Which microchips/processors does HikVision use in its cameras?
- Thread starter Infinity7
- Start date
alastairstevenson
Staff member
Ambarella and HiSilicon are the big Chinese names for the SoCs using in IP surveillance cameras.
These combine a version of the ARM 32-bit CPU for general processing and I/O with a DSP for handling video processing.
Hikvision use both.
Example:
DS-2CD2335FWD-I
Ambarella S3L (Flattened Device Tree), model: Ambarella S3L Olive Board
DS-2CD2T42WD-I8
Ambarella S2L (Flattened Device Tree), model: Ambarella S2LM Kiwi Board
DS-2CD3335-I
Hi3516a
DS-2CD2532F-IS, DS-2CD2612F
Ambarella A5M Coconut
Note: Ambarella is a US company. Agreed, though, about Ambarella and Hisilicon being the two most common.
Fullhan is another processor provider that Hikvision uses, spending $32 million with them in 2017, though do not know what, if any, Western products Hikvision uses Fullhan chips in.
Fullhan is another processor provider that Hikvision uses, spending $32 million with them in 2017, though do not know what, if any, Western products Hikvision uses Fullhan chips in.
alastairstevenson
Staff member
I wonder why I thought Ambarella was Chinese? Good that it's not, I often bemoan the lack of that type of technology outside China these days.
Btw, I was mistaken about Ambarella. It is technically a Cayman Island registered corporation, with an American / American based management team and a Taiwanese born CEO.
This actually came up in a Financial Times article just published today about Hikvision and potential sanctions.
This actually came up in a Financial Times article just published today about Hikvision and potential sanctions.
@Infinity7 Movidius chips are relatively new so I am not sure how many Hikvision (or other video surveillance products) they are being used currently. However, there is a lot of interest in using Movidius chips in 2019 / 2020 releases (e.g., Avigilon announced this year that Movidius is their new core chip for their H5 offerings). Between Intel, Intel / Movidius and Nvidia, the three represent core products used in current and upcoming 'AI' offerings.
Worth noting, Ambarella and Hisilicon both have their own AI chips so Hikvision could still choose from those two, even if / when sanctions were passed.
Worth noting, Ambarella and Hisilicon both have their own AI chips so Hikvision could still choose from those two, even if / when sanctions were passed.
I realize this is quite an old thread, but I ran across it in a search. For anyone else that's looking, it appears that Hisilicon is still widely used in HikVision cameras.
On an unrelated note, I have a DS-HD1 with a Fullhan FH8830 running RT-Thread and have been doing some research in an attempt to customize the firmware but am struggling to find many cameras (or much information) about this CPU other than broken links. No u-boot source is available, SDK/toolchain is nowhere to be found, etc. The DS-HD1 doorbell camera appears to be originally developed for HikVision subsidiary EZVIZ as model DB1. White-label versions of the DS-HD1 are available in the US and EU with nearly identical firmware and white-label versions of the HikConnect app under a number of brands, including RCA. Though it seems Fullhan is still not widely used by HikVision.
On an unrelated note, I have a DS-HD1 with a Fullhan FH8830 running RT-Thread and have been doing some research in an attempt to customize the firmware but am struggling to find many cameras (or much information) about this CPU other than broken links. No u-boot source is available, SDK/toolchain is nowhere to be found, etc. The DS-HD1 doorbell camera appears to be originally developed for HikVision subsidiary EZVIZ as model DB1. White-label versions of the DS-HD1 are available in the US and EU with nearly identical firmware and white-label versions of the HikConnect app under a number of brands, including RCA. Though it seems Fullhan is still not widely used by HikVision.
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Thanks for the link. This community needs something like the custom router firmware community has (search wikidev... or is it wikidevi? deviwiki?), which lists the actual hardware that's used in routers.
I've seen a lot of these bare camera boards. Are they typically sold with access to the SDK or is the firmware prebuilt/flashed?