Amcrest IP2M-850E (“Goliath” camera), one of, if not the most, expensive IP cams sold by Amcrest. Retailed for over $800 if I recall. Shipped with white gloves included. I purchased less than two years ago. Now no means of reliably connecting to its web interface for configuration and use of its many advanced features. Email to tech support says camera discontinued and won’t receive any updates soon or likely at all. I understand eventual technical obsolescence but this is not ok.
And as someone else mentioned, moving the other updated camera software to Java is just kicking the can down the road, soon to be obsolete again. Why not use something with some forward lifespan, like HTML5? My guess is lack of experience within software group.
Open letter about the state of Amcrest software
Re: Open letter about the state of Amcrest software
Well I am not sure, You see there are loads of things that are going on inside said Phone and Said computer... Some things that might not be going on with yours....
First let me start off by saying that 1 thing I noticed when I started getting IP cameras by the way I have had Cameras For many Many years.. Starting way back with Reel To Reel System moving to a Time Lapse VCR and slow to move into DVR because if it isn't broke don't fix it lol... Sadly I didn't move things up to DVR until around 2010ish...
Now back to the IP part... You know before I had any IP cameras and I had others before I bought Amcrest ones... However before I could go a year or more on my Router without ever having to reset it.. Jeez I think one of them I might have gone 2 years... However I get Ip camera WIfi at that... had to reset within a couple weeks.. Get another one not really getting the Idea of why I am resetting my Router... 2 Wifi active IP cameras with PTZ and now I am rebooting my Router once a week... Or maybe that was after my 3rd wifi camera... Mind you, I have about 40 devices on my router at any given time. between Computer, Switches, DVR's, Phones, Smart TV's, Cable DVR's, and such... However before I got my Cameras I didn't have to restart my Router once in long time.. While this might not be 100% true, as I can't remember if a Power outage or something like that.. But what I mean is I NEVER had to reboot the Router at all by my intervention... So thinking well Router is old lets get new one.. Buying new one WOW reset more often.. New one Even Gamer Quality... Buy another one same issue Now once a week.. I do have now 9 Ip cameras while 5 are Amcrest only 4 of them are online... So 8 in total online... While I do admit that I have some odd setups... 2 cameras going to this DVR, 2 going to that one, All 4 being recorded on PC-NVR on computer, all of them and one of my DVR's is Ftping to my FTP server... Then I have 4 Smart Tv's 3 Game consoles and family at the house of 4 right now... At any given time there at least 2 maybe more streams going to netflix, and Steam Games going on and could be at the same time. Another person playing another internet Game, and yet another person playing a Multi RPG High Res Graphics game.. most days.. Yeah need to Reboot even this Router, Moved cameras to another router... All in all I have to REBOOT or things just not happy...
Anyway.. I don't know.. Maybe My computers are Junk... reboot yeah my Servers they sit in closet and get rebooted maybe once every 4 months... My FTP server once a week, My PC-NVR server once a month just by Habit... Did it need it not sure... However my computer that I use most times in the day... I leave running 24/7 and it has loads of things going on. I look over loads of Webpages. Stream videos, run CMS software for my 2 16ch DVR's over it, Run ASP over it every now and again looking at the Amcrest Cameras that I don't have on the screen under my main screen... Then I do software installs, Un installs, things get messed up and I reboot my Computer often... If I don't computer starts to get mad at me and after a While it will lock up.. Have I had it lock up in a while no.. But I don't want it to either so by habit I will Restart it once a week.. Sometimes even 2 times a week......
