Seems we’re not getting any response from the team here.
Raise a support ticket if you haven’t already about the long password and IVMS-4200 management software and that back light compensation setting.
I already have, back on Oct 14th. I received the response I mentioned where they acknowledged the camera was adjusting the brightness in a way that obviously wasn’t good. I was told it would require a firmware update and their development team would start working on implementing a way to address the problem completely. No response whatsoever to my request for changing the password.
Sounds like nonsense to me what they said, ask them again about the long password and if you can change it?
LOL… got a message back today from team lead of customer care team who said they had discussed my concern about the high contrast the camera generated. Their response was “there is no better way to change from FW side, so we can only suggest to adjust the installation angle and also install it in a place without shadow.”
So I guess it was just unrealistic expectations on my part to expect a doorbell camera to work in the same spot the original doorbell was in! Especially if there might happen to be a roof overhang which causes a slight shadow!
They did respond to my question about changing the password but their response (see below) sure doesn’t sound optimistic.
- Our VistaCam 1200 has been designed and customized to work specifically with the VeraMobile app and it does not have its own accessible interface like other cameras in our catalog do.
- Being a cloud-based system, the password is encrypted and inaccessible, therefore the camera generates it automatically when it connects to the network but it is not in human language, that’s why it is so long since it really is encryption.
Well the back light compensation setting is clearly there in the Hikvision Ivms software for this cameras hardware as you have seen.
Hikvision manufacture the doorbell cameras and licence them to other companies like Vera.
So Vera should expose settings for the BLC in their own Vera app, if the password cannot be changed.
Or maybe you can flash the camera with some other OEM firmware and gain back more control over it.
In their VistaCam 1200 announcement thread on this forum I posted a link to the Cam Talk thread for this camera hardware.
None of these doorbell camera variants have a Web “accessible interface”.
However the various companies that sell the same doorbell camera hardware, have their own apps and their own firmwares for the unit, with various different features and functionality.
Or send it back to Vera for a refund and buy an Ezviz DB1 or other variant instead.
You will lose the native motion sensor device in Vera for the cameras PIR and the Vera Cloud storage.
However if you follow my blog post article as you are already using Blue Iris, you can easily create a virtual motion sensor device in Vera and have Blue Iris send http commands to Vera to trip it upon motion and untrip it when motion stops etc.
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What software do you use with yours to actually “answer the doorbell”? Do you use what Ezviz provided or something else? Now that I’ve got it working with Blue Iris I couldn’t care less about the cloud storage. I do like the motion sensor interacting with Vera but I could do without that or use your method to build my own. The problem with flashing firmware is you’d need some kind of access to the camera in the first place which I don’t have. But you’re right, even if they can’t/won’t come up with some way to change the password, I would think they could easily add a few more settings (including BLC and other contrast/brightness adjustments) for the camera in the Vera app!
Also, I’m assuming the db1 software also has some way to access the recordings on the SD card from within the software. Not that that’s a huge concern for me either with using Blue Iris but having a second copy of any recording on the SD card is a nice extra. Apparently, whenever this VistaCam does record, it goes to the card and their cloud but like I said, no way to access the card without removing it from the camera (plain stupid) and no info anywhere (other than in the email reply to me) that there even IS such a thing as the Vera Cloud, how much storage, how many days, etc! Nothing!!
Yes I use the Ezviz app to answer the doorbell call. You can also use the Hik Connect app but I preferred the Ezviz app.
And yes you can use either of these apps to view and playback the recordings on the local SD card.
Plus the motion detection is very spotty. Within Vera the only setting for motion detection is “Motion Sensitivity” with a scale of 1-6 with 6 being highest sensitivity. If I set it on 3 it records every car that goes by out on the street. I dropped it to 2, tested it several times myself and that seemed to be a good setting yet just now I get notification from Alexa a package had been delivered. I look for doorbell recording on Vera app, nothing! Check my Blue Iris clips, shows the delivery guy bringing the package right to the door. Thank goodness the cam works with Blue Iris!
So yesterday I increased the sensitivity back to three and today it didn’t record ANYTHING! Not one recording in Vera. It worked fine in Blue Iris. Then this afternoon it went totally offline. I had to kill power to it and wait a bit then return power to get it to connect again. Great camera!
Got an email from Vera today stating they have added the ability to use a doorbell press in a scene. Also stated that camera would automatically record video and send notification any time motion was detected. Also stated any scenes which used doorbell motion would no longer work properly, almost insinuating they were going to remove the ability to use motion sensor in a scene.
