Hikvision Direct camera setup
Hikvision Direct connects Hikvision cameras and recorders (DVR / NVR) to CleverCam with no hub and no other hardware on site. The device sends out to CleverCam over the internet, so it works behind any router with no port forwarding and no fixed IP. It is the Hikvision counterpart of Dahua Direct.
The device does the first detection. Each event arrives with its picture, and CleverCam's AI checks that picture before anything reaches the control room.
What it does today
A Hikvision device reaches CleverCam in several ways. You set them up in the device's own web page:
| What it carries | |
|---|---|
| HTTP Listening (event push) | Every detection the device raises. Every Hikvision firmware has it. |
| FTP (timed pictures) | A picture from every channel every 5 minutes, plus event pictures. The timed picture is the device's heartbeat — how CleverCam knows it is alive — and each camera's preview picture. |
| Event emails with the picture attached, for an older recorder that has no FTP. | |
| Time sync (NTP) | The heartbeat of an older recorder that has no FTP: it checks its clock against CleverCam every 5 minutes. |
| Platform Access (ISUP 5.0) | Nothing yet. It is what live view will use. Only newer firmware has it. |
Which path does my device use?
| Device | Set up |
|---|---|
| Newer cameras and NVRs — Network → Advanced has an FTP page | HTTP Listening + FTP |
| Older DVRs without FTP (for example a DS-7104HGHI-F1 on firmware V3.4) | HTTP Listening + Email + Time sync |
| Any device with Platform Access (ISUP 5.0) | Optionally ISUP as well — not used yet, live view is coming |
A device uses FTP or email + time sync, never both. A device set up with the event push only has no heartbeat: it is heard from only when it detects something, and CleverCam cannot tell a quiet device from a dead one.
Thermal cameras (for example the DS-2TD2628) have two channels: 1 is the visible picture and 2 the heat picture. Each is its own camera in CleverCam; add either or both.
What you need
- A Hikvision camera or recorder that can reach the internet.
- A working DNS server in the device's network settings. The server address is a name (
hik.clevercam.co.za). A device on DHCP normally has one; a device given a fixed IP by hand often does not. - The device's admin login, to open its web page on site once.
- Its MAC address and LAN IP address, if you want to add its cameras before it has sent anything. Both are in its web page under System → System Information (and the MAC is on its label).
1. Create the hub
In Hubs → Hubs, click Add Hikvision Direct — or, on the site itself, open Hardware, click Add hub and pick the Hikvision Direct tile — and confirm the billing agreement. Hikvision Direct is billed per camera channel, with a minimum of one.
CleverCam creates the hub and shows Hikvision Direct hub created with the hub's serial, its connection details (six numbered steps), and a Devices list that fills in as devices report. Keep it open for the next step. The same details are in the hub's camera picker later, under How to point a device at CleverCam — see Where to find the camera picker.
The connection details belong to this hub only. The URL, the FTP and email Password (the same one) and the ISUP Key are hidden: click the eye to show one, or the copy button to copy it without showing it.
A hub made from the site's Add hub is already linked to that site. One made from the Hubs page is not: link it to the site the same way as any other hub before adding cameras.
2. Point each device at CleverCam
On every camera or recorder, open its web page and enter the values from the connection details. Menu names differ a little between models and firmware.
Step 1: Events and their pictures
Go to Network → Advanced → HTTP Listening (some firmware calls it Alarm Server) and enter:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Destination IP or host name | hik.clevercam.co.za |
| URL | the one shown for the hub (it starts /hik/ and the hub's serial) |
| Port | 7010 |
| Protocol | HTTP |
Then, for every detection you use (Motion, Line Crossing, Intrusion…) on every channel: Event → the detection → Linkage Method → tick Notify Surveillance Center. A detection without it is never sent.
Steps 2 to 4 are the device's heartbeat and pictures: step 2 on a device with FTP, or steps 3 and 4 on an older recorder without FTP — never both. See Which path does my device use?
Step 2: Heartbeat and preview picture (devices with FTP)
Go to Network → Advanced → FTP and enter the server address hik.clevercam.co.za, port 2122, and the User name and Password shown for the hub. Tick Upload Picture.
Then under Storage → Capture, turn on Timing capture every 300 seconds and Event capture, and tick Upload to FTP.
Step 3: Email with pictures (recorders without FTP)
Go to Network → Advanced → Email and enter:
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| SMTP server | hik.clevercam.co.za |
| SMTP port | 2525 |
| Enable SSL/TLS | Off |
| Authentication | On |
| User name, Password | shown for the hub (the same as the FTP ones) |
| Sender's address | shown for the hub (the hub's serial @hik.clevercam.co.za) |
| Receiver's address | alarm@hik.clevercam.co.za |
| Attached image | On, interval 2 s |
Then on every channel: Event → Motion (and any other detection you use) → Linkage Method → tick Send Email.
Step 4: Time sync = heartbeat (recorders without FTP)
Go to System → System Settings → Time Settings, choose NTP, and enter the server address hik.clevercam.co.za with an interval of 5 minutes. Each time check is how CleverCam knows the recorder is alive, so it must use this server and no other.
