What NVR firmware with what cam firmware?!

[DrBo]

Hi!

I have been searching for a general guide to what NVR software is compatible with what cam software - but so far in vain.. Maybe someone here can help? Sorry if this topic has already been covered a trillion times; I have just not been able to find anything authoritative in this regard..

My setup: A HikVision 7608NI/SE, with 5 x HikVision DS-2CD2132-I 3MP cameras. 4 of the cams are connected directly to the NVR's 4 PoE ports; the 5th via a PoE port on a TP-Link TL-SF1008P. The NVR is connected to the LAN through the TP-Link switch (on non-PoE ports). Cams have firmware V5.1.0 build 131202.

For various reasons, I am sticking with (stuck with?!) NVR firmware V.2.3.7 build 131211 for some time to come. I have noticed that cam firmware 5.2.0 is now out.

My question is:

Is there any point in upgrading the cam firmware? Can the NVR actually "benefit" from it - i.e., will the features available actually change, or is everything anyhow determined by the NVR (firmware) (so the cams are just "dumb"), when the cams are connected to such a contraption? Or will the NVR no longer recognize the cams with a more recent firmware?

Oh, and the bonus question: I assume that IF I upgrade, I will have to use TFTP to upgrade the cams - i.e., connect a PC to my PoE-switch, set the IP-address to something meaningful (SADP reports that the cams are on 192.168.254.xxx, so I would have to set my PC temporarily to e.g. 192.168.254.100, right?), and then TFTP the firmware to each of the cams ??

Thanks in advance for any help! Sorry for being a newbie!

 

[fenderman]

I would not upgrade any firmware if you are not having any issues or there is a must have feature in the new firmware..its just asking for trouble..

TFTP requires you to set your pc to a specific ip address, its in the instructions..

 

[DrBo]

I would not upgrade any firmware if you are not having any issues or there is a must have feature in the new firmware..its just asking for trouble..

TFTP requires you to set your pc to a specific ip address, its in the instructions..

I agree - "if it works, don't fix it!". However, it seems that 5.2.0 offers some interesting features compared with 5.1.0: improved night vision, line crossing detection and intrusion detection... so I think it will be worth it (if the NVR supports it, that is!)

 

[aster1x]

The extra features of motion detection introduced since camera firmware 5.1.6 are not controllable from the NVR and are not used by the NVR. The major new feature since 5.1.6 is that you can set the camera to 20fps (or 25 fps) (before version 5.1.6 if I remember well was 12 or 15 fps). Also if the cameras are connected to the PoE switch of the NVR, they can not connect to the Internet and send email alerts triggered from any motion detetion feature or any other email notification triggered from video loss or similar. Also their user interface is not accesible from the lan because the NVR PoE switch isolates them completely from the LAN, unless you have NVR firmware version later than 2.3.8. In this case the NVR bridges the LAN and the cameras PoE switch through a port forwarding mechanism (aka Virtual Host). You will notice that your NVR has an IP like 192.168.1.X and your cameras have an IP like 192.168.254.Y. These are two different subnets. With NVR firmware later than 2.3.8 you can access the camera IP and interface with the IP 192.168.1.X:65001. This is exactly the same method when we port forward a port in the ADSL router from the WAN internet to a local port in the internal LAN.

In general avoid using the web interface for firmware upgrading whenever possible. Always upgrade the NVR with a USB memory stick. Also read carefully and familiarize your self with the TFTP utility. You will need it more often than you can imagine. If you do not see in the computer screen the messages in the TFTP instructions, then you are doing something wrong or something else in your computer network interface messes up your IPs. I have lost count of how many times I have bricked my NVR, but I have always managed to recover it with TFTP and with some firmware. Also download all versions of the firmware you can find in the US or the European site (there are many) including the camera 5.1.6 which seems to be the most wanted one and fully featured one but not distributed in the any HIK site!!! If the recovery does not succed with one version, try the previous one and then try to upgrade again to a higher version. As many others in the forum can testify, the HIK NVRs are very resillient to "bricking".