View events on NAS without using camera, and CIFS vs NFS

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citlee

n3wb
Nov 15, 2015
2
0
Hi,

I've got a nice little DS-2CD2032-I that seems to be doing a pretty good job - while the motion detection is quite poor, the line crossing detection does the job for me, and I have it configured to email me pics when the line is crossed. However, I have finally got around to configuring it to save video instead. I set up a Raspberry Pi with a USB flash drive attached, shared via NFS, and a machine with a properly partitioned HD running Samba as a more permanent solution. Is there any functional difference as far as the camera is concerned with using Samba/CIFS vs NFS? I have noticed that even though it is configured to save 30 seconds of video prior to the event, it's really more like 5-10. Is this a storage limitation, a camera bug, or something else entirely?

Secondly, does anybody know of a way to browse the network storage and extract videos? Ideally I am after something web based that I can run on the NAS (running Ubuntu), & can break down the pre-allocated files into individual events. At the moment, I have to rely on being on a Windows machine and login to the camera to go to the Playback interface to browse events and export video, and I'd really like this to not be the case (what do I do when the camera fails?). I've given the Format Converter v4.0.1 from http://overseas.hikvision.com/en/tools_82.html a try, and it seems to simply take the pre-allocated file on the NAS and dump all the events in it to one file - which is fine, but it's still Windows-based. Is there anything web based that I can use instead? Is there any technical documentation/reverse engineering on the format the camera writes to the storage in? Are there any open source tools for dealing with these files?

Thanks!
 
Hi citlee,

I have the same camera, a DS-2CD2032-I (AliExpress sourced), connected to a QNAP TS-231+ NAS. When I first got the NAS, I tried CIFS but I struggled to get the camera to write to the NAS even after trying all the suggested workarounds, so then used NFS which worked well. It recorded the proper 30 seconds in NFS mode, pre and post. A few things I had to ensure was creating a separate quota limited (200 GB) user for the camera. So it sounds like you may be having some other issue? (my firmware was 5.2.0 International). Also I have motion detection, line detection, intrusion detection and tamper detection configured and all working properly. It took a while to get the sensitivities right but it is now generating very few false alerts even during rain/fog/hail (havent had snow yet!). Cant beat the day/night switch alerts though.

To your second question, I do not know enough to advise, other may chime in though. When I had the camera connected via NFS to the NAS, I was able to browse the share on a Windows PC and view the recorded video files using Daum PotPlayer. But when I added another camera to my network, it became too difficult to separetely review two cameras' videos. So now I use the built-in Surveillance Station on the QNAP NAS, so I have the NAS web interface and their QVR Client software solution to review events which I must say is so much more convenient. I can also review timestamp-syncd multiple channels simultaneously which is a time-saver.

Cheers
 
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acp_xt said:
Hi citlee,

I have the same camera, a DS-2CD2032-I (AliExpress sourced), connected to a QNAP TS-231+ NAS. When I first got the NAS, I tried CIFS but I struggled to get the camera to write to the NAS even after trying all the suggested workarounds, so then used NFS which worked well. It recorded the proper 30 seconds in NFS mode, pre and post. A few things I had to ensure was creating a separate quota limited (200 GB) user for the camera. So it sounds like you may be having some other issue? (my firmware was 5.2.0 International). Also I have motion detection, line detection, intrusion detection and tamper detection configured and all working properly. It took a while to get the sensitivities right but it is now generating very few false alerts even during rain/fog/hail (havent had snow yet!). Cant beat the day/night switch alerts though.
Click to expand...

Interesting, I get the same behaviour (not recording the right amount of time before an event) on both NFS and CIFS. I should have mentioned, the camera is running firmware V5.3.0 build 150327 and it was purchased from Amazon in July.
If quotas works, then great, that simplifies setup considerably! I will have to give that a try. Thanks!
I have not been able to get motion detection working (low false positives and capturing desired motion, I can only set sensitivity in 20% increments) with any combination of settings - but that's fine because the line detection works perfectly for me. Largest problem is a very VERY persistent spider keeps spinning a web across the lens, and as the camera's mounted on the fascia right under the end of the roof, keeping it cobweb-free is a pain in the backside!


acp_xt said:
To your second question, I do not know enough to advise, other may chime in though. When I had the camera connected via NFS to the NAS, I was able to browse the share on a Windows PC and view the recorded video files using Daum PotPlayer. But when I added another camera to my network, it became too difficult to separetely review two cameras' videos. So now I use the built-in Surveillance Station on the QNAP NAS, so I have the NAS web interface and their QVR Client software solution to review events which I must say is so much more convenient. I can also review timestamp-syncd multiple channels simultaneously which is a time-saver.

Cheers
Click to expand...

I am trying to avoid buying any new hardware (such as a QNAP or Synology NAS, or a Hikvision NVR) if possible, and having it web accessible would be perfect. I don't need it to play videos in a browser, but being able to download individual event videos would be handy. I guess if it does become too annoying to log into the camera every time then an NVR or NAS will be needed after all - not the end of the world, just not my preference.
I am up for a coding challenge though, but understanding the file formats is something I'd like to not have to do from scratch (and chances are someone else has already done the leg work on this).

Thanks for the response!
 
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