You got your new Hikvision camera and now you want to set it up and start working with it with no extra help and you got no technician or engineer skills. You hit the right article. Right now we are going to show you the #1 easy and fast way to setup your new Hikvision wifi ip-camera via the Hikvision tools and services. This guide includes the PC and a Phone software that allows you to work with the cameras.
I know it's terrible and annoying to get this message over and over again when trying to use your Hikvision DVR, believe me I've been there and I know exactly the way it feels like, but you just need to work on two simple configuration to solve this problem, So, let's jump into this now.
- You can access your Hikvision cameras using the Chrome browser on your Mac. But the maximum resolution it'll show is 1920 x 1080 (looks horrible on a 5K iMac). And, the Playback function seems to be missing. We tested a Config change & Save in Chrome and that seemed to work OK.
- SOFTWARE DOWNLOADS. Hikvision Downloads. IVMS 4200 for PC (Legacy) IVMS 4200 for Mac. VSPlayer for Mac. Web Browser Plugin for Mac. Windows Media Player Plugin.
Note that Hikvision cameras require us to use a PC for the initial setup and configuration.
PC Tools
You will need:
- The SADP tool. Basically, a device search tool allowing us to find devices within our subnet and to see the device status. Official Hikvision download pages:
Windows: Download
Mac OS: Download - IVMS-4500: the actual software we’re going to use to setup the camera. There is also a way to use the web interface, but we will focus on this particular method now. Official Hikvision download page:
Windows: Download
Mac OS: Download - EZVIZ Studio. As the Hikvision has a consumer-oriented sub-brand named Ezviz, Hikvision declares of a two-way support between Hikvision and Ezviz services. And that’s why we have the Ezviz Studio programm on our list. Well, this is a very common entry-level software that you can use to access the basic cam’s functions, but a Hikvision camera setup process requires us to use the SADP tool and the IVMS afterwards, because the Hikvision and Ezviz have a completely different setup processes. But after the setup is done, you are able to control all of your cameras remotely both via the Ezviz Studio, IVMS, or the phone’s Ezviz App, Hik-connect and mobile IVMS.
Don’t go to the next part until you got this software installed.
PC Setup
1. Plug in the power supply unit and / or LAN-cable and then we got to wait a minute till the cam adjusts itself and connects;
2. After that happened, go to PC and open the SADP tool. The SADP displays the status of all connected to your subnet devices. Find your camera within the list. You can see the SADP displays the camera is inactive;
3. Mark the checkbox located left to the ID column. New tab should slide out on your right and now you can see the network parameters;
4. Create a password and press activate. That’s it, we’re done with the SADP tool;
5. Open up the IVMS-4500, create an account if it asks you to;
6. Find your camera at the bottom tab;
7. Press and hold on your camera and drag it to the middle tab;
8. Press the “Remote Configuration” button;
9. Install the “Active X” driver if it asks you to by pressing the appearing link. It will download, install it and reload automatically. That should let you into the actual camera setup menu.
Camera Configuration Inside The IVMS-4500
Note this is a fast and easy setup tutorial, our goal is to show you the simplest way with no any additional features turn on.
1. System > System Settings > Time Settings. Select your timezone and also press the “sync with the PC” button to automatically set the correct time;
2. Go to Network > Advanced Settings > Wi-fi. Note – your router has to work on 2.4 g wave. Pick your network and type in your wi-fi password below and press save. For a static ip uncheck the box and enter the gateway manually;
3. The Video/Audio Tab. It depends on your camera: either it has a microphone or not. So this bar is responsible for it. Don’t have the microphone built-in cam? Just skip, it’s fine here;
4. The image settings. They are totally individual – you have a standard sliders to adjust the image;
5. The Event. Tick both boxes to turn the motion detect feature on, draw the detection area and save. If you turned on the motion detection, mark in the linkage method and A1 box too to make it work;
6. The final thing – schedule settings. Pick the event type if you have turned on the events and draw a required length. If you just want the camera to record continuously and you didn’t turn the events on – pick the continuous and draw the first line, then copy and multiply to other fields. Save, and we are done.
Phone Apps
The phone apps are not actually intended for a cameras setup and their purpose is to let you view and control some of the cam functions. Here we just want to show you the relevant apps that are compatible with Hikvision cams. That is the:
- IVMS-4500 as a main software;
- Hik-connect;
- EZVIZ App as an easy casual software.
Download Pages
iOS:
- IVMS-4500: Download
- Hik-connect: Download
- Ezviz App: Download
Android:
- IVMS-4500: Download
- Hik-connect: Download
- Ezviz App: Download
Anyway, the Hikvision cameras setup requires us to use a Personal Computer with the programs or the web interface to make everything work. The phone apps allow us to use cameras functions, such as turning and remote view and control, but not the setup.
Video-Instruction:
So it seems as of last week Firefox released a new version (52) which pretty much breaks all browser plugins apart from Flash (which is what rendered Chrome useless for this not so long ago). This means you may keep trying to install the WebComponents plugin but it does nothing. Thankfully there is a fix:How to use Firefox v52 to live view Hikvision device
1. Install the plug in first.
2. Open a blank page of Firefox and input about:config
Hikvision Web Plugin
(where you normally type the web address)
3 Press Enter. Click on the, “I Accept the Risk” Button. 4. You will then be in the plugin section of Firefox.
Right click, then go to NEW from the dropdown list. You will have 3 options to choice from, you will need to select Boolean. Once you have done that, you will need to type the plugin name:
plugin.load_flash_only
Click OK and choose “false” for the VALUE.
5. Exit firefox and reload the DVR/NVR web interface to 'accept' to run the plugin at the top of the page (all being well).
Web Video Plugin For Mac From Hikvision Firmware
There were a few other steps recommended past this, but we have found this alone to do the trick.
Adam