When Dahua introduces new camera models that only support Internet Explorer with a 32-bit ActiveX plug-in, at what point should we show them the same lack of respect & support they give us by going with another camera manufacturer with comparable camera models?
I just received a new Dahua thermal camera through Andy. Let me preface the rest of this discussion by saying that Andy is awesome and I want to support him as much as I can. Unfortunately Andy is also a victim of Dahua, along with the rest of us.
My nice new Dahua thermal camera, manufactured in June of 2023, with firmware dated May of 2023, only supports Internet Explorer (IE), and only with a 32-bit ActiveX plugin.
As everyone should know, even Microsoft doesn't support Internet Explorer. Even if you try to open a website with an old copy of IE, IE will redirect you to Edge and give you all sorts of warnings. Edge has an option to run in IE mode, but even this makes you jump through hoops. Then there are more hoops to get an ActiveX web plugin to install, and then you have to explicitly "whitelist" (my term) the URL(s) that you want to run like this and are told it will only run for 30 days. I just made it through that process, but I'm not comfortable that even Microsoft will allow us to jump through such hoops for as long as I hope any camera will live.
I run Blue Iris, so some of you may be thinking, "Just use Blue Iris", but Blue Iris doesn't manage configuration values on the camera itself. For this, some might suggest, "Oh, just use Blue Iris as your viewer while you make config changes through the Chrome browser". While that will work for some settings, it won't work for anything more sophisticated like drawing tripwires, intrusion boxes, etc. For that, you need to directly interact with an image. The thermal camera has even more settings that most of us have never seen before, and IMHO it's somewhere between pathetic and negligent that Dahua only supports IE with an ActiveX plugin for their latest & greatest thermal camera features.
I can't help but ask myself, why isn't there newer support? Well, Dahua is clearly focused on commercial/business use, not individual home owners like many of us here on IPCamTalk. Dahua also clearly wants people to use their NVRs rather than Blue Iris. Going one step further, I live in the US and Dahua probably doesn't really care about the US market because of all the hostility between our countries due to concern over the security of Chinese manufactured cameras, cell/5G tech, etc. The net is the sad realization that Dahua probably doesn't care even the smallest amount about me, or most of you reading this.
HOWEVER, I looked at Hikvision's website for their thermal cameras and they explicitly call out "Live view (plug-in free): Chrome 57+". That is so refreshing! I just bought this camera from Andy and I don't want to put him in a bad situation, but it feels like I should return this and instead by the comparable Hikvision model. I've been incredibly loyal to Dahua, largely because of Andy and his access to firmware, but have any of the rest of you gone with Hikvision for some of your cameras? Were you glad you did? I have invested a ton in Dahua cameras, but I really don't like to support a company that shows so little respect for a user like me/us, even if we are just a niche group of non-commercial power users.
I just received a new Dahua thermal camera through Andy. Let me preface the rest of this discussion by saying that Andy is awesome and I want to support him as much as I can. Unfortunately Andy is also a victim of Dahua, along with the rest of us.
My nice new Dahua thermal camera, manufactured in June of 2023, with firmware dated May of 2023, only supports Internet Explorer (IE), and only with a 32-bit ActiveX plugin.
As everyone should know, even Microsoft doesn't support Internet Explorer. Even if you try to open a website with an old copy of IE, IE will redirect you to Edge and give you all sorts of warnings. Edge has an option to run in IE mode, but even this makes you jump through hoops. Then there are more hoops to get an ActiveX web plugin to install, and then you have to explicitly "whitelist" (my term) the URL(s) that you want to run like this and are told it will only run for 30 days. I just made it through that process, but I'm not comfortable that even Microsoft will allow us to jump through such hoops for as long as I hope any camera will live.
I run Blue Iris, so some of you may be thinking, "Just use Blue Iris", but Blue Iris doesn't manage configuration values on the camera itself. For this, some might suggest, "Oh, just use Blue Iris as your viewer while you make config changes through the Chrome browser". While that will work for some settings, it won't work for anything more sophisticated like drawing tripwires, intrusion boxes, etc. For that, you need to directly interact with an image. The thermal camera has even more settings that most of us have never seen before, and IMHO it's somewhere between pathetic and negligent that Dahua only supports IE with an ActiveX plugin for their latest & greatest thermal camera features.
I can't help but ask myself, why isn't there newer support? Well, Dahua is clearly focused on commercial/business use, not individual home owners like many of us here on IPCamTalk. Dahua also clearly wants people to use their NVRs rather than Blue Iris. Going one step further, I live in the US and Dahua probably doesn't really care about the US market because of all the hostility between our countries due to concern over the security of Chinese manufactured cameras, cell/5G tech, etc. The net is the sad realization that Dahua probably doesn't care even the smallest amount about me, or most of you reading this.
HOWEVER, I looked at Hikvision's website for their thermal cameras and they explicitly call out "Live view (plug-in free): Chrome 57+". That is so refreshing! I just bought this camera from Andy and I don't want to put him in a bad situation, but it feels like I should return this and instead by the comparable Hikvision model. I've been incredibly loyal to Dahua, largely because of Andy and his access to firmware, but have any of the rest of you gone with Hikvision for some of your cameras? Were you glad you did? I have invested a ton in Dahua cameras, but I really don't like to support a company that shows so little respect for a user like me/us, even if we are just a niche group of non-commercial power users.
