New RCA HSDB2A 3MP Doorbell IP Camera

[David L]

Well I'll be darned.... Sure enough, came back to life, blinking blue now. WIFI appears to be softap_C50447861 now though..... so where do I go from here?

Thanks for turning around and trying argus fix. It was great to read your success story.

 

[usafltg]

Just want you to know your message was a fantastic read. I have been extremely busy with my family lately and to read this good news lifted my spirits. Thank you for your share and helping others. I will Definitely be adding this to our 101 in hope it will help others who have solid red frozen DB. If this continues to help unbrick others, than we will be able to remove the RED LIGHT = BRICKED statement in our 101. Awesome read...With yours and usafltg's success 2020 is getting a bit better...

I believe the "secret sauce" is really in the re-formatting of the SD card, and copying the firmware file twice (with one of them being renamed), and then following the restart procedure (I didn't have to do anything with disconnecting the chime power pack or anything). It was simply, copy the firmware to the SD, re-install in the doorbell, and then I carefully hooked up one wire, and while holding the reset button, i touched the second wire while holding the thing until it booted to blue and gave me the voice prompt. Worked like a champ - Wondering if this works with the other firmware that people said were bricking their doorbells.

 

[usafltg]

That’s strange, I have no problem using hik connect app on one device and rca App on another. Perhaps delete the camera from both apps and try adding it to the rca app first, I’m sure someone else will chime in (pun intended) with a fix shortly.

Weird issue.... but apparently it somehow "reconnected" to the hikvision app even though i deleted it previously. After re-installing hikvision and deleting it and the account a 2nd time.... I then added the account under the RCA app, and was able to add the device back. Very strange.....

 

[JimEPage]

Good news. Can you switch BI to using RTSP?

I am playing here with two open board Hikvision cameras. Everytime I change the location of country/china to America/Chicago it changes back to country/china on one of two cameras. The second on is a bit different and it stays in Chicago.

Here is some of the ONVIF code (I think that is what I am seeing) that EZViz is probably using to talk to your Video Doorbell).

Everytime I have tried to edit this stuff the ONVIF program locks up.

View attachment 69475

Good to know. Thanks again. The DB1 is now behaving mostly good. It still locks up sometimes but not EVERY time as before. I think now it's because of the wifi signal...it seems to have a hard time going through my walls...!

 

[David L]

I believe the "secret sauce" is really in the re-formatting of the SD card, and copying the firmware file twice (with one of them being renamed), and then following the restart procedure (I didn't have to do anything with disconnecting the chime power pack or anything). It was simply, copy the firmware to the SD, re-install in the doorbell, and then I carefully hooked up one wire, and while holding the reset button, i touched the second wire while holding the thing until it booted to blue and gave me the voice prompt. Worked like a champ - Wondering if this works with the other firmware that people said were bricking their doorbells.

Really awesome, so awhile back we had a few here try the firmware on their Cards, they did format them but I think the missing piece, for them that is, they just held the reset button (per Hikvision instructions), they did not start the process with No Power and then apply power (many devices do this but they have a power button). The instructions we found on Hikvision site were for other Hik Cams so that is why they tried it. They did rename the FW but I am not sure they left the original file on the card nor did Hikvision suggest such, that part is interesting to me, maybe there is some type of checksum. Anyway, thank you again, the secret sauce is exposed now.

 

[usafltg]

Really awesome, so awhile back we had a few here try the firmware on their Cards, they did format them but I think the missing piece, for them that is, they just held the reset button (per Hikvision instructions), they did not start the process with No Power and then apply power (many devices do this but they have a power button). The instructions we found on Hikvision site were for other Hik Cams so that is why they tried it. They did rename the FW but I am not sure they left the original file on the card nor did Hikvision suggest such, that part is interesting to me, maybe there is some type of checksum. Anyway, thank you again, the secret sauce is exposed now.

I have another RCA here that I was planning on returning. I wonder if I try the same method with Nellys firmware and see if it works? Just take it out of the box and completely forego trying the batch config tool, and just upload the firmware to the SD card, and try the hard power method while applying reset.... ?

