Please help! I’ve no clue what I’m doing

[Natalie_Michelle]

I had some security cameras fitted around three years ago. I have the Hik Connect app to view them. For over five months I’ve not been able to access playback whatsoever. I just get a black screen with ‘no record found’. I’ve seen numerous posts on Google regarding this & people have suggested changing the time format something about tech stuff that I don’t understand haha, but I’m literally the worst when it comes to technology. I’ve no clue what I’m doing or what any of it means. I’d be grateful for any help as what’s the point in having cameras if I have no way or accessing the footage?

 

[macman]

Did you select a date before searching for event records?
Are date and time accurately set?
Are you supposed to be recording onto a black box network video recorder - or onto SD cards installed inside the cameras?
Have you updated the cameras' firmware?
Have you updated the NVR firmware (if you have one)?
Are you using the latest version of Hik-Connect?
Do you have the latest version of the Hikvision client software - iVMS-4200 - installed on your PC?
Have you previously (about five months ago) changed or updated anything which could have resulted in your camera configurations being erased/defaulting to factory resets?
Have you checked in the camera settings that recording schedules have been set up/are still there?

 

[Natalie_Michelle]

Did you select a date before searching for event records?
Are date and time accurately set?
Are you supposed to be recording onto a black box network video recorder - or onto SD cards installed inside the cameras?
Have you updated the cameras' firmware?
Have you updated the NVR firmware (if you have one)?
Are you using the latest version of Hik-Connect?
Do you have the latest version of the Hikvision client software - iVMS-4200 - installed on your PC?
Have you previously (about five months ago) changed or updated anything which could have resulted in your camera configurations being erased/defaulting to factory resets?
Have you checked in the camera settings that recording schedules have been set up/are still there?

Firstly, thank you for replying. Bare with me as a lot of that message went over my head haha Before I was just able to look through the previous footage once I selected the camera. The date is accurate but the time is an hour behind I believe. The app won’t let me change anything such as time.
I have a black box I believe which the camera fitters stored in a safe place. I don’t think the cameras have SD cards? They’re all coupled straight to the box. The app says everything is up to date so I would assume the firmware is , but honestly I have no idea what an NVR firmware is.
I don’t know what Hikvision client software is.
I haven’t changed anything.

 

[macman]

I'm not your best bet as I don't know what's possible using just the app. I think you should download and install the iVMS-4200 main software client to your PC/laptop as that's the best place to configure your cameras from (it may already be installed so search for it). However, it's not very intuitive for non-techies (I should know as I was one too) so I might just leave it to Phil to guide you.

It would also be helpful if you could identify your camera and NVR model numbers - which you might have the original invoice for if you don't have access to any config settings.

Hopefully your installer left you with a note of the password for each device as you'll need those to get into the settings. If not, maybe you could contact him and ask for them (he probably uses the same password for all his installations).

And just in case it's that simple, have you tried rebooting your cameras and NVR? If you can't get into the settings to do that, just turn everything off at the wall and back on again…and don't forget to dance around afterwards so that the cameras can record an event for you to find.

 

[Natalie_Michelle]

I’ve downloaded it onto my laptop & it’s showing all my cameras, but the date is set to like 1970 for some reason & ive gone into the system settings , but it’s saying I need to add the server address - I don’t know what this is haha

 

[Natalie_Michelle]

I asked for help the other day regarding my cameras as I couldn’t view playback. I was advised to download the software onto my computer which I did & I was able to view my cameras via my PC - still couldn’t access playback though & thought this might be because the date was wrong (was set to 1970) I was unable to figure out how to change this so logged out. I’ve now found my cameras are offline & despite logging in I can’t get the cameras to come back online. Both on the PC & my mobile app. I’ve checked all my connections & they’re all fine.
I’m really annoyed as I haven’t changed anything & now I have zero access to my cameras & all the information online is confusing.
Any advise please I really need access to my cameras for safety purposes.

 

[David]

@Natalie_Michelle

download the SADP tool from here install and run it. Take a picture of the screen (screenshot) and post it.

go to this link run the command prompt ipconfig command and post a screenshot of the result.

