is just flat out dead wrong!

I converted my VDB over to a RJ45 POE power system today and thought what the hell, lets see what is inside this little box and find out what it is doing just to be safe before I got started.

7 things on the back that look like resistors?
LM2903 87K avxt g4
1.5amp Fuse <----------------------- I think a FUSE could easily stop working
LCB710 1843T78502
2 Larger sized CAPS BUT NO MARKINGS
1825CP
842 MB65 OR M865
and a crap load more resistors and other odd bits

As best as I can tell this thing sends a short voltage spike.

Under normal powerup you see what ever your transformer voltage is on the 2 power lines.
When the Button on the VDB is pressed the voltage drops to 0v or close too it.

With this box installed, when the voltage drops just as the voltage starts to rise back up this box THEN spikes for a MS. I did not see the spike till I looked at it in scope mode. I am guessing the spike voltage will match what ever your transformer is putting out. I tested with my 16v and 10v trans and it matched up with each.

so is this to HELP power up the magnetic coils in the mechanical chimes? The MS voltage spike in power this thing puts out is NOT helping too power the VDB that is for sure.


100_1883.JPG

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100_1889.JPG

100_1891.JPG
 

davidew98

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This is pretty interesting. I wonder how ezviz can push code changes to a doorbell which is not running their firmware. It kind of defeats the whole purpose I had set to have a device that is cloud independent and is the type of things I completely abhor. I am having my firewall block almost every "cloud" call from devices in my home, allowing only those which are absolutely necessary. Also the fact that some are having the issues, others not, using the same device and the fact that the ezviz support seem to be replacing units from customers who complain makes me wonder what is going on. One other possibility could be also a bad batch of component causing early failures in the ezviz models...
FYI if this device is on a network that itself has access to internet then the doorbell phones home even if you don't configure it thru the app. If you want it not to then it needs to be in a VLAN that is NOT able to access the internet.
 

davidew98

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An update to my bricked eBay RCA doorbell situation. I acquired a 1GB microSD from Amazon, but this did not bring any different behavior. I tried several ways - FAT and FAT32, with Hik firmware or RCA firmware on the card - each time two copies of the file (original filename and digicap.dav). Followed all of the reset tips discussed recently and from the 101, No luck - I get the same solid red button, with the slight flickers documented in my previous post.

Thinking this might be stuck in a boot loop of some kind, I started googling for hikvision bootloader, thinking there has to be a way for the factory to load software on these during production. That got me down a proper rabbit hole which might have some light at the other end. I found this thread: Hikvision - Clearing Passwords and/or Loading Firmware via TTL Serial which describes a 4-pin JST-ZH header present on Hikvision cameras and DVRs which can be used for communication to the board via TTL Serial.

I also knew (from having found and posted it here before) that there are FCC teardown photos of a Hik doorbell at CSDB1 Wi-Fi Doorbell Camera Teardown Internal Photos APPENDIX 1 Hangzhou Ezviz Software

On page 2 of that teardown document, there is a 4-pin header with no connector on it. I figured it would be worthwhile to open the camera up and check the header for DC voltage across pins 1 and 4 (1 should be ground, 4 should be system voltage) to evaluate whether it is a candidate for TTL Serial communication as described in that thread.

I am getting 3.3V DC across pins 4 and 1 - so I am going to find a USB TTL Serial adapter to see if I can communicate to this thing and use the procedures in that thread to get it onto my network and download a firmware image via TFTP.


Pics of camera guts!

The two brass studs in the back of the camera case (on top in this pic) are the contacts where doorbell wiring attaches. Those brass studs touch two spring contacts on the board when the halves are assembled.



So I connected a couple test leads to those spring contacts on the board so I could power it. At the other end of those green & yellow test leads is a 24V AC transformer (for lawn sprinklers - works great for powering these doorbells on the bench).



Probing for DC voltage across pins 4 (positive) and 1 (negative) to see if this 4-pin header is a candidate for serial communication



3.3 V DC system voltage. There is hope!

If you get good firmware running and can TTL into the device can you poke around and see what OS is running on it, is it linux, maybe busybox. is it password protected. what chipset is this. shame we can't tasmoto it lol!
 

davidew98

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You can turn it off, but that is mostly when you want to see the video from Alexa/google devices.

