Hikvision 3.3.4 firmware

[CoreyX64]

What are you referring to as remote web access? iOS/Android app? Web UI? Be specific. If the web UI, the WebComponents plugin will likely need updated to reflect the firmware upgrade. On Windows, it actually will prompt you to update it. There could be any number of reasons why it quit. My first thought is an outdated plugin on the computer you're trying to use. I would start with that. More info would be helpful so I can get a better understanding of where the fault lies.

This is what I refer to as one of those Hikvision-specific features and how an ONVIF profile cripples such features. Since the NVR refuses to see the camera with the Hikvision profile, yes, you could connect the camera to another 3.1.5 NVR and accomplish the same thing. However, what might be easier is to make sure your Virtual Hosts are enabled on the 3.4.4 NVR, dial into the camera directly and disable it.

To check virtual hosts, on the web UI:
Configuration > Network > Advanced > Other > Enable Virtual Host should be checked.

Go to camera management and to the right you'll see a blue hyperlink. Click on that on the camera in question. This will bring you to the camera's own web UI. It will likely be in Chinese. The instructions below will be of no use if you can't read it. Use this picture for reference in case you get lost in the Chinese language.

While in the camera, go to Configuration > Advanced Config > Image > OSD Settings

Uncheck "Display Week" and click save. Fixed. Reposition the OSD if you feel the need to, while you're tinkering with it.
Repeat for the remaining affected cameras.


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[CoreyX64]

This is more than likely due to the plugin. Which browser are you using? Try using Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Spot on. Chrome deprecated NPAPI plugins quite awhile ago, and Hikvision has not released a replacement PPAPI plugin to fill the void. Until then, it's Firefox, IE, or on Mac, Safari. (Mac plugin is not perfect, however). Chrome and Microsoft Edge are out at this point in time.

 

[Alan2000]

Sorry for lack of details. After going to 3.3.4 remote viewing of the NVR using VMS-4500 on iPhone and iPad stopped working. All cams even "legal" Hikvision cam not connecting remotely. Same thing with iVMS-4200 on my Macbook Pro with Safari, and remote viewing using Safari browser. All worked perfect before firmware update. (I've had the DS-7716 for about a year or 18 months now.) However, a few minutes ago, without making any changes to the NVR, iPhone or Mac, it started working again. Then as I was typing this email Live View stopped working again through the Safari browser. I downloaded and installed the plugin again with no luck with Safari.

I notice the mouse at times locks up on menus for several seconds. Overall, the NVR feels sluggish and buggy after the update. I have no idea why for most of the day the Live View and remote playback would not work and tonight all of a sudden it works. I updated last week my Mac to El Capitan and that was a mistake too. My Mac is also running sluggish at times. Not a good week for me on the electronics side.

Now I can access and check off the "show week" option using iVMS-4200 with all cams. However, after changing the option and applying changes, nothing changes. The Chinese characters are still there. Using the NVR I can only check off the show week option with the 1 official camera. The check box is disabled for all the Chinese cameras. Perhaps when I wake up tomorrow the Chinese characters will also have self corrected. LOL.

 

[alastairstevenson]

To be clear, I can't say as to what the NVR *claims* to allow you to change setting-wise under an ONVIF camera profile, and if those changes even commit to the camera, as I've never tried it. As a general rule however, you can safely assume that not using the Hikvision protocol with Hikvision IPCs will sever your ability to use any Hikvision-specific features with those cameras. Trial and error would be the way to determine this, and as expected, mileage will vary. This technically goes for any manufacturer and their respective manufacturer-specific features. It's no different than any other name brand vs. generic argument essentially. You always lose a little something when opting for the generic route.

Spot on, and a very useful and helpful set of posts.
In my varied mix of low-cost Chinese cameras that all claim ONVIF compliance, Hikvision are the only ones that support the 'push/pull event notification subscription' capability of ONVIF. If you look at the 'Events' generated by movement using ONVIF Device Manager there are triggers for motion, line crossing and intrusion detection, but as far as I can see only the motion events generate actions in the 3.3.4 NVR. We don't know if that's deliberate, or simply an enhancement due in a later firmware development.
@Alan2000 - if you list the reported firmware versions of your out-of-region cameras, and ideally also what's listed on the camera or box labels if you have them, and also the dates from the serial numbers, there are likely some easy enough ways to do a permanent region fix and get back to full functionality.