What a mess!! My camera never recorded video upon detecting motion until I added a scene to do that. It has also never (and still doesn’t, after email) alerted me when detecting motion. It does, however, trigger an alert within Vera that says Burglary! LOL… I guess they assume anyone getting close to your door, any of your visitors, family, friends, etc. are burglars!!
My scenes still work, still can’t identify anyone if the sun is shining, still can’t find any way to actually USE the doorbell press in a scene, and finally, still no semblance of any kind of manual or even a link to anything online that gives any instructions whatsoever for the dang camera!!
Post a copy of the email text.
Surely that was a no brainer from the start.
Don’t know who is doing the QA testing at Vera they should be sacked…
I’d send it back to them for a refund and buy either another Ezviz DB1 or variant or something else altogether.
Heard good things about Doorbird but not available in the UK.
Eufy worth a look also.
They have now changed the settings. Doorbell Motion is now an option under Doorbell Camera rather than on its own. The camera does now (sometimes) seem to record on its own but records for its small time limit then stops even if there is still motion going on. This afternoon all the recordings for today suddenly vanished. That may have been when they changed the setup and added the doorbell press, that was when I first noticed it.
Text of email sent to VistaCam owners:
Dear Vera Customer,
We hope you’re enjoying your experience with the VistaCam 1200 Doorbell Camera thus far. Based on some user feedback, we’ve made a couple of changes and want to let you know how they’ll improve your experience.
– You can use a doorbell press as a scene trigger
– The doorbell will record based on motion and send a notification no matter which house mode you are in
– Delays in recording from when motion detected have been eliminated
Important: If you have already created a scene that uses the doorbell camera’s motion sensor as a trigger, your scene will not function correctly. You need to select a new trigger for the VistaCam 1200 and update your scene.
We hope these changes will make your experience even better.
As always, we appreciate your business and thank you for being a Vera customer.
The Vera Team
Now the darn thing has quit doing anything. I created new scenes to turn on porch light when motion is detected. I’ve been outside waving my arms, jumping up and down, the dang light doesn’t come on, no recording, no nothing! Rechecked scene, even added another scene to record video a minute after motion detected, just to test and not to interfere with supposedly the camera recording video on its own when motion is detected! Nada!! I can do jumping jacks, flailing arms every which way, back and forth, the dang camera does nothing!!
Any update from anyone on these issues? My new VistaCam 1200 is not recording video on motion and I opened a ticket with Vera and I am still waiting for a response. I openened a ticket with Blue Iris as well and Ken gave me a few things to try but still no luck but I can connect to the camera just find with IP Cam Viewer on Android.
Well, they respond to me occasionally with the last response being a couple of days ago. They asked for remote access again as they were going to install a different plugin. Not sure if that did anything to fix the lousy motion detection because not long after that the doorbell lost connection again. This is the third time that’s happened and the only way to get it to connect again is to kill power (thus killing other devices in my home too) for several minutes then restoring the power. Not sure the exact amount of time but a guick on/off or even five to ten minutes usually doesn’t work! Takes longer.
What’s even crazier is this time the camera’s video and audio feed still worked fine in Blue Iris and also streaming with VLC, just no connection with my Vera Edge and no response whatsoever from pushing the doorbell button. Chime didn’t ring at doorbell or in house nor was there any notification on Vera or via text.
So I killed the power while I went to the grocery store, came back, restored power and got the camera to connect again. Now I can see live video on Vera but that’s it!! Pressing the doorbell does ring the chime now but it doesn’t even activate Vera, give any notification within Vera, send a text, absolutely nothing! And of course no motion detection or video recording!
Actually, everything they do to the camera makes it worse!!! The big problem when I first installed it was the backlight compensation issue that makes the camera useless if the sun is shining! The doorbell push worked and the motion detection worked okay and it recorded when motion was detected because I created a scene for that. I couldn’t get it to work in Blue Iris but Ken from Blue Iris fixed that.
But now Vera has not only killed the motion detection, it doesn’t record now with or without a scene, doesn’t even alert me when someone pushed the dang button!
Does your not work with Blue Iris either?
I am trying to integrate the VisatCam 1200 doorbell camera into my existing CCTV system as well as the ezlo hub.
It connected to the ezlo hub and works fine but I can’t seem to figure out how to connect to it via the rtsp url.
Han anyone had any luck?