If you're using ezviz app, you should be able to see the video also with encryption on, if the user is the same.
if you have the device internet facing then the video is stored on their servers even if you op out of cloud storage. they save 3 hours I think. no way to turn this off unless you put the device in a VLAN with NO access to internet
 

davidew98

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Ello all, not too be a jerk but we all need to stop posting things we have no clue about like its a fact that we know! The little power box thing that some have posted about several times being nothing but a resistor or some other "nothing that can go bad or stop working" thing is just flat out dead wrong!

I converted my VDB over to a RJ45 POE power system today and thought what the hell, lets see what is inside this little box and find out what it is doing just to be safe before I got started.

7 things on the back that look like resistors?
LM2903 87K avxt g4
1.5amp Fuse <----------------------- I think a FUSE could easily stop working
LCB710 1843T78502
2 Larger sized CAPS BUT NO MARKINGS
1825CP
842 MB65 OR M865
and a crap load more resistors and other odd bits

As best as I can tell this thing sends a short voltage spike.

Under normal powerup you see what ever your transformer voltage is on the 2 power lines.
When the Button on the VDB is pressed the voltage drops to 0v or close too it.

With this box installed, when the voltage drops just as the voltage starts to rise back up this box THEN spikes for a MS. I did not see the spike till I looked at it in scope mode. I am guessing the spike voltage will match what ever your transformer is putting out. I tested with my 16v and 10v trans and it matched up with each.

so is this to HELP power up the magnetic coils in the mechanical chimes? The MS voltage spike in power this thing puts out is NOT helping too power the VDB that is for sure.


View attachment 74462

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View attachment 74465
yes your correct, the power spike is for the chime not the vdb. the box is mainly to hold and send constant clean power to the VDB to keep it powered up and help with the spike needed to set the chime off. And yes, they can go bad!
 

grampadeal

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That confirms it's not a doorbell hardware issue, but the firmware. Check connections just in case, use hikvision's firmware and guarding vision app. It must work. If it doesn't, it's something related to your connections.
I don't know if you saw my edit, but the chime has started working. There are 2 current variables, one is the new hardware and one is the latest Hikvision firmware that I flashed onto the doorbell. Regardless, it's working now, so I'm happy. Here's hoping it doesn't die in another 10 months.
 

rafale

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FYI if this device is on a network that itself has access to internet then the doorbell phones home even if you don't configure it thru the app. If you want it not to then it needs to be in a VLAN that is NOT able to access the internet.
FYI, VLAN is just one way to do it. There are better, less intrusive ways to do this than adding a VLAN tag. I am blocking a lot of my devices through firewall rules and DNS blocks which then do not require me to isolate these devices within my own network. I agree the app configuration doesn't do anything in this regard.
 

987789

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FYI, VLAN is just one way to do it. There are better, less intrusive ways to do this than adding a VLAN tag. I am blocking a lot of my devices through firewall rules and DNS blocks which then do not require me to isolate these devices within my own network. I agree the app configuration doesn't do anything in this regard.
You should vlan them off from your networks. One weak device and you will find your whole network compromised.
 
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Yesterday i Flashed my db1 to the hikvision firmware and now i'm having an issue when I use the app it changes the stream to the sub stream in blueiris has anyone else experienced this?
 

alexdelprete

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This is as expected. The encryption is proprietary and meant to only allow their cloud server to decrypt. The login/password only gives you access to the unencrypted stream.
If that was true, when you have cloud disabled it should disable encryption. Plus, the ezviz app wouldn't be able to decrypt it unless you had cloud enabled.

This is EZVIZ support on this topic:

1604961855197.png
 

alexdelprete

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if you have the device internet facing then the video is stored on their servers even if you op out of cloud storage. they save 3 hours I think. no way to turn this off unless you put the device in a VLAN with NO access to internet
Video stored on their server even with cloud disabled? Did you verify this sniffing the network? I sniffed for 2 days when I installed it (cloud disabled) and I didn't see any video traffic to the internet.