Step 5: Platform Access (optional now)
Only on newer firmware. Go to Network → Advanced → Platform Access, choose ISUP 5.0 (older firmware: EHome), and enter the server address, port 7660, a Device ID and the Key shown for the hub.
Give every device its own Device ID: the hub's serial, a dash, then anything, for example a1b2c3d4-nvr1 or a1b2c3d4-therm1. The connection details suggest some. CleverCam does not use this connection for anything yet; entering it now saves a site visit when live view arrives.
Step 6: Clock
Go to System → System Settings → Time Settings, set the time zone to GMT+02:00 and turn on NTP — on a recorder without FTP, the server from step 4; on any other device, any server (for example pool.ntp.org). Hikvision devices often ship on Beijing time (GMT+08:00), which stamps every event and picture six hours out. CleverCam cannot change this for you.
The server address is a name so that CleverCam can move the service without anyone visiting the site. If a device refuses it, or has not appeared a few minutes after saving, check it has a DNS server, then enter the IP address shown under the host name instead (197.242.158.218).
3. Choose the cameras to monitor
Each device appears in the picker once it sends something: an event, or its first heartbeat (within 5 minutes of setting up FTP or time sync). It shows its MAC, LAN and public address, when CleverCam last heard from it, and which ways it uses — Push, FTP (or Email and Time sync on a recorder without FTP) and ISUP light up green once used. Under it, every channel it has named, with its last event and last picture.
A device's status is one of:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Online | Heard from in the last 15 minutes. |
| Offline | It has sent a heartbeat before (a timed FTP picture or a time check), but nothing for over 15 minutes. |
| No heartbeat | It has never sent a timed FTP picture or a time check, so it is heard from only when it detects something. Set up step 2, or steps 3 and 4 on a recorder without FTP. |
| Not heard from yet | A device added by hand (below) that has not sent anything yet. |
To monitor a channel:
- Tick it. Fields appear for its name in CleverCam, its group (the group of the device's other cameras is picked for you), and what it detects — People or People and vehicles. Select every channel not monitored ticks them all.
- Click Add in the bar at the bottom.
A site with no camera group yet gets one called Cameras. To stop monitoring a camera, click Remove next to it — or delete the camera anywhere else in CleverOps or CleverAlert, as normal. The channel stays on the device and can be added again.
Channels and devices that have not reported yet
A recorder names a channel only once that channel has sent something, so a quiet camera does not show up on its own. You do not have to wait:
- Add channel: under any device, type a channel number (1–128) and click Add. The channel is listed and ticked, ready to name.
- Add a device CleverCam has not heard from: enter the device's MAC address, its LAN IP address and how many Channels it has, then click List its channels. Every channel is listed and ticked; untick the ones you do not want, name the rest, and click Add. The device is then listed as Not heard from yet with its cameras, until it sends something.
On a recorder the channel number is the camera's position on the recorder, counting from 1 — the same number its web page shows for that camera.
Only a site admin, a company admin of a control room serving the site, or a super admin can add or remove cameras. Everyone else sees the list without the controls, and without the connection details.
Where to find the camera picker
- On the site's Hardware tab, the Hikvision Direct hub's + Add Camera button.
- In the hub's Edit dialog, under Cameras.
- Straight after Add Hikvision Direct, under Devices.
What is not available yet
| Live view | Not yet. It will come through Platform Access (ISUP 5.0). |
| Pictures on demand | Not yet. Each camera's picture is its latest timed or event picture. |
| Changing settings from CleverCam | Not yet. Detection, recording and the clock are set on the device itself; there is no Device health or Fix on camera as there is for Dahua Direct. |
| Event clips | Not available. Events arrive with their picture only. |
| Siren and strobe | Cannot be triggered from CleverCam. A site that needs remote deterrence needs a CCU. |
Troubleshooting
The device never appears. It appears only after it sends something. Check the HTTP Listening host, port and URL are exactly as shown (the URL is unique to the hub), and that Notify Surveillance Center is ticked on the detection; then walk in front of a camera. With FTP or time sync set up, it also appears within 5 minutes of its first heartbeat. If it still does not, it may not be able to use the server name — see the note under step 6.
The device shows No heartbeat. Events arrive but no heartbeat has. Set up FTP and the Timing capture (step 2) — or, on a recorder without FTP, Time sync against hik.clevercam.co.za every 5 minutes (step 4). Many firmwares have a Test button on the FTP and email pages.
The device shows Offline. Nothing for over 15 minutes. Check its power and internet, and that its FTP or time-sync settings have not changed.
A recorder without FTP sends events but no pictures. Check Send Email is ticked in the detection's Linkage Method on every channel, and Attached image is on in the email settings (step 3).
A recorder's camera is not listed. That channel has not sent anything yet. Add it by number with Add channel.
Events and pictures are stamped at the wrong time. The device's clock or time zone is wrong — see step 6.
A camera is listed under Cameras no device channel accounts for. Its camera record has no MAC address or channel CleverCam can read, or another camera already has that channel. Remove it and add the channel from its device.