Hello Everyone...been reading this forum for a while and all the insight I have gained from all your posts is invaluable. Thank you and this will be my first post.
There have been a number of previous posts regarding Grey Image problems with the 120db WDR enabled on some of the newest Hikvision 4MP Cameras. Some of the solutions (or should I say workarounds) have been to adjust the brightness down and contrast and saturation higher but in my experience this has only been workaround and falls short of addressing the actual problem (which appears to be image processing related).
While most of the discussion about Grey images has been around the 4MP Turrets and Bullets but I have also noticed the same problem on the 4MP Minidomes (DS-2CD2542FWD-IS) which incidentally run the same firmware. I have a few dozen of the DS-2CD2542FWD-IS 4MP minidomes installed and the poor grey scaled image has been a major problem for us.
As many of you are aware, Hikvision makes cameras for LTS yet LTS has their own builds of firmware.
Knowing that the LTS CMIP3142W-28S (http://www.ltsecurityinc.com/ip-camera/ip-dome/ip-network-camera-dome-cmip3142w-28s.html) is the exact same minidome camera as the DS-2CD2542FWD-IS I took a look at what firmware LTS has available and noticed it was v5.3.2 (build 150915). At first glance I through that firmware probably would not be any better that the mainline Hikvision firmware of v5.3.3 build 150630 that is available from the Hikvision Europe Portal. Then I realized that the build number of the LTS 5.3.2 is actually much newer than the build of the native Hikvision 5.3.3. For those that are unaware, Hikvision build numbers represent the year, month and date of the build (YYMMDD). I figured I would give it a shot. To my surprise the WDR image quality is vastly improved and the issue with an overly grey tinted image is gone!
I would welcome anyone else’s thoughts and experiences and to see if the fix works for the 4MP Turrets and Bullets as well. We do not use the 4MP Turrets and Bullets yet so I could not test those.
A couple words of wisdom:
1. ONLY ATTEMPT loading the LTS image on a Western Region otherwise known as unhacked English Version of the Cameras (the Serial No. must have 'WR' as the last two letters followed by nine numbers in the serial number). Further the Camera should NOT have any Chinese characters on the label.
2. After going from Hikvision 5.3.x to LTS 5.3.2 Build 150915 the password may be reset to 12345. If you have an NVR that's trying to access the camera it will lockout the admin account for 30 minutes if you do not immediately login after you 'upgrade' to LTS 5.3.2 Build 150915 and change the admin password back to what you wish it to be. It a lockout does occur a power cycle of the camera clears the lockout condition. As other settings in the camera are retained when switching from Hikvision to LTS (and vice-versa) firmware.
3. We are using Hikvision branded NVRs (running 3.3.x) and they work fine with the LTS 5.3.2 firmware on the Cameras (motion detection, line cross and intrusion detection all tested)
4. I have confirmed that to go back to Hikvision firmware it is as simple as going into the camera and uploading the Hikvision firmware back on the unit. So it's easy to switch back and forth from LTS to Hikvision firmware
We are now running LTS 5.3.2 build 150915 on over 30 of the DS-2CD2542FWD-IS 4MP minidomes and could not be happier with their image quality and overall performance. I am told by Hikvision that a new mainline firmware is forthcoming to address the issues that are already fixed in the LTS v5.3.2 build 150915 but no one there will commit to a release date and we simply could not wait any longer (we have 30 more of these DS-2CD2542FWD-IS to install over the next week). There was some speculation that the image quality issues were hardware (image sensor related) but I can tell you that the LTS firmware has resolved the issue on all of our 4MP minidomes new and old (some are almost three months old).
P.S. I also have tested an early limited release of the USA version of the DS-2x22,2x42 Firmware v5.3.3 build 150826 and can confirm that it is still suffering from the WDR image quality problems that the v5.3.3 build 150630 mainline firmware.
There have been a number of previous posts regarding Grey Image problems with the 120db WDR enabled on some of the newest Hikvision 4MP Cameras. Some of the solutions (or should I say workarounds) have been to adjust the brightness down and contrast and saturation higher but in my experience this has only been workaround and falls short of addressing the actual problem (which appears to be image processing related).
While most of the discussion about Grey images has been around the 4MP Turrets and Bullets but I have also noticed the same problem on the 4MP Minidomes (DS-2CD2542FWD-IS) which incidentally run the same firmware. I have a few dozen of the DS-2CD2542FWD-IS 4MP minidomes installed and the poor grey scaled image has been a major problem for us.
As many of you are aware, Hikvision makes cameras for LTS yet LTS has their own builds of firmware.
Knowing that the LTS CMIP3142W-28S (http://www.ltsecurityinc.com/ip-camera/ip-dome/ip-network-camera-dome-cmip3142w-28s.html) is the exact same minidome camera as the DS-2CD2542FWD-IS I took a look at what firmware LTS has available and noticed it was v5.3.2 (build 150915). At first glance I through that firmware probably would not be any better that the mainline Hikvision firmware of v5.3.3 build 150630 that is available from the Hikvision Europe Portal. Then I realized that the build number of the LTS 5.3.2 is actually much newer than the build of the native Hikvision 5.3.3. For those that are unaware, Hikvision build numbers represent the year, month and date of the build (YYMMDD). I figured I would give it a shot. To my surprise the WDR image quality is vastly improved and the issue with an overly grey tinted image is gone!
I would welcome anyone else’s thoughts and experiences and to see if the fix works for the 4MP Turrets and Bullets as well. We do not use the 4MP Turrets and Bullets yet so I could not test those.
A couple words of wisdom:
1. ONLY ATTEMPT loading the LTS image on a Western Region otherwise known as unhacked English Version of the Cameras (the Serial No. must have 'WR' as the last two letters followed by nine numbers in the serial number). Further the Camera should NOT have any Chinese characters on the label.
2. After going from Hikvision 5.3.x to LTS 5.3.2 Build 150915 the password may be reset to 12345. If you have an NVR that's trying to access the camera it will lockout the admin account for 30 minutes if you do not immediately login after you 'upgrade' to LTS 5.3.2 Build 150915 and change the admin password back to what you wish it to be. It a lockout does occur a power cycle of the camera clears the lockout condition. As other settings in the camera are retained when switching from Hikvision to LTS (and vice-versa) firmware.
3. We are using Hikvision branded NVRs (running 3.3.x) and they work fine with the LTS 5.3.2 firmware on the Cameras (motion detection, line cross and intrusion detection all tested)
4. I have confirmed that to go back to Hikvision firmware it is as simple as going into the camera and uploading the Hikvision firmware back on the unit. So it's easy to switch back and forth from LTS to Hikvision firmware
We are now running LTS 5.3.2 build 150915 on over 30 of the DS-2CD2542FWD-IS 4MP minidomes and could not be happier with their image quality and overall performance. I am told by Hikvision that a new mainline firmware is forthcoming to address the issues that are already fixed in the LTS v5.3.2 build 150915 but no one there will commit to a release date and we simply could not wait any longer (we have 30 more of these DS-2CD2542FWD-IS to install over the next week). There was some speculation that the image quality issues were hardware (image sensor related) but I can tell you that the LTS firmware has resolved the issue on all of our 4MP minidomes new and old (some are almost three months old).
P.S. I also have tested an early limited release of the USA version of the DS-2x22,2x42 Firmware v5.3.3 build 150826 and can confirm that it is still suffering from the WDR image quality problems that the v5.3.3 build 150630 mainline firmware.
