Very disappointed with the IP2M-841 Tour feature

[SRV]

I recently purchased two IP2M-841 cameras. I set them up using a wired Ethernet connection using Firefox 49.0.2 and was pleased to see that IP2M-841 webpage UI looked remarkably like Dahua cameras which I have prior experience with and liked. The mp4 videos are uploading to my local FTP (Filezilla) server when the motion detection trips. Generally, the cameras are working well.

However, the Tour function is one thing that’s not working well. Again, using Firefox and the web UI, in the Live View tab, I see that 25 different Presets can be set. I have set: Driveway as 1, Front Yard as 2, Front Porch as 3 and Side Gate as 4. I verified the Presets are working by selecting the Preset number and clicking the Go To button and sure enough the camera moves to location I wanted. So far so good.

Now I want to create a Tour. I see that a maximum of 8 Tours can be created. I want Tour 1 to consist of Preset 1 for 20 seconds, then to Preset 2 for 15 seconds, then to Preset 3 for 30 seconds, then to Preset 4 for 10 seconds then repeat.

Here’s the problems:
1) When the Preset numbers are added one by one to Tour 1 there is no indication that the Preset number was accepted or not. There is no list that appears as you build the Tour, nothing shows up anywhere.
2) There is no indication how many Presets a Tour can contain.
3) There is no way to specify the “Stay Time” for each Preset on the Tour.
4) There appears to be no way to edit a Tour once it is created.
5) The Tour works when I click the Start button and goes to each of the 4 locations but only stays about 2 seconds at each location, I want 15-30 seconds at each location. If I close Firefox the Tour continues, that part I do like.
6) I did some research and installed the Amcrest Surveillance Pro software. On the Live View. The PTZ control shows up in to lower right hand corner. When I click More Functions now I see Preset, Tour, Pan, Scan, Pattern, Aux function are available. On the Tour function a list does appear and the stay time can be set. But Tour 1 is blank now. I had just setup Tour1 to be Presets 1, 2, 3, 4. This ASP software seems to create a completely different Tour and ignores the Tour 1 that I setup internally with the camera. This new Tour only works while the ASP software is running. If I close the ASP then the camera stops. That part I don't like, I want to camera to keep moving.

So I have yet to find a way to get the IP2M-841 camera to run the Tour I want all on its own, without having to use some other program like ASP to run it. The PC I have running the FileZilla FTP server is intentionally picked for low power consumption. It has enough CPU power to run Filezilla but it doesn’t have enough CPU power to run ASP with multiple cameras all having Tours running.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Reading through the forums here makes me think Amcrest will never fix this issue on the IP2M-841 in my lifetime.

[SRV]

If anyone knows of a different Amcrest model that can do the Tour function per my description please let me know.

FYI, even my old Foscam FI9821P v2 cameras had a Tour function that resides in the camera, shows a list of what Presets are in the Tour and did pretty much all I wanted it to do.

[James.S]

@SRV,


I would highly recommend contacting us so we could further assist you. From my experience, I enjoy using ASP (Amcrest Surveillance Pro) as it has many many features available to it Including Tours and other awesome features.

You can reach out to by contacting us via email ([email protected]) or phone (888-212-7538)

[jack7continued]

If anyone knows of a different Amcrest model that can do the Tour function per my description please let me know.

FYI, even my old Foscam FI9821P v2 cameras had a Tour function that resides in the camera, shows a list of what Presets are in the Tour and did pretty much all I wanted it to do.

The IP2M-841 has basic preset/tour capability. You could try a high function PTZ camera with more capablity like an IP2M-853E or IP2M-858. PTZ functions there include Presets, Tours, Scan, Pattern, PTZ Speed, Idle Motion, PowerUP, Time Task.

The following options require an active PC:
Use ASP for tours, and try replacing FTP with ASP PC-NVR feature.
Use Blue Iris on the PC which can do tours, store motion detect records on the PC, and much more.

[SRV]

I’ve evaluated the Amcrest Surveillance Pro (ASP) program and the problem is the CPU load it places on the PC running it. Viewing just three 1920x1080 @ 25 fps & 4Mbps live videos causes a 99% CPU load on my Athlon II 240e 2.8GHz Dual Core PC (yeah I know it’s a 10 year old CPU). I did notice that the CPU load decreases if I switch to the sub-stream, currently at 640x480 @ 25 fps & 0.5Mbps. But doesn’t that make the camera work harder, making both a 1920x1080 stream to record (via FTP in my case) and a 640x480 stream to send to the PC running ASP?

What I want is a system where the PC is low cost and low power, acts as simple FTP storage (much like a NAS) and the cameras do most of the work: detecting motion, running tours and only sending traffic on the network when the cameras need to. I don't want the cameras sending data 24/7 to a PC which then controls the Tour feature of the cameras because the network the cameras are on is also used by ten different PCs and 20-50 smart phone clients so I don’t want the cameras hogging the bandwidth. Bottom line is I want the cameras to run the Tour feature all on their own.

I guess I’m just surprised that to get these $60 cameras to do what I want requires me to also have/purchase/build a ~ $500 PC and dedicate it to only be used for these cameras. The constant high CPU load can’t be good for the longevity of any consumer grade motherboard.

[James.S]

@SRV, unfortunately, any program that is needing to display a constant image at a certain resolution or FPS will require quite a bit of CPU/Ram and even video memory. having a dedicated surveillance computer is not a bad idea, it is pricey however if you are wanting to mainly use a complex program that will work with the camera you will need to have a dedicated computer always on.

ASP can also act as an NVR however when doing this you are not able to turn off the pc as it will no longer act as the NVR, If you are going to need to get a new computer just for using it in this manner you can find something relatively well priced to do the job you need it to.

Here is an example > https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Optiplex-70 ... =pc&sr=1-3
You can even find cheaper options. This computer comes with an I5 and 2TB HDD, this should be able to handle the cameras without an issue. if you were wanting you could probably even go down to an I3 type of Chip.


Hope this is helpful.

[jack7continued]

You can set the duration of a Tour preset location with a Amcrest Speed Dome camera. There are about six camera models. Minimum preset duration is 15 sec.

[SRV]

Thanks everyone and especially jack7 for the replies. Its good to know that the higher end/more expensive cameras do have the Tour feature I was looking for built into the camera/web UI. That Amcrest Speed Dome camera is nice and that web UI shows exactly the kind of built-in Tour feature I was looking for.

Sadly no such PTZ function UI webpage exists on the IP2M-841 camera. Oddly, my old Foscam FI9821P v2 cameras did have a built-in visible Tour list with stay times. The price for each camera is roughly the same.