This is an important thing, and we must be sure the information provided is correct, please provide some official documentation link or tell us how you measured it so we can reproduce it.
 
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No, you telling me in BI the stream path changes?
The Stream path doesn't change it stays the same and I used onvif to pull in the stream path to blue iris, But I noticed the resolution changed from the 3mp 1536x2048 to 0.5mp 640x640, but this is only when I open the ezviz app or ask alexa to display the doorbell. the stream does return to normal after about 2-3mins but blueiris doesn't like the resolution change so the fix I found is just to force size and just use the 1535x2048 resolution, seems ok so far.
 

alexdelprete

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Ello all, not too be a jerk but we all need to stop posting things we have no clue about like its a fact that we know! The little power box thing that some have posted about several times being nothing but a resistor or some other "nothing that can go bad or stop working" thing is just flat out dead wrong!

I converted my VDB over to a RJ45 POE power system today and thought what the hell, lets see what is inside this little box and find out what it is doing just to be safe before I got started.

7 things on the back that look like resistors?
LM2903 87K avxt g4
1.5amp Fuse <----------------------- I think a FUSE could easily stop working
LCB710 1843T78502
2 Larger sized CAPS BUT NO MARKINGS
1825CP
842 MB65 OR M865
and a crap load more resistors and other odd bits

As best as I can tell this thing sends a short voltage spike.

Under normal powerup you see what ever your transformer voltage is on the 2 power lines.
When the Button on the VDB is pressed the voltage drops to 0v or close too it.

With this box installed, when the voltage drops just as the voltage starts to rise back up this box THEN spikes for a MS. I did not see the spike till I looked at it in scope mode. I am guessing the spike voltage will match what ever your transformer is putting out. I tested with my 16v and 10v trans and it matched up with each.

so is this to HELP power up the magnetic coils in the mechanical chimes? The MS voltage spike in power this thing puts out is NOT helping too power the VDB that is for sure.
1. IIRC, the powerkit was already disassembled long time ago, and pics were posted in this thread
2. IIRC, there hasn't been ONE case in which the little box created issue, got broken, failed, etc.
3. All the people with chime issues that were sent a replacement powerkit by ezviz support DIDN'T solve the issue. The powerkit wasn't the problem.
4. In the official ezviz documentation, in the 101 of this thread, in hundreds of old posts, it always clearly stated that the powerkit installation is MANDATORY when you have a traditional chime. It's some kind of "voltage regulator"
5. I don't use traditional chimes, but sensors to intercept the button press and announce that someone is at the gate, and even with sensors I had to install the powerkit otherwise the sensors wouldn't intercept the voltage change

So please, don't use that tone next time, you think you've discovered something new just because you've probably only recently joined this thread and didn't read all the OLD discussions about this topic. And I can assure you that there are people in this thread that know what they're talking about and spent many days tinkering with this doorbell.

It would be interesting to know, through your ability to use a scope, how it exactly works and what exactly happens when you press the button and the cycle completes. :)
 

alexdelprete

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I don't know if you saw my edit, but the chime has started working. There are 2 current variables, one is the new hardware and one is the latest Hikvision firmware that I flashed onto the doorbell. Regardless, it's working now, so I'm happy. Here's hoping it doesn't die in another 10 months.
I didn't see your edit (no notifications on edits). :)

Well now we're back to not knowing if it's the hardware or if the upgrade to Hikvision (with a factory reset) does the trick. You should have done it one step at a time. :)
 

alexdelprete

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The Stream path doesn't change it stays the same and I used onvif to pull in the stream path to blue iris, But I noticed the resolution changed from the 3mp 1536x2048 to 0.5mp 640x640, but this is only when I open the ezviz app or ask alexa to display the doorbell. the stream does return to normal after about 2-3mins but blueiris doesn't like the resolution change so the fix I found is just to force size and just use the 1535x2048 resolution, seems ok so far.
The ONVIF discovery was done after upgrading to hikvision or before when you had the original firmware? In the former case, you should refresh the ONVIF config with BI because the 2 fw might have different paths or something different.

Can you show us the screenshot of BI config with the paths? @David L (and many others) uses BI, and didn't report this issue.
 
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