It may happen to get a green screen on Hikvision cameras. This issue shows up on live view mode, or even when you try to playback the footage. It can be displayed randomly or when you switch on Hik-Connect to HD mode to basic mode.
There are a few factors that cause this problem and it’s usually related to higher settings on the camera that cannot be handled by the NVR or the network. Let’s say that you have an 8MP NVR and you’re constantly transmitting 8 cameras at full 8MP resolution.
The NVR (and possibly your network) will struggle to process and display 8 camera feeds at such high resolution, resulting in all kinds of stuttering, artifacts, and other problems. A common result is having a green screen on the feed.
How to fix Hikvision green screen issue?
To fix this issue, you can try downsetting the cameras into the lower specs in the video settings and see if the problem goes away.
Video Settings can be accessed directly via the NVR’s interface or through the web browser. Specifically, you need to check these three settings: Resolution, Bit Rate, Frame Rate. Start by lowering the bit rate and frame rate.
For example, set the bitrate at 4Mbps per camera and the frame rate at 15 FPS. Reboot the NVR, once it’s back online, check out if you can see the cameras via the Hik-Connect app.
If the problem is fixed at this point, it indicates that your NVR cannot handle all the cameras at their max settings. You either need to upgrade the NVR, downgrade the cameras, or go for a new system altogether.
ONVIF compatibility issue
The green screen may show up when you are connecting ONVIF cameras to a Hikvision NVR. It indicates that the third-party cameras are not able to fully communicate with the NVR; or they can connect but the recorder cannot handle them properly.
In this case, you should start by ensuring that the cameras are updated to the latest firmware. ONVIF issues are constantly fixed by the manufacturer and all you have to do is update the software on the camera. So, check with the seller for any new release.
Additionally, you need to update the Hikvision NVR to the latest firmware. We’d recommend contacting the seller or the manufacturer and getting the firmware from them.
If you find the firmware yourself online, you may run the risk of updating the wrong one which may brick the equipment. It’s better to be safe.
Moreover, some cameras, especially the cheap ones from unknown manufacturers, run on buggy ONVIF profiles that can’t be updated.
In such a case, you may need to replace your cameras or replace the NVR itself with one that supports such cameras (usually, it has to be from the same manufacturer as the cameras).
Downgrade to the previous firmware
It has been reported that the green screen may show when you upgrade the firmware of the camera or the NVR. While updating the firmware is always a good idea, if the green screen issue started to show up right after you flashed the firmware, then you may try to downgrade to the previous firmware.
Then when Hikvison figures out the issue, you can re-upgrade again.
To downgrade, you may follow this guide: How to downgrade Hikvision cameras (firmware downgrade). Make sure you got the right (previous) firmware and upgrade through the NVR’s local interface or via the web browser. Check out if the error disappeared.
Reset the camera with issues
If there’s only one single camera that shows green, it may be a good idea to reset that particular one. Find the physical reset button on the camera, hold it down for about 15 seconds then release it.
Or you can do a factory reset via the camera’s interface on Internet Explorer and wait until the camera comes back online. Once so, add the camera to the NVR and try it if the picture shows up correctly on the app.
Contact the seller
Lastly, if nothing you tried fixes the issue, contact the seller or Hikvision and they’ll provide further assistance.
In some cases that we know, the issue was related to loose cables on the camera’s motherboard that the manufacturer needs to address (especially if you got a green screen since the first day that camera was set up.
