MacOS macOS Catalina & Hikvision

[acs21]

has anyone fathomed how to view Hikvision on a Mac with OS updated to the latest Catalina?

I have tried iVMS4200 - crashes every thime
Sea Monkey - Live view not working

Never managed to get safari or Firefox - even with plugins - but they're totally out of the running now.


Any genius that has cracked the Hikvision/Mac mystery please help!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Phil]

MacOS - [Oct 2019] iVMS-4200 software for Mac

Just wondering if anyone is still using iVMS-4200 software for the Mac and it is working under OS 10.15 (Catalina). Mine isn't. I have v.2.0.0.10 and that seems to be the latest. Mine crashes all the time. Any ideas, Phil and others?

www.use-ip.co.uk

 

[David]

has anyone fathomed how to view Hikvision on a Mac with OS updated to the latest Catalina?

I have tried iVMS4200 - crashes every thime
Sea Monkey - Live view not working

Never managed to get safari or Firefox - even with plugins - but they're totally out of the running now.


Any genius that has cracked the Hikvision/Mac mystery please help!!!!!!!!!!!

I use an older version of ivms 4200 with Catalina
MacBook Pro Catalina 10.15.1 and Catalina 10.15
IVMS 4200 V 2.0.0.5 build 20190220
its ok for me, occasionally crashes after quitting.

 

[acs21]

I use an older version of ivms 4200 with Catalina
MacBook Pro Catalina 10.15.1 and Catalina 10.15
IVMS 4200 V 2.0.0.5 build 20190220
its ok for me, occasionally crashes after quitting.

Have you just not updated your version of ivms or is it still available on the hik website?

 

[David]

Have you just not updated your version of ivms or is it still available on the hik website?

I have never checked for an update.

This may be it

DOWNLOAD EU PORTAL

www.hikvisioneurope.com

 

[acs21]

Tried that but it crashes when you try and add a site to the software.

 

[David]

Tried that but it crashes when you try and add a site to the software.

I don’t know of any other app for the Mac platform, it looks as though Hikvision have abandoned Mac users.

 

[acs21]

Just had an official reply from hikvision

Not good!!!

 

[Ant5246]

I too am having this problem....

 

[Hotkat]

I got this yesterday, 16/1/20 from Hikvision UK&I tech support:

Dear customer,

Please note that iVMS 4200 does not work on Mac Catalina OS, since they updated to this OS, our software does not work properly anymore, also Safari or any other browser do not support the plugins needed to run the system via browser. The only accepted browser is Internet Explorer 11.
If you are the end user we suggest you to get in touch with your seller/installer for any further information.

What he thinks a seller / installer may be able to do when the system manufacturer can't help is crazy!
My system still records but having to buy a PC in order to use IE11 to monitor the feeds on the network is a joke.

 

[Phil]

Thanks for sharing.

Plainly, as a reseller and Hikvision Partner, we will have to now take the stance that Hikvision solutions are currently not suitable for Mac users.

That is not a problem for new enquirers, in due course we'll try to determine whether any other manufacturer has a solution that works better on Macs [sorry, sitting on the fence - we have seen others improve a bit, then fall back with the next firmware release or Mac update ].
We are testing all the time.
@Dan 'lives on a Mac' - his all day every day work machine is an iMac (we also keep another in the office deliberately on a different Mac OS version for testing).
We have, for example, in turn seen Milesight do some good things, and thought for a while that Dahua might have a good Mac solution - but each has in due course disappointed!

Axis have a good solution.
Synology have a good solution.
Recording on your Mac with Security Spy has always been a good solution.

But none of those help Mac owners who have invested in Hikvision NVRs

We'll keep plugging away, and will continue to share options as & when.

 

[Hotkat]

Thanks for the reply.
I've since seen a fix on another forum but was reluctant to download anything unknown. I contacted Hikvision HQ direct and they sent me this fix with instructions.
Their UK&I support still hasn't mentioned it. They are still blaming Apple and telling me there is nothing they can do.
The fix they sent me is attached with instructions:

Dear customer,
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Please try to do as following steps:
1. Please decompress the file attached, which named "libSadp.dylib".
2. Put the extracted file in the 4200 installation root directory(as picture attached), and replace the original file.
3.Running 4200 again.

I've tried it and now the iVMS4200 is working fine for me.
Hopefully it helps others.

If anyone is wary of downloading from here, mail support@hikvision.com and ask "Your customer service centre has directed me to email you at this address for a file that will allow IVMS-4200 to work on MacOS 10.15."

