iVMS - "Playback failed. No record file found." error?

[LFNfan]

Hi,

Grateful for any guidance with resolving a 'Playback failed.No record file found' error I get in iVMS 4200 that I'm using to manage and view my four HikVision cameras.

I have four HikVision DS02CD2xxx devices (latest firmware ). I have these hooked up to a NAS on my network, and configured in the cameras under 'Net HDD'. All successfully formatted via each camera's 'basic settings' page reached through iVMS 4200. The cameras are all configured to record on Event detection (Motion).

In the iVMS 'Main View' I can see the motion detection 'green boxes' when motion is detected (which is very cool). If I configure the cameras to alert the iVMS software, the alerts pop up when Events happen.

However, when I go in to 'Remote Playback' in iVMS I get the error 'Playback failed.No record file found.' The alert pop-ups also had a message that it failed to play the video.

What is also weird is that I can see the HDD whirring away, and I can go in to the file folder structure and view the recordings that the cameras have made using VLC Media Player. So the cameras are successfully writing images to the HDD but no indexing seems to be happening.

I'm a bit stumped about where I have gone wrong - why the iVMS or the cameras can't see the files on the HDD, even though they can 'write' to the HDD.

If it helps, within the datadir folders there are a number of .bin files which have data written to them, based on their size and time stamp. They are: index00.bin, index00p.bin, index01.bin, index01p.bin, logCurFile.bin, logMainFile.bin.

Any advice greatly received!

 

[Dan]

Hi @LFNfan

I think the simple answer is that footage stored on a NAS via NetHDD cannot be accessed with iVMS-4200, to access recording in iVMS the footage needs to be stored locally either on a MicroSD card in the camera or HDDs fitted in an NVR.

NetHDD basically only acts as a backup, the simplest solution would be to fit a MicroSD card in the camera to have access to those recordings with iVMS but you can also be backing up recordings using the NetHDD.

 

[LFNfan]

OK, that's brilliant to know. Saves 'head + brick wall' scenario. Much appreciated Dan!

Interestingly I used to be able to access the NAS footage when I accessed the camera using IE11, back in the day. I used to use a virtual machine to run W7 with IE11 just for that purpose but then discovered iVMS for Windows 10 which is a much more straight-forward and tidier package - but it seems it has this limitation.

Sounds stupid but I did not realise my cameras had micro SD card capability because it's not obvious where the slot is, just visually.

I will get some micro SD cards. If possible could you point me towards where the micro SD card can be found, either in general or specifically for these cameras:

DS-2CD1643G0-IZ
DS-2CD2355FWD
DS-2CD2385.

Much appreciated, once again.

 

[LFNfan]

OK, following a bit of research I've tracked them down now

...one more question: I will be getting some 128GB micro SD cards. I think I need to format them in the PC before I put them in the cameras to initialise. What file format should I use - NTFS, or something else?

Thanks again.

 

[Dan]

Hi @LFNfan

If they are brand new MicroSD cards you shouldn't have to plug them into a PC, just insert them into the cameras and then format the cards in the camera storage settings.

 

[LFNfan]

Thank you - I can now use playback on the Hik-Connect app on my phone...but... I still get the same error in iVMS.

Any idea what could be causing this?

Just to add a further question on the formatting subject, if I want to swap one SD card into another Hik camera, do I have to freshly format it or can I just swap it over? If I need to freshly format it, what file system is best?

Many thanks again