Reboots are not 100% needed all the time, and you can with the LIttle Toggle turn them on or off on your NVR/DVR... Sadly a lot of people don't understand what DVR/NVR is really doing and think they should run 100% un interrupted and maybe that is the case... I know that when I replaced the HDD on one of my DVR's form 2010 that has been running since 2012 there was 40000 hours on the HDD with only 109 Reboots... That is like 2 times a month on Reboots... However that one just really just sits there and I do use it now and again to look up footage of a different angle of another camera that is already in place as well.. Since my CVI from Amcrest, and My TVI from Brand N that I have had since 2010 first one,, The second one has higher quality cameras and so the other one Just gets used if needing more data of an event from one already caught on a different camera... I have been said I collect things lol... yes I have 5 DVRs lol 2 of them 16ch.... 1 8ch and 2 are 4ch. however one from Amcrest that is a 4ch is now strangely enough a 8ch NVR lol wish my CVI from them was... Only reason is because while the other is a 960h dvr that had the ability to change into a 8ch NVR it works well for my cameras from Amcrest but don't have ability to record it audio... Other then that it is awesome little DVR/HVR/NVR...
Computers and Home computers for sure are really not made to run 24/7. Most times not in my case but most times they are in cases that are not good enough, PSU that are under powered or just powered enough for Bare Min... So in that Most computers and you can do a Search for this I am sure it will come up somewhere... However most computers are designed to run 4 to 8 hour a day.. The Power Ratings if you look at the total data for them ratings are over that time not a 24hr day.. So most people turn their home computer off at a min every night before bed... Infact before the Internet I am sure everyone turned off the computer daily lol.. I remember doing Tech support even in the start of Internet days and people are like ok let me turn on my computer... Also the ones that had loads of problems first thing asked is when was the last time you turned off your computer or restarted it.... It isn't something new... Anyway... I don't know... To Be Honest... There are to many good things for Amcrest to be mad about something not even related to the issue in hand... To look up and Point out dates when someone else said I have this problem.. lol Sorry that just don't work... YOu know how many problems I have been able to solve without need of Support... There are a few that I can't but is it something that makes the system Dis function? NO Just makes it an annoyance... Like my DVR and all my IP cameras when they reboot turn off the date an time I setup as 12hr and m, d, y however every week after reboot they all even my DVR changes back to default. But does that make it BAD? NO. Can I still Record Yes. does it give footage when i want yes... Am I going to be mad because the Battery I am guessing is bad well NO... Not easy to replace all out of warranty and maybe not even why it resets I don't know.... Does it annoy me yes... Have I fixed it every time it changes NO... Because it just don't really matter as long as it is doing what I need it to and that is keeping footage... Another thing FTP dates that are setup right.. Time NO.... Is it Amcrest fault. I don't know... Might be... Does the Data get saved to my FTP server yes... Can I find what I am looking for yes does it bother me that the time is off yes... What can I do about it? Nothing Learn to deal with it... SO I do... Don't even look at the Right side anymore...
So then ask this Why did I find Amcrest? Well because the Brand N company I have 2 16ch DVR's from don't care about the Customer and support is bad. Remember I have a 2010 DVR that didn't really get used the whole time well that was because I had another brand that was kind of LIke Brand N bad support and passed that off long time ago... While Amcrest might not make everyone happy with FW updates or the ability to make them for products they still sale today... They do support more then Brand N did... While I have to admit that now being asked where something was bought TBH in my mind don't matter if it is out of warranty. If it is Amcrest and life time support then don't ask who it was bought from when someone wants support... Other then that... There has been no issue with the support... I have not had a ticked closed early... I Don't treat them bad and I don't get treated bad... I don't act Privileged and treat them with Respect and have always been turned in same kindness....
