Hikvision Cameras and NVR time off by an hour

[Ramias 0]

I can't figure this out.

 

I have 3 HIKVision cameras all on V5.1.2 build 140116

 

and 1 HIKVision DS-7608NI-SE NVR on V 2.37 build 140327.

 

I have DST Settings set the same on all of them --

 

DST Start 2nd Sunday in March; end first sunday in November, DST bias 60 minutes.

 

They are all set for Eastern Time.

 

time.windows.com and time.ntp.org have both been used.

 

I'm not sure what causes it, but the cameras always seem to be an hour ahead.

[JoeyJoey 0]

The cameras should be configured to get their time from the NVR.

[Ramias 0]

The cameras should be configured to get their time from the NVR.

Do you know how I do that?

 

Do I put the NVR address as the time server?

[lowpro 0]

The cameras should be configured to get their time from the NVR.

Do you know how I do that?

 

Do I put the NVR address as the time server?

 

Log into the NVR via a web browser. Go into the config settings and sync the nvr to your computer's time. This is assuming that your computer itself is getting the right time from an ntp server.

[Ramias 0]

I am wondering now if this is not related to the NVR at all.

 

If I turn off the DST settings on the cameras, all works fine.

 

Can anybody with a HIKVision camera running the 140116 firmware check and see if their time is correct with and without the DST settings?

[JoeyJoey 0]

The cameras should be configured to get their time from the NVR.

Do you know how I do that?

 

Do I put the NVR address as the time server?

 

Here are the settings that work for me.

 

Most of the settings are ignored in the camera, including the time zone.

 

Was running: NVR running V2.3.7 build 131112

 

Now running: V2.3.7 build 140327, no difference still works, the cameras are less than 1 second difference than the NVR.

[Ramias 0]

Ok so basically you are just keeping a local clock set to local time and not updating anything with NTP. So timezones don't really matter in your scenario.

 

I'm curious if your cameras are really syncing with the NVR or if the clocks are just good at keeping time.

 

If you set your timezone on your camera to your local timezone and update with NTP, does it show the correct time or is it off by an hour?

[CBX 0]

A different but related issue; I had to recently set DST as here in the UK we've just gone to BST (British Summer Time).

 

Set DST on the cameras so the OSD is correct, but couldn't understand why my automated video and picture extract script was producing filenames an hour out (their filenames include the time). Hikvision uses linux (POSIX) timestamps which shouldn't care about timezone, but they haven't implemented it correctly in the binary files created to store videos and pictures, such that it's not seconds since 1 Jan 1970 UTC (ignoring leap seconds) but rather what timezone you set on your camera.

 

It could be I'm wrong re the above as I live in a country either UTC+0 or UTC+1 so it's less obvious, but it's the conclusion I've come to.

 

As such I've had to hard code the following into my scripts:

 

//Override possible BST as Hikvision stores timestamps wrongly
date_default_timezone_set('UTC');

 

Annoying and while the average user won't come across this thought it was worth putting here.

 

If I'm wrong please let me know

[JoeyJoey 0]

Ok so basically you are just keeping a local clock set to local time and not updating anything with NTP. So timezones don't really matter in your scenario.

 

I'm curious if your cameras are really syncing with the NVR or if the clocks are just good at keeping time.

 

If you set your timezone on your camera to your local timezone and update with NTP, does it show the correct time or is it off by an hour?

 

The NVR is using an NTP time server, the cameras are not.

 

Timezones don't matter in the cameras if you're using an NVR.

 

The cameras get the time from the NVR. They sync very well, better than if the cameras use an NTP.

I can set the time in the cameras too, using NTP, correct time is shown. But they aren't exactly in sync with the NVR, which is most important.

[MaxIcon 0]

You can also run a local timeserver and sync everything to that. Here's a simple, reliable one for Windows systems:

 

http://www.timesynctool.com/

[JoeyJoey 0]

When using the NVR's time, the cameras sync very often, it seems every few seconds.

Without that I have seen the cameras drift when each one is using an NTP.

[Digiscan 0]

edit: delete

[just_having_fun 0]

I'm using HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I cameras and DS7608NI-E2 NVR. I'm using NTS time.nist.gov. To get the correct local time time I need to set the correct time zone (Pacific in my case) and disable DST.

 

Does anyone know if the data from the time server time.nist.gov already compensates for DST ?

[just_having_fun 0]

I'm using HIKVISION DS-2CD2032-I cameras and DS7608NI-E2 NVR. I'm using NTS time.nist.gov. To get the correct local time time I need to set the correct time zone (Pacific in my case) and disable DST.

 

Does anyone know if the data from the time server time.nist.gov already compensates for DST ?

 

 

After reading all the available info on this issue, I got the CAMERA and NVR times to track reliably.