 

[Alan2000]

@alastairstevenson - I will list cam info tonight when I get back from work. On a side note, I did setup email notification last night on my NVR for the first time and caught my first intruder - lol

 

[Alan2000]

Here's the info from my black market cams:

Model: DS-2CD2032-1 4mm
Manufacture date: 06/2014 and 07/2014
Original firmware: V5.1.6_140412

Model: DS-2CD2432F-IW 1.2mm
Manufacture Date: 08/2014
Original firmware: V5.1.6_140612

I did change the firmware a few months back to 5.2.0 build 140721 on all the cams. When I did that the day reverted to Chinese but all still worked fine. I simply unchecked the box to display week so the Chinese day would not appear.

My NVR was purchases around 08/2014, model # DS-7716NI-SP/16.

I'd love to be able to run them again as Hikvision Cams with 3.3.4 on my NVR if possible.

 

[CoreyX64]

Both of those are "old version" cameras and can technically use any firmware. Use the firmware link I posted a few posts back with 5.2.0 and you can upgrade them directly in the web interface. No TFTP required.

By web interface, I mean the camera's interface, not the NVR.


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[alastairstevenson]

Yes, indeed.
But you are looking to change the camera's underlying region setting, which was exposed after the software updates removed what was presumably original 'hacked' firmware that masqueraded it as EN.
And now your NVR after the firmware upgrade is designed to be fussy about what region cameras you are able to connect.
So you need to do the 'MTD hack', as extensively posted about on this forum.
There is a large 'sticky' here: https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/3474-Hikvision-5-2-5-amp-5-2-8-Full-English-(INC-DAYS-OF-WEEK)-mtd-Hack
And @whoslooking recently helpfully posted a video on the steps to take - but I can't locate it just now.

 

[CoreyX64]

The Dropbox link I posted prior with 5.2.0 is already modified. No hacks necessary. I've pushed it to many Chinese interfaced cameras directly from the web interface and they flip over to English automatically. It's not "CBX permanent", as in update proof (future updates would put them to Chinese if he decided to push said updates, but there's really no point currently), but assuming he's going to just correct the cameras and let them go, it works beautifully.

To truly convert them to US-regioned cameras, yes, modified MTD blocks are required. The 5.2.0 firmware I posted is a quick plug n play solution. In my case I have no need to update beyond 5.2.0 at this point so I'm perfectly fine with it. It's entirely personal preference as to how you go about it I suppose.


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[Alan2000]

Ugh - This is going to take me some time... Corey - My cams currently show 5.2.0 firmware, so I think I need to do as alastairstevenson mentioned. But I'm old and dumb so bear with me. Here are the issues so far:

1) Most of the cams are in hard to access places. The DS-2CD2432F-IW is a desktop camera so I am trying to get that one "fixed" first. I connected it to an external power supply and tried to access it by plugging it directly into my PC laptop. But when I put in the IP address for the camera it can't access the cam. I tried the same by plugging in into my router and an external power supply. Again nothing comes up when I enter the cam's IP address in Safari. However, the camera shows up in SADP when it is plugged into the laptop or the router. I can also change things like the IP address on the cam using SADP. So I'm puzzled why the browsers can't get to the cam's menu.

2) Is there an inexpensive adapter I can get on Amazon to inject power into the ethernet cable that goes to the camera(s)? Once I figure out #1, I will need some method to get power to the cams to edit the firmware in them with my laptop if that can't be done via the NVR. Otherwise it will be quite a job accessing the cameras to remove them to get access to the power supply cord. Will this work?

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PoE150S-Gigabit-Injector-compliant/dp/B001PS9E5I/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446130765&sr=1-1&keywords=poe+injector+12v

There is also this one that seems like I would plug in my existing power supply into it:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Power-Supply-Ethernet-routers/dp/B00CPAAHIS/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446130071&sr=1-8&keywords=poe+injector+12v&refinements=p_85:2470955011

Once I get #1 and #2 resolved, I'll tackle the link from alastairstevenson to spoof the region. Long long time ago I used a hex editor to change something so the concept is not totally foreign to me. I just need to go 1 step at a time here to eventually figure it out.

Thanks!

 

[djangel]

...
And @whoslooking recently helpfully posted a video on the steps to take - but I can't locate it just now.

