Hardware comparison within camera lines

M

montecrypto

IPCT Contributor
Apr 20, 2016
104
307
I would like to understand how core hik camera hardware compares between different models within the same Hikvision lines.

I do NOT need to know that a "Z" suffix stands for "Zoom" or that some cameras come with POE and some don't have the POE module.

I need to understand hardware dependencies for firmware features so I can answer questions like:
- If a higher-end camera has more "smart" features (face detection), is it just a software difference, more memory on the board, or a different CPU?
- Can I turn a $200 camera into a $800 camera by replacing its flash chip, upgrading its memory, or adding missing components ?

Does anybody have this information?
 
1. its completely different underlying hardware, entirely different chipset, and different CMOS sensors.. the cheap cameras are basically fully loaded down with features and do not have enough processing capabilities for any additional image processing.
2. No, not a chance in hell.. You can turn a $200 into a $0 camera that way.
 
- If a higher-end camera has more "smart" features (face detection), is it just a software difference, more memory on the board, or a different CPU?
Click to expand...
It's a combination of all these things.
Within the Hikvision cameras and NVRs the main component is the 'SoC' (System on a Chip) from various families which comprises an ARMv? CPU and a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), typically from HiSilicon on the budget range devices.
All the fast video encoding and smart analysis is done by the DSP, the CPU is almost secondary, but it does the user interface and the networking and streaming and storage etc, all the things that Linux is good at.
The supporting chipsets can vary with camera features such as the type of flash.
The newer cameras with smarter features are using a newer faster SoC such as the Hi3516A - ARMv7 at 1.2GHz, older ones ARMv5 at 525MHz.

On adding features - the NVRs have more 'optional' features than the cameras, and can be set logically instead of physically.
You pay differently to get 4 or 8 or 16 or 32 channels for example, despite the models in a given series having mostly the same hardware.
The hardware profile of an NVR is held in a protected flash area programmed during manufacture, the firmware is fairly common across the range and provides number of channels, languages, etc based on what it reads from the hardware descriptor block.
Obviously Hikvision have progressively changed how the protection for this is handled based on some exploits that allowed unscrupulous sellers to buy one device and sell as another.
 
alastairstevenson said:
It's a combination of all these things.
Click to expand...

Yes, I am trying to make sense of all those combinations. There are just a few popular SOC/sensor choices (Hi3516/3518, IMX178/222, OV9712), but there are dozens of HIK models within each line and there isn't an easy way to tell the difference (eg: 2cd2t42 vs 2cd2t45).

Also, regarding the "protected flash area" on NVRs? Is that the Macronix 25xx serial flash chip? You can get a new one for $2-$3 USD, reprogram it to your taste and replace the original. It is a 16-pin SOIC, so no special tools needed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Also, regarding the "protected flash area" on NVRs? Is that the Macronix 25xx serial flash chip?
Click to expand...
Not on my 7816 at least, it's a pair of 8MB surface mount chips, as below.
Spot the gap in the partitions ...

Code: 
<6>Spi id table Version 1.22
<7>Hisfc350 Device Driver, Version 1.10
<6>Spi(cs1) ID: 0xC2 0x20 0x18 0xC2 0x20 0x18
<6>SPI FLASH start_up_mode is 3 Bytes
<6>Spi(cs1): 
<6>Block:64KB 
<6>Chip:16MB 
<6>Name:"MX25L128XX"
<6>spi size: 0x16777216
<6>chip num: 1
<5>Creating 3 MTD partitions on "hi_sfc":
<5>0x000000000000-0x000000010000 : "mtdblock0"
<5>0x000000030000-0x000000050000 : "mtdblock1"
<5>0x000000050000-0x000001000000 : "mtdblock2"
 
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