New RCA HSDB2A 3MP Doorbell IP Camera

[JimLS]

A little more scariness on this camera. Let's say you enter remote configuration via iVMS or BI and change the admin password... you don't do it through their app... well, their app still has access to the camera, even though it has no knowledge of the new password you set. If you change the password within the app, they store it so they can continue to gain access to the camera. So, as long as the camera is connected to the internet... with or without the app... they have admin access to the camera. And, given this access, they might even be able to read what the current password is. My 0.02 worth... keep this camera (and it's clones) isolated from the internet.

Isolation seems like a good plan. I know a bit about networking but definately not an expert so how best to do that? For my other cameras I just disconnected my router wan cable, connected the cam, got the MAC address from my router. Then blocked internet for the cams at the router and did DHCP by MAC address. But I'm not sure I can get everything going on this one that way. Have read I need the app to get the chime going. Should I be worried about this being on the same LAN as my PCs? If so how do I set up a separate network and give the DVR access to the cams and also have access to the DVR from the PCs? Would be awesome if someone has a guide for this that isn't too complicated. I have an extra old phone without sim card that still works on wifi that I use for odd apps I infrequently use at home - perhaps I could use it to do setup.

 

[msmcknight]

Isolation seems like a good plan. I know a bit about networking but definately not an expert so how best to do that? For my other cameras I just disconnected my router wan cable, connected the cam, got the MAC address from my router. Then blocked internet for the cams at the router and did DHCP by MAC address. But I'm not sure I can get everything going on this one that way. Have read I need the app to get the chime going. Should I be worried about this being on the same LAN as my PCs? If so how do I set up a separate network and give the DVR access to the cams and also have access to the DVR from the PCs? Would be awesome if someone has a guide for this that isn't too complicated. I have an extra old phone without sim card that still works on wifi that I use for odd apps I infrequently use at home - perhaps I could use it to do setup.

You do need the app to get the chime set up... a lesson I learned the hard way. If your router has a guest network or DMZ capability, you might could use it for the configuration phase and then once configured, move it to the internal network. That's what I did, but I have a fairly advanced network and I'm not familiar enough with consumer routers to know what features or flexibility they have.

Once the camera is set up with chime settings, motion range, led on/off, mic on/off, etc, you really no longer need internet access or the app... as long as you are willing to give up remote notices that someone rang the doorbell or having the ability to "answer" people at the door remotely. Remember, remote means internet access and that means hikvision has access to the camera. Using an old phone is a good idea... I used a non-cellular android tablet and then uninstalled the app when I was done.

When you're done with the initial config, you will need to use iVMS or Hikvisions Batch Config Tool to change the camera's wifi config to that of your "normal" wifi network. Don't use the app for that. You can also use those tools to change the admin password. The default 6-digit code is way too weak.

You can isolate the cameras with firewall rules on the router and/or with reserved DHCP definitions. With a reserved DHCP definition you would simply assign the camera a fake gateway and no DNS servers. When giving it a fake gateway, be sure to point it to something internal that it can ping. The camera requires a successful ping or it will continually drop the wifi about every 5 minutes.

Once you have the camera set so that it can't get to the internet, I don't see any risk in having it on the same network as your other home devices, including your main camera DVR.

 

[Studie]

So not sure where that screen is from, but since it is Main Stream that is your RTSP settings for recording to a NAS. NVR, Blue Iris, etc. Those settings should not effect your SD-Card. I think going with a better card should solve your short lifespan issue. I bought a SD-Card that was V30 rated, meaning a card that can handle video recording...

Here are my RSTP settings that records on Blue Iris (They are not default settings):
Full Frame = 30FPS (15FPS is default)
Think I also changed to Highest Video Quality too
Don't remember changing Bit Rate so it may be default.

View attachment 80540

The SD-Card I have:
View attachment 80541

HTH

EDIT: I would say I am wrong, actually some of those settings may effect your SD-Card recordings, I truly do not know, I know you can download your recordings from your SD-Card via iVMS-4200 or Batch Config. Tool. From there you can load in VLC and see what Res. they save as.

View attachment 80542

EDIT2: Ok, oh yeah I am wrong, sorry it has been over a year since I played with my SD-Card recordings. I downloaded the first recording on the above list and I see it recorded at 30 FPS (which is not default FPS), here is my Codec info from VLC:

View attachment 80544

With Blue Iris, I really have no reason to go to the SD-Card for recordings, it is nice that it is a backup though, incase my BI Box stops...Also what is nice is the recordings are saved in MP4 format...

Thanks for the info! I Just made some adjustments and bought a V30 Endurance card from Sandisk.
Hopefully this sd card lasts longer!

 

[Kallb123]

You do need the app to get the chime set up... a lesson I learned the hard way. If your router has a guest network or DMZ capability, you might could use it for the configuration phase and then once configured, move it to the internal network. That's what I did, but I have a fairly advanced network and I'm not familiar enough with consumer routers to know what features or flexibility they have.

