New Milesight Camera (v4x.7.0.70) and NVR (v7x.9.0.4) Firmware - Introducing 'Plug-in Free' Access for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc...

[Dan]

Update 26th February 2020 - Superseded by V7x.9.0.7-r3 and V4x.7.0.73-r7: Latest Milesight Firmware for NVRs (V7x.9.0.7-r3) and Cameras (V4x.7.0.73-r7)



Some Milesight users may have already spotted the camera firmware that was released last week and the NVR firmware released today, we didn't go public with these updates straight away as we have experienced technical problems with previous Milesight firmware and didn't want to tell people to update if there were major problems with these latest releases.

I am happy to say that from our initial testing there are no major faults or bugs with the new firmware, this is great because the most important update to arrive with this firmware is the introduction of 'plug-in free' browser access. This now means that you can live stream and playback your cameras and/or NVR from any browser, both updates also include some other new features and bug fixes which you can read more about in the release notes attached below.

You can find links for the firmware files at the download center on the Milesight website or from the release note files below, there are few key things to be aware of when updating to this latest firmware:

Camera Firmware (v4x.7.0.70)

- This update will not be available for the old 4K Bullet model (UI-8E62-FIPC)
- After updating the firmware you may not get a live image, if this is the case you will need to clear the browsing data of whichever browser you are using and then refresh the Milesight camera page.
- Once you do have a live image it might be displayed slightly stretch/distorted, you can correct this by right-clicking the live view and then deselecting the resize option.

NVR Firmware (v7x.9.0.4)

- You will only be able to stream/playback cameras that are using the H.264 CODEC
- After updating the firmware you may not get a live image, if this is the case you will need to clear the browsing data of whichever browser you are using and then refresh the Milesight NVR page.
- Once you do have a live image it might be displayed slightly stretch/distorted, you can correct this by clicking the resize icon in the bottom right of the live view. (looks like 2 arrows pointing at each other - if you are viewing multiple cameras you will need to select each window of the split screen and resize each camera individually)

If you have multiple cameras/NVRs make sure you update all the device first before you clear the browsing data because if you do it after the first update you will also have to do it after the second device you update.

Please do update your firmware and let us know in this thread your thoughts about this latest update, are there any existing technical problems not fixed by this firmware? any new problems that you think might be caused by the new firmware? and any tweaks/improvements that could be made to the new 'plug-in free' feature?

 

[JamesS]

It's a bit disappointing that it only supports H.264, all my cameras are using H.265.

 

[Mal]

Thank you for updates and especially the release notes!
Mixed first impressions with these updates. Installed to one NVR and two cameras. Plugin-free operation has been on the wishist for a long time. However, dependencies to ActiveX and H.264 do not sound like a fulfillment of a dream. It took a while before I found the configuration settings for the latest version of Firefox. Image aspect ratio with plugin-free is very much stretched on horizontal direction.

Other first impressions: PTZ controls and autofocus in Mini PTZ Bullet camera feel much more robust than before

 

[Phil]

Image aspect ratio with plugin-free is very much stretched on horizontal direction.

Is this fixed by Dan's comments?

Camera:

- Once you do have a live image it might be displayed slightly stretch/distorted, you can correct this by right-clicking the live view and then deselecting the resize option.

NVR:

- Once you do have a live image it might be displayed slightly stretch/distorted, you can correct this by clicking the resize icon in the bottom right of the live view. (looks like 2 arrows pointing at each other - if you are viewing multiple cameras you will need to select each window of the split screen and resize each camera individually)

 

[Mal]

Was a bit too busy to get all information by one reading ... Deselecting resizing works Not yet tested with NVR. Another change is that this new method is very CPU intensive with Mac.

 

[cmcgarry]

I'll second that CPU usage with the plugin is stupidly high on my Mac as well, I even enabled the experimental chrome flags Milesight recommend but that had no effect.

 

[JamesS]

Do you have any information about what's included in the new camera firmware - 41.7.45.71-r2? I've upgraded and seems to be running fine, but would be nice to know what's different.

 

[Dan]

Do you have any information about what's included in the new camera firmware - 41.7.45.71-r2? I've upgraded and seems to be running fine, but would be nice to know what's different.

We thought it wouldn't be long before somebody asked this question

I saw the new firmware on Milesight's website at the beginning of the week and the first thing I did was ask them this question:

I see that there is a new camera firmware on Milesight download page - 4x.7.0.71-r2​

Do you have any release notes for this latest update?​

Milesight's response was this:

No, for beta version, we have no release note for that.​

This one just fix some bugs, you can upgrade if you need.​

We have had this response multiple times before so I replied pointing out the importance of release notes:

We have upgraded a couple of our cameras and we can't see any changes, this is why release notes or a change log are a nice thing to have.​

​

Many of the Milesight customers we have are very technical and like to know every small fix and adjustment that is made with a new firmware update, some are so wary of it they won't update until they know what features and fixes are being added with new firmware.​

​

It would improve customer satisfaction and trust if you published all the new features, adjustments, a bug fixes for every firmware version.​

Their final response is below:

I understand what you worry about Daniel.​

Generally, we only release official version on our website, and it has corresponded release note. ​

For some beta version that add some big feature, it also has realease note.​

But this firmware 71-r2 just fix some bug that customer won't met easily, no any new features, so no release note, no any changes you can find. ​

Just for avoiding the bug customer may met during further usage, it is better to upgrade device. Or you can check with me if customer met issue and I will tell you whether customer need to upgrade or not. ​

We understand the annoyance of not knowing all the details of what every update does and we would rather that Milesight not release these beta firmwares publicly if they are not going to come with release notes and instead roll these small updates into one larger update that does have release notes.

