anyone here with CCTV camera installation experience?

[SH]

I have some fixed non-PTZ Dome cameras that support CVBS, AHD, TVI and CVI and several resolution modes of 2MP, 3MP, 4MP, 5MP and 8MP.

Now each camera has a OSD menu. This is apparently accessible if you have a Hikvision DVR via its PTZ options and PTZ menu.

This is needed to put the camera into the right video standard mode and right video resolution mode.

Now is there a CCTV camera installation tool that will access the OSD menu for you while setting up the camera at its installation location without having to rely on a Hikvision DVR to access said OSD menu?

Something like:

But the question I have is are there any camera installation tools that can access hikvision camers OSD menus?

S.

[Peter Johnson]

The best tool's going to be a Hikvision NVR or DVR. How are you accessing the cameras? If it's ethernet then you can login using the IP address.

[SH]

They are not IP cameras, if you read my original post they are CVBS/AHD/TVI/CVI and therefore ANALOGUE

The cameras are Hikvision and are currently in CVBS mode. ALl are connected to a Samsung DVR, which incidentally supports 1080p AHD, and thus I want to switch the cameras to 1080P 2MP AHD mode as teh Samsung recorder can support this mode and resolution as well as the existing standard definition CVBS.

[Joe]

Do they have a serial port? If so, they may well accept either VISCA or PELCO protocol commands. The protocols unfortunately are not fixed, and vary by camera, depending on the features, but I'd have thought resolution/TV standard would be available in most controllers. If nothing else, they should be able to pop up the camera's own menu on video out, then move and select options.

It's a while ago, but I replicated a cameras rear panel joystick for the OSD menu using, I think, the PELCO protocol over RS485.

[Chris Green]

How can an 'analogue' camera be switched to a digital (1080P 2MP AHD) mode? There's a 'mis-connection' in here somewhere.

[Joe]

CVBS and AHD are analogue, TVI and CVI are digital.

[Chris Green]

".... they are CVBS/AHD/TVI/CVI and therefore ANALOGUE". Then "TVI and CVI are digital", thus the camera can be digital surely?!

[Michael Chare]

There is a Windows application called iVMS-4200 Client. You should be able to get a free copy from your camera supplier. Alternative you could send me an email to which I could reply.

or try

[SH]

The Hikvision cameras do not have Ethernet, they have just a power cable and a co-axial video cable so how do I connect said camera to a PC in order to try and get the software ralking to the camera?

It probably wont work via the DVR as the DVR is a Samsung.....

[SH]

The cameras I have are these:

There are just two cables on it, a 12 volt DC power cable and a Video cable with a single BNC connector on it.

There is NO ethernet or IP functionality at all.

Regarding digital, as far as I was aware, this is only on IP or EX-SDI or HD-SDI cameras.

S.

[SH]

No serial port on these cameras. The Hikvision DVR sends signals to the camera's OSD menu over the video co-ax cable via the PTZ menu in the DVR.

[Joe]

So a proprietary multiplex with the video. Have you tried contacting a dealer and asking if there is some control alternative to the DVR, maybe a breakout box of some kind?

Otherwise, tricky. Is there a joystick on the back of the camera for navigating the OSB display? I was once reduced to attaching extender wires to such a joystick in a camera about one inch cubed. At a later date I attached them to a microcontroller to make a (nearly) proper serial remote control.

[Theo]

There is this:

but not clear it's compatible with Hikvision.

I suppose another possibility is that the controls don't work in CVBS mode, only in modes with a control channel. I think there must be some kind of trick to make it switch modes without using the UI, like turning it on and off in a sequence or something?

Theo

[Joe]

It would be more complicated than that. There will be several screen resolutions available, and a choice of 50 or 60Hz frame rate. The posher cameras will also do 1080i50 and 1080i60, but I wouldn't expect that from surveillance cameras. It may or may not be able to do PAL and NTSC resolutions, which would make CVBS a practical output format rather than just being downconverted for monitoring.

I'd bet at least two buttons or a joystick, otherwise the camera is useless alone.

[Michael Chare]

I have four Hikvision cameras with wired POE RJ45 ports.