Amcrest Forum

Hello Forum, first time here, I'm a casual user of Blue Iris single camera on another win7 machine and a 1080 PTZ a block away. I have two new Amcrest Cameras, an IP8M-T2499EW @4K (fixed) now operating about a week. Just started testing on a garage shelf the PTZ POE IP4M-T1053 @2K . Both have 128GB SD cards. Been Using the Chrome extension Amcrest Web Viewer for most of my testing so far finding it friendlier that Amcrest Surveillance PRO.
Sticky wicket with the IP8M-T2499 is that the web viewer refuses to download event clips from the SD card. Using the playback, and invoking the clipper, it will download the edited fragment, but the little down arrows on the file list above it don't do anything. I've had contacts with three techs at AMCREST so far and it isn't understood apparently that one camera (the 2K PTZ) works great downloading motion clips, but the fixed 4K does not. A firmware upgrade was suggested but the BIN file doesn't exist on their server.
I could use Blue Iris, but I find it is quite a resource hog even though my Win 10 machine is pretty new, 16 Months, an i5 - 6600K and 32 GB Ram, Invidia 1060TI and 2TB samsung SSD. With both cameras streaming my CPU is at 65 to 72% so I am depending on the camera SD's to do most of the work. I have a spare 1TB SSD drive to dedicate to recording but the CPU will be laggy in CAD work.
So - forum members, any experience with the 4k IP8M-2499 or variance? I would like to re-flash the camera but Amcrest hasn't found the firmware to send me a link, even. (not on their catalog yet) Present firmware version is April 15, 2019. I've tried multiple reboots, powerdown, etc. I would also like to access the cataloging on the SD card so I could erase nonessential files until I find a happy medium setting sensitivity and exclusion zones. I have some experience in firmware stuff, re-programming Arduino's and routers, and the like. My phone is a Note 8. So like most of you I dove into the Amcrest product based on rave reviews, but the dialects of the Amcrest tech staff leave this 80-year old retired aerospace tech pretty frustrated lately. Much Obliged for the vent. Sock it to me.

From your newbie - AS additional info on this download issue: I opened Firefox, entered Camera IP, signed on and ignored the Plug-in request. Clicked Playback, looked for JPG's in my file list and the chosen file downloaded OK and opened in my viewer. (Irfanview64) I cannot download either JPG or MP4 when using the Amcrest Web Viewer on this camera, On the other Amcrest IP camera I can download either JPG or MP4 with no issues in the Amcrest Web Viewer. Either Camera will also write a *.DAV record to the correct folder when I click "record" on the top browser bar. I am thinking the IP8M camera firmware load is faulty.

The IP8M-T2499E is rather new. The problem is probably the firmware, or possibly the Chrome extension. The camera is not even at https://amcrest.com/firmwaredownloads
The new IP8M-T2499E user manual on page 40 recommends in bold type to use Internet Explorer as the web browser. I would try that and see what happens. There are other choices on that page.
https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/ar ... M-T2499EW-

Try Amcrest Surveillance Pro(ASP) for exporting your SD card files. In Playback, do a Search and and then click on Events over on the left. You can select multiple files there to export, and then click on a export icon at bottom right of screen.
Here is a good new ASP video and a new ASP manual.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dat-wff-dY
https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/ar ... ser-Manual

You can't delete selected files on the SD card. Using the Web UI, you can overwrite old records when card is full. See Setup/Storage/Record Control. Or you can delete all records using Setup/Destination/SD Card/Format.

Thank You for your suggestions, I think the CAM is broke, or the firmware. I did set the SD card to overwrite. Just seems some features are lacking. e.g. The right hand file explorer defaults to the beginning of the list all the time, user can't delete files, can't restart a file you're viewing, etc.
I don't have Internet Explorer on my Win 10 computer. I had previously rejected that option. (Edit 6-22 7PM PDT) I have a WIN 7 machine that has IE 8 or something. It will not open mp4 views without the Plug-in which I didn't try because I think it is for Chrome only. IE8 will download a JPG from the file list, like all the others. I do have Edge which does also facilitate downloading JPG snapshots but, again, the web interface is only for Chrome. I had thought the Chrome extension had an issue but I have an older version Amcrest PTZ (IP4M-1053) camera that does all download functions just fine. If they (Amcrest) can send me Firmware to reflash I'll do it, Otherwise I'll ask Amazon to replace it. I just want someone at Amcrest to test and verify that the function works on a factory IP8M-T2499EW. Hugo (Amcrest Tech) said I should reflash but failed to state his test worked or provide the link or a place to find the BIN file. Oh me! I program (in C++) and run a suite of Arduinos that use a Linux/Open-Wrt variant and I can logon to them - (WinSCP) or putty - and correct/rewrite scripts, delete files and reboot them. I am still rather clutzy but manage. For the community, and to 5-Star the 4K Camera, I would like to report this solved, stay tuned.

Just curious. Is your encoding set to 265 or 264. If it is 265 set it to 264 and try again. I have had trouble with the app exporting 265 encoded videos. Wonder if it is related.

spf520 wrote:Just curious. Is your encoding set to 265 or 264. If it is 265 set it to 264 and try again. I have had trouble with the app exporting 265 encoded videos. Wonder if it is related.

What browser are you using? In the following thread, it appears that with another camera, H.265 export was not working with Chrome but was working with IE. It works for me.
ip-cameras-f18/trouble-downloading-h265 ... 11186.html

jack7continued wrote:

spf520 wrote:Just curious. Is your encoding set to 265 or 264. If it is 265 set it to 264 and try again. I have had trouble with the app exporting 265 encoded videos. Wonder if it is related.

What browser are you using? In the following thread, it appears that with another camera, H.265 export was not working with Chrome but was working with IE. It works for me.
ip-cameras-f18/trouble-downloading-h265 ... 11186.html

Not a browser, the Amcrest iOS app. Seems I can’t export a video that is encoded H265.

BillGilbert39,

I will have our R&D team to investigate the possible issue further that you are experiencing with downloading clips.

However, we do have a new Beta to try out if you are interested in participating. Its main intent was to fix the current Gmail issue but there may be other fixes in the firmware update. Changelogs are not usually provided to the support team until the release version of the beta firmware is released.

We encourage everyone and would love to hear any feedback on the beta firmware. Please provide feedback on the firmware using the thread at the following link:


https://amcrest.com/forum/ip-cameras-f1 ... 12593.html