IP3M-941B Periodically Changes Resolution

[YrbkMgr]

Periodically this camera resets the resolution to 720P. I open ASP on my computer and change it back to 1296P. At some point, it magically reverts back to 720P. The reason I know that there's been a change is because my Zones in Blue Iris disappear at the lower resolution, and all motion is triggered. This has been going on for quite some time. No other settings change, just the resolution.

What could be causing this - where should I look?

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More information:
Accessing camera settings from ASP v 1.14.1 ONLY (not web UI, nor Amcrest IP Config); Also use Blue Iris (purchased separately). No SD card, everything done in Blue Iris 4.
Desired Resolution: 2304x1296 (reverts to 720P)
What I do to put it back to 1296P: Open ASP on PC, change resolution back, save
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Model: IP3M-943B
Platform: Windows 10 PC
Network: Local LAN only - no internet access, Static IP
Amcrest Surveillance Pro Desktop Software, Version No.: 1.14.1 Built Date: 2016-10-18
Firmware Version: 2.400.Amcrest 02.15.R, build: 2017-07-31

[jack7]

Try using your camera Web UI to change camera settings instead of using ASP.  The Web UI is more reliable for changing camera settings.   Also use Web UI to export/import all your settings.  If that doesn't help, try a a camera factory Reset.
You said that your camera is LAN only with no internet access, but remember that ANY program with access to your camera on your LAN could potentially change the resolution.
One known cause of resolution change is if you ever added camera to Amcrest Cloud, even it was a trial.  But that would typically require internet access.

[YrbkMgr]

I'm sincerely grateful for your help and for taking the time to reply.

Try using your camera Web UI to change camera settings instead of using ASP.  The Web UI is more reliable for changing camera settings.   Also use Web UI to export/import all your settings.  If that doesn't help, try a a camera factory Reset.

Been there done that. And FWIW, the Web UI is not more reliable than ASP in my experience. In fact, it's less reliable since browser support over the past couple of years has been quite lacking (which is why they moved to jaavascript in the beta version). Vivaldi, Chrome, IE, Edge, Firefox - used them all with the web UI.

You said that your camera is LAN only with no internet access, but remember that ANY program with access to your camera on your LAN could potentially change the resolution.One known cause of resolution change is if you ever added camera to Amcrest Cloud, even it was a trial. But that would typically require internet access.

Yeah, like I said I'm using Blue Iris software... so I know it can be accessed by any program on the LAN. Cloud isn't an issue, but good to know.

If I'm honest, I posted here because I thought that maybe a tech from Amcrest might chime in. Would event logs / device logs help? If so, what should I look for? Where can I pinpoint the change? That way at least I have one data point to pursue, know what I mean?

[Revo2Maxx]

Well you said Cloud isn't the issue however if you might have bought this camera used I would double check that it isn't Cloud related.. It will change the Encoding... I ran into an issue a couple or few years back where I had issues with the Encoding changed and I then seen the changes within my logs as not having a Name next to the person making this change.. Come to find out it was the cloud that was making the changes...

So back to buying a used camera or buying one from Amazon that while might been sold as new might have been used and they had Cloud and all that data is still going up to the cloud.. Looking in the Logs it will say things like Encode, then if the Camera made the change it will say System if you made the change it would say admin.. Anything that you do when logged in as admin it will say admin.. Now the issue is that when you have Blue Iris also logged in as admin it can be harder to track things down because most times people are using the same computer they are logged in as, as the Blue Iris computer... However if like me and you have Multi computer network with a system set aside for blue iris or some other software driven system then you will be able to tell what admin was doing the changes with the IP of the logged in admin.. Like in my case I have some of my systems connected to 2 different servers that are connected at 101 and 139.. So I know if admin from 109, 119 are my direct change..

So here is what you need to know, Anything your setting up within WebUI or something that changes the Encoding from abcd x zyzy to a different format at some point if you put back Blue Iris or cloud if it hasn't been changed in that then the camera will be told to change back to what it was setup at...

So you setup Blue Iris, Turned it off, Then went into ASP and made some changes, When you bring back Blue Iris it could change it back to what you had it setup for...

