Amcrest IP2M-841 and IPM-721 Updated Firmware

Over the last several months I have recommended Amcrest's (re-branded Dahua) IP2M-841 indoor PT/digital-zoom camera and am still a big fan. The reason for this post is to inform forum members that have the 841 or it's 720p sibling of some recent updated firmware.

The new firmware is: V2.420.AC00.18.R 8/3/19

The page states that it's for models IP2M-841B, IP2M-841W and IP2M-841S. It's also for the IPM-721, and you can search for your model at the top and it will point to your latest firmware.

FWIW, I successfully updated the firmware on Sat. 8/17 on two 841's and one 721. I can now view and configure with Google Chrome browser (you could config before but no live view).

Below is the content of the changelog which states issues addressed in the update. At the very bottom is a link to the firmware files. You may have to input your name and e-mail address, an annoyance, but no account creation is required.
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Change log:

Firmware Amcrest_IPC-AWXX_Eng_N_AMCREST_V2.420.AC00.18.R.20190729.bin
07-29-2019

We have released a new firmware update for the following Amcrest camera models:
IP2M-841
IPM-721
IPM-HX1

The update incorporates the following enhancements:

- Desktop web interface updated from browser plugin to Javascript.
- FTP functionality updated with secure protocols FTPS and SFTP.
- Gmail email alert functionality improved to work more efficiently with SSL and TLS.
- Additional security enhancements.

Note:

1. A hard reset or "Restore to default settings" is required to delete the old system file and enable the new features.
2. The old footage and snapshots that are stored in the old file structure on FTP or NAS should be backed up manually as the new structure wont be able to overwrite them. Otherwise the storage capacity of FTP or NAS will be limited.
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Link to firmware: Firmware Upgrade | Amcrest Technologies

EDIT: I'm mentioning these members below in case they took my suggestion for purchasing the 841 or 721 in the past:
@area651 , @CatCamMan , @timinaz , @slinkyrich , @Anchal Nigam , @Skelshy , @Saskman , @archedraft , @vibez , @hotwheels498 , @dvand

EDIT: on 8/21; include @pov2

The 841 is a sweet camera by Amcrest and probably one of the top selling. Surprised Dahua doesn’t have an equivalent oem international model. The 841 has amazing pan and tilt and built in 2 way talk. Night vision is also top notch especially in complete darkness in the garage or kitchen.

Anyone do this upgrade and lose PTZ control in BI? I have a couple of the IP3M-941B cams and all the cams I upgraded no longer have PTZ in BI. The cam I left alone works just fine.

mikeynags said:

Anyone do this upgrade and lose PTZ control in BI? I have a couple of the IP3M-941B cams and all the cams I upgraded no longer have PTZ in BI. The cam I left alone works just fine.

Click to expand...

I have 2 of those cameras and updated both. No problems seen with either. I definitely still have PTZ ability I know.

I had to rollback. More info -

Was running this just fine:
Version 2.520.AC00.18.R, Build Date: 2017-06-29
WEB Version3.2.1.453504

Upgraded to: (and had no PTZ)
VersionV 2.620.00AC003.3.R, Build Date: 2019-08-03
WEB Version3.2.1.619604

Rolled back to ver. 2.520.AC00.18.R and now PTZ is back. I have 4 of these cams (before I knew better after finding this forum) Upgrade 3 out of 4 and the 3 upgraded cams all had the same issue. Weird.

Interesting. Here's mine. But why is your Version number different even when the build date is the same? Even in Tony's first post, the version number matches mine.

My cameras are IP2M-841 but then I see yours is asking about IP3M-941B so maybe that's the difference. Did Amcrest maybe flub up the fw on that model specifically?

my two cameras both show:
VersionV 2.420.AC00.18.R, Build Date: 2019-08-03
WEB Version3.2.1.619604

I think it's a flub for my model if your upgrade went fine. Basically, I went to the Amcrest firmware update page that Tony linked and searched for my model (IP3M-941) and pulled it down & upgraded. Wasn't going to leave this "more secure" version of firmware on the cams if it rendered PTZ dead. So, a little disappointed in that but what's the point of having a PTZ if you can't move it?

mikeynags said:

I think it's a flub for my model if your upgrade went fine. Basically, I went to the Amcrest firmware update page that Tony linked and searched for my model (IP3M-941) and pulled it down & upgraded. Wasn't going to leave this "more secure" version of firmware on the cams if it rendered PTZ dead. So, a little disappointed in that but what's the point of having a PTZ if you can't move it?

Click to expand...

fwiw, I've found their online tech support chat to be pretty decent. This release might have had other things but I know they did a release pretty recently before this one that one didnt allow you to remove the Amcrest logo/watermark from the video. I contacted them about it, they said hold on, came back and said yeah they know and they're working on a release that will fix that. Then we got this release.

Just sayin, ping their support chat and see what they say.

area651 said:

fwiw, I've found their online tech support chat to be pretty decent. This release might have had other things but I know they did a release pretty recently before this one that one didnt allow you to remove the Amcrest logo/watermark from the video. I contacted them about it, they said hold on, came back and said yeah they know and they're working on a release that will fix that. Then we got this release.

Just sayin, ping their support chat and see what they say.

Click to expand...

OK - pinging them now and let's see what they come back with.

Update: Amcrest support's response to my ticket makes it sound like they are working with Blue Iris on their recent firmware update which broke PTZ in BI. Here is the response I received from support:
"I am sorry to hear about this inconvenience, I would like to state I do not advise rolling back ( I see you have ) We have had a few customers have quite a few difficulties reverting where the camera can be nonfunctional. However, At this time we are working with blue iris to update their platform so our new update works smoothly with their software."

mikeynags said:

Update: Amcrest support's response to my ticket makes it sound like they are working with Blue Iris on their recent firmware update which broke PTZ in BI. Here is the response I received from support:
"I am sorry to hear about this inconvenience, I would like to state I do not advise rolling back ( I see you have ) We have had a few customers have quite a few difficulties reverting where the camera can be nonfunctional. However, At this time we are working with blue iris to update their platform so our new update works smoothly with their software."

Click to expand...

Mike. I just bought a used Amcrest2k IP3m-941 and upgraded the FW to:
Software VersionV2.620.00AC003.3.R, Build Date: 2019-08-03
WEB Version3.2.1.619604
ONVIF Version16.12(V2.4.1.513183)

I'm having no issue running the PTZ with Blueiris. BI shows 5.0.2.5 x64 for the version of it. I wonder if BI updated and that fixed it. Also something that I found with Amcrest is that no all of the hardware is exactly the same. My guess is that there's a chip somewhere in the camera that's a different rev or even model.

Why does always seem like the 841 has a varifocal lens? Even as I zoom in, the picture quality is astoundingly retained

Last version for the IP2M-841W does not contain SNMP protocol.
I has downgraded software to have it.
I need SNMP proto for my telegram notifications, Openhab and Zabbix monitoring system.

good firmware version is
------------
Software Version2.520.AC00.18.R, Build Date: 2017-06-29
WEB Version3.2.1.453504
ONVIF Version2.42(V2.2.2.428697)