Firmware Latest HikVision Firmware for G3 Series cameras (2xx6G2/2xx7G2/3xx6G2/3xx7G2) - V5.5.160

[Dan]

Hikvision has released new firmware for their G3 Series IP cameras. The latest firmware, Version 5.5.160, can be downloaded here.

NB - you may need to refresh your browser when viewing the Hikvision portal to see the newly added version at the bottom of the list.

The Release Notes are attached.

The last few pages of the release notes specify the applicable cameras.


Hikvision Firmware V5.5.160 Features:

Improved/New Features:
- Newly support Hik-ProConnect access
- Newly support the functions below on APP(including Hik-Connect, GuardingVision and HikProConnect:

1) Support multiple playback: 1/8x, 1/4x, 1/2x, 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x.​

2) Support 2 times video download.​

3) Supoort different color display continuous recording and event recording. The continuous recording is displayed in blue and the event recording is displayed in orange.​

- The six events of ColorVu devices including Alarm Input, Motion Detection, Intrusion Detection, Line Crossing Detection, Region Entrance Detection and Region Exiting Detection support the linkage of the Light. When the event is triggered, the supplement light will turn on.
- More improvements covered in the release notes

 

[dazulrich]

Looks like Hikvision released a new version of the .160 firmware. see here 5.5.160 build210416
from the release notes:

Improved Features
- Special character is available for Cloud Storage 2.0
- Fixed the issue that static targets will trigger perimeter events, such as Intrusion Detection, Line Crossing Detection, etc.
- Fixed the problem that there will be a noise at the beginning of theuploaded custom voice playback of the wav format file.

 

[mtv]

Looks like Hikvision released a new version of the .160 firmware. see here 5.5.160 build210416
from the release notes:

Improved Features
- Special character is available for Cloud Storage 2.0
- Fixed the issue that static targets will trigger perimeter events, such as Intrusion Detection, Line Crossing Detection, etc.
- Fixed the problem that there will be a noise at the beginning of theuploaded custom voice playback of the wav format file.

I did install it, but not sure that it really fixed the static target triggers. Had to adjust the sensitivity and target validity but still he find static targets as “ moving”. Will keep an eye on it.

#edit
I'm not impressed of the improved static targets trigger. Seems to me that it still generates more events than before.

 

[venturis]

Can anyone shed light on why Hikvision have declared the G3 firmware as no long under development?

Documents on Hikvision's download portal state that there will be no further firmware updates for G3 series cams beyond v5.5.160. Specifically, the statement on line 3 which reads "the cut-off version of the non-yellow part is V5.5.160, and it is expected that there will be no updated version in future, corresponding to the package platform: G3 platform"

Hikvision even went to the trouble of releasing an update to v5.5.160 without changing the firmware revision which suggests they are sticking to that announcement.

What does this mean for all cams based on the G3 firmware, some of which are only relatively new products? Are they now end-of-life?

I've been wanting to upgrade some cameras but holding off to be sure I'm not buying end-of-life products.

 

[Dan]

We had seen this document briefly but not looked into it in detail.

We also find it very confusing so have contacted Hikvision Support and asked them to explain exactly what is happening here.

 

[venturis]

I decided to put the question to a local Hikvision reseller who forwarded the query to Hikvision.

The response was as follows;

"Currently we are evolving all G3 platform cameras to G5 platform, so the DS-2CD2386G2 model will be replaced with the DS-2CD2386G2(C)."

So in short, if you consider the end of firmware development to be end-of-life then any hardware based on the G3 platform is technically already end-of-life product, just that it may be a little while before it's replacement is announced.

This begs the question, is the G5 platform hardware a technical improvement on the G3 platform. Will the G5 platform equivalent replacements perform better or worse than the G3 platform hardware they replace?

 

[mozso]

Great, only purchased AcuSense 1 year ago and at that time it was deemed quite new on the market, not even available in the UK. My AcuSense NVR quickly became EOL, now my G3 cameras are also EOL. This is a bit of letdown.

 

[Phil]

We "think" these changes have been forced by chip shortages.
Unfortunately, Hikvision are very poor at communicating full explanations.
The story is unfolding nugget by nugget, in response to us questioning them each day over the past seven days.
We will share what we learn here.
We anticipate that if any 'fixes' are required, then new firmware will be released for former models.

We can only apologise at the seeming short period that recent models were saleable / THE latest available for.

The models with a (C) suffix are now THE latest.
We cannot yet judge whether that means they are 'better'.

