Lost access/live feed to cameras via NVR and browser/VMS

[Dave Howard]

Something weird and i know folks here will help.
Last Sunday i turned on 'virtual host' on my NVR 7608 (Firmware V3.0.15 build 150528). Pleased as punch, i could see IP address for each of my 6 cameras.
Camera's on old versions of firmware, but i stayed away from that in 1st instance (there be dragons i thought!) as i didn't have a ton of time.
I did however change the password on each of the cameras from default (12345) to something else, and I also changed the names of the cameras to match the names in VMS.
THEN .... over the next 5 days .. and not all at once, the camera's started to become unavailable. To a point now where livefeed does not work, they are showing "offline (IP camera does not exist)" across all of them when accessing the NVR via browser.

I have rebooted NVR, i have disconnected power/left/restarted the NVR. No difference on using iVMS, PC, ipad or browser. They just aint there anymore.

What have i done, and what can i do to get them reconnected to the NVR and working again ?

 

[Phil]

Can you see your house / cameras on here?
Hacked Hikvision IP Camera Map USA And Europe

Sorry, not even funny.

I suspect that you are going to have to go through a whole lot of updating, resetting and re-configuring.
Please bring all of your HikVision devices up to the latest firmware available.
DOWNLOAD PORTAL

 

[Dave Howard]

Thanks. Thankfully not on the map !

How am I going to access the cameras as via the link in nvr virtual host it says 'camera does not exist" ; this even tho an IP address for each camera is shown in the virtual host table.
Do I have to buy a Poe injector and connect each camera to a PC?

 

[Dave Howard]

FIXED !! No idea what had happened, but fixed via ..
1. Ethernet lead to PoE port on NVR. Connect one of the cameras back to the PoE on NVR.
2. Use SADP to see that camera and manually set its IP address, save settings via SADP.
3. Disconnect PC from NVR, and connect it to the LAN. Access NVR via its IP address in Internet Explorer browser.
4. Via NVr in browser access the Camera Maintenance, click on the only camera attached, set its IP address in here to the same as set in SADP, confirm password (if you have changed that) and save.

Do the above on each of the cameras until all back connected and live feed works.
Then i went to each camera via NVR and Camera Maintenance to update the Firmware from 5.2 to 5.3 to 5.4.
Job done.
Now i can look at buying a new camera

 

[Phil]

Well Done Dave, have you got all your HikVision devices on the latest firmware now?

 

[Dave Howard]

Hi Phil. I think so. NVR is V3.0.15 build 151230. Camera which are CD2132 (x5) and CD 2532 (x1) I have moved to 5.4.
I have set MAINSTREAM's on all camera to be 1920x10P with 20fps and 4096 max bitrate.
and SUBSTREAMS down to 704x576 with 20fps and 2048 max bitrate. Until doing this i was randomly losing cameras on iPADs/WIFI.
Think i will up the mainstreams to 25fps a couple of the cameras as I want to improve quality for number plates.

Given i have a 7608 NI-SE/P should i be looking to replace this (even tho its working). Will that improve anything substantially?
Reading the 'hints' blog post last week a turret (5mp or 8mp) is definitely something I want to do for house-front (see attached) as well as lower its height from soffits (as in photo) to half way down house. This to improve visibility and night-vision with the EXIR.

You can see from the two attached pics that the 2532 (main gate) is giving good image and largely i guess cos of its height.
The other photo (from yday) isn't getting the number plates and i think too high.

I was wondering about moving (or new camera) on each side of the porch you can see in the 2nd photo on the stone pillars. This given how good the 2532 (particularly if there was a EXIR mini-dome like it). This would cover a pedestrian gate / bins on one-side and a 2nd vehicle entrance (far side of the porch you can see)?

Sounds a bit mad, but the police and local gamekeepers tend to use our footage

Sorry a longer answer than you likely wanted but always welcome the sagely advice of the USE-IP team.

 

[Phil]

Hi Dave, Your NVR is on the latest firmware.
Your cameras are from the R1 Family and the latest firmware is V5.4.5:
DOWNLOAD PORTAL

I don't think you'd see any benefits in replacing your NVR with the current cameras. But if you add cameras from the latest EasyIP 3.0 range from HikVision, then with a new NVR you'd be able to use the much more efficient h.265+ (especially advantageous if you'd like to use high fps).

There isn't a flat dome (2532-style with EXIR).
Otherwise, all the EasyIP 3.0 models do have EXIR.

Both your sample images look pretty good.