 

[macman]

I don't know what that is either but if it's asking for the IP address of each camera, you should be able to find those by opening up the config utility/app for your router and checking its list of attached devices. That would reveal the IP address of every device on your network, typically in the form "192.168.1.XX"

But when you say that iVMS-4200 is showing your cameras do you mean that it lists them as text or that you can actually see their live feed video? If you are seeing live video, you should be able to configure the cameras without further ado by clicking on the cog wheel beside the camera under the Device Management tab.

 

[rickwookie]

I asked for help the other day regarding my cameras as I couldn’t view playback. I was advised to download the software onto my computer which I did & I was able to view my cameras via my PC - still couldn’t access playback though & thought this might be because the date was wrong (was set to 1970) I was unable to figure out how to change this so logged out. I’ve now found my cameras are offline & despite logging in I can’t get the cameras to come back online. Both on the PC & my mobile app. I’ve checked all my connections & they’re all fine.
I’m really annoyed as I haven’t changed anything & now I have zero access to my cameras & all the information online is confusing.
Any advise please I really need access to my cameras for safety purposes.

Could you post a screenshot of how the cameras show up in iVMS?
Either that, or a screenshot of what SADP tool shows (as linked in another reply).
One you can establish the address on your home network of the Network Video Recorder (NVR - that’s the black box you have hidden away in the house, that all the cameras are connected back to), you can then just pop this into the address bar of your web browser and then use that to find out what’s going on with the recording.
Most likely reason for access to recordings suddenly not being available while you can still see live feeds, is a failed hard drive inside the NVR. If your Hikvision NVR is using its default settings though, a hard drive failure would be identified by a loud BEEP BEEP BeBeep, every 30 seconds or so from the NVR, which you’d struggle to have not noticed. Hard drive fault alerts may have been switched off by your installer though (but it would have been a weird thing to do).

 

[fullboogie]

I think most of the (really good) advice offered is for someone who is at least a hobbyist with IP cameras. My suggestion is to call in a pro to help you.

 

[Natalie_Michelle]

this is how the software looks on my laptop & how my cameras are shown (I managed to get them back online) but still the date & time is completely wrong & I can’t find anywhere to change this & it’s still noallowing playback.

Also as I’ve mentioned I apologise for not directly replying to those that have replied. I really appreciate your time & comments , but I’m really bad with technology. I have zero clue regarding my cameras. A guy came provided the cameras & fitted them, told me to download an app on my phone & thats it. The app worked fine in regards to watching playback then suddenly stopped. I’ve only just found out there is software for my laptop for the cameras thanks to you guys

 

[fullboogie]

Natalie: this stuff is really complicated. It's like having car problems without knowing the first thing about cars. You're not going to learn this over the internet. I'm really going to suggest that you call in someone who can help locally - I think you'll get better, and quicker, results. Good luck.

 

[JB1970]

As @fullboogie says, your best bet would be to call a local installer in. Make sure their primary business is CCTV - you don't want an electrician, an alarm engineer, aerial installer or anyone else who just happens to install systems as an additional service/side hustle. You shouldn't be having these issues and unfortunately they've been caused by the original installation and lack of instruction provided:

A guy came provided the cameras & fitted them, told me to download an app on my phone & thats it.

This was clearly not a professional as they've left you with a system that's not set up correctly and you're unable to use it. As an installer I would never complete an installation without:

• checking the final views from the cameras meet expectations
• demonstrating local operation of the system - live view, playback, event search, system shutdown, reboot etc
• demonstrating remote operation of the system - having the end user download the app, adding the system to the app, live view, playback on the customers own phone

To give you an idea I'd probably spend about 2 hours sorting that out - that would be to check and amend the camera and recorder settings, check the and amend the setup of the network and connection to the internet router. Most importantly about half or more of that time would be spent on the demonstration - you don't need to be tech savvy if you're shown correctly.

 

[macman]

@Natalie_Michelle - where is your system? There may be a member of this forum nearby…

 

[rickwookie]

View attachment 6094

Click on "Device Management", then click the little Gear Cog that should be present under "Operation".

From there you should be able to change the time settings thus:

Also, post a screenshot here of your "Device Management" page.