As far as we can see from our testing there are no problems caused by this new firmware and by the sounds of what Milesight say most of the updates in this firmware release are small, invisible improvements to the core software. If you do experience any problems do let us know and we will pass it on to Milesight for them to fix in the next update.

We will continue to push them on release notes in the future and hopefully, they will improve the frequency with which they publish those notes.

 

[Daz95]

Hi Dan, I’m keen to know if / when a fix will be released to sort the email attachments / screenshot for smart events?
As mentioned previously, with standard motion detection I get emails with attachments. For any of the smart events (region entrance, line crossing, human detection etc.) I get an email notification but no attachment.
Thanks

 

[Dan]

UPDATE: After pushing Milesight on the release note issue with the latest firmware I am happy to say that we have release notes for this new firmware and we have an update from Milesight in regards to their plans for release notes in the future:

This is the release note of V71-r2 attached.​

And for the further beta version which will be published on our website, we will put a simple release note in the firmware package so that customer can check it after download.​

They are not substantial release notes or updates but at least we know what is in the update and in the future the beta updates will come with a text document like this one of the small updates that have been made and then you will still get the full PDF release notes for the bigger firmware updates.

 

[Dan]

Hi Dan, I’m keen to know if / when a fix will be released to sort the email attachments / screenshot for smart events?
As mentioned previously, with standard motion detection I get emails with attachments. For any of the smart events (region entrance, line crossing, human detection etc.) I get an email notification but no attachment.
Thanks

I will pass this on to Milesight support and see if I can get an update.

 

[Dan]

Hi @Daz95

Response from Milesight Support below:

Hi,

Smart Events support to send email with snapshots when alarm is triggered. Plz ask customer update his camera and check alarm settings, don't forget to enable SMTP option.
If the issue still exists, maybe you can ask him make TV with me.

Try the above and let us know if you are still having problems with the E-mail attachments.

 

[JamesS]

Hi Dan

I assume Daz95 is talking about when you configure VCA via the NVR. E-mail alerts from here do not include image attachments. I have to configure each of my cameras individually to set the detection regions, email settings, etc. so that I can get emails with attachments. Seems like you can only do some of this via the NVA config which to me, seem a little pointless if you can't do it all. It also means you cannot use the holiday schedule functionality that the NVR has as this doesn't exist on the cameras.

Also - I use the Smart Tools app to check for, and upgrade to, new firmware. This doesn't seem to distinguish between beta versions or full releases. I wonder if I should manually check the Milesight website instead now.

 

[Daz95]

Hi James,

Yes, that's correct. I have my cameras connected directly to my NVR and as you mention, I'm not getting email attachments for smart events.
You say you have managed to get around this by configuring the cameras individually? so if I set the email details up in each camera and (in my case) line crossing and human detection on each camera it should work? Or will I need to connect the cameras directly to the router rather than go through the NVR?

 

[JamesS]

Hi Daz

I think having the cameras connected to the NVR will be fine (mine connect to an external switch, but I imagine it'll work fine with a direct connection). First go into the NVR settings and disable the Smart Event notifications (otherwise you'll get two emails for each notification). Then go to the cameras web page to configure it by typing it's IP into your browser. In there are options for the Smart Events and email config, etc. The setting are all similar to the ones on the NVR but now it means that the camera itself will send the emails, and they can have attachments - see the screen shot Dan posted earlier for how this is configured.

 

[Daz95]

Thanks James.
I’ve just tried to set up email on one of the cameras and it doesn’t seem to work (same email settings as NVR), so I’m wondering if it can’t connect to the mail server directly due to being connected through the NVR? If so I’ll need to use a switch and re-configure the system?

@Dan I’m wondering if this might be the issue? The previous feedback and screenshot you provided from Milesight are for the camera. Were they aware that I have cameras connected directly to the NVR?

 

[Dan]

Hi @Daz95

Passed this email attachment issue onto Milesight support and their response is below:

Yes, currently, only camera support to trigger VCA emails when alarm is happening. For NVR, no.​

Just because for NVR, it needs to manage multiple cameras at the same time. If NVR send emails when VCA events is triggered, it got huge data to transfer. Kind of hard to realize this.​

​

We are trying to find a way to make this function added to NVR, but I'm not sure when it can be done. ​

​

And as for the cameras connected to NVR, those cameras can't access internet, so SMTP can't be set successfully. ​

If customer want to use this function, I'm afraid he has to connect cameras to outside switch and add them to nvr manually. Then set SMTP.​

So you are correct that currently, it can only be set up when the cameras are connected remotely via PoE switch, they are working on an NVR solution to this and we will keep an eye out for this update in future firmware releases.

 

[Daz95]

Hi @Dan, many thanks for following up on this, at least I now know what the issue is. I’ll change my set up for now and keep an eye out for any updates. Cheers

 

[Alan Johnson]

Hi will this firmware work on the UI-5D64-FIPCV camera.

 

[Dan]

Hi will this firmware work on the UI-5D64-FIPCV camera.

If you login to the camera with a browser you can go to the system page you can check which firmware version you are currently on (which will probably be either v40. or v41.) then you can go to the Milesight Download page and download the correct latest version.