DS-7716NI-M4 NVR front Panel buttons and LEDs?

[richardjgreen]

Hi, all. Recieved my DS-7716NI-M4 today, thank you Use-IP for the fast delivery and service.

I have two questions about it if anyone can offer some assistance?

1. I cannot find in the manuals online or documentation what all the iluminated buttons and lights on the front of it do. While I don't ever really plan to touch it physically and will access it almost exclusively remotely, it would be nice to know what they're for.
2. If there a way to either entirely disable the front panel buttons and lights or at least dim them? They are seriously bright and have no need to be.

 

[Kyle]

Hi @richardjgreen - thanks again for the order

The DS-7716NI-M4 uses the same casing as the earlier DS-77XXNI-I4 NVRs, and despite bleeping when you touch them, the buttons on the front haven't served a purpose for a very long time.
I think that they did when they were first released about 8 years ago, but the functionality was then removed in later firmware releases, probably for stability / because they were seldom used (which are the reasons Hikvision usuallygive).

The case is likely the same with the M-Series NVRs, but I've asked them for some clarity as it's a good point.
We've never known of a way to dim or disable the lights either, but I'll ask Hikvision if this is possible too in case we've missed it.

I'll come back with some definite answers soon!

 

[Kyle]

So, the buttons do actually work.

We've checked on a DS-7716NI-I4/16P here, and you can use them to somewhat navigate between the menus on the local GUI, and flick between pages on the live view screen.

However, it isn't the most intuitive way of doing this, so it is probably best to just use a mouse to navigate the local GUI.

Here are the screenshots from an early K-Series user manual that Hikvision has sent me explaining what the buttons do:

 

[richardjgreen]

Thanks for the reply Kyle. Agreed that their use is limited to none. I'm guessing that you aren't aware of any way to disable them?
e.g. internally, there's a ribbon cable that connects to the panel buttons. Would disconnecting that cable cause the NVR to fail to boot or produce any errors that you know of?

 

[Kyle]

I'm afraid not, no

We haven't tried disconnecting this ribbon cable, so don't know what impact on performance doing so would have.

I asked Hikvision too, on the off chance they could tell me more, and they simply advised against disconnecting any cables that are connected to the motherboard (unless SATA off course), here's their reply to me:

I don’t recommend disconnecting any cables to the board as it may cause damage to the device and it will invalidate the warranty.