Dahua IPC-HFW4431 NTP doesn't save

lcam

Getting the hang of it
Aug 29, 2018
172
38
US
I know the time sync on these cameras doesn't always work correctly. I have 4 cameras and 3 of them save the NTP server but 1 reverts back to the default server and turns DST back on which causes the time zone to be off.
Is there something that can be done to preserve this setting. I bought these cameras from a large internet supplier so I don't think I can update the firmware.
 
Indeed, the DST settings are quite troublesome. What you could try, is let "another" system force (eg through a cronjob) the correct date/time through the Dahua API's. Page 74 in the API manual states:
9.2SystemTime
9.2.1 GetCurrentTime
URL Syntax http://<ip>/cgi-bin/global.cgi?action=getCurrentTime
Comment The time format is "Y-M-D H-m-S". It’s not be effected by Locales.TimeFormat in 9.3.2 SetLocalesConfig.
Response result = 2011-7-3 21:02:32
9.2.2 SetCurrentTime
URL Syntax http://<ip>/cgi-bin/global.cgi?action=setCurrentTime&time=2011-7-3%2021:02:32
Comment The time format is "Y-M-D H-m-S". It’s not be effected by Locales.TimeFormat in 9.3.2 SetLocalesConfig.
Response OK or ERROR

Hope this helps!
CC
 
Ok I will check into this.
Do you think that preventing the camera from having internet access using the firewall would help or is the setting changing initiated by the camera itself?
Thanks
 
Ok I will check into this.
Do you think that preventing the camera from having internet access using the firewall would help or is the setting changing initiated by the camera itself?
Thanks

If you prevent all internet access, NTP will not work, unless you open outbound NTP ports.
 
I am using my router as the NTP server which works on the other 3 cameras.
 
I am using my router as the NTP server which works on the other 3 cameras.

Then I should (try to) look into the NTP server logs, to see what the difference is between these 3 working cams and this one. Is he contacting the server or is there absolute radiosilence? Then it's the cam, factory reset it, and only change the NTP settings that are put in the other ones. Then check again the logs.
 
I bought these cameras from a large internet supplier so I don't think I can update the firmware.
I'm pretty sure I've seen threads around where folks have updated the firmware. The challenge is that Dahua only supports Chinese language in the official firmware, but with browsers like Chrome having translate features, it might be workable.
 
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You might be able to update the firmware, but since Chinese is the only language supported in the official Dahua firmware for this model you'd may need to use a browser with translate features to navigate through the Chinese-language menus.
Yes I was afraid of that.