Once the camera is set up with chime settings, motion range, led on/off, mic on/off, etc, you really no longer need internet access or the app... as long as you are willing to give up remote notices that someone rang the doorbell or having the ability to "answer" people at the door remotely. Remember, remote means internet access and that means hikvision has access to the camera. Using an old phone is a good idea... I used a non-cellular android tablet and then uninstalled the app when I was done.

When you're done with the initial config, you will need to use iVMS or Hikvisions Batch Config Tool to change the camera's wifi config to that of your "normal" wifi network. Don't use the app for that. You can also use those tools to change the admin password. The default 6-digit code is way too weak.

You can isolate the cameras with firewall rules on the router and/or with reserved DHCP definitions. With a reserved DHCP definition you would simply assign the camera a fake gateway and no DNS servers. When giving it a fake gateway, be sure to point it to something internal that it can ping. The camera requires a successful ping or it will continually drop the wifi about every 5 minutes.

Once you have the camera set so that it can't get to the internet, I don't see any risk in having it on the same network as your other home devices, including your main camera DVR.

Do you still get notifications that the doorbell button was pressed if it has no Internet access? I'm using without a chime, so need the notifications.

 

[msmcknight]

Do you still get notifications that the doorbell button was pressed if it has no Internet access? I'm using without a chime, so need the notifications.

No. The online connection is what allows for the notifications. The doorbell sends a signal to one of hikvistions servers. That server knows that address of your mobile device... because you have the app running on it... and it relays the signal from the doorbell to the app on your phone. For this to work, both the phone with the app on it and the doorbell must have access to the internet.

 

[Kallb123]

I turned the power off last night to listen to the noise of the transformer. I turned it back on not long after. After 8 hours, my app is still showing the doorbell as offline. Doorbell is connected to the network and I can see the video stream just fine through onvif software. What's the deal with the app (ezviz in particular if that matters) showing offline?
I can actually see the camera and live stream within the Ezviz app if I use the lan live view feature, but it's still offline within the main part of the app. Do I need to unscrew the doorbell to reset it after a power outage?? I've already tried a reboot via the batch config app rather than power cycling.

No. The online connection is what allows for the notifications. The doorbell sends a signal to one of hikvistions servers. That server knows that address of your mobile device... because you have the app running on it... and it relays the signal from the doorbell to the app on your phone. For this to work, both the phone with the app on it and the doorbell must have access to the internet.

I think I'll need to retain Internet then, unless I can implement some kind of hardware sensor for the chime. I can't see that happening anytime soon though. Just a note on the app side though, its likely that the hikvision server simply contact Google Firebase to ping notifications down to the app. They don't need to specifically keep track of devices then.

 

[msmcknight]

Just a note on the app side though, its likely that the hikvision server simply contact Google Firebase to ping notifications down to the app. They don't need to specifically keep track of devices then.

It's possible, but I didn't see any traffic to/from google to either device. Both the doorbell and the app maintained connections to servers hosted at Amazon.

 

[Kallb123]

I turned the power off last night to listen to the noise of the transformer. I turned it back on not long after. After 8 hours, my app is still showing the doorbell as offline. Doorbell is connected to the network and I can see the video stream just fine through onvif software. What's the deal with the app (ezviz in particular if that matters) showing offline?
I can actually see the camera and live stream within the Ezviz app if I use the lan live view feature, but it's still offline within the main part of the app. Do I need to unscrew the doorbell to reset it after a power outage?? I've already tried a reboot via the batch config app rather than power cycling.

So in order to get the doorbell working again, I had to unscrew it and hold the reset button. This meant I needed to go through whole Batch Config softap to EZVIZ SSID process again, which is a bit of a pain just because power was turned off. Is this the experience of everyone else? Needing to essentially set up the doorbell again after power being off?

Another issue today is that I'm no longer getting notifications in the app when the doorbell is pressed. I can get calls to popup, but when I first installed the app there was a notification which I tapped to open the call interface. I was relying on having that notification to intercept with Tasker and pass onto node red etc. Has this gone because I'm on hikvision firmware with the Ezviz app?

 

[pete_c]

Just a quickie FYI post.

Here initially configured the DB with EzViz app. Removed it from the app and removed the app. Been blocking the DB from accessing the internet via PFSense

After this configured the DB with batch config. I also added a second admin user. Later updated the firmware to the last Hikvision firmware posted here.

It's been running fine.

Today on a lark changed the DB gateway IP to a server on the network here.

Rebooted DB and it went to AP mode. Powered down and up a couple of times and the DB kept going to IP mode.

Enabled wireless interface on my W2016 server and connected to the DB AP mode, got an IP just fine.

Using the Hikvision batch configuration program I was able to get to the DB.

Changed working mode from ad-hoc to manage mode. It still had the original SSID and info. It did go to DHCP mode so I changed it back to a static IP and all was fine afterwards.

 

[pete_c]

This past week configured a WiFi 1 relay switch with Tasmota. Connect the NO piece to one zone on the alarm panel.

Using the ONVIF==>MQTT plugin / Homeseer / Home Assistant created an event based on the DB ONVIF PIR sensor triggers which triggers the relay switch connected to the alarm panel.

It is working well.

Next steps...