Here it is.

https://www.ipcamtalk.com/showthread.php/5988-MTD-HACK-made-easy-on-Video?highlight=mtd+hack+video

 

[reeves1985]

Ugh - This is going to take me some time... Corey - My cams currently show 5.2.0 firmware, so I think I need to do as alastairstevenson mentioned. But I'm old and dumb so bear with me. Here are the issues so far:

1) Most of the cams are in hard to access places. The DS-2CD2432F-IW is a desktop camera so I am trying to get that one "fixed" first. I connected it to an external power supply and tried to access it by plugging it directly into my PC laptop. But when I put in the IP address for the camera it can't access the cam. I tried the same by plugging in into my router and an external power supply. Again nothing comes up when I enter the cam's IP address in Safari. However, the camera shows up in SADP when it is plugged into the laptop or the router. I can also change things like the IP address on the cam using SADP. So I'm puzzled why the browsers can't get to the cam's menu.

2) Is there an inexpensive adapter I can get on Amazon to inject power into the ethernet cable that goes to the camera(s)? Once I figure out #1, I will need some method to get power to the cams to edit the firmware in them with my laptop if that can't be done via the NVR. Otherwise it will be quite a job accessing the cameras to remove them to get access to the power supply cord. Will this work?

http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-PoE150S-Gigabit-Injector-compliant/dp/B001PS9E5I/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446130765&sr=1-1&keywords=poe+injector+12v

There is also this one that seems like I would plug in my existing power supply into it:

http://www.amazon.com/Super-Power-Supply-Ethernet-routers/dp/B00CPAAHIS/ref=sr_1_8?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1446130071&sr=1-8&keywords=poe+injector+12v&refinements=p_85:2470955011

Once I get #1 and #2 resolved, I'll tackle the link from alastairstevenson to spoof the region. Long long time ago I used a hex editor to change something so the concept is not totally foreign to me. I just need to go 1 step at a time here to eventually figure it out.

Thanks!

For #2 as long as you get an active Poe injector then the cams should be able to automatically pick it up and power up.

If you use a passive type injector you will need to split the Ethernet cable at the tother end using a splitter and plug into the dc cable on the pigtail.
I have one setup this way before I got a Poe switch and its still up because I haven't gotten around to removing it and plugging it into the other!

 

[CoreyX64]

My cams currently show 5.2.0 firmware, so I think I need to do as alastairstevenson mentioned

No, you can continually overwrite the same firmware version. The only restriction with the web interface is once you hit 5.2.x, you can't roll back through the web interface. On the older revision cameras (what you have) the MTD block modifications, with an extent of hex editing and programming, will allow you to permanently change the hardware region of the camera. The only benefit to this is allowing for future (english) upgrades. At present, nothing has changed from 5.2.0 to 5.3.0 besides continual removal of features (don't hold your breath, either). Personally I would not go to the hex-editing extent as my cameras are working fine and doing their job, but it ultimately depends on how much time you want to spend with them.

A user by the username CBX figured this whole thing out and made bank doing this for people some time ago, until one day in February 2015 he vanished. Someone reverse engineered his magic trick and offered it to the rest of the world - free. That's why this is a forum; its community support. Everyone helps each other. Not a cash cow.

With that being said, if you're only looking to bring these back to English so they work with your NVR, and don't plan to go on an update-spree updating firmware all the time when it is released, then downloading and uploading this specific firmware bundle onto each of your chinese-interfaced cameras WILL make them US-NVR compatible. 0 modifications required, and takes next to no time at all. Ideally, the NVR is the only firmware you would want to keep current. This firmware bundle already has the MTD blocks modified. After install, you'll want to clear browser cache to rid it of chinese characters. If using Windows, must use IE or Firefox. Safari or Firefox if you're using Mac OS X.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kgc3djfww4ogin5/Raptor_2_520_f_10_14_c.dav?dl=0

I connected it to an external power supply and tried to access it by plugging it directly into my PC laptop. But when I put in the IP address for the camera it can't access the cam. I tried the same by plugging in into my router and an external power supply. Again nothing comes up when I enter the cam's IP address in Safari. However, the camera shows up in SADP when it is plugged into the laptop or the router. I can also change things like the IP address on the cam using SADP. So I'm puzzled why the browsers can't get to the cam's menu.

