Latest firmware update for Amcrest cameras results in constant connection to cloud servers even for non-cloud customers

[vegas50000]

https://badpackets.net/latest-firmware- ... customers/

[jjreynolds]

This is almost 5GB per month of bandwidth , for what, keep alives and firmware upgrade checks? A waste of network bandidth and CPU usage in the camera. Imagine having 10 of these on your network. We need an option to disable cloud access for people using 3rd party apps to access the camera.

[Melvin]

Hello all,

The issue has been reported to our developers and they are looking into it. Thank you for the information provided.

[nbraunstein]

This must get resolved soon. Keep us posted!

[cdntelco]

Nice detective work there, and seriously troubling. For the record, my cam doesn't seem to be doing this, not on a continual basis anyway. I'm not sure yet what it would be doing during a recording trigger.

This combined with the lack of plugin support will cause me to seriously reconsider the brand for the next purchase of an IP camera. I love the cameras otherwise. How about a little transparency and responsibility???

[celindberg]

I had also hoped that the latest firmware update would correct the problem with delayed motion alarm recordings when using FTP. It doesn't. Motion alarms work perfectly when using an SD Card or Amcrest Cloud...but not with home storage using FTP. I've tried to test NAS but haven't been able to get that to work at all. Bottom line, the recorded video stored via FTP is always about 10 seconds delayed. Tech support has been responsive but no answers. I wish I would have known this before buying Amcrest cameras....

[user0001]

I had also hoped that the latest firmware update would correct the problem with delayed motion alarm recordings when using FTP. It doesn't. Motion alarms work perfectly when using an SD Card or Amcrest Cloud...but not with home storage using FTP. I've tried to test NAS but haven't been able to get that to work at all. Bottom line, the recorded video stored via FTP is always about 10 seconds delayed. Tech support has been responsive but no answers. I wish I would have known this before buying Amcrest cameras....

How can you be certain that latency in your network is not causing the delay?
Have you performed a traceroute to see the hops and ms for that operation?
If you're routing the stream through a hub that could definitely add latency.

The FTP protocol adds some transport layers that could inherently cause a delay when using it to transfer streaming video.

[celindberg]

I have worked in IT for over 30 years with a focus on networks and servers so experience and knowledge is not the issue here.

My private network is all structured Cat 5e with a 1 gbs switch. All cameras are using cabled connections...not wireless. I have measured the latency of my local network (1 GB Ethernet)....it is essentially zero. How many hops? How about from the camera to the switch to the server? Doesn't get fewer than that. And dropped packets? None. And I am not using a hub....that question/statement doesn't even make sense unless you are referring to some very very old networking technologies.

Yes...FTP could add some VERY MINOR delays but nothing that the camera's physical hardware and firmware should have problems with. I would expect that the camera has enough hardware to cache sufficient data such that the recording could be stored in it's entirety. If this camera cannot do FTP as advertised, then the feature should be removed....or corrected.

And...why does the Amcrest Cloud work so well? Talk about hops and latency....I'd expect problems there first.

[codahq]

I can confirm. This last firmware was awful. This posts issue plus Basic auth is broken. I'm sort of pissed. My homebrew security system is in shambles. I'm about to throw my weight behind any other product. It might be time to go wreck their Amazon reviews if this doesn't get fixed ASAP.

All this just when I started to like this company.

[ghctim]

there is also broken motion detect api which breaks a lot of things for me