Last Updated or created 2022-07-14

I don’t like cloud enabled devices, except if it is my own cloud!

I bought a Hikvision doorcam, when i researched the diverse doorcams where was a hikvision which could use a existing doorchime.

When i got mine in, it did not have this feature.
Damn what to do!

Where where several solutions i could think off:

• Use as is .. a no-go for me
• Offload SSL on a proxy and try to reverse engineer the https communication
• Or a hardware solution

I looked at the electronics and tried to find out how things where connected and where things where you could make use of.
I soldered some wires to a little print where the pushbutton was located.
Now i could read the button press, video was easily captured by using a RTSP port.

Does it work? … yes, but i’m not happy about it

Video playback in Zoneminder or VLC

rtsp://admin:secretpassword@hikvisionip:554/Streaming/Channels/101

A solution i used before for a generic doorbell

Just read the gpio pin with Arduino or raspberry.
A generic optocoupler will work, just check your resistor.