We're afraid that it makes life more complicated for all of us, as you now have the same model numbers, with differing suffixes [e.g. the (C)], requiring different firmware sets.
This will of course make things a degree more confusing when seeking the latest firmware for your devices at their portals.

 

[Andy McNab]

Chuffin brilliant. Like a lot of other folk I bought their latest cameras that are less than 12 months old and now they’re replacing them AND won’t be providing updates. “If” it’s based on chip shortage, like all affected tech, I can’t see how a newer version would be deemed an upgrade? What aspect would be superior if they can’t purchase components already inside current tech? I can’t understand how a different manufacturing process and end result = “improved”.

 

[dusan_h]

I can only speculate it is another war against the Chinese company as we saw previously. Some US manufacturer decided not to sell chips/SW license to Hikvison, so they need use different technologies, perhaps. But then, why would they drop the support for current tech so fast if they were selling so much of it over past 12 months.
I don't like it, I thought buying the latest cameras woul last me another 10years, like the old analog did. Will see what happens

 

[venturis]

One small piece of information from Hikvision that comparing the functionality and performance of G3 vs G5 cams is shown in the table below.

I can't remember where i found this information. I think it was in one of the firmware release notes.

On paper it looks like the G5 performs better than the equivalent G3. I'm not entirely sure what is meant by "The night bitrate is 2 times larger......"?

We know that Hivksion have already started to release G5 replacement cams. The 2CD2347G2 is available in both the G3 and G5 variants. If someone had access to a pair of 2CD2347G2's, one on each platform, it would make an interesting post if they were directly compared.

 

[JB1970]

I'm not entirely sure what is meant by "The night bitrate is 2 times larger......"?

Really - I think they explained it very clearly "the overall configuration is in line with the configuration"

Hikvisions explanations rarely make make sense. I had several e mails from them the other week following queries/comments I made after a webinar. The responses received didn't answer my questions and I finally just gave up.

I was sure I'd read a comment some months ago on IP Cam Talk regarding these new ColorVu models where the user had indicated that they felt night time picture quality was not as good with more visible noise. I'll reserve judgement until I've tried one - it's the LSU/SL model I'm waiting for with 2 way audio.

 

[dusan_h]

yesterday, I got a weekly bulletin email from Hikvison UK&Ireland. Under the technical release section they mentioned a new G5 firmware, I was excited to see more info .....

G5 platform Network camera V5.5.160 build210416. Download release notes.

..... however,the download release notes links to G3 SP version of V5.5.160 (not G5)

https://hikvision.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=8999460e8146a4fe586945838&id=f77ffcf7c5&e=60e5d2f235

Human error - can happen. But that was the 3rd bulletin with the same wrong info this month.


I guess it may take some time for them to communicate bad news that the G3 range cameras we bought few months ago are not going to get any security updates anymore?


Unfortunately, all their user guides are translations from Chinese to English (understandably as they are Chinese company), and not written by English speakers, so certain technical explainations may not be accurate or make sense.

 

[venturis]

I put the question to Hikvision support whether product currently being shipped was G3 or G5 platform.

The response was that they have already discontinued the G3 platform products which will no longer be shipped from the factory. Once existing warehouse stock is sold off, the new G5 platform products will start to flow through the supply chain. Hikvision stated that they expect the G5 platform replacements to be on the shelf very soon.

I'd really like to know how the G3 platform products compare to it's G5 platform cousins. I have the need for a couple of new cameras now but unsure if I should hold off a little longer.

 

[venturis]

And here is where things start to get confusing.

Hikvision has just released a new firmware V5.5.800 dated 28 June 2021 for the 2cd2386G2(C) and other variants based on the G5 platform only.

The new firmware release jumps toV5.5.800 which I assume was done to prevent confusion between the G3 and G5 firmware releases since the G5 platform releases had a lessor numeric designator.

You cannot apply this firmware to the G3 platform cameras since we now know there are significant hardware changes between the G3 and G5 platforms.

 

[Dan]

Thanks @venturis

We were aware of this firmware listed on the Hikvision website, but strangely this firmware is not available on the download portal and it is rare that new firmware appears on the main website before the portal.

I have asked Hikvision support for release notes and more information about this latest version, I think you are probably right that they have made this big jump in versions just to try and avoid the version numbers of the G3 & G5 firmware getting mixed up.