 

[argus]

Thank you David, but also thanks to all the other contributors here too, since I was just trying every suggestion I read.

 

[David L]

I have another RCA here that I was planning on returning. I wonder if I try the same method with Nellys firmware and see if it works? Just take it out of the box and completely forego trying the batch config tool, and just upload the firmware to the SD card, and try the hard power method while applying reset.... ?

That would be of great help here. We had a time around the beginning of this year where several who purchased RCA DBs that upgraded to Nelly's FW would brick their DBs. This was the reason for the Warning in the 101. It would be Great to be able to remove that Warning or at least be able to provide a solution, as you guys found.


From our 101:

⦁ IF YOU JUST RECENTLY (End of 2019 or 2020) PURCHASED A RCA (HSDB2A) DO NOT UPGRADE TO Nelly's FIRMWARE at this time, we have had Four RCA owners who have bricked their Doorbell doing so: - acmonster - rkulp89 - elvisthedj - jrinco11 NOTE 1: Here is a list of RCA Owners who are successfully running LaView 190716 firmware and Hikvision 200321 firmware. We are not sure that if for some reason Nelly's firmware is not compatible with the RCA or there is another reason for the bricking when upgraded to Nelly's firmware. IF YOU INSTALL LaView's or Hivision firmware on your new RCA (purchased in 2020), and are successful, please let us know.
NOTE 2: We do have new RCA owners (see last RCA Owners on our list) who have successfully upgraded to LaView and Hikvision firmware. JUST BEWARE THERE IS STILL THE POSSIBILITY OF BRICKING YOUR DB UNIT!!!

 

[David L]

Thank you David, but also thanks to all the other contributors here too, since I was just trying every suggestion I read.
All the steps may not be necessary, maybe the next person to try it just format the SD card with out adding the firmware files.
If that works the SD card may not even need formatting. If people still have their bricked units it is certainly worth a try..

Yes, we thank ALL the others here who are listed in our 101, Great Contributors, and all those who are not as well. We are all part of a Special DB community here brought together by this Great Forum of Knowledge.
No, the key to the brick recovery is being able to reload the Firmware. We all figured there was a trick, a certain procedure but most of us were not willing to brick our existing DBs, including me, to find the solution, which is very understandable. I paid $140 for my LaView last year, and RCA's stayed around the same price.
Anyway, over time we will tweak the Debricking procedure as more DB owners share their Debricking experiences. Hopefully we can come up with a easier/better solution to applying Power while holding down the Reset Button, by maybe suggesting taking the DB to a Test Bench to fix, transformers are normally cheap.

Thank You Again, Enjoy your DB, we love ours...

Have a Great Day!
Great seems to be my word of the Day

 

[tincanman]

Hello All!

Been reading this thread for few months and I pulled the trigger on EZVIZ DB last month for my parent's home. It is amazing. They feel safe and I can keep an eye too. Thanks to all the good people here sharing helpful info!

I have been plagued by following two issues with this doorbell and I would appreciate if anyone can help me with that:

• The memory card after 2-3 weeks goes into the un-formatted/uninitialized state. No matter how much I try to use EZVIZ app to reformat or batch config tool card simply can not be formatted. I have tried multiple cards with same result. I have read in last few pages that scheduling clips deletion might work. I will give this a try and see how it goes. I have seen few other people talk about this issue but I couldn't find a proper solution. Any other ideas would be helpful.
• I have added the DB to BI using the RTSP. I can view it live ok. I have set it to be recorded continuously in BI but it seems to not do so. I see clips being recorded sporadically(I am not sure what triggers recording). I am aware you need ONVIF extra functionality, but I thought RTSP for continuous recording would work. Am I missing something?

For reference, I am running latest EZVIZ firmware and have upgraded by transformer. Unifi AP is located on the other side of the DB and signal is always 3 bars in EZVIZ app. The DB is recording at 30fps.

