Patch panel vs continuous runs?

[Flintstone61]

I'm late to the game here so pardon me asking. it appears now you started out with a firmware upgrade to a camera, which threw it into a state of wonkiness. and then you setup another without the firmware update and it's doing ok?
Is that whats going on?

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

I'm late to the game here so pardon me asking. it appears now you started out with a firmware upgrade to a camera, which threw it into a state of wonkiness. and then you setup another without the firmware update and it's doing ok?
Is that whats going on?

I had a new 5442t-ze that was the first ip cam I had ever owned. After setting it up and only using BI motion detection, I thought it worked OK. I updated the firmware. I then started messing with the camera features and it would take 15 to 45 minutes of adding new cams, refreshing, rebooting, etc. to get onvif triggers in BI. If I changed much on the cam it would stop working again. Something as simple as turning off ivs and turning on motion detection would kill any triggers and I'd just have to start reseting the cam, deleting and just re doing everything over and over until it worked again. Last night I left it working and around 4 this morning, no more external alerts.

 

[wittaj]

Now you know why we say if the camera is working for your needs, do not update it!!!!

So lets swing for the fences.

Unplug the camera and then push and hold the rest button in. Plug it in while holding down the reset. Continue to hold it until you hear the IR filter click 10 times (about 2 minutes or so). Then let go. Then update the firmware again. Then do a factory reset 3 times. Then try it.

If it still doesn't work, then look for an older firmware here and rollback.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

Now you know why we say if the camera is working for your needs, do not update it!!!!

If this were to work, is the difference in picture quality easily duplicated without the updated firmware? Now that I have seen the difference with the refurbished unit that works perfectly, I'm not certain I could go back to what I saw on the new one.

 

[Flintstone61]

fuckin A....I might just roll back the fuckin firmware!
Holy shit! ...can he do that without bricking it>?
most of the time my BI system at work isn't on the NET, so i've never been able to upgrade a firmware..
which has probably saved my OCD ASS...

 

[Flintstone61]

The console view of the all my 5442's when displaying a wall of cams, seems to be a bit oversharpened compared to the 1080P cams. But when I Solo it, it's fine.
When I play back recorded video its fine. During the night time they look good on the " wall display"
it just seems that daylight view of them is oversharpened,,,I have other stuff to do in a day....not gonna worry bout it.
It's job is to do security work no?
It just has to identify something.
I wouldn't get hung up on any difference you've seen if your new to 5442's and BI setups.

 

[wittaj]

All I know is I have at least six 5442s and I haven't updated the firmware on any of them and I am satisfied with the picture quality.

If you saw major differences in the picture quality between the new and refurb, that was probably settings more than firmware.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

All I know is I have at least six 5442s and I haven't updated the firmware on any of them and I am satisfied with the picture quality.

If you saw major differences in the picture quality between the new and refurb, that was probably settings more than firmware.

Did you ever make a mistake? It happened to me...

Even then, you have no proof it worked correctly before the update, so these are just wild allegations at this point

 

[wittaj]

Did you ever make a mistake? It happened to me...

Even then, you have no proof it worked correctly before the update, so these are just wild allegations at this point

I'm not sure where you are going with have I ever made a mistake and wild allegations....

Of course I have made mistakes....I bought $#!+ cameras before I found this site LOL. I updated a perfectly working camera once and bricked it. I have blown up BI and had to restart it from scratch. The list goes on just within this field LOL.

My intent was I have at least six of the 5442 cameras, from when they first came out to one purchased within the last 6 months or so - all are running different firmware and I cannot tell a difference in picture quality from the camera running the first version of the firmware to the camera with the most recent version. So either you hadn't dialed in the cameras to your field of view so there were setup differences between the two that resulted in one having what you say was significant enough differences in picture quality that the updated firmware changed or you got a dud. But I am learning towards not being dialed in. I have seen two identical cameras each looking at the same thing and their setup be completely different after dialing them in.

You are the one that said your camera was working OK until you did the firmware update, not me, so with you being a NOOB to this site, I was simply pointing out a lesson learned that many of us have experienced with firmware updates.

So have you tried my proposed solution or not LOL. My proposal will keep the camera on what you call the firmware that resulted in better picture quality.

Contrary to the term "factory reset", it doesn't reset it back to the firmware that the camera came from the factory with - if you updated the firmware, that is the firmware that will be on it after a factory reset....

 

[wittaj]

As I mentioned, a common theme around here is don't fix what ain't broke. If the unit is working and meets your needs, in many instances an update breaks what you had working and provides you with something you didn't need or bricks the camera. In most instances, updates are simply security vulnerability patches (usually years after the breach was found), but since we do not give our cameras internet access, the update is useless to us.

Here are issues I have seen people report here where they were upgrading just for the sake of upgrading:

• A Dahua Z12E that someone updated and then constantly reboots comes to mind.
• The Dahua 49225 and 49425 PTZ that loses autotracking as Dahua intentionally removed that from the camera - autotracking is the sole reason folks buy this camera!
• The Hikvision DS-2DEA425IW-DW PTZ that loses autotracking with an update comes to mind.
• A Hikvision ANPR camera losing half the FPS and loses the ability to read US plates - those are big deals to have happen.
• A Hikvision ANPR DS-2CD4A26FWD camera that lost all ability to read plates - kinda makes the camera useless.
• A Hikvision camera that the user lost ability to control the LED light function at night.
• A Hikvision wifi camera that loses the ability to use wifi after a firmware update.
• Dahua 5442 that will not allow playback of the SD card.
• Countless other instances where the camera or NVR simply bricked and became useless.
• Countless examples where the camera or NVR went into Chinese.

Don't do it unless you know from the update notes (if they even supply that) that it is fixing a problem you are experiencing or adds a feature you really need.

Now I will say that the 5442 firmware updates have added some things that some may want. Smart IR is a feature that was added, but since I run mine in color, I don't have a need for Smart IR, so I didn't update it. SMD 3.0 was added, but my IVS was spot on so I saw no reason to try something else. I did test it with another camera and it lagged in my case compared to what was previously on the camera, so I saw no reason to update. YMMV...

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

I apologize for my lack of seriousness. It was not my intent to upset anyone, as I am thankful for everyone's help here.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

I never could get any clicks out of the camera after a few tries from 3 minutes to 8 minutes. After lots of adding, deleting, reseting, etc., I did get motion sensing to work on the first try. I'm not certain if it was just happenstance like prior attempts, or if something is actually fixed.

It also appears andy deletes prior firmware after an update so my attempts at finding older firmware has not been successful.

I do have 3 more cameras on the way though. I would have bought more during the sale, but was hesitant because I was struggling so bad getting the first one setup. Oh well

 

[wittaj]

That is odd - you should be able to get some clicks - with it now on - if you turn off all the lights do you see the red IR kick on?

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

That is odd - you should be able to get some clicks - with it now on - if you turn off all the lights do you see the red IR kick on?

I hear the click, and the ir led's turn on.

 

[wittaj]

But you don't hear it during a reset?

What if you do the factory reset from within the camera GUI?

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

I did a few hard resets, then 3 factory defaults through the browser, then a few more hard resets, then 3 or 4 more factory defaults. I never once heard anything from any the resets.

 

[Flintstone61]

Send that motherfucker back.

 

[Flintstone61]

Don't say jack about the firmware.

 

[RUMBLESTRIP]

Send that motherfucker back.

It actually seems to be working now, but we will see.

 

[brianegge]

That wasn't much fun, but holy hell do I have options now!

Clearly you planned this out pretty well, but why are you running everything back to the basement instead of putting a POE switch per level?