 

1. time.nist.gov provides time in UTC and so is independent of time zone or DST. The NIST doc on the format is as follows:

"The NIST servers listen for a NTP request on port 123, and respond by sending a udp/ip data packet in the NTP format. The data packet includes a 64-bit timestamp containing the time in UTC seconds since January 1, 1900 with a resolution of 200 ps."

 

2. The NVR provides time for the cameras...I can't find this documented anywhere. Took me a while to come to this conclusion.

 

3. On my NVR I use NTP, with DST and, in my case, PACIFIC time zone. This sets the NVR from NTP service, I used time.nist.gov. This works every time and always provides the correct time respecting TIME ZONE and DST. Get this to work first.

 

4. On your CAMERAS, turn NTP and DST OFF. On your camera you can now select any time zone...it is now a don't care since you are getting the time form the NVR. If you leave NTP turned ON, on your cameras, they will get very confused.

 

5. I don't know how often the NVR provides time data to the cameras, but give it a few minutes and both NVR and CAMERAS should sync up to the NVR time, to within a second of each other.

 

If you'd like more info or screenshots...send me an email and I'll try to help.

 

Brian

[aster1x 0]

In the HIK cameras there is no explicit option to synchronise its time from the NVR or from an NTP.

In the HIK cameras we MUST select some time zone. It is not possible to leave the time zone null (empty).

The NTP settings can not be disabled unless if we do not define any NTP server then it is implied that the NTP service will not update from any NTP server. However does this mean that the camera will then update its clock from the NVR?

Is the above true irrespectively of whether the camera is connected to the NVR internal PoE switch OR the LAN switch (i.e. externally to the NVR?)?

 

I had set proper definitions of time zone, NTP server and DST on both the camera and the NVR (the camera was connected to the internal PoE switch of the NVR). All was working OK until the DST switch time. The NVR updated and synchronised correctly, but the camera went off by a whole hour (equal to my DST bias time). Could this be due to the DST setting of the camera?

 

It is not very clear how the time clock synchronisation works between the camera, the NVR and any NTP server.

[aster1x 0]

To make matters even ... worse, it is possible to have both at the camera and the NVR the same settings for time zone, NTP, and DST settings and the NVR can have one time at the configuration panel, the camera can have another time and the video recorded at the NVR to display the camera time and not the NVR time!!!!!

 

So who is updating who, the NVR updates the camera or the other way round? OR they are independent?

Mind you that there is no way to define at the camera configuration that the camera is connected at the NVR. Only the NVR knows at which IP the camera is connected to pull the video stream. So how can the camera update an NVR if the camera does not know the NVR existence and its IP? Unless when the NVR pulls the video stream from the camera, the NVR updates an internal setting that identifies the NVR to the camera. However this is a hypothesis and not a fact.

 

Does any one have any more specific and official knowledge of the time synchronisation between the cameras and the NVR?

[just_having_fun 0]

In the HIK cameras there is no explicit option to synchronise its time from the NVR or from an NTP.

In the HIK cameras we MUST select some time zone. It is not possible to leave the time zone null (empty).

The NTP settings can not be disabled unless if we do not define any NTP server then it is implied that the NTP service will not update from any NTP server. However does this mean that the camera will then update its clock from the NVR?

Is the above true irrespectively of whether the camera is connected to the NVR internal PoE switch OR the LAN switch (i.e. externally to the NVR?)?

 

I had set proper definitions of time zone, NTP server and DST on both the camera and the NVR (the camera was connected to the internal PoE switch of the NVR). All was working OK until the DST switch time. The NVR updated and synchronised correctly, but the camera went off by a whole hour (equal to my DST bias time). Could this be due to the DST setting of the camera?

 

It is not very clear how the time clock synchronisation works between the camera, the NVR and any NTP server.

 

Hi,

 

The NVR I purchased (HIKVSION DS7608NI-E2) does not provide PoE, only an ETHERNET port. The CAMERA-to-NVR connections are via NETGEAR 4-port PoE SWITCHES (3 of them). The NVR is just connected to my LAN, nothing special. I have a ROUTER/CABLE modem for internet access.

 

On the CAMERAS:

Log into the CAMERAS using your web browser. Go to "CONFIGURATION > Time Settings" and make sure you have "Manual Time Sync" button checked, which will turn NTP OFF on the CAMERAS. Go to "CONFIGURATION > DST" and un-check the 'Enable DST' button.

You can now select any time zone on the CAMERAS...it doesn't care since the CAMERAS are now getting their CLOCK data from the NVR.

 

How the NVR provides CLOCK data to the CAMERAS is a mystery...it just happens by default.

 

I believe the RTC (Real Tme Clock) on the CAMERA drifts and needs some external SYNC method to keep accurate time.

 

For me, the HIKVISION architecture is correct with an NTP corrected NVR providing CLOCK data to all the CAMERAS. This keeps all timing info in SYNC.

