I give up! (Chinese cameras) need help/recommendations.

[pr1970]

Hi All

ok so recently i`ve bought two exterior wifi bullet cameras that came direct from china, although silly me thought they were local uk companies but were infact rebranded websites. One was a hikvision and the other a hosafe.
The hikvision, seemed fine apart from appalling wifi I managed to brick because the firmware didnt support domain name for ftp which I required for mangocam which I already use for my internal d-link cams. I upgraded to the latest firmware that fixed this problem and its never come back to life, I spent 2 days trying!
I bought a hosafe, from what I thought was a local supplier thinking it would be safer and that too arrived fast post from china. And that also has problems with ftp. Contacting support has fallen on death ears. Hikvision dont want to know because its a chinese import, chinese support is silent.

So now after having two new door stops in my house i`m going to try one more time. But I want something that works, with ftp and mangocam ie an ftp which uses a domain name not an ip. Preferably 720p upwards and must have wifi.

Any suggestions. No more than £100/$140us

THanks

 

[wxman]

Which Hikvision model is it? It may be one that can be fixed using the firmware posted on the Hikvision sub-forum.

As a side note, it should have worked with the firmware you had. Text domain addresses (as in XYZ.COM) simply point to a digital ip address and are simply for ease of memorization.....By typing the domain text address into a Whois database, it should tell you the digital ip address that this name points to. I had to do this in order to FTP images to my own website...

For example, you can go here:

https://www.site24x7.com/find-ip-address-of-web-site.html

If I type in "google.com", it gives me the IP address of : 216.58.194.206

Type 216.58.194.206 into the address bar of your web browser and it should go to Google....

You can search for whatever text domain you needed to connect to and it would return the digital IP that it points to.

 

[pr1970]

Thanks wxman

ITs a hikvision DS-2CD2032F-IW, I have attached a photo of the camera with its details. Strangely it says 5.3.0 on the camera but it came with an english 5.2.5 firmware I tried all sorts of firmwares chinese, english,etc. It only seems to complete with one chinese firmware via tftp but then it doesnt show up in the sadp tool afterwards. All the others i tried
(about 7 of them) complete the transfer but never finish the update. It just hangs, i`ve left it for 5+ minutes.

As for the ftp address, I tried the ip address for mangocam, which I asked support aout but they said isnt a good idea as its dynamic, but that never worked. Which is why I tried updating the firmware to use their domain name. Thats how I use my d-link cameras.

Which Hikvision model is it? It may be one that can be fixed using the firmware posted on the Hikvision sub-forum.

As a side note, it should have worked with the firmware you had. Text domain addresses (as in XYZ.COM) simply point to a digital ip address and are simply for ease of memorization.....By typing the domain text address into a Whois database, it should tell you the digital ip address that this name points to. I had to do this in order to FTP images to my own website...

For example, you can go here:

https://www.site24x7.com/find-ip-address-of-web-site.html

If I type in "google.com", it gives me the IP address of : 216.58.194.206

Type 216.58.194.206 into the address bar of your web browser and it should go to Google....

You can search for whatever text domain you needed to connect to and it would return the digital IP that it points to.

 

[Del Boy]

Someone else the other day was recommending hosafe over AE. I thought maybe they worked at hosafe!

I'm sure the DS-2CD2032F-IW can be fixed but understand it is taking a long time and is frustrating. I'm also sure there are plenty of options with UK support from the UK for £100, not that I know any because I don't use wireless ones. I'll have a little think though.

 

[bguy]

@wxman, DNS doesn't always work that way. There are virtual host servers that share an IP with many domains. Enjin.com is one of the servers that does this. Unless you use the name, it doesn't get there. An Enjin example is www.skythrones.com and www.unitedsocietygc.com. They both resolve to 199.83.131.3, but you can't use the IP. That's because those 2 and many more domains use the same IP, and it only knows what web site if you use the name.

 

[pr1970]

ok thanks DelBoy. Please let me know. I`m considering this from 1080p from foscam if I cant get either of these working. http://amzn.to/1TL5GcT

bguy: Yes thats basically what mangocam were telling me. So I had to upgrade to 5.3.5 firmware for the hikvision for this to work. Unfortunately thats what bricked my camera.

 

[wxman]

If you check the Hikvision sub-forum, you should be able to use the "5.3.0 downgrader" near the top of the page...Even though you're not on 5.3.0 right now, it should still work since it's a 5.3.0 on the sticker....If it accepts the firmware through TFTP, then make sure you're using the latest version of the SADP software from Hikvision's website...Some of the older SADP versions (like those that often come on cd's with the cams) will not work..

 

[pr1970]

If you check the Hikvision sub-forum, you should be able to use the "5.3.0 downgrader" near the top of the page...Even though you're not on 5.3.0 right now, it should still work since it's a 5.3.0 on the sticker....If it accepts the firmware through TFTP, then make sure you're using the latest version of the SADP software from Hikvision's website...Some of the older SADP versions (like those that often come on cd's with the cams) will not work..