This is because your laptop and camera are not logically visible on the same subnet. You'd need to set your ethernet address to an address on the same subnet as the camera, such as 192.168.254.x, with 'x' being some number other than the camera's address. At that point, the camera would then be visible. SADP operates at a different network layer than addressing does, which is why it can see devices regardless of address or subnet. Digs a little bit deeper.

Is there an inexpensive adapter I can get on Amazon to inject power into the ethernet cable that goes to the camera(s)?

Yes, any standard 48VDC PoE injector will work fine. This one is a best seller on Amazon, and supports Gigabit, which is overkill for these cameras (only support fast ethernet):
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001PS9E5I/

Active vs. Passive is not even a point of discussion. These cameras, and many other network devices operating strictly at 100Mbit speeds as opposed to Gigabit, will likely support both (doesn't hurt to verify first though). Passive PoE only works with Fast Ethernet devices such as these cameras. Since fast ethernet only uses 2 of 4 ethernet pairs by definition, passive PoE uses the remaining 2 unused pairs to send raw power to the device requesting it. Active PoE uses phantom power over all 4 pairs. For gigabit, this is absolutely required since all 4 pairs are used for data. Whatever you get, as long as its 802.3af/at compliant, you'll be fine. Otherwise it sends power relentlessly and could damage non-PoE devices if accidentally connected. I personally bought this one for bench testing and it works well with my Hikvision cameras <24W power draw:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CWVYG50/

 

[CoreyX64]

@Alan2000, Shortly after you posted this morning, I had to go to a customer's site and replace an NVR that someone spilled an entire pot of coffee on. The new NVR had the newer 3.3.4 firmware and didn't like the chinese-regioned cameras. Showed language mismatch identical to yours. I kept you in mind, and remembered to take detailed screenshots and steps. Hope this helps. Here is exactly what I did, word for word, step by step:

1. In Camera Management in the NVR, take note of all IPs of language-mismatched cameras. Write them down or whatever you need to do.
2. Download firmware to computer
3. Connect computer to NVR's PoE switch. This will not harm your computer, the switch is smart enough to know your computer isn't a PoE device. If the switch doesn't have room, pull one camera to connect the computer, then swap the pulled camera with another one post-Englishification. I had to do this because this location has 8 cameras with an 8 port PoE Switch.
4. Set a static IP on your computer's ethernet adapter to some IP that is not being used by your cameras or the NVR. Must be in the same subnet/IP range as your cameras, though. In my example, I picked .200. The NVR uses .1. By default, everything is in the network 192.168.254.0, subnet 255.255.255.0.

5. Open a WebComponents-supported browser. (IE, Firefox, Safari, NOT chrome) Dial in an affected camera's IP. You should be greeted by a Chinese interface as I was this morning. Once signed in, click on the 4th tab at the top (Configuration), then in the configuration page, click on the 3rd smaller tab below it (Maintenance):

6. In the maintenance tab, the file browse box way at the bottom is for firmware upgrades. Click on the first button to the right of the file path box and browse for the firmware you downloaded in step 2.

7. Click the second button next to that button to upgrade the firmware.

8. You will get a Chinese prompt saying "Are you sure?" at which point you will click OK. The window will gray out, and the camera will show an upgrade percentage as it goes along. Eventually, you'll get a reboot circle, and once rebooted, the camera should now be in english, and the NVR will work with it again. In my case, I needed to close Safari for the English language to reappear. That or clear cache. Sometimes refresh isn't good enough.

Finished product:

Repeat this for any of your Raptor 2xxx series cameras that are pre-2015 hardware versions and are in need of a region fixing. Just change the IP in the browser to move on to the next camera. All of these screenshots are fresh from this morning around 11AM EST, so I know for a fact this works. These cameras were hard to reach too, and I wasn't really feeling up to pulling out the ladder.

Also, I would like to correct something I said in a previous post. When I had mentioned for you to connect directly to the camera with Virtual Hosts, what I learned this morning is virtual hosts on the newer NVR firmwares are not usable if you have a language mismatch with a given camera. So you wouldn't have been able to use this anyways. Not sure how ONVIF works with that though, if at all.

