Hikvision DS-2CD2442FWD-IW not detecting motion

[dmik]

Hi

I got one of Hikvision DS-2CD2442FWD-IW indoors cameras with with PIR sensor as I wanted to see how it's working before getting more and external cameras.

I put the camera in the window overlooking a (busy) driveway as I wanted to test motion detection (without PIR and at daylight). However, I just can't configure the camera to detect and record anything. I appreciate this is an indoors camera but surely it should detect motion on an image even if the motion is on the other side of the window glass. I don't have any CCTV recorders etc, it's just connected to a PC using ethernet cable. We're also not talking about subtle motion, e.g. cars moving.

Here is what I have as settings:
1. Under 'Event' tab in the web ui, Motion Detection is enabled and so is 'dynamic analysis of motion'. Day Sensitivity is 80%, percentage 54%. Night is the same. Schedule is 24 hours to record to FTP/Memory Card.
2. No other Events are 'enabled' and area is clearly marked in 'Motion Detection' and gets car and people traffic.
3. Nothing gets saved on the Memory Card which has been previuosly formatted.

Can anyone help with any hints or suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Dan]

Hi

I got one of Hikvision DS-2CD2442FWD-IW indoors cameras with with PIR sensor as I wanted to see how it's working before getting more and external cameras.

I put the camera in the window overlooking a (busy) driveway as I wanted to test motion detection (without PIR and at daylight). However, I just can't configure the camera to detect and record anything. I appreciate this is an indoors camera but surely it should detect motion on an image even if the motion is on the other side of the window glass. I don't have any CCTV recorders etc, it's just connected to a PC using ethernet cable. We're also not talking about subtle motion, e.g. cars moving.

Here is what I have as settings:
1. Under 'Event' tab in the web ui, Motion Detection is enabled and so is 'dynamic analysis of motion'. Day Sensitivity is 80%, percentage 54%. Night is the same. Schedule is 24 hours to record to FTP/Memory Card.
2. No other Events are 'enabled' and area is clearly marked in 'Motion Detection' and gets car and people traffic.
3. Nothing gets saved on the Memory Card which has been previuosly formatted.

Can anyone help with any hints or suggestions?

Thanks

Have you set the record schedule to 'Motion'(green) as well as the event arming Schedule? Both have to be set for it to record by a specific event.

 

[dmik]

Hi, thanks for prompt response! Very useful comment as I hadn't realised I need to set different schedules and at Storage it was 'continuous' 24/7. I have now tried 3 things:
1. Under Storage I have first deleted all schedules and then
2. Under Storage I have put Motion as 24/7 schedule for all days -> not saving anything, just says 'No record file'.
3. Under Storage I have put Event as 24/7 schedule for all days -> no result as above
4. I have tried recording manually view that works (albeit to the local hard drive, not to the SD card).

The arming schedule for motion is 24hr 24/7. The firmware for the device is the latest available from 2018.

I have to say I am slightly confused with how scheduling works, can you create schedule where all types are active at the same time? If I create e.g. Motion schedule 24/7 all-week then the page shows all lines in green, whereas if I try doing another 'Event' or 'Continuous' schedule the line turns into another colour so it looks like it can only be one thing at a time??

Do you have any other suggestions that I could try, it seems the schedule didn't do the trick. I have attached 3 screenshots for reference

 

[dmik]

Interestingly, I went to the FTP server to see if there was anything saved there... it turns out the camera has been recording still images but not movies at some point (I had event-triggered capture enabled). Also, I have switched on live object detection in local settings ("rules" option coupled with dynamic movement analysis) and that is clearly showing the camera is picking up moving objects (as green rectangles at least

Still image capture wasn't brilliant though, e.g. the image capture missed to record photos of a cyclist that was highlighted green as moving object but will record my hand waiving in front of the lens (at 80% sensitivity!!).

 

[dmik]

Looking at the log files I see a lot of 'lstat failed' errors and I wonder if there is there is a bug in the firmware. I assume lstat will be trying to get file status of a firmware file so should not be problematic. The SD card has been successfully formatted few times so given the amount of lstat errors I don't think it's referring to the SD card.

43 2 S kworker/u2:2
lstat fail
lstat fail
46 2 S deferwq
lstat fail
lstat fail
56 1 S udevd
lstat fail
lstat fail
272 2 S ubi_bgt1d
lstat fail
lstat fail

There isn't anything in the log files that would indicate to a layman an error aside from *many* lstat fail errors.

