I'm embarrassed to admit it, but curiosity has killed the cat. The IR LED on my camera had dimmed to all but useless, and I thought perhaps it was time to try a firmware update.
Like an idiot, I didn't heed any of the warnings, and simply tried to install the latest 5.3.0 from the US Hikvision site using the camera's GUI. That obviously flopped. I've spent the rest of the day reading the various threads about hacking firmware. I've managed to use the TFTP program to access and upload different versions. Some would finish with "update completed", and others would get stuck on the step just prior. But none would get me into a bootable camera that was visible using the SDAP utility.
Clearly, I have a Chinese (AliExpress) grey-market camera. Is there a simple known-to-be-working firmware I can put back on this camera using TFTP? At this point, I would even settle for an all-Chinese version. At some point my time (and sanity) is worth more than the value of a replacement camera, but I didn't want to simply dump this thing in the trash if there is a simple fix that I'm missing... FWIW, I have multiple working identical cameras with the original 5.2.5 firmware.
Like an idiot, I didn't heed any of the warnings, and simply tried to install the latest 5.3.0 from the US Hikvision site using the camera's GUI. That obviously flopped. I've spent the rest of the day reading the various threads about hacking firmware. I've managed to use the TFTP program to access and upload different versions. Some would finish with "update completed", and others would get stuck on the step just prior. But none would get me into a bootable camera that was visible using the SDAP utility.
Clearly, I have a Chinese (AliExpress) grey-market camera. Is there a simple known-to-be-working firmware I can put back on this camera using TFTP? At this point, I would even settle for an all-Chinese version. At some point my time (and sanity) is worth more than the value of a replacement camera, but I didn't want to simply dump this thing in the trash if there is a simple fix that I'm missing... FWIW, I have multiple working identical cameras with the original 5.2.5 firmware.