5.3.0 Euro to 5.3.0 US. Should I bother?

[GregTR]

Thanks, but nope. I read that thread before I even made a purchase. That procedure describes how to modify a firmware file to match the region code set in the hardware at the factory.

I was looking for a procedure to check the actual hardware code of a camera.

FWIW both my cameras and my NVR are now running the latest firmware from the EU ftp so I'm guessing I'll be OK. The gesture login is nice!

 

[alastairstevenson]

That procedure describes how to modify a firmware file to match the region code set in the hardware at the factory.

True.

modify a firmware file

Nope. Actually a region of the flash memory holding the hardware configuration.
mtdblock5 and mtdblock6 are the 'hardware descriptor blocks' in that version of camera.

 

[GregTR]

Exactly. It's flash memory that holds the region code that the firmware matches up against. But as far as I could tell nobody has shared information as to how to modify the flash memory to change a camera's region coding outside of Hikvision themselves. As soon as someone can do it, the whole region coding will be moot. Until then people can modify firmware files so they run on a different camera versions than they were intended for. Again, that is not my intent, I just wanted to verify that what I got is what I ordered.

 

[alastairstevenson]

But as far as I could tell nobody has shared information as to how to modify the flash memory to change a camera's region coding outside of Hikvision themselves.

Eh? That's what that whole thread I linked to, that you'd previously read, is all about. Modifying the flash to change the region code.

As soon as someone can do it, the whole region coding will be moot.

To a large extent it already is, until Hikvision then make yet further changes to the protection that only temporarily holds back the large number of on-line sellers that offer low-cost Chinese region cameras with defeated region code protection.
It's a game of leap-frog that you seemed to have understood. Now I'm not so sure.

 

[Del Boy]

The moral of the story is that buying from Amazon is an unknown and you might end up with an International version (unsupported by Hikvision - although not a biggie just would be cheaper from AE), but you could equally end up with a Chinese market one.

 

[GregTR]

From the linked thread: "No you can’t upgrade to 5.3.0 this is done via another check which I’m still looking for."

So I guess it's not done yet. So either there are some sellers who were savvy enough to make the change and not tell people and things seem fine (mine from Amazon upgrade to the latest 5.3.0 just fine) or the ones I got were in fact US/English versions to begin with.

 

[whoslooking]

The upgrade issue was only for version 5.25 & 5.30 models only