Thanks in advance for your help

 

[JimEPage]

On oddity is that the brand of the doorbell you bought will want to be bound to its branded mobile app.
After a “non-native” firmware upgrade, you may end up having problems reconfiguring/re-adding the doorbell after a reset as the SSID of the doorbell will now follow the prefix of the brand of the firmware you are using which is not corresponding to the mobile app you initially used. You could then use the mobile app corresponding to the new firmware you are using but the QR code may then not match... problem.

The solution is to use a PC or a MAC with iVMS4200 installed (can be laptop or desktop as long as it has wifi).
1. Disable the PC or Mac’s ethernet interface to make the IP discovery easier.
2. From you wifi menu, after the doorbell has been reset, you should see an SSID from the doorbell. It should show “brandprefix_Serialnumber” as the SSID. Try joining that network.
3. You mac or PC will prompt you for a wifi password which should be “brandprefix_6lettercode”. Replace the brandprefix with the one from the SSID. It could be Laview, EZVIZ, RCA etc... and replace the 6 letter code with the password provided on the QR code sticker for the camera.
4. Once you have successfully connected to the doorbell’s wifi, your wifi interface should have been assigned a DHCP IP address. You can now discover the doorbell using iVMS4200.
5. Make sure once again to not activate the camera or change any passwords... Instead login to the camera using the username “admin” and the password “6 letter QR Code” and go into the wifi section of the menu. From here you can get the camera to discover wifi network and get it to join your wifi network using your home SSID and wifi password.
6. Once this is done, you can now go back to your phone/tablet and use any mobile app to continue setting up your doorbell which will skip through the wifi setup section.

Thanks for this: I was able to resurrect my DB1 following your instructions after a very frustrating couple of hours. Well written and easy to follow. Nice bacon-saving, Rafale...!

 

[JimEPage]

Hello All!

Been reading this thread for few months and I pulled the trigger on EZVIZ DB last month for my parent's home. It is amazing. They feel safe and I can keep an eye too. Thanks to all the good people here sharing helpful info!

I have been plagued by following two issues with this doorbell and I would appreciate if anyone can help me with that:

• The memory card after 2-3 weeks goes into the un-formatted/uninitialized state. No matter how much I try to use EZVIZ app to reformat or batch config tool card simply can not be formatted. I have tried multiple cards with same result. I have read in last few pages that scheduling clips deletion might work. I will give this a try and see how it goes. I have seen few other people talk about this issue but I couldn't find a proper solution. Any other ideas would be helpful.
• I have added the DB to BI using the RTSP. I can view it live ok. I have set it to be recorded continuously in BI but it seems to not do so. I see clips being recorded sporadically(I am not sure what triggers recording). I am aware you need ONVIF extra functionality, but I thought RTSP for continuous recording would work. Am I missing something?

For reference, I am running latest EZVIZ firmware and have upgraded by transformer. Unifi AP is located on the other side of the DB and signal is always 3 bars in EZVIZ app. The DB is recording at 30fps.

Thanks in advance for your help

Try keeping the Video quality at maximum, but lowering the frame rate.
I'd bet dollars to donuts that will solve it.

 

[Glen Mark]

You could try downloading Guarding Vision app. In the app you will find a setting for the type of chime you use. You should be able to log in with your EZviz account. The EZviz app you can still use. Alterbative: delete the db from your ezviz app and add it again with your ezviz account. You should be able to set the type of chime again, but only during setup.

I just DL'd GV 4.5.1.0716 on Android. I was able to log in with my EZVIZ username, but it seems like they have now also removed the Chime Type setting! What version are you guys using, maybe I can sideload the APK and get back to a rev that supports this.

EDIT: I found a version 3 of the app on APTOIDE (the only one that caches Guarding vision that I could find) and still I don't see the Chime Type setting that should be just below Receive Call from Doorbell -- nada...

 

[Emiks5]

I just DL'd GV 4.5.1.0716 on Android. I was able to log in with my EZVIZ username, but it seems like they have now also removed the Chime Type setting! What version are you guys using, maybe I can sideload the APK and get back to a rev that supports this.

EDIT: I found a version 3 of the app on APTOIDE (the only one that caches Guarding vision that I could find) and still I don't see the Chime Type setting that should be just below Receive Call from Doorbell -- nada...