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

Brian

[aster1x 0]

@just_having_fun Have you tried to let the NVR do the switching of the DST automatically? This is what screws my camera and NVR clock synchronisation. According to my experimentation the camera and the NVR can have different clocks.

[just_having_fun 0]

@just_having_fun Have you tried to let the NVR do the switching of the DST automatically? This is what screws my camera and NVR clock synchronisation. According to my experimentation the camera and the NVR can have different clocks.

 

Yes, on the NVR I tried both MANUAL and AUTOMATIC DST. Both gave the correct local time, PDT.

If I turn both MANUAL and AUTOMATIC DST OFF then I get PST, which is PDT-1hr.

I can't be sure it works correctly since I don't know where AUTOMATIC DST gets it's information and I haven't tested MANUAL DST exhaustively.

 

As I understand, each CAMERA (6 in my case) and the NVR (1 in my case) has a hardware RTC (Real Time Clock). These 7 separate clocks all run independently and if left alone would DRIFT and all show slightly different times.

NVR:

In my configuration I set the NVR clock to use the NTP server (time.nist.gov). This NTP server provides very accurate clock data, and the NVR software uses this data to update the NVR clock. The NTP server provides UTC so to get the correct local tme, you need to select the correct time zone and adjust for DST.

CAMERAS:

In my configuration the NVR clock sets the CAMERA clocks. It does this by default, and I haven't found a way to turn it OFF. Now the CAMERAS can also receive NTP data, but to avoid conflicts I turned that feature off. In my case, the clocks on the CAMERAS showed inconsistent times until I turned OFF NTP on the CAMERAS.

 

Brian

[just_having_fun 0]

In the HIK cameras there is no explicit option to synchronise its time from the NVR or from an NTP.

In the HIK cameras we MUST select some time zone. It is not possible to leave the time zone null (empty).

The NTP settings can not be disabled unless if we do not define any NTP server then it is implied that the NTP service will not update from any NTP server. However does this mean that the camera will then update its clock from the NVR?

Is the above true irrespectively of whether the camera is connected to the NVR internal PoE switch OR the LAN switch (i.e. externally to the NVR?)?

 

I had set proper definitions of time zone, NTP server and DST on both the camera and the NVR (the camera was connected to the internal PoE switch of the NVR). All was working OK until the DST switch time. The NVR updated and synchronised correctly, but the camera went off by a whole hour (equal to my DST bias time). Could this be due to the DST setting of the camera?

 

It is not very clear how the time clock synchronisation works between the camera, the NVR and any NTP server.

 

aster1x You are right..I should have been clearer. Just a reminder that I have no special knowledge, just observing how the system works by "twiddling with the knobs".

 

As you correctly said, on the CAMERAS you have to select a time zone. In my case, with the clock data sourced from the NVR, it's a don't care....any time zone will do. (see note)

 

NTP is disabled on the CAMERAS by selecting "Manual Time Sync".

 

Note: Until the CAMERA clock is synchronized to the NVR, the time zone will affect the time shown on the CAMERA video. In my case, I changed the times zone from PACIFIC to LONDON, a change of +8 hrs. The CAMERA time on the video did change from 12:xx:xx to 20:xx:xx but changed to the correct local time (12:xx:xx) after it was updated from the NVR, which occurred after a few seconds.

 

Does that make sense ?

Brian

[aster1x 0]

@just_having_fun I agree with your observations. I repeated your steps and I confirm them. However the time it takes for the NVR to update the camera clock is not a constant period. It may be seconds, it may be a few minutes. So even if the time zone of the camera is set to the wrong time zone, as long as the camera time is set to manual, the camera will be synchronised to the NVR clock, although the time zone will be wrong. Now I can confidently conclude that the conflict comes when the camera is set to take the time from an NTP server. It seems that the NVR tries to update the camera clock, and at some time the camera will try to update its clock from the NTP server. If the two clocks are the same then there will be no apparent problem. If on the other hand the NTP clock differs form the NVR clock then the camera will keep the last clock update irrespectively where it came from.

 

I believe the above clarifies the rules of setting the clocks between camera and NVR (at least to my mind!!).

Thanks to all who contributed to this troubleshooting.

[MJR 0]

Hi, I wonder if anyone can help me. We had a HIKVISION Camera installed last year and I'm trying to figure out how to change the time as it's an hour behind because of the daylight savings time - I've gone into the configuration menu but I'm not allowed to do anything - it comes up with a permission denied message and I can't get hold of the guy who set it up for us. It does give me the option to change my password but I didn't want to alter it in case it caused further problems (I don't have administration rights either) - is it just a case of changing my current password to get access to the configuration menu - or is it more complicated than that? Apologies for sounding like a Luddite. Any help much appreciated. Thanks.