Third stream disappearing - DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3 PTZ

[cymruchris]

I've recently purchased a Hikvision DS-2De2A4040IW-DE3 PTZ for use in my 'Owls in the tower' project - as I liked the idea of being able to zoom in when the owls are in residence. I also liked it because it had the option of a third stream - which I could use at H264 for the RTSP feed - but still use the primary stream for recording to the NVR at H265. From factory fresh when I log in to the IP based portal through Internet explorer - the option to 'tick' for a third stream is there, and on doing so, it tells me that it needs to reboot. On rebooting however, the third stream doesn't appear in the drop-down of video parameters, only main and sub are there, and the option to tick for the third stream has mysteriously disappeared. When I set the camera back to default, the third stream tick box appears again, and then when it's rebooted, disappears again.

I've checked the firmware and it appears to be on a version more recent than the most recent listed on the European Hikvision download portal. Has anyone experienced the disappearance of the third stream option and how to fix it?

This is from the camera data sheet:

 

[cymruchris]

On boot up from factory fresh.

 

[cymruchris]

Once ticked and saved - reboot time.

 

[cymruchris]

When rebooted - the option is gone:

 

[cymruchris]

No third stream visible.

 

[JB1970]

I've noticed that on some of the data sheets, it stipulates "third stream is supported under certain settings". Not really very helpful that they don't elaborate what settings! I know that it is disabled by face capture and I think the use of H265+ used to pop up a warning that it would disable it. I'd maybe try temporarily reducing the main stream resolution to see if that has any effect - it used to be that only certain combinations of resolutions were available across the streams but I'm going back a few years there.

 

[cymruchris]

I've noticed that on some of the data sheets, it stipulates "third stream is supported under certain settings". Not really very helpful that they don't elaborate what settings! I know that it is disabled by face capture and I think the use of H265+ used to pop up a warning that it would disable it. I'd maybe try temporarily reducing the main stream resolution to see if that has any effect - it used to be that only certain combinations of resolutions were available across the streams but I'm going back a few years there.

Great tip - I turned off H265+ and the third stream appeared. I do love the way that configuration randomly makes things work and unwork on Hikvision with mostly guesswork and perserverence!

 

[JB1970]

Great tip - I turned off H265+ and the third stream appeared. I do love the way that configuration randomly makes things work and unwork on Hikvision with mostly guesswork and perserverence!

They should rename the company Quirkvision!

Out of interest are your cameras connected via the NVR PoE ports? I wasn’t sure whether once enabled in the camera I could still access the third stream via its url. I set up a Raspberry Pi yesterday to convert the NVR RTSP streams and make them accessible directly in a standard browser for use in my smart home dashboards. It would be a good use of the third stream as the sub isn’t high enough resolution and the Pi wil struggle with the main streams.

 

[cymruchris]

I’ve got these connected to a POE switch which then connects to a wireless bridge which then connects to the router - and the NVR picks them up from there. So not directly connected. I would imagine that if you ‘set’ the camera with its third stream while connected directly to the internet - as long as you then didn’t adjust any image settings further once connected - it would retain its 3rd stream. Something tells me that if you changed a setting it would lose the third stream. Maybe I’m just being cynical because it’s Quirkvision as you rightly say!

 

[JB1970]

I’ve got these connected to a POE switch which then connects to a wireless bridge which then connects to the router - and the NVR picks them up from there. So not directly connected. I would imagine that if you ‘set’ the camera with its third stream while connected directly to the internet - as long as you then didn’t adjust any image settings further once connected - it would retain its 3rd stream. Something tells me that if you changed a setting it would lose the third stream. Maybe I’m just being cynical because it’s Quirkvision as you rightly say!

My guess (but I’ll try anyway) is that, as the RTSP url is to my NVR, it’ll not pass it to the camera as it’s unaware of the third stream.

 

[cymruchris]

My guess (but I’ll try anyway) is that, as the RTSP url is to my NVR, it’ll not pass it to the camera as it’s unaware of the third stream.

On reflection - I think you're right. Are you able to introduce a POE switch to the system? They are relatively cheap - and then you could access the particular camera through the NVR - and would be guaranteed your third stream out in the public domain.

 

[JB1970]

On reflection - I think you're right. Are you able to introduce a POE switch to the system? They are relatively cheap - and then you could access the particular camera through the NVR - and would be guaranteed your third stream out in the public domain.

Yeah it’s easy enough but I prefer to keep the camera traffic segregated from the rest of the LAN. I think the third stream may have been dropped between the G3 and G5 models anyway- I might be wrong but thought I noticed it on the Hik G3 to G5 comparison table (I’ve lost the original doc)

 

[JB1970]

On reflection - I think you're right. Are you able to introduce a POE switch to the system? They are relatively cheap - and then you could access the particular camera through the NVR - and would be guaranteed your third stream out in the public domain.

All confirmed:

G1 Camera - Third stream available but needs to be switched on:

G3 Camera - Third stream available, no need or option to enable/disable it, it's immediately available
G5 Camera - They've removed it completely on the new C revision of the ColorVu and AcuSense (knew I'd read it somewhere)

Regardless, as suspected, it's not possible to access the third stream on cam 1 for instance using rtsp://IP_Address:NVR_Port/Streaming/Channels/103 (101 and 102 Main and Sub stream available) for a camera connected via the NVR PoE.