Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I Text Overlay (Problem with Overlays 2, 3, and 4)

pepperfr

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I have two Hikvision DS-2CD2032-I cameras. Both have firmware revision 5.2.3. I am able to configure text overlay 1 at Advanced Configuration>Image>Text Overlay on the camera's web page. This text overlay works fine using the camera's web page to configure it. I am also able to write the local temp to it using some automated code. However, I can't get text overlays 2, 3, or 4 working. From the camera's web page, these text overlays seem to accept the configuration changes I make, but the text is never visible on the video image. Is anybody else having this problem? Does anyone know of a solution? It may be firmware version specific.

See the attached screenshot of the camera's configuration web page. All four text overlays are configured. "Test 1," "Test 2," "Test 3," and "Test 4" should be visible on the camera's image. However, only "Test 1" shows up on the video image. White text should be visible behind the red text on the configuration page. The white text is there for "Test 1," but not for the other 3.

I am interested to know if others are experiencing the same problem. If you respond, please indicate your camera's firmware version and whether or not all four text overlays are working on your camera.

 

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alastairstevenson

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Out of curiosity I just tried this on a 2032-I EN language with 5.2.0 firmware, it seems to work OK for me at least. This is just a small crop.
 

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pepperfr

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Very interesting. My 2032-I cams were both at firmware version 5.2.0 when I noticed the problem with overlays 2, 3, and 4. I upgraded to 5.2.3 hoping it would fix the problem. It didn't. Looks like my overlays have gone the way of the Norwegian Blue!:)

I hope to hear from others. I'm really not sure how to troubleshoot this problem. I hope it is something simple I am overlooking.
 

pepperfr

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I've done some more tinkering. I'm not sure what this means, but it looks like my camera is only allowing one text overlay to be active regardless of how many of them are configured to be active. See the screenshots below.

 

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fenderman

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Have you tried saving it? does the live view only display a single overlay?
 

pepperfr

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I have tried saving and saving and then saving again, hoping for a different result each time - to no avail. I have gone to the live view to confirm and the live view only displays one of the overlays regardless of how many have been configured (and saved). I have even tried saving and then rebooting the camera to see if it would pick up the configuration. Only one overlay is displayed at a time. I am willing to try about anything anyone can suggest.
 

pepperfr

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fenderman

Thanks for this suggestion. I have tried different browsers (IE 11, IE 8, and the latest Google Chrome). Maybe I should try Firefox, too. I have even tried writing the text overlay configuration to the camera using an xml file named hiktextoverlay.xml and cURL in a batch script:

Code:
curl -T hiktextoverlay.xml http://username:password@ipaddress:port/Video/inputs/channels/1/overlays/text/2
In the batch script you must provide the appropriate username, password, ipaddress, and port. The hiktextoverlay.xml contents look like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<TextOverlay version="1.0" xmlns="http://www.hikvision.com/ver10/XMLSchema">
<id>2</id>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<posX>96</posX>
<posY>96</posY>
<message>Test 2</message>
</TextOverlay>
 
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pepperfr

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Okay. I heard from Ryan at Nelly's Security where I purchased my cameras. He tried setting up multiple text overlays on a couple of their cameras. He could only get one text overlay to show up in the live view (same problem I am experiencing). His cameras and mine are all US versions. Ryan initially tried it on a 5.2.3 camera. He also tried it on a camera with earlier firmware (5.0.2). My cameras were initially 5.2.0 and didn't work. Now they are 5.2.3 and still don't work. This appears to be a bug in the firmware, but maybe it only affects US region cameras??? Anyway, at least it makes me feel better that I'm not the only one experiencing the problem. I am a little jealous that alastairstevenson and DaveP have cameras that work as advertised. I am assuming that they were using the actual camera text overlays and not NVR or Blue Iris overlays or something.
 

alastairstevenson

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My tests were initially via settings changed directly on the camera. The settings change was also visible on the Hikvision 7816 NVR camera settings text overlay menu.
Then I tested on the NVR, and the settings change was also visible on the camera.
So on this setting at least, it looks like either location is allowed to make a change.
 

hereu

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Ha, I'm near Dumfries :cool:

- - - Updated - - -

Meant to say that my equipment is UK spec.
 

pepperfr

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Thanks to DaveP and alastairstevenson. I didn't mean to sound distrustful. I notice that DaveP's configuration page looks a little different than mine which is interesting, but I'm not sure what it means. I really like DaveP's choice of text for demonstration purposes and I did watch the youtube posted by sprucecams.:laugh:

DaveP, I did indeed try a query similar to the one you suggest and the result confirms that you are right - the problem is one of display, as opposed to being able to set and save the values. See query results below.

<TextOverlayList xmlns="http://www.hikvision.com/ver10/XMLSchema" version="1.0">
<TextOverlay>
<id>1</id>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<posX>336</posX>
<posY>176</posY>
<message>Test 1</message>
</TextOverlay>
<TextOverlay>
<id>2</id>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<posX>336</posX>
<posY>224</posY>
<message>Test 2</message>
</TextOverlay>
<TextOverlay>
<id>3</id>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<posX>336</posX>
<posY>272</posY>
<message>Test 3</message>
</TextOverlay>
<TextOverlay>
<id>4</id>
<enabled>true</enabled>
<posX>336</posX>
<posY>320</posY>
<message>Test 4</message>
</TextOverlay>
</TextOverlayList>
 
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