Adding Hikvision cameras not going so well! Help!

wjlxvin
wjlxvin
edited February 2015 in SecuritySpy
Hello: I've bought some Hikvision cameras - adding a couple to a network which has 3 Panasonic cameras already. Things are not going well.

The documentation for the iVMS software that comes with the cameras is seriously lacking.

I was hoping that I could avoid the iVMS software altogether with Security Spy. My SR505N router/modem has assigned the MAC addresses to static IP addresses that I've specified. I've used those static IP addresses with Security Spy but its attempts to connect fail.

And now - it looks like SS is in some kind of bind. It's not working. It's causing my Mac to run very slowly (so it seems - but it's not consuming a lot of CPU). I'm seeing ssdata files changing routinely (i have them written to a DropBox folder so I get notifications of the updates).

Is any of this helping you help me figure out how to put this right?

I'm going to try adding a couple of cameras to a separate SS system that I have running tomorrow.

Your help/direction is always appreciated!!

Thanks,

Wayne

Comments

  • Ben
    Ben
    Hi Wayne,

    You don't need to use the iVMS software or any other Hikvision-supplied software in order to set up your cameras.

    Please follow our instructions Setting up network cameras from SecuritySpy's Installation Manual.

    I believe that Hikvision cameras come pre-set with a static IP address, so see the "Cameras with a fixed address by default" section on the above page. Consult the camera's user manual to determine what this fixed IP address is - the Hikvision cameras we have seen use 192.0.0.64.

    So, as per the above instructions, you will need to temporarily set your Mac to an address on the same subnet as the camera (e.g. 192.0.0.63), then you can connect to the camera at 192.0.0.64 and give it a proper IP address on the correct subnet (log on to the camera using "admin" and "12345" as the default username and password). Then set your Mac back to its previous IP settings and you will be able to access the camera at its new address.

    As for the "ssData" file, this is a tiny invisible file that SecuritySpy creates in each camera's capture destination folder containing some metadata such as the camera name. This shouldn't happen too frequently, and because it is so tiny it should have no impact upon performance.
  • wjlxvin
    wjlxvin
    Hi Ben: You rock. Not only do you have a great product - but your support is terrific.

    A little feedback for you on Hikvision that might help others.

    I found it really easy to install these cameras (on this second system - I'll try again on the first). Even though these cameras do come with a fixed IP address (192.0.0.64) running your Network Device Finder.app (my machine was already on the same subnet mask of 255.255.255.0) found the cameras and found that they were given an IP by the server. I just used the IP addresses provided and proceeded from there. I was able to use those IP addresses to log into the cameras and change their configuration (NTP, etc.) by way of the browser.

    I then went into Security Spy, using the server provided IP addresses and set things up on that end. It went very smoothly.

    I'm not sure if what I did was the best way to go but it's working great so far.

    Many thanks!!!!

    Wayne
  • Ben
    Ben
    Hi Wayne,

    Great to hear that you have things up and running now. Let us know if you encounter any further problems.

    Just a bit of terminology for anyone else reading: the "subnet mask" defines how much of the IP address belongs to the subnet vs. the device address. Typically this will be 255.255.255.0, and this means that the first three numbers of the IP address defines the subnet (in this case 192.0.0). All devices on the network must belong to the same subnet in order to communicate with each other, but must have a unique IP address to be individually identified. In other words, the first three numbers must be the same, but the final number must be different.
  • HikCamGuy
    HikCamGuy
    edited March 2015
    If you computer's CPU is getting eaten up by the cameras, you can lower the Frame Rate on the Video/Audio section on the Video tab in the camera's configuration page. I lowered my to 8 since I have 10 cameras running on an i5 and my CPU stays around 65% utilized.

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