 

[dmik]

Just did factory reset with the only settings now being static IP address (wired connection), motion detection (without area defined, so using 'Normal' settings) and event-based image snapshots and... still no recorded images, and now I don't have snapshots either.
FTP tests are successfull though so connectivity is definitely there.

I'm curious, is this a typical HikVision kit experience?

 

[dmik]

At risk of talking to myself now, I have connected the camera to QNAP (NAS) "Surveilance station" and to my surprise this software will correctly record motion events onto the NAS. So, there is something dodgy with HikVision firmware I would suggest.

 

[StewartM]

Check the status of the SD card reports as Normal. If not, select it and initialise it with Format.

Check your Linkage Method has Upload to FTP/Mem Card ticked.

Be careful with the percentage setting.
Sensitivity: Range [1-100]. The value of the sensitivity defines the size of the
object which can trigger the alarm. When the sensitivity is high, a very small
object can trigger the alarm.
Percentage: Range [1-100]. Percentage defines the ratio of the in-region part of
the object which can trigger the alarm. For example, if the percentage is set as
50%, when the object enters the region and occupies half of the whole region, the
alarm is triggered.

I suggest lowering the percentage to 0% for testing, you can always fine-tune later.
Scheduled settings at OFF should trigger 24/7 (mine does).
Navigate to Picture and search for File Type Motion and you should see the captured images.

Keep us posted.

 

[dmik]

Hi StewartM - many thanks for suggestions.

The explanation of 'percentage' and 'sensitivity' is really useful!

I have checked all settings you suggested:
1) the SD card shows as "Normal" (I have taken it out and put it back again just in case; it was formatted yesterday too as I thought maybe it got some corrupt file etc).
2) the Linkages are as on your screen (+ notify control center/app)
3) I have switched the "scheduled image settings" to OFF just in case
4) I can see in 'Picture' that the motion-triggered photos are being taken; the download of images is not happening for some reason (the web page says 'download to c:\users\my-name\Downloads\2019-10-19" successful but it actually does not save anything there; I had to manually create the 2019-10-19 folder too. I guess it's just bad software, maybe struggling with Windows 10 too - but I am not fussed about this not working as long as it saves to FTP/mem card).

Now the curious bits:

a) Photos/Pictures are being saved on my FTP server (but not on SD Card). Pictured saved on FTP are reasonable - when the motion really happens, so I am happy with accuracy of the motion trigger so far. But when I go to "Playback" section of the web page, I still says "No record file" and I can't see any *videos* of motion events and there are no videos on the FTP server either. As I wrote before, I can't download photos in "Pictures" section but as long as they are saved on FTP that's fine I guess.

b) the QNAP Surveilance Station software is appears to be quite poor. It does record videos but it missed to record any real motion. I suspect this could be settings issue so I will look into it later and perhaps try "QVR Pro" application in hope this is any better.

Many thanks for your help and suggestions! Let me know if there is anything else that I could try?

 

[StewartM]

"4) I can see in 'Picture' that the motion-triggered photos are being taken; the download of images is not happening for some reason (the web page says 'download to c:\users\my-name\Downloads\2019-10-19" successful but it actually does not save anything there; I had to manually create the 2019-10-19 folder too "

Try with IE11. Search for IE in the Windows 10 search field.

Provided you have installed the webcomponents.exe plugin as admin (with all browsers closed) it's the best browser for the WebGUI.
Often the images fail to save because of Compatibility View Settings. The settings below work for me.

 

[macman]

At risk of talking to myself now, I have connected the camera to QNAP (NAS) "Surveilance station" and to my surprise this software will correctly record motion events onto the NAS. So, there is something dodgy with HikVision firmware I would suggest.

Sadly, it's designed that way. The Hikvision ecosystem does not allow automatic recording directly to a PC: it has to be to an NVR or NAS. And yet, for reasons that Hikvision should find hard to explain, it is possible to manually record live video directly to a PC (by hitting the record button while in Live View).

There are workarounds using (pricy) third-party software instead of iVMS-4200. For Mac users, SecuritySpy enables direct recording to a PC while I think Blue Iris delivers the same option to Windows users.