Regards
Tony

 

[Dan]

As @Phil says I do work on a Mac most of the time and so can understand a lot of the challenges that people are experiencing. We often say to people that with the Chinese companies (Hikvision, Dahua, etc...) especially they have an attitude that the products are only for professionals and that a professional setup always uses a direct monitor as the main point of access. This means that these companies tend to focus their updates and fixes in this order - 1) Direct monitor access 2) PC access (iVMS & browser 3) Mac access (iVMS & browser)

As Phil also says we have seen better solutions from some other brands:

AXIS - They were one of the first brands to find a solution to browser/plug-in issue, their new browser interface is clean, simple and gives you full access to all the camera settings, the only downside is the extra cost of an AXIS system.

Milesight - At around the same time as Hikvision brought out their plugin-free update Milesight did the same, from our experience of both we would say that the Milesight solution runs smoother but this is probably down to the less complex software and lower resolution cameras, also Milesight has an issue with the file format they use for downloaded video files which do not playback with most video players. (we have discussed this with Milesight but they have no plans to change it as they say the new format makes playback in the browser smoother)

Wisenet - Wisenet recently released their VMS solution called Wisenet WAVE, it is not free but the datasheets state support for MacOS. There hasn't been much interest in it so far but Wisenet are a trusted brand and the software appears to offer many unique features according to the Wisenet website.

Talking of VMS, that is another possible solution around the Hikvision issue as VMS brands like Luxriot do support Hikvision and are MacOS compatible, but VMS solutions do often come at a large cost.

We will continue to pursue Hikvision on this Mac compatibility issue, when we asked recently they said that they were not expecting an update to iVMS-4200 for Mac until much later this year. It is understandable why the update/fix is taking so long as the Hikvision product range is massive and almost every product has slightly different software and it all has to work with this new software, but at the same time, we are annoyed with Hikvision for sleeping on the job as they have had years of notice for the browser updates and it is only now with the looming threat of Internet Explorer being discontinued that they are properly dealing with the problem.

The patch fix that you have received from Hikvision support is one that we were made aware of but the instructions seemed complicated for most users and we were worried that if we shared it publicly we would be in even more of a mess as people end up deleting the wrong file from the software and brake iVMS completely, also we have had mixed response from the few users who had tried the fix with some saying it still doesn't work.

We are happy for you to try it and let us know how you get on, we would just warn you to be cautious and to double-check the instructions and the file before deleting/replacing it.

 

[Hotkat]

Hi Dan.
Thanks for your info and advice.

As a precaution I don't delete the old file, rather rename it before putting in the replacement. That way there is always a 'rollback' option if needed.
I've run the iVMS now all morning and it seems to work just fine. All the functions I've tried work OK.
I'll update if there are problems but for now we're good to go.
Hopefully Hikvision get their act into gear and get Chrome/Firefox/Safari working too.

Kind regards
Tony

 

[acs21]

Thanks for sharing.

Plainly, as a reseller and Hikvision Partner, we will have to now take the stance that Hikvision solutions are currently not suitable for Mac users.

That is not a problem for new enquirers, in due course we'll try to determine whether any other manufacturer has a solution that works better on Macs [sorry, sitting on the fence - we have seen others improve a bit, then fall back with the next firmware release or Mac update ].
We are testing all the time.
@Dan 'lives on a Mac' - his all day every day work machine is an iMac (we also keep another in the office deliberately on a different Mac OS version for testing).
We have, for example, in turn seen Milesight do some good things, and thought for a while that Dahua might have a good Mac solution - but each has in due course disappointed!

Axis have a good solution.
Synology have a good solution.
Recording on your Mac with Security Spy has always been a good solution.

But none of those help Mac owners who have invested in Hikvision NVRs

We'll keep plugging away, and will continue to share options as & when.

HI

I have been talking to my UK Sales contact at Hik vision and today have been given the link to download the first release of ivms4200 that actually works on Catalina!!!!!


THe link is here

iVMS-4200_v2.0.0.11build20191125.zip

1 file sent via WeTransfer, the simplest way to send your files around the world

we.tl

This is a we transfer link and i can confirm it works after 4 hours of trying every feature today.

 

[dp3049]

Hi @acs21, is the 20191125 Build still working for you? If it is, the we-transfer link has expired. Is it still any chance of reposting please? Thanks, Dave.

 

[acs21]

Hi

I'll get it re sent from hikvision, can you send your email address please.

 

[Dan]

@dp3049 @acs21

No need to send it by email as Hikvision have now uploaded this version of iVMS-4200 to the UK Download Portal