 

[Alan2000]

Wow, that is exactly what I needed!!! All was going well until step #7. When I select the file, and then hit the far right button to load the firmware, I get a message with an exclamation point. A friend of mine who knows a little Chinese said it said something about an error opening the file. I tried to rename the file to digicap.dav and that didn't work. I also downloaded from the Hikvision FTP site the official 5.2.0 and same error message with that. I can view the camera image on the browser, and got through everything okay until the point it tried to load the file. I connected to a 2nd camera and same error message when I click the button to upgrade the firmware. I'm working with an old PC laptop with Win 7 and Firefox. My Macbook Pro doesn't have an ethernet port for me to try it with the Mac. Any idea on the problem?

 

[CoreyX64]

That translates to "Upgrade failed". As to why, I do not know. You may not have a choice but to use TFTP. If more than one camera is doing this then it's rejecting the firmware I gave you for the same reason. The 5.2.0 firmware on Dropbox isn't region specific, an English and Chinese camera, in my experience, both take it and run perfectly fine. I will go a step further in saying that in the last 20 minutes, I've brought a 5.1.2-stickered camera from 5.2.0 CN > 5.3.3 CN > 5.2.5 CN (TFTP) > 5.2.0 EN. Again, no issues. It might be something in the camera's Config. But then again, why multiple cameras have the issue leads me to believe otherwise.

If you are able to navigate through, find the factory reset button in the firmware itself and restore it to factory defaults. This will change it back to 192.0.0.64, in which case you'll need to update your computer's static IP accordingly. At this point, dial back into the camera through the browser with the .64 address and try the upgrade again.

The factory reset button is on that same page, but is the third button down from the top.

Give that a shot and report back. If after a factory reset it still won't accept it, you'll have no choice but to TFTP. That firmware will still work, it's just the procedure by which you load it will need to change. It's not difficult, but my neatly outlined steps are still somewhat simpler. At least I tried.


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[Alan2000]

Success! Being skeptical of everything MS / Windows, I thought perhaps the problem had something to do with Windows. It was a long shot because the browser in the Windows laptop was communicating fine with the camera. But in a hunch that Windows was the problem, I ran out a short while ago to Best Buy and bought a Thunderbolt to Ethernet adapter for my MacBook pro. I followed your instructions and success! Even the day the week is in English, and the NVR automatically added the camera as a Hikvision camera when I set it back to Plug and Play. Thank you guys so much for helping me out! Now I need to do the other 6 China cams on my system and I'll all back to running normal again. Thank you Corey for posting all the screen shots. I'm sure it will help a lot more people who upgraded to 3.3.4 like I did not knowing it was going to kill all the Chinese cams on their system.

 

[alastairstevenson]

Well done - a good end result. And as you say, lots of useful information and useful guidance for others in a similar situation.

 

[CoreyX64]

That's bizarre. I've done this on both platforms prior. If I had to take a guess, the newer WebComponents plugin for your NVR may have been the holdup. The OS X plugin, while being newer, is still behind the Windows version. That goes for iVMS as well. So far the only piece of software Hikvision has released that I've been impressed with is SADP. It needs a new name in a very bad way, but the program itself is reliable. They just released a newer version in the last month or so. Has a beautiful new coat of paint. Looks similar to the 3.4.4 web interface.

I completely understand the frustration of not having an Ethernet port. I have a Mid-2012 Retina MacBook Pro, and that Thunderbolt dongle is the best $29 you will ever spend. Probably one of the few or only advantages of having a FatBook Pro. I actually do have one of those as well, but it's more of a spare/loaner/generic use computer.

Glad to hear you got everything working. I was just trying to save you from some tedious hex editing. This has been my holy grail firmware for the last year, and I love it so much. Now I need to learn 5.2.5 and 5.3.0...


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[Alan2000]

About 2x a year something comes up that I wish I had an ethernet port on my Mac. Now I have one. The POE injector also arrived yesterday. I didn't even open the box. Not sure if I should keep it. I have the same setup in our shop except that all the cams are approved cams. Several of the cams are very hard to get too. Maybe holding onto it may be of value for some troubleshooting some day? (My home NVR is the test bed where I try out things before doing any changes to the work NVR.)

When a new NVR firmware comes out, should I take any precautions with upgrading the firmware? The Hikvision tech who was not able to give any real advice said I should have uplugged my cams when I upgraded the NVR firmware. Is that true? Will updating the NVR firmware with the cams plugged in cause them to revert to the China version again? Now that I know how to update it's not a big deal to update the firmware again, but curious to know what precautions, if any, to follow when using China cams with the DS-7716.