There is varying opinion on whether you should keep a camera's firmware at the latest version as part of scheduled service/cleaning, but when it comes to troubleshooting at least, conventional wisdom says, update first, ask questions later. Additionally, vendor tech-support may insist strongly suggest on it before processing the problem ticket.
But is mindlessly complying before working the problem really wise? Considering the fact that doing so can needlessly expose you to:
- New bugs
- Undesired 'features'
- VMS version incompatibility
- Bricking
- Difficulty establishing proximate cause
Given:
Scenario #1
Camera working fine for months. Suddenly audio is dropping out intermittently.
Scenario #2
Camera working fine for months. Then owner wants to start using VMD on camera, once enabled camera rebooting intermittently.
Case, 1 I say hold off at first, case 2, go for it...
I submit that you should establish a likelihood that a firmware update could actually solve the problem before beginning. This mainly translates into a skeptical attitude towards things that were working fine and then just stop working without anything in the setup or environment changing. In those cases it may be clearer to work other remedies, (check the microphone /cables), BEFORE proceeding with something that more likely to hurt than help.
Agree or disagree anyone?