Had an Issue back in June.. I called talked with someone they couldn't help much... But did the best they could... Was said would pass it on to higher ups... Give me a call back... I was sending a Guess you forgot about me email to close my Ticket and before I even hit send I was on the phone with someone that treated me with Respect and was able to solve my issue in less then 5 min... Sure took a week for the call and I know they have others they have to support too... This is for a Product that is no longer under return warranty and no more FW updates but no issue. However Brand N I spend a few Grand on the products... have a PTZ Speed Dome that when I bought the first one was 1500 now you can still find them on Zoro for almost 900 and a question to the tech support I got a We don't support that camera any more it is Old Tech Blah Blah.. Even older camera have a question about function from DVR because in my Move some of my Gear was taken or lets say Not Delivered. Paying 7k to move from Ca. to Oh. I guess wasn't enough to get all my Belongings lol.. Anyway the Support person at Brand N tells me I am crazy that what I want it to do The camera can't do it and made me feel like a Second Rate Citizen. Not that I am First rate by any means... But left bad taste about company... So after figuring it out on my Own I was nice enough to send them back an Email with Since your a Product Specialist and even though you don't support the camera anymore incase some else asks same question here is HOW you do it... Pointed out every step to do what I wanted over the DVR seeing my PTZ controller was missing and didn't have time or budget to replace. Was happy to get the camera no longer support back for just under 900 form Zoro lol But yeah had I known then what I know now I would not have spent that money to replace the lost/missing items... But I love the camera and hard to beat the Features... Even if it is OLD Tech... It was High Tech in the Day and not sure what I would be able to replace it with... Anyway since then I have also got my PTZ controller replaced so messing with what I wanted with my camera is much easier with right hardware lol...
First let me start off by saying that 1 thing I noticed when I started getting IP cameras by the way I have had Cameras For many Many years.. Starting way back with Reel To Reel System moving to a Time Lapse VCR and slow to move into DVR because if it isn't broke don't fix it lol... Sadly I didn't move things up to DVR until around 2010ish...
Now back to the IP part... You know before I had any IP cameras and I had others before I bought Amcrest ones... However before I could go a year or more on my Router without ever having to reset it.. Jeez I think one of them I might have gone 2 years... However I get Ip camera WIfi at that... had to reset within a couple weeks.. Get another one not really getting the Idea of why I am resetting my Router... 2 Wifi active IP cameras with PTZ and now I am rebooting my Router once a week... Or maybe that was after my 3rd wifi camera... Mind you, I have about 40 devices on my router at any given time. between Computer, Switches, DVR's, Phones, Smart TV's, Cable DVR's, and such... However before I got my Cameras I didn't have to restart my Router once in long time.. While this might not be 100% true, as I can't remember if a Power outage or something like that.. But what I mean is I NEVER had to reboot the Router at all by my intervention... So thinking well Router is old lets get new one.. Buying new one WOW reset more often.. New one Even Gamer Quality... Buy another one same issue Now once a week.. I do have now 9 Ip cameras while 5 are Amcrest only 4 of them are online... So 8 in total online... While I do admit that I have some odd setups... 2 cameras going to this DVR, 2 going to that one, All 4 being recorded on PC-NVR on computer, all of them and one of my DVR's is Ftping to my FTP server... Then I have 4 Smart Tv's 3 Game consoles and family at the house of 4 right now... At any given time there at least 2 maybe more streams going to netflix, and Steam Games going on and could be at the same time. Another person playing another internet Game, and yet another person playing a Multi RPG High Res Graphics game.. most days.. Yeah need to Reboot even this Router, Moved cameras to another router... All in all I have to REBOOT or things just not happy...
Anyway.. I don't know.. Maybe My computers are Junk... reboot yeah my Servers they sit in closet and get rebooted maybe once every 4 months... My FTP server once a week, My PC-NVR server once a month just by Habit... Did it need it not sure... However my computer that I use most times in the day... I leave running 24/7 and it has loads of things going on. I look over loads of Webpages. Stream videos, run CMS software for my 2 16ch DVR's over it, Run ASP over it every now and again looking at the Amcrest Cameras that I don't have on the screen under my main screen... Then I do software installs, Un installs, things get messed up and I reboot my Computer often... If I don't computer starts to get mad at me and after a While it will lock up.. Have I had it lock up in a while no.. But I don't want it to either so by habit I will Restart it once a week.. Sometimes even 2 times a week......
