If you’re trying to playback the footage on your Hikvision device you get the message “No Record File” or “Playback Failed. No Match Record Files”. What this error shows up?
It means that the device cannot find any recordings on the microSD card or on the hard drive even though you can watch the cameras live.
It’s a frustrating issue that needs to be solved as soon as possible, otherwise, your security camera system won’t record anything. A not working playback defeats the whole purpose of your security system.
This message (“no record file”) shows up on an NVR, DVR, or on a single camera that has a microSD card. The issue is related to incorrect recording settings, corrupt hard drive (or microSD card), and, in some cases, glitches on the firmware.
In this guide, we will show step by step how to fix the Hikvision issue of playback failed or no record files. First by adjusting the recording settings and then by inspecting the hard drive and updating the firmware.
How to fix Hikvision Playback Failed (No Record Files)
Step 1. Log into your recorder or camera and navigate to Configuration > Storage > Storage Management and select the HDD Management tab. There you should see listed any hard drive or microSD cards installed in the unit.
You need to select the hard drive (or SD card) and click Format. This will format the whole hard disk space. Warning: any footage you may have there will be erased.
If you don’t see any hard drive or microSD listed there, it means the device is not detecting anything. Maybe the hard drive is dead (damaged) or is not hooked up properly, sometimes the MicroSD card may be loose.
Inspect the unit carefully, and make sure the wires are fully plugged in. If you’re using a MicroSD card, ensure that it’s fully inserted in the slot and on the correct side. Keep in mind, always use a surveillance-rated hard drive and reliable MicroSD cards.
Step 2. Once you see the successful format message, go to Configuration > Storage > Schedule Settings and then select the Record Schedule tab (as seen in the picture below).
In this step, you need to erase all the settings already there, click the “Delete All” button and erase everything. Do it for the Continuous Mode, Event, Motion, etc.
Make sure any settings are erased. Sometimes these settings are done incorrectly or even messed up. You should see the tab empty. Don’t forget to click Save to Apply (the erased) new settings.
Step 3. Now we have to re-do the schedule settings one more time. Select the mode you want to record (in our cases it’s “continuous), and copy for all the days. If you have set it in motion detection, the bar should be colored green.
For example, we set our unit to record continuous mode (24/7) for each day of the week. The bars should be blue for all days, starting from 00:00 to 24:00. Click Save to apply the adjusted settings.
Step 4. Next, we need to reboot the unit (camera, NVR, or DVR). Navigate to Configuration > System > Maintenance and click the Reboot button (as shown in the picture below).
The unit will restart and the new settings will take effect.
Step 5. The last step involves going to the Playback and checking if the unit is recording. If it’s in motion detection, make some movement in front of the camera to trigger the recording.
In our case, we searched the footage and we can see (on the red square) that the unit is already recording. Pretty much that’s it.
As we mentioned earlier, the playback failed, or the “no record files” issue is caused by incorrect schedule settings (sometimes messed up), or a dead/damaged hard drive/micro SD card (in this case you need to replace the hard drives).
In some instances, the issue is related to bad firmware, especially if the unit is quite old. You need to update the firmware on the NVR/DVR or camera to the latest released version. Contact Hikvision USA, or the OEM seller/dealer to get the right firmware.
According to my experiences, the CMOS battery makes this kind of error when it has no power. Time and date on the NVR recording file are very sensitive and CMOS battery maintaining these configurations even power off. When it can’t maintain the configuration files and time and date, everything setting has gone wrong. So, very simple way, just change the COMS battery.
THANKS Ran Naing !!!!!! You were right ! After syncing time from my PC and rebooting, the recording worked. I’ll have to replace the CMOS battery at some point, but for now, it’s working.
@Ran Naing — Thank you for taking the time to post this! I was all set to purchase a replacement NVR for my DS-7604NI-E1 thinking I had corrupted it with all the firmware versions I had tried on it to fix this “no record file” error. I saw your comment just now and the date/time sync got it working again. A replacement CMOS battery is on the way now, but I’m assuming everything will be fine as long as it’s up for now. Thanks again,
I have an issue where I’ve just found out some of my camera have stopped recording whilst others still do and yet they all show a picture in “Live View” so it’s not like the connection to the camera (via Cable) is lost.
You need to check the recording settings for each channel and ensure the motion is enabled. If a certain channel is not being recorded (and you see the live image), it’s a setting issue.
Thing was that it had been recording and no changes were made. It was only when I needed to check to see if something was recorded that I noticed that it stopped recording a few months back.
But perhaps I’m going crazy and I’ll explain why. Firstly I have 5 cameras.
On the web interface some of my cameras have triangles on the corner of the date on the calendar located on the right hand side of the screen on the “Playback” tab indicating that there are recordings.
On 3 (prior to yesterday) it was showing as nothing for the past few months but after tinkering yesterday (basically turning off motion and turning it back on, re-booting etc etc) 2 of them now show the check mark for yesterday and today even though nothing showed before I left for my afternoon shift at work.
Whilst at work on my break, I decided to see if there were any recordings for that afternoon (to see if recording kicked in after I left) and to my surprise, not only were there recordings for yesterday afternoon, but there are recordings for previous days even though the calendar on the web based interface says there isn’t.
So it appears that there are recordings but the web based interface isn’t marking the calendar as such for all cameras and for all days. I have also checked both stream types.
Weird how I can review recordings from one of the cameras for, say, the 8th May, but the web interface shows nothing recorded on that date.
Cheers
From the way you’re describing it, there may be a few things that need to be addressed. I’d recommend the suggestions below:
– First of all, check if there are recordings straight from the NVR (through the local monitor). Sometimes, the plugin on the web browser shows problems and doesn’t display all the recorded days. So, playback from the NVR and check if there are recordings for each camera. Playback randomly and see if it’s ok. All the cameras should have approximately the same number of recorded days (unless the settings as customized).
– Uninstall the plugin from your computer, access the system again from the browser, and install the plugin again when prompted. The plugin is called webcomponents and you can find a few articles on my blog as well. Once freshly installed, check the playback section again (on the browser). A bad plugin may cause the playback not to work at all or fail to retrieve the footage on certain random dates.
– Check the timestamp (time, date). It needs to be accurate otherwise the videos may mess up.
– I’ve seen a similar issue on old firmware, you need to refresh the settings (just hit Apply again) and it will start to record. You may need to update yours just in case.
– Double-check the scheduling (for recording). There are a few guides on this blog as well.