Hi - I just found this forum after several weeks of struggling to set up the HikVision HiLook kit I bought which is:
NVR-108MH-D/W HiLook 8Ch H.265 4MP WiFi NVR with 2Gb HDD
4 x IPC-B120-D-W HiLook WiFi 1080P IP Bullet Camera with 30m Night Vision & Built in Mic
Things I'm finding:
1. User manuals are cr@p. I worked in various technical IT roles for >30 years but I still found the documentation either difficult to understand or non-existent. For example the NVR has a built in web server for accessing the system through a browser but is there a user manual for this to be found anywhere on the interweb? No.
2. I found several different clients for accessing the system; the console interface on the NVR, the aforementioned web interface on the NVR, iVMS-4200 client, and umpteen different apps for mobile phones. Might be a good thing except not all of the functionality is available through all of the interfaces so in the end its just plain confusing about which one to use.
3. The wifi sucks. With the cameras in the same room as the NVR connection was fine but as soon as I moved the cameras to outside the double-glazed window of the room the connections became unstable/broken. Yes I know that wi-fi signal strength can be affected by walls etc getting in the way but losing signal strength because of two sheets of glass in the way - seriously? I ran some tools to measure signal strength from the NVR SSID and it was on max on the meter, so I'm guessing that means the wifi on cameras is the issue. Only savng grace is the cameras can also be wired in with ethernet which I wanted to avoid (hence wifi connection seemed like a good option) so that's what I'm now having to do. If I'd known that in advance I'd probably have chosen a different system and/or manufacturer. Even the little battery-powered Arlo cameras I am replacing could hang onto the wifi signal when outside my house - one of them was even mounted on an outhouse 15 metres away from the Arlo hub and on the other side of a 450mm thick stone wall.
4. I like the features for setting up motion detection and the cameras are responsive when motion occurs. But I have a big problem with one of the cameras which is set up to email when motion is detected. Currently it is swamping my inbox with several hundred emails/night because it is detecting an unbelievable amount of insect activity. Now I'm not blaming HikVision for the insects and to be fair the motion detection support has enabled me to define very minimalist detection zones and set the sensitivity as low as it allows but they missed another feature that would really help - the ability to set a constraint on time between conscutive email alerts from the same camera. I say they missed that feature - in fact I found it in the iVMS-4200 client but you can only enable it if you toggle on the option to attach a video clip to the email, and even then the maximum interval you can set is 5 seconds! With further research I found a presentation by HikVision relating to a different NVR which showed the ability to set the threshold at several minutes - so why they should cripple this feature for anothe NVR in their range is anybody's guess.
5. I've raised the email threshold with the dealer I bought from and directly with HikVision UK support but so far, silence. So now I'm having to work up some Javascript to do some judicious discarding of emails as they hit my Gmail inbox. My conclusion - HikVision support sucks. I also note the dealer I bought from is no longer listing this kit. I'm guessing he has rumbled it is going to bring him more trouble than it's worth.
Having got this far with this system I'm going to stick with it but would I recommend it to anybody else? Definitely not. And HikVision won't be on my list for upgrades and replacements in the future.
Would be interested to hear if anybody else in this forum has experience with this particular HiLook combo.
Andy
NVR-108MH-D/W HiLook 8Ch H.265 4MP WiFi NVR with 2Gb HDD
4 x IPC-B120-D-W HiLook WiFi 1080P IP Bullet Camera with 30m Night Vision & Built in Mic
Things I'm finding:
1. User manuals are cr@p. I worked in various technical IT roles for >30 years but I still found the documentation either difficult to understand or non-existent. For example the NVR has a built in web server for accessing the system through a browser but is there a user manual for this to be found anywhere on the interweb? No.
2. I found several different clients for accessing the system; the console interface on the NVR, the aforementioned web interface on the NVR, iVMS-4200 client, and umpteen different apps for mobile phones. Might be a good thing except not all of the functionality is available through all of the interfaces so in the end its just plain confusing about which one to use.
3. The wifi sucks. With the cameras in the same room as the NVR connection was fine but as soon as I moved the cameras to outside the double-glazed window of the room the connections became unstable/broken. Yes I know that wi-fi signal strength can be affected by walls etc getting in the way but losing signal strength because of two sheets of glass in the way - seriously? I ran some tools to measure signal strength from the NVR SSID and it was on max on the meter, so I'm guessing that means the wifi on cameras is the issue. Only savng grace is the cameras can also be wired in with ethernet which I wanted to avoid (hence wifi connection seemed like a good option) so that's what I'm now having to do. If I'd known that in advance I'd probably have chosen a different system and/or manufacturer. Even the little battery-powered Arlo cameras I am replacing could hang onto the wifi signal when outside my house - one of them was even mounted on an outhouse 15 metres away from the Arlo hub and on the other side of a 450mm thick stone wall.
4. I like the features for setting up motion detection and the cameras are responsive when motion occurs. But I have a big problem with one of the cameras which is set up to email when motion is detected. Currently it is swamping my inbox with several hundred emails/night because it is detecting an unbelievable amount of insect activity. Now I'm not blaming HikVision for the insects and to be fair the motion detection support has enabled me to define very minimalist detection zones and set the sensitivity as low as it allows but they missed another feature that would really help - the ability to set a constraint on time between conscutive email alerts from the same camera. I say they missed that feature - in fact I found it in the iVMS-4200 client but you can only enable it if you toggle on the option to attach a video clip to the email, and even then the maximum interval you can set is 5 seconds! With further research I found a presentation by HikVision relating to a different NVR which showed the ability to set the threshold at several minutes - so why they should cripple this feature for anothe NVR in their range is anybody's guess.
5. I've raised the email threshold with the dealer I bought from and directly with HikVision UK support but so far, silence. So now I'm having to work up some Javascript to do some judicious discarding of emails as they hit my Gmail inbox. My conclusion - HikVision support sucks. I also note the dealer I bought from is no longer listing this kit. I'm guessing he has rumbled it is going to bring him more trouble than it's worth.
Having got this far with this system I'm going to stick with it but would I recommend it to anybody else? Definitely not. And HikVision won't be on my list for upgrades and replacements in the future.
Would be interested to hear if anybody else in this forum has experience with this particular HiLook combo.
Andy