So take for instance when I had my 941 connected to one of my 1080p DVR I had it setup at 1080P and then I now have it setup on my 4k NVR at its full encoding.. I then make the mistake of turning on my 1080P system for testing and didn't Delete the camera from the recorders list of cameras when that camera logs back in it will change the encoding back to 1080p and now my NVR that I have it setup on will also reflect the change back to 1080p...

There might be some issues with no connection to the internet as well.. Sadly if the camera has 2019 or newer FW on it then all kinds of things can go strange within the camera settings because as I was told once, These are IP cameras and I of IP is for Internet and the camera requires Internet connection of at least 1mb of speed per camera to function right.. While I personally disagree I don't or didn't write their software either and they can make anything happen or not happen.. Sadly this is something in your setup that would require Logs and a few different times showing where and when the changes were made and from what or why to get to the bottom of the issue... Bring up the issue of Internet as it might be why it is lowering down to 720 trying to make it so it will work within the FW restraints that have been installed....

[YrbkMgr]

I appreciate the time you took to reply - it's taken me some time to digest it, review logs, etc.

Well you said Cloud isn't the issue however if you might have bought this camera used I would double check that it isn't Cloud related.. It will change the Encoding... I ran into an issue a couple or few years back where I had issues with the Encoding changed and I then seen the changes within my logs as not having a Name next to the person making this change.. Come to find out it was the cloud that was making the changes...

So how does one "double check" if it's cloud related?

So back to buying a used camera or buying one from Amazon that while might been sold as new might have been used and they had Cloud and all that data is still going up to the cloud..

Wait. I'm in the U.S. and bought this camera from Amazon and it said that the seller was Amcrest. Do you mean to say that one can never be certain that such a camera is new (never used) when purchased this way?

Looking in the Logs it will say things like Encode, then if the Camera made the change it will say System if you made the change it would say admin.. Anything that you do when logged in as admin it will say admin..

I have an entry in the log for the camera in question:

Log file screen cap

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If I understood you right, this change was made by the system, not me, right?

Now the issue is that when you have Blue Iris also logged in as admin it can be harder to track things down because most times people are using the same computer they are logged in as, as the Blue Iris computer... However if like me and you have Multi computer network with a system set aside for blue iris or some other software driven system then you will be able to tell what admin was doing the changes with the IP of the logged in admin..

So you lost me at the last bit regarding the IP of the logged in admin - how do I determine that?

Here's my setup from a LAN standpoint. I have a multi-computer home network. I'm the only user for all systems. Win10, Win 7, and Win XP. Blue Iris is installed on the Win10 unit running as a service (LAN IP ends with 145). I use the BI Web UI interface on the Win 7 machine (LAN IP ends with 158) running in Vivaldi browser using the local IP:port to monitor activity. The Win XP machine (LAN IP ends with 217) is running a free program called IP Camera Viewer - just monitoring activity in another room.

When I experience the resolution anomaly, I go to command prompt (admin) and NET STOP BLUEIRIS, open ASP and change the resolution back to my preference, then after saving, NET START BLUEIRIS to get the service running again. It stays as I set it until some random event. I never change anything in BI. When I restart the BI service and launch the console, BI reports the resolution from the camera - in other words, it appears that BI is only reading, not changing anything on its own.

Again, I appreciate your guidance.

[Revo2Maxx]

Ok so here is 2 pictures of my Log, While one shows admin with my IP that is from me logging into the camera at this time, the second picture is from when I using my NVR was changing the Preset on the camera and because it was done by the admin while I was online with the NVR it shows up as the admin of the NVR's IP address..

My ip 10.0.0.119, The NVR's address, 10.0.0.223 and the cameras IP address 10.0.0.177..

Then about the system yet that says the system saved the Encoding aka Video Format. . However these have to be done because of current issue either some type of Hardware or software being used... It might be that your not trying to make this adjustment however using cross platforms it might be that the system is being changed by the Win XP machine to be able to access the system.. It might be any number of things... The best way to look at this is not from the log of BI but the WebUI of the camera it self... THen when you see the item you want to look at you can expand it to look like what you see in my pictures and it will say what and where it was made from not just that it was made... So it won't always mention what the IP is however as I have seen on my cameras anyway if I log in camera from my PC and do something that would make the motion alarm go on then admin would show up when it went off so it might say system on but admin off because moved camera, or something outside the system However if it was within the time I was on my PC there would also be a Logout after that that would reflect my PC ip.. Same with NVR when it logs in or out it will show the IP of the NVR..

