Hikvision and Mac OS
I recently acquired a Hikvision camera and could find no Apple software or browser that could adjust it completely, despite many hours of work. Most importantly, it's impossible to focus the camera and there is no Live View.
Sometimes, using iVMS-4200, the focus can be nudged very slightly but it's still way off. There are 3 options, auto, semi-auto, and manual. I went through every possible combination of these repeatedly and reset the camera many times, adjusting many other parameters, etc.
Even in Hikvision's iVMS-4200 software the zoom and pan controls don't work properly. So there seems to be an obvious problem with the software, in the case of this camera anyway.
Everything works in Security Spy, as intended, but of course it's impossible to adjust focus from there.
Is there an issue with Hikvision and Apple computers? My AXIS cameras always worked flawlessly in the browser.
Comments
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Even if the web interface mostly works for a given camera, its common for a few features to be missing/broken on macOS web browsers. Live view is a common one, though it's unusual for controls such as focus to be broken in this way. It's certainly strange that Hikvision's own software is unable to adjust the focus, which suggests the possibility that camera's focus mechanism could itself be faulty.
Try loading each of these URLs in a web browser (e.g. Safari);
http://address/ISAPI/PTZCtrl/channels/1/onepushfoucs/start
http://address/ISAPI/PTZCtrl/channels/1/onepushfoucs/reset
where "address" is the actual address of the camera (which can be obtained from SecuritySpy after clicking the "Open In Web Browser" button in the device settings). Do either of these cause any changes to the camera's focus?
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Thank you again, Ben. I think you are right. At first, I was able to perform initializations on the camera, but that functionality was lost after a short while. Your knowledge is deep indeed. I sent the camera back and will try another one because the image looked really good for the brief time the focus was correct! Must have been damaged in shipping, as the packing was probably not optimal.
It was model DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3/W, by the way. If I manage to get a replacement, I'll probably post again, looking for help with the wireless function, because it was way over my head. Until then... thanks a lot; member Meatsuit too (I had studied that PDF at the time).
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OK Rex, I think you did the right think by sending this camera back. I hope any replacement you get won't give you so much trouble! Please report back with any findings you would like to share or if you ever need any further help from us.
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Thank you so much, Ben. You've been really helpful, as always.
Yes, I got my replacement DS-2DE2A404IW-DE3/W camera today. I managed to get it set up after a bit of a struggle: the stumbling block was that the software defaults to locking the camera for about 25 minutes after a certain number of failed accesses, due to typing a wrong password. That really threw me for a loop. So, an old password in Security Spy would probably count as an attempted access, I think? Then I'd restart Security Spy and try again; another attempted access! I think it locks up after 7 attempts, by default.
Another tricky feature is that one has to select Audio & Video in the browser, because it defaults to Video and it took me a while to spot that.
Everything works well enough, though the low-light performance in the Axis 3367 is much better, I have to say.
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Great to hear you have managed to get everything working despite these stumbling blocks. Yes, some cameras can unfortunately lock you out after repeated failed logins, and this can include attempts to access the video stream. No doubt a useful security feature, but can add frustration for genuine users too.
