What brands are most responsive at fixing bugs ?

[Sneezy]

Hi Guys,
What IPC home consumer brands are the most responsive to fixing their FW bugs ?
Looking to ditch my buggy $100 to 150 IPC's and replace with something, but what brand is safest in that regard ?

 

[wittaj]

None of them are that responsive. Most will see maybe 3 firmware updates, but they are usually to fix security vulnerabilities years after the fact, which for most of us are useless since we isolate the cameras from the internet.

 

[Sneezy]

Hmm, sad. If that's the case which brands in your opinion have less bugs out of the box than the average ?

 

[wittaj]

What cameras do you have now and what bugs do you have?

Many will say Axis comes with few bugs, but you will pay for them!

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.

Unless the release notes specifically mention it fixing a problem you are experiencing, more than likely it won't fix an issue and may make the camera worse by removing functionality.

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

Dahua 5241E-Z12E that someone updated and then constantly reboots.

Dahua 49225 and 49425 PTZ that Dahua intentionally removed autotracking with an update to force people to buy the more expensive PTZ.

Hikvision DS-2DEA425IW-DW PTZ that Hikvision intentionally removed autotracking with an update to force people to buy the more expensive PTZ (*V5.7.3 220315 -Remove auto-tracking functions on DE4A).

Hikvision ANPR camera losing half the FPS and loses the ability to read US plates - those are big deals to have happen, especially if you live in the USA.

Hikvision ANPR DS-2CD4A26FWD camera that lost all ability to read plates - kinda makes a plate reader camera useless.

Hikvision camera that the user lost ability to control the LED light function at night.

Hikvision DS-7616NI-Q2 NVR that has the APIs changed. This is a big deal if you run automation.

Hikvision wifi camera that loses the ability to use wifi after a firmware update and was intentionally removed due to too many complaints that the camera was dropping signal.

DH-DB61 Doorbell that loses API functionality. A big deal for someone with automation.

Hikvision iVM4200 v3.8 - loses the free ability to use the computer as storage and now need to subscribe.

Dahua IPC-HFW1320S that started phoning home using 60MB/hr and costing someone thousands of dollars in data overages when he got his next mobile bill.

Dahua 5442 that will not allow playback of the SD card.

Dahua NVR58XX-4KS2 that had custom protocol (ability to add a camera via RTSP) removed possibly to force people to purchase same brand cameras.

Countless other instances where the camera or NVR simply bricked and became useless.
Countless examples where the camera or NVR went into Chinese.

Manufacturers are now preventing their equipment to be updated with an older working firmware after it was updated to a more recent firmware.

 

[sdkid]

What cameras do you have now and what bugs do you have?

Many will say Axis comes with few bugs, but you will pay for them!

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.

Unless the release notes specifically mention it fixing a problem you are experiencing, more than likely it won't fix an issue and may make the camera worse by removing functionality.

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

Dahua 5241E-Z12E that someone updated and then constantly reboots.

Dahua 49225 and 49425 PTZ that Dahua intentionally removed autotracking with an update to force people to buy the more expensive PTZ.

Hikvision DS-2DEA425IW-DW PTZ that Hikvision intentionally removed autotracking with an update to force people to buy the more expensive PTZ (*V5.7.3 220315 -Remove auto-tracking functions on DE4A).

Hikvision ANPR camera losing half the FPS and loses the ability to read US plates - those are big deals to have happen, especially if you live in the USA.

Hikvision ANPR DS-2CD4A26FWD camera that lost all ability to read plates - kinda makes a plate reader camera useless.

Hikvision camera that the user lost ability to control the LED light function at night.

Hikvision DS-7616NI-Q2 NVR that has the APIs changed. This is a big deal if you run automation.

Hikvision wifi camera that loses the ability to use wifi after a firmware update and was intentionally removed due to too many complaints that the camera was dropping signal.

DH-DB61 Doorbell that loses API functionality. A big deal for someone with automation.

Hikvision iVM4200 v3.8 - loses the free ability to use the computer as storage and now need to subscribe.

Dahua IPC-HFW1320S that started phoning home using 60MB/hr and costing someone thousands of dollars in data overages when he got his next mobile bill.

Dahua 5442 that will not allow playback of the SD card.

Dahua NVR58XX-4KS2 that had custom protocol (ability to add a camera via RTSP) removed possibly to force people to purchase same brand cameras.

Countless other instances where the camera or NVR simply bricked and became useless.
Countless examples where the camera or NVR went into Chinese.

Manufacturers are now preventing their equipment to be updated with an older working firmware after it was updated to a more recent firmware.

THIS is a truly EXCELLENT post! You get my Great Post award!

 

[Sneezy]

I have a collection of low/midrange cameras all of which have some quirk or other. The one I'm most annoyed about is a Dahua...
I agree with don't fix what's not broken too BTW, taken that approach through a long technical career.

This bug you listed about a Dahua that most closely matches happens to be
"Dahua 5442 that will not allow playback of the SD card"
My Dahua HDW2431TM-AS-S2 refuses to overwrite the SD card when full (with overwrite selected), so I have to reformat it every X number of days. If I forget to reformat in time then I can't playback any previous recordings (they won't even list).

I suspect you are right in that a FW update won't fix it unless it is in the release notes (assuming they accurately list them), but if it's about to be smashed with a heavy blunt object I have nothing to loose

I hoped HiKvision would have been better but now that I'm warned...

The other way out of it I guess is run a NAS and stream recordings to that, but hoped to avoid it.

Thanks for the detailed reply.

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

hikvision worse, they have very bad ban on chips and change a lot of hardware for 1 camera, S1-S5 maybe within 1.5 years, so firmware change a lot, maybe only can use the SN No. to find which is the right fw, but most companies will not cost too much on EOL products/versions. So that is why hard to make update.

What we sell esp the hot selling models normally i keep my eye on it and upgrade when it really have some big update. Report back bugs guys report here, and fix up at later versions. So that is why our 54 series cameras have very low returns and very stable.

 

[Sneezy]

hikvision worse, they have very bad ban on chips and change a lot of hardware for 1 camera, S1-S5 maybe within 1.5 years, so firmware change a lot, maybe only can use the SN No. to find which is the right fw, but most companies will not cost too much on EOL products/versions. So that is why hard to make update.

What we sell esp the hot selling models normally i keep my eye on it and upgrade when it really have some big update. Report back bugs guys report here, and fix up at later versions. So that is why our 54 series cameras have very low returns and very stable.

You mean any of the 54xx models ?

 

[EMPIRETECANDY]

You mean any of the 54xx models ?

54 SERIES no big update on hardware, we update from 2019 to 2022 Aug, very stable one now.