Reboots are not 100% needed all the time, and you can with the LIttle Toggle turn them on or off on your NVR/DVR... Sadly a lot of people don't understand what DVR/NVR is really doing and think they should run 100% un interrupted and maybe that is the case... I know that when I replaced the HDD on one of my DVR's form 2010 that has been running since 2012 there was 40000 hours on the HDD with only 109 Reboots... That is like 2 times a month on Reboots... However that one just really just sits there and I do use it now and again to look up footage of a different angle of another camera that is already in place as well.. Since my CVI from Amcrest, and My TVI from Brand N that I have had since 2010 first one,, The second one has higher quality cameras and so the other one Just gets used if needing more data of an event from one already caught on a different camera... I have been said I collect things lol... yes I have 5 DVRs lol 2 of them 16ch.... 1 8ch and 2 are 4ch. however one from Amcrest that is a 4ch is now strangely enough a 8ch NVR lol wish my CVI from them was... Only reason is because while the other is a 960h dvr that had the ability to change into a 8ch NVR it works well for my cameras from Amcrest but don't have ability to record it audio... Other then that it is awesome little DVR/HVR/NVR...
Computers and Home computers for sure are really not made to run 24/7. Most times not in my case but most times they are in cases that are not good enough, PSU that are under powered or just powered enough for Bare Min... So in that Most computers and you can do a Search for this I am sure it will come up somewhere... However most computers are designed to run 4 to 8 hour a day.. The Power Ratings if you look at the total data for them ratings are over that time not a 24hr day.. So most people turn their home computer off at a min every night before bed... Infact before the Internet I am sure everyone turned off the computer daily lol.. I remember doing Tech support even in the start of Internet days and people are like ok let me turn on my computer... Also the ones that had loads of problems first thing asked is when was the last time you turned off your computer or restarted it.... It isn't something new... Anyway... I don't know... To Be Honest... There are to many good things for Amcrest to be mad about something not even related to the issue in hand... To look up and Point out dates when someone else said I have this problem.. lol Sorry that just don't work... YOu know how many problems I have been able to solve without need of Support... There are a few that I can't but is it something that makes the system Dis function? NO Just makes it an annoyance... Like my DVR and all my IP cameras when they reboot turn off the date an time I setup as 12hr and m, d, y however every week after reboot they all even my DVR changes back to default. But does that make it BAD? NO. Can I still Record Yes. does it give footage when i want yes... Am I going to be mad because the Battery I am guessing is bad well NO... Not easy to replace all out of warranty and maybe not even why it resets I don't know.... Does it annoy me yes... Have I fixed it every time it changes NO... Because it just don't really matter as long as it is doing what I need it to and that is keeping footage... Another thing FTP dates that are setup right.. Time NO.... Is it Amcrest fault. I don't know... Might be... Does the Data get saved to my FTP server yes... Can I find what I am looking for yes does it bother me that the time is off yes... What can I do about it? Nothing Learn to deal with it... SO I do... Don't even look at the Right side anymore...
So then ask this Why did I find Amcrest? Well because the Brand N company I have 2 16ch DVR's from don't care about the Customer and support is bad. Remember I have a 2010 DVR that didn't really get used the whole time well that was because I had another brand that was kind of LIke Brand N bad support and passed that off long time ago... While Amcrest might not make everyone happy with FW updates or the ability to make them for products they still sale today... They do support more then Brand N did... While I have to admit that now being asked where something was bought TBH in my mind don't matter if it is out of warranty. If it is Amcrest and life time support then don't ask who it was bought from when someone wants support... Other then that... There has been no issue with the support... I have not had a ticked closed early... I Don't treat them bad and I don't get treated bad... I don't act Privileged and treat them with Respect and have always been turned in same kindness....