SO lets say your XP was the issue it should show in the cameras LOG off the cameras WebUI.. Log in to the cameras IP, then click setup in top center right, then click on Information at the left bottom of the screen the click on Log..

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[YrbkMgr]

The best way to look at this is not from the log of BI but the WebUI of the camera it self...

I'm not using BI to review any logs. So here's what's maddeningly frustrating... accessing logs from the web UI (typing the local LAN address in the browser) is not consistent with events reported by Amcrest Surveillance Pro.

In my previous post, that screen cap of the log was exported to an XLS file from within ASP - I filtered it in Excel and took a screen cap. When I log into the camera with a browser (the camera's web UI), the event doesn't appear. That is to say, there is no event at 03:21:44 in the log delivered by the web UI - yet it appears in the log generated by ASP.

As a side note, the web UI is too inconsistent from browser to browser and even camera to camera (I also have an Amcrest IP2M-841B-v3) - so my best practices to access either camera is to use ASP.

In summary, since the event doesn't appear via web UI, I can't determine the IP logged in when the event occurred.

Let's eliminate a variable. I asked in my previous post "how does one "double check" if it's cloud related?" Can you tell me where I can find that out via ASP?

[Revo2Maxx]

Within your WebUI it would show up because it would be an event within the Camera and not within ASP or BI... Looking at the EVENT LOGS off ASP as I can't remember and assume is is still the same as the SmartPSS within reason.. However since I started having Time issues and other things while using ASP I no longer use it.. However if you look in the logs area, there should be a tab at top that will let you search the camera logs as well.. As you can see from the picture here this shows the log that is being sent off the 941 to the SMARTPSS software and ASP should also have the same feature...

Looking in your logs for the CAMERA if there is any area that mentions Encoding that don't have System or Admin next to the user area that is being done off the Cloud as it used to be that way I don't know because I have not used cloud service for over 3 years now because of that issue or 2 years either way it has been long ago..

Sorry I didn't answer about Cloud but yes even if the seller says it was Amcrest when it comes from Amazon it could be a Camera that was sold and returned and sold again as new.. One issue that has been seen in the past that the camera was not Reset and Cloud service is still active for the last user.. I am not saying this is your issue but that is a known issue with Cloud Reducing the Encoding to make the service happy and was what was happening to me after I make a setting, the cloud after some time would change it back...

Amazon and Amcrest as seller they are on a contact for sales of hardware and to keep amazon in stock of hardware they sale in all warehouses at a level of a set amount. Amazon will ship out the product and in the event of a return it is said to go though a Reset to Factory and is to be placed as used for sale however Amcrest don't have any thing to say where and or how something that was returned is treated even though it is said all items returned should be sold as Restock... This is one of the reasons that someone might get a camera with 2020 FW installed already from a camera that was released before 2020 and Amcrest will sale most camera and recorders with the last known FW prior to the 2019 JS release and leave it to the end user to install the new 2019 or 2020 and now 2021 fw on the camera..

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[jack7]

@Revo2Maxx

Amazon and Amcrest as seller they are on a contact for sales of hardware and to keep amazon in stock of hardware they sale in all warehouses at a level of a set amount. Amazon will ship out the product and in the event of a return it is said to go though a Reset to Factory and is to be placed as used for sale however Amcrest don't have any thing to say where and or how something that was returned is treated even though it is said all items returned should be sold as Restock....

Apparently Amcrest does have control over what is done with returns.
Here is the Amazon seller agreement:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/hel ... uage=en_US
See Sections F-6 and F-7
Regarding returns, it says:
F-7.1 You may, at any time, request that Units be returned to you or that we dispose of Units.

@YrbkMgr
As I mentioned earlier, any app on your LAN that has access to camera could change camera settings. That incluse IP Camera Viewer. It may be able to change camera resolution. See Video resolution at
https://www.deskshare.com/help/ipcv/AddIPCamera.aspx
It may be somthing to investigate.