Yes have tried that downgrader and 5.3.0. It finds and then transmits the firmware but then it never completes. I`ve left it for 10 minutes and nothing, whereas the one that did work seem to say its completed in a minute. But then it never shows in SADP, i have the latest 3.0.0.2 version.
I`ll give it another go but not convinced it`ll ever work again.

 

[pr1970]

ok I really do give up now, I decided to buy a Foscam FI9900P wifi bullet camera. Spent 2 hours setting it up, got it all working. Then decided to try the wifi, and that was working for 30mins. Left the house and then it wasnt working. Came back and then pluged the ethernet cable back in and now its not working correctly with that. Today I tried and now I cant even see it at all. Tried straight into the router, occasionally it will show up on the network and then disappear after a few seconds. It seems to be powering itself off as you can hear a small click and the IR lights are off.
The thing is i have 3 d-link cameras that I bought for £25 each and they work flawlessly for the interior. But the 3 cameras i`ve tried for the exterior are completely useless. Think i`m going to just bite the bullet and spend more and get a big brand name exterior as they at least seem to work. unless anyone has other ideas?

 

[Jack B Nimble]

never go wireless for security cameras

 

[pr1970]

Thing is none of the ones I bought were reliable wired, let alone wireless. At the moment wired is out of the question, unless power plugs would work? I only need one actually, as the front house camera will connect into our study where the NAS and router are. But for the rear of the house, need wireless solution.

 

[Jack B Nimble]

run a splitter / injector to power them . There are a million variables that will impact a wireless connection like microwaves etc.

http://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/bNrR9BAC

 

[pr1970]

ok thanks, but i dont understand why my cheap as chips dlink wireless cameras run flawlessly and these exterior ones are arriving either dead or failing soon after regardless of if they are wired or wireless. So like I say really just want to find a decent 1080p exterior camera that if I could use wirelessly all the better , but if not would look at power plugs.

 

[fenderman]

ok thanks, but i dont understand why my cheap as chips dlink wireless cameras run flawlessly and these exterior ones are arriving either dead or failing soon after regardless of if they are wired or wireless. So like I say really just want to find a decent 1080p exterior camera that if I could use wirelessly all the better , but if not would look at power plugs.

If they are failing they are either junk or you are not properly sealing the install. The dlink is likely low resolution do it doesn need lots of bandwidth...when placing a camera outside, it really highlights the problems with wifi.

 

[pr1970]

Well finally success, received a Ucam247 1080p wifi bullet cam or Ycam as theyre also known, absolutely effortless install, good instructions and the wifi hasnt faulted for 2 days. I hung the camera out the window next to where I want it to be positioned and its fine, had to reduce the fps a little from what it was wired but 15fps is fine for me.
Also, I contacted support for one issue and they responded within an hour offering a detailed fix and more help if I required. I tried foscam, hikvision and hosafe support and never received a response. Oh apart from hikvision uk who said my camera was chinese so they wouldnt help me, try china which fell on deaf ears.
So I may have spoke too soon, but finally happy even though I spent a bit more than i`d have liked.

 

[Del Boy]

Glad to here this. 15fps is fine and is better to have lower bandwidth and a stable connection.

 

[Kawboy12R]

ok thanks, but i dont understand why my cheap as chips dlink wireless cameras run flawlessly

That isn't my experience with D-Link cameras. My first IP camera was a wifi D-Link. Crashed constantly after working fine for an hour or three. I stuck it in a drawer for a while until I remembered how much I hated it then threw it out so someone else wouldn't accidentally use it. The next IP cameras I bought were by Axis. MUCH better experience. No built-in wifi but they actually work excellently as cameras. All the time. For many years.

 

[pr1970]

That isn't my experience with D-Link cameras. My first IP camera was a wifi D-Link. Crashed constantly after working fine for an hour or three. I stuck it in a drawer for a while until I remembered how much I hated it then threw it out so someone else wouldn't accidentally use it. The next IP cameras I bought were by Axis. MUCH better experience. No built-in wifi but they actually work excellently as cameras. All the time. For many years.

Maybe you should consider D-Link again, I bought these 3 months ago and theyve never disconnected once and easy to setup, and always on wifi. I have 3 of them.

 

[Kawboy12R]

3 of which model?

 

[Avareh]

Well finally success, received a Ucam247 1080p wifi bullet cam or Ycam as theyre also known, absolutely effortless install, good instructions and the wifi hasnt faulted for 2 days. ....

I admit installation of Y-Cam is a matter a few times clicking Next button and it is then set up within no-time, including their own App (in my case Android). I've myself a few months an outdoor bullet, both WIFI and wired but I never use the WIFI.
I dunno about Ucam247 1080p but Y-Cam definitely misses the motions sometimes. I have been playing a lot with different settings, sensitivity, .. but it either records too much or just sometimes forgets to record.