I ‘m using GV 4.5.0.758991 for IOS , which is the newest, according to the app store. And it still has the type of chime selection in its settings. But if 4.5.1 is losing this feature, maybe we should not update anymore.

 

[Repster]

Try rebooting the camera using Batch Configuration and see if it sees the new 32Gb SD card or if not...

Can you give the SD card another format try using the Hikvision Batch Configuration program?

Thanks, I tried this but it did not work. I reset the camera in the end and this kicked the memory card in to life - Might be worth adding this to the 101?

 

[pete_c]

Thank you @Repster.

Added under Troubleshooting Tips.

 

[TechBill]

Hello All!

Been reading this thread for few months and I pulled the trigger on EZVIZ DB last month for my parent's home. It is amazing. They feel safe and I can keep an eye too. Thanks to all the good people here sharing helpful info!

I have been plagued by following two issues with this doorbell and I would appreciate if anyone can help me with that:

• The memory card after 2-3 weeks goes into the un-formatted/uninitialized state. No matter how much I try to use EZVIZ app to reformat or batch config tool card simply can not be formatted. I have tried multiple cards with same result. I have read in last few pages that scheduling clips deletion might work. I will give this a try and see how it goes. I have seen few other people talk about this issue but I couldn't find a proper solution. Any other ideas would be helpful.
• I have added the DB to BI using the RTSP. I can view it live ok. I have set it to be recorded continuously in BI but it seems to not do so. I see clips being recorded sporadically(I am not sure what triggers recording). I am aware you need ONVIF extra functionality, but I thought RTSP for continuous recording would work. Am I missing something?

For reference, I am running latest EZVIZ firmware and have upgraded by transformer. Unifi AP is located on the other side of the DB and signal is always 3 bars in EZVIZ app. The DB is recording at 30fps.

Thanks in advance for your help

Try power cycling your DB1 and see if it can read the memory card again. I am facing similar issue where after 2-3 week it no longer could read the card until I power cycle the DB1

 

[alexdelprete]

Thank you @Repster.

Added under Troubleshooting Tips.

I don't agree. Resetting everything is not a solution for everybody. Pretty drastic and simple. I think power cycling and checking other things would help, only reset as last resort.

In 101 we should put things that are applicable to a more general contest, not specific cases, otherwise it will become confusing. It's the first time I read someone had to reset to access SD Card.

 

[nupdyxa]

Are there any alternatives to using the EZVIZ App to initially configure the DB1 (WiFi etc)? I recently got a DB1 and planning to integrate it into my Zoneminder system, where it will provide continuous RTSP feed, as the other 12 cameras. I don't care about internet push notifications nor two way calling that this camera features. I only want the stream from the camera. I just would not like to deal with an EZVIZ application nor creating the account with them. I don't particularly feel cool feeding my WiFi password into their app. Is there a way to push the WiFi credentials an activate the DB1 by any other means? Isn't the camera broadcasting its own SSID while being setup, like the Radio Thermostat 3M50 for example? So one can configure the target WiFi that way. Many thanks for helping, as this is quite new for me, coming from the PoE cameras setup.

 

[TechBill]

Are there any alternatives to using the EZVIZ App to initially configure the DB1 (WiFi etc)? I recently got a DB1 and planning to integrate it into my Zoneminder system, where it will provide continuous RTSP feed, as the other 12 cameras. I don't care about internet push notifications nor two way calling that this camera features. I only want the stream from the camera. I just would not like to deal with an EZVIZ application nor creating the account with them. I don't particularly feel cool feeding my WiFi password into their app. Is there a way to push the WiFi credentials an activate the DB1 by any other means? Isn't the camera broadcasting its own SSID while being setup, like the Radio Thermostat 3M50 for example? So one can configure the target WiFi that way. Many thanks for helping, as this is quite new for me, coming from the PoE cameras setup.

You can still use EZVIZ app to set up the DB to connect it to your wifi without creating an account with them. Just delete it after you're done setting it up for the first time.