 

[DK_CAM]

I have used Hikvision cam's for many years. A few weeks ago I bought the 2386 non-C version. They worked great, everyting was fast and easy, no problems. But then I realized that these was no going to be updated anymore, I returned them to the shop and bought several of the 2386 (C) versions. These cam's are terrible! Or to be more precise: he firmware is buggy and lots of functions that are available on the non-C version are NOT present on the C version yet! I am talking here about resent firmware versions for both versions.

Just as an example: when the 2386 (C) is running as smart-event unit (this is the default setting) it only provides 2 streams. Third stream is missing. Only if the unit is set to monitoring mode, the third stream appears and can here also tun up to 1080p. BUT the "old" 2386 non-C version have all three streams available as standard in the smart-event mode.
And worse: The 2386 (C) can't record to SD card. I just can't get it to work. The non-C version was set up in a few minutes, and everything was working including motion detection and recording. But the (C) camera just can't.... I don't understand it.

I think Hikvision developer team are pretty busy these days porting all the functions to the G5 platform for the C versions of these cameras, and therefor lots of functions are still missing, lots of bugs are found, and the camera don't run as smooth as the non-C version. The firmware for the new C-version is also 10MB smaller than for the non-C version!

Tomorrow I will try to downgrade the firmware to see if I can get the recordings to work.

Please post your experience with the 2386 (C) and the 5.5.800 firmware.

 

[Dan]

Thanks for the feedback @DK_CAM

We've shared these issues with our Hikvision support contact to see if they are aware of them and whether there is a current solution or a solution coming in future firmware updates.

 

[mtv]

I have used Hikvision cam's for many years. A few weeks ago I bought the 2386 non-C version. They worked great, everyting was fast and easy, no problems. But then I realized that these was no going to be updated anymore, I returned them to the shop and bought several of the 2386 (C) versions. These cam's are terrible! Or to be more precise: he firmware is buggy and lots of functions that are available on the non-C version are NOT present on the C version yet! I am talking here about resent firmware versions for both versions.

Just as an example: when the 2386 (C) is running as smart-event unit (this is the default setting) it only provides 2 streams. Third stream is missing. Only if the unit is set to monitoring mode, the third stream appears and can here also tun up to 1080p. BUT the "old" 2386 non-C version have all three streams available as standard in the smart-event mode.
And worse: The 2386 (C) can't record to SD card. I just can't get it to work. The non-C version was set up in a few minutes, and everything was working including motion detection and recording. But the (C) camera just can't.... I don't understand it.

I think Hikvision developer team are pretty busy these days porting all the functions to the G5 platform for the C versions of these cameras, and therefor lots of functions are still missing, lots of bugs are found, and the camera don't run as smooth as the non-C version. The firmware for the new C-version is also 10MB smaller than for the non-C version!

Tomorrow I will try to downgrade the firmware to see if I can get the recordings to work.

Please post your experience with the 2386 (C) and the 5.5.800 firmware.

I didn't dare to upgrade yet to 5.5.800, as i experienced the same issues as you, but I'm curious as well. I've asked my seller to get in contact with Hikvision to see if they recognize the issue and more what to do about it. What I did figured out in between was that certain settings were enabled using Chrome, but disabled using IE (for example rules) which made the confusion only bigger but the outcome still is the same in my case, not being resolved yet.

Intrusion Detection event markers on DS-7604NI-K1/4P (B) with DS-2CD2047G2-LU (C)

The red marker lines on the photo that is received within HikConnect or within the NVR, but it seems to work only with cams with G3 firmware, but on my G5 firmware i can't get it fixed or find. I get the warning picture with the mentioned red marker lines, but not on my last added camera. (in...

www.use-ip.co.uk

 

[DK_CAM]

mtv: what camera and firmware are you running?
I tried with a new out-of-the-box 2386(C), no firmware upgrade, and its just NOT able to record anything. I tried switching from smart event mode to monitoring mode, still not able to record. I can see in iVMS-4200 that a motion can trigger record, the little red bell appears in the corner, but if I try to playback I get: No record files found. SD card formatted and running fine, just as they should.

I can't be that Hikvision released a series of these cameras that are not able to record..!!!?? it sounds impossible and it would more likely to be me that has made a mistake. But I just can't see what that mistake is since it worked with the 3 non-C versions of the same model I just pulled down from the installation and returned. And the old 2355 I had several of, with the same settings, works.

UPDATE: the result is now, that "Basic event" is not working on these (C) cameras. But the Smart-events works, like Intrusion detection and line-crossing. So that is good, but in my setup I use "Motion detection" and that is a basic event, and that is not working.