Had an Issue back in June.. I called talked with someone they couldn't help much... But did the best they could... Was said would pass it on to higher ups... Give me a call back... I was sending a Guess you forgot about me email to close my Ticket and before I even hit send I was on the phone with someone that treated me with Respect and was able to solve my issue in less then 5 min... Sure took a week for the call and I know they have others they have to support too... This is for a Product that is no longer under return warranty and no more FW updates but no issue. However Brand N I spend a few Grand on the products... have a PTZ Speed Dome that when I bought the first one was 1500 now you can still find them on Zoro for almost 900 and a question to the tech support I got a We don't support that camera any more it is Old Tech Blah Blah.. Even older camera have a question about function from DVR because in my Move some of my Gear was taken or lets say Not Delivered. Paying 7k to move from Ca. to Oh. I guess wasn't enough to get all my Belongings lol.. Anyway the Support person at Brand N tells me I am crazy that what I want it to do The camera can't do it and made me feel like a Second Rate Citizen. Not that I am First rate by any means... But left bad taste about company... So after figuring it out on my Own I was nice enough to send them back an Email with Since your a Product Specialist and even though you don't support the camera anymore incase some else asks same question here is HOW you do it... Pointed out every step to do what I wanted over the DVR seeing my PTZ controller was missing and didn't have time or budget to replace. Was happy to get the camera no longer support back for just under 900 form Zoro lol But yeah had I known then what I know now I would not have spent that money to replace the lost/missing items... But I love the camera and hard to beat the Features... Even if it is OLD Tech... It was High Tech in the Day and not sure what I would be able to replace it with... Anyway since then I have also got my PTZ controller replaced so messing with what I wanted with my camera is much easier with right hardware lol...
Be Safe.
Re: Open letter about the state of Amcrest software
Thanks for your feedback, that's exactly what I'm concerned about: most of my Amcrest devices have not been updated for over one year and there are severe bugs that hinder their usability, how long before Amcrest will say they're discontinued? That's why I'd like to get an official statement about when/if firmware updates are going to be released? Several days later I'm still seeing no reply from Amcrest, maybe this is not the best channel to get this kind of info? Any ideas about what to do otherwise?djsteve wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:37 pm Amcrest IP2M-850E (“Goliath” camera), one of, if not the most, expensive IP cams sold by Amcrest. Retailed for over $800 if I recall. Shipped with white gloves included. I purchased less than two years ago. Now no means of reliably connecting to its web interface for configuration and use of its many advanced features. Email to tech support says camera discontinued and won’t receive any updates soon or likely at all. I understand eventual technical obsolescence but this is not ok.
Don't think Java will become obsolete per-se, but it's definitely not the kind of tech I would have chosen if I was in Amcrest's shoes. HTML5 is a mature technology that does not require installing 3rdparty software, works on mobile devices and it's going to be there for the foreseeable future, it would have been a better choice I think.djsteve wrote: ↑Sun Dec 08, 2019 5:37 pm And as someone else mentioned, moving the other updated camera software to Java is just kicking the can down the road, soon to be obsolete again. Why not use something with some forward lifespan, like HTML5? My guess is lack of experience within software group.
Re: Open letter about the state of Amcrest software
Hi guys, unfortunately I cannot go into specific details on the R&D development but we did went into careful consideration when deciding between which build will best suit our devices. After weighing in pros and cons for each builds we ultimately decided that JS would be the best option available.
Re: Open letter about the state of Amcrest software
@kwing,
Thank you for your reply. Can you please offer some insight on the larger issue at hand? There are many of us with expensive cameras purchased in the last couple of years that have an unknown forward-looking useable lifespan. I don’t mind waiting a reasonable amount of time for a firmware update to return web access, but if it isn’t planned or unlikely to occur in such a timeframe then I need to begin looking for a replacement. In my particular case I am looking for update info for the IP2M-850E PTZ camera, and for the NV2116-HS NVR.
Thank you for your reply. Can you please offer some insight on the larger issue at hand? There are many of us with expensive cameras purchased in the last couple of years that have an unknown forward-looking useable lifespan. I don’t mind waiting a reasonable amount of time for a firmware update to return web access, but if it isn’t planned or unlikely to occur in such a timeframe then I need to begin looking for a replacement. In my particular case I am looking for update info for the IP2M-850E PTZ camera, and for the NV2116-HS NVR.