We're beginning to see some interesting feedback on settings within Milesight's cameras providing good number plate capture e.g.

Hat tip to @bickford

Yes, the Police are always very grateful for any CCTV

 

[Dave Howard]

Thanks so much for help/suggestions. Will take a look at mile sight.

 

[Dave Howard]

Hi PHIL .. question further to above.
NVR seems to be 'disappearing'. Cant access it from iVMS or from its IP address on PC/browser.
This happens overnight - although this may be coincidence when we are not using it.
I physically reboot the NVR (power on/off) and it reappears.
As fyi, the NVR is on a subnet of 10.0.0.131 - which most other devices are on which is ORBI network.
I have also set the IP addresses of the cameras downstream of the NVR as 192.168.254.10 to 15.
When I go to the NVR lights on front, and on the hub to which it is connected, and POE/camera leds are lit.

Any reasons / setting that might make the NVR go off-line?

 

[Phil]

Have you fully set up your NVR's network settings?

I guess ORBI is wireless/mesh?
Can you remove that from the equation as a possible cause of the NVR dropping off the network?

 

[Dave Howard]

Not really as it is the network. Router connects to it, then it has landed and WiFi from it. NVR been ok with it last 5months until doing updates.

 

[Phil]

Hi Dave, Can you please run SADP when the NVR is online and send me a screenshot of the results?
(full-screen, with the right-hand side fly-out closed please, so I can see as much info as possible)
Thanks

 

[Dave Howard]

Hi Phil, see attached. Just back from working away. NVR been off 3days. Just went turned it on / off and straight back visible on SADP and browser/ivms. When I went to it, whilst power LED was on, I did not notice tx/rx LED flashing .. it did/is once I turned it on/off.

 

[Phil]

Hmm, I can't see anything wrong with those settings.

 

[Magic919]

Can you reset the NVR and set it up afresh? It might eliminate a bug in there.

When you can't reach it, have you tried pinging the address of the NVR?

What does your network set up look like?

Do you manually allocate all the IPs?

 

[Dave Howard]

Hi. thanks for comments.
Cant reach NVR via ping.
IP's are manually defined for NVR and for camera downstream of that (different IP address range 192.168.x.x from the 10.0.0.x of LAN).
Guess I could reset NVR and start again. This issue started occurring after updates to its firmware and that of cameras.

 

[Magic919]

I’d have thought IP clash, ORBI network shutting the port or problem within the NVR would cover the possibilities. If the discovery tool can’t find the NVR at the time, then the NVR has no connection to the network.

You might get away with a partial reset, or even a reset then restore the old configuration. If those fail, then go for the full reset and start from scratch.

 

[Dave Howard]

Hi Phil and Magic919. I have rebuilt ORBI and Router. No IP clashes on addresses. 7608 NVR set at static IP address. Interesting when I look at NVR log the 'disappearance' of the NVR certainly in Dec/Jan/Feb links to rough timing of 'abnormal shutdown' appearing in log (see attached). Most recently last night. All recording stops. SADP not able to see NVR. Reboot only obvious way around. A reminder NVR is on V3.0.15 build 151230. I cant see (or remember) when I applied that update but I recall Dec17.
Reading through various web-blogs, I have today tuned down the 6x cameras I have attached on mainstream from 1920x1080p to 1280x720P. Other variables staying as-is ie FR:25fps / bitrate=4096kbps / quality = higher / type = variable. This on basis of some blogs indicating that the NVR cant handle the volume/performance and CPU/memory in the NVR leads to abnormal shutdown. (I do recall having a memory leak error in Compaq servers back in my youth and until patch was released only way round was regular reboot).
Any more thoughts or does this change make sense?
Is there a calculator I can use to check the capability of the NVR (or is it a red herring)?
If I do a full reset and start from scratch on NVR per Magic919, what firmware ver do I install?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Phil]

Hi Dave,
Always use the latest firmware.
I think the latest for your NVR is here - dated 4th Jan 2016:
DOWNLOAD PORTAL

Check your cameras are all on the latest firmware too.

Reducing the fps would have a big effect on bandwidth.
You could try reducing right down to say 6fps per camera.
I can't recall if it was the case with those earlier NVRs, but you may be able to connect a monitor and see the bandwidth currently used / available.

No idea why you are seeing all those abnormal shutdowns.
Do you think it is actually powering down?
Have you ever caught it off/rebooting?

 

[Magic919]

The full reset won’t affect the firmware. It’s just wiping the configuration, not the whole device.