I have a small micro travel router inside of the alarm panel media can. It is running OpenWRT. It is powered by the alarm panel. Added 32Gb of play space to it and installed Paho-MQTT.

Never have played with Paho-MQTT. Started to write a small Python script which does same as HA and Homeseer.

Not sure if anyone is interested in doing something like this.

I can document it a step by step over here if you guys are interested.

It is documented over here right now ==> Hikvision Video Doorbell PIR to OmniPro 2 zone

 

[Kallb123]

Rebooted DB and it went to AP mode. Powered down and up a couple of times and the DB kept going to IP mode.

Enabled wireless interface on my W2016 server and connected to the DB AP mode, got an IP just fine.

Using the Hikvision batch configuration program I was able to get to the DB.

Changed working mode from ad-hoc to manage mode. It still had the original SSID and info. It did go to DHCP mode so I changed it back to a static IP and all was fine afterwards.

I'd like to know why it goes back into AP mode and changes from static to DHCP after a reboot or power outage. Very annoying to think there's a whole process to go through to get a doorbell working again

 

[higham1534]

Hi I'm new to this site & need to know if its possible to buy some new security screws for my DB1 door bell
I've asked Ezviz & they say cannot supply & don't give any further information, very poor service really from such a big company

these screws are so small these are the 2 screws at the bottom

hope someone can shed some light

regards Paul

 

[pete_c]

I'd like to know why it goes back into AP mode and changes from static to DHCP after a reboot or power outage.

Mine has never gone in to AP mode after a reboot or power outage until I changed the gateway address and then rebooted.

I did install the app originally on an Android VM to get it going, then deleted the device and the app and never used again.

I did in fact power off the device disconnecting the transformer to see what would happen. Every time it just went to AP mode.

I did not want to cold reset the device.

 

[Kallb123]

I'd like to know why it goes back into AP mode and changes from static to DHCP after a reboot or power outage.

Mine has never gone in to AP mode after a reboot or power outage until I changed the gateway address and then rebooted.

I did install the app originally on an Android VM to get it going, then deleted the device and the app and never used again.

I did in fact power off the device disconnecting the transformer to see what would happen. Every time it just went to AP mode.

I did not want to cold reset the device.

Thanks for that. Just to check I understand... You're saying whilst it had an incorrect gateway IP in the settings, it has never gone into AP mode. But as soon as you put in a correct gateway IP, the doorbell rebooted into AP mode. You then had to use the batch config to switch out of AP mode (ad-hoc) and back into managed mode.

 

[pete_c]

No.

I deliberately changed the gateway settings from the correct one (router) to just a server IP on my home network; then manually rebooted.

After the manual reboot I no longer saw the Hikvision DB on my network. I looked at the wireless devices on my network and saw a new AP which was the Hikvision DB AP.

Before I did this I have had no issues at all with the Hikvision DB using it in ONVIF, RTSP and JPG mode or any sort of connectivity issues with my Ruckus WAP.

 

[moista]

Hi I'm new to this site & need to know if its possible to buy some new security screws for my DB1 door bell
I've asked Ezviz & they say cannot supply & don't give any further information, very poor service really from such a big company

these screws are so small these are the 2 screws at the bottom

hope someone can shed some light

regards Paul

+1 on this - lost one screw, too. And I'm to scary, to remove the remaining one and loosing this one too.

Has someone any Details about the Screws or can measure it? Or do you know, if they are the same as on the Ring-Systems? Saw some of them on Amazon (B08MTDZSPN) (including M2 and M3.5 Screws on T6 and T15), but don't know, if some of them will fit.

 

[JimLS]

Might try running a magnet over the area where you lost the screw. They are REALLY small. I almost lost one myself when it slipped out of my fingers but it didn't go far.

 

[Daijoubu]

I've converted my doorbell push buttons to LED and to run on 9VDC, I couldn't stand the AC transformer buzzing away and liked the better efficiency of a SMPS, I see that some folks was able to power it with 12VDC, anyone tried 9VDC?
If not, I'll run some test with my lab PSU

But voltage aside, is it able to ring a mechanical chime with DC?

 

[JimLS]

Set up a guest network on my router (asus RT-AC68U) and put an old phone (not too old, the first one I tried was android 4.x and the app needed at least 5.x) on the same wifi. Got the doorbell cam connected. Loaded iVMS4200 on a laptop and connected to the same wifi. Tried to add the camera but it doesn't connect. Got the IP from the router so that should be good. Used softap_xxxxxxxxx as username and softap_xxxxxx as the password, substituting the serial number and verification code from the sticker on the front of the manual. Maybe that's not what I should be entering here?

Once I get it connected I plan to change the IP address in IVMS4200 to my main network. I don't see a way to block WAN traffic in the router until the unit is connected to the router (seems like a big oversight or maybe I just don't know how to do it) so I will disconnect the WAN cable before connecting and blocking the camera.

Is there a summary of doing this somewhere? Would really be handy to have as I stumble through this. Probably is in this thread somewhere but 300+ pages is a bit overwhelming...

 

[JimLS]

I just tried to ping the camera from the laptop and it failed.