IE+AX is not a viable web UI solution

[VanguardLH]

(Yes, the following is a long post - as was trying to figure out how to setup web access and define presets - plus several issues came up during that failed experiment.)

While I can see and select presets in the Android app, I cannot create presets in the app. From reading forum posts, it appears users are stuck having to use the web UI to the wireless camera to define presets. Why would an ActiveX plug-in be allowed to issue directives over the Internet to the camera that a smartphone app cannot? The same commands sent by the AX plug-in are the same commands that the app could issue to the camera.

I don't like having to get forced into using Internet Explorer, even to run the Foscam/Amcrest ActiveX control to provide a web UI to their wireless camera. ActiveX is an old renamed OLE technology that everyone recognizes is insecure. I only use IE in emergencies or for Windows Update. That means I want to keep it pristine, not polluted with add-ons or plug-ins. Also, when visiting amcrestview.com, the user is not offered an appropriate mechanism for web access to the camera. When visiting with Google Chrome or Firefox, or their variants, they are not offered an extension. Instead they get an Active control shoved at them which also means they have to understand that it is only usable within Internet Explorer. What are Linux users supposed to do for web access since IE is not available on their choice of OS platform? What are users supposed to do for web access when they are at an Internet cafe, library, resort, or somewhere they are using someone else's computer even if they have Internet Explorer on it? They won't be allowed to install an ActiveX control.

If Amcrest wanted a Windows only solution, they could have wrote an HTA (HTML Application) to use IE's libs instead of implementing an AX control. Even Symantec used an HTA as their UI to their anti-virus program at one time. Even if users uninstall IE, its libs remain because of possible needed support for HTAs. However, what are Linux users to do? They don't have Internet Explorer in which to install an ActiveX control, and they don't have IE's libs to run an HTA.

I did find later discover there is a Google Chrome extension to provide web access to the camera. That's of no use to those that do not use Google Chrome. I use Firefox. I did a search on "amcrest" at addons.mozilla.org but it found nothing. I will not get pushed to using IE or Chrome because Amcrest chose not to support Firefox. ActiveX is a backwards and insecure technology available only within Internet Explorer which is obviously only a Windows platform solution. Microsoft dumped AX which should've been a big clue to Amcrest.

In the app, presets are only addressed by using numbers. Instead of LivingRoom, BedRoom, Kitchen, and Garage, users are expected to memorize numbers for each of those presets. Not really a solution. From what I've read, the Foscam presets allowed naming of them. Since the app runs on the same platform for Foscam or Amcrest apps, seems they could've migrated the code from Foscam to Amcrest. Yes, I've seen the promise that Amcrest will add naming to presets but that's a future update that may or may not happen. A feature in their old product brand is not available in their new product brand.

For an experiment only (I will NOT leave Amcrest's plug-in installed - see below on troubles eradicating it), I installed the AX control (which is actually more than one). The purpose was only to create presets that I could then access in the smartphone app. Didn't work. When I visited amcrestview.com, created an account, installed the AX control into IE, and then logged into my account to click on the blue eye icon (it's not identified as the LiveView button even with a mouse hover), I could pan the camera around but Presets (and Tours) were disabled. The only reason for me to use IE with the AX control was unusable. Presets were disabled in IE using the AX plug-in. Great, so much for defining presets which currently is available only via the web UI.

Because the AX control creates a popup window, the user may need to allow all popups for its domain. Nothing happened when I clicked on the blue eye icon (a trial and error method to find that's how to get the LivePreview mode) until I realized that the popup was getting blocked. I had to allow popups for the domain for that AX control. Oh, and I had to repeatedly click through a warning dialog notifiying me that WebactiveEXE.exe" (yes, there is "EXE" in the filename) was not signed and prompted if I wanted to allow it to run. Why is Amcrest proliferating unsigned AX controls? Even is users don't customize IE's security settings, blocking or prompting on unsigned controls wanting to run is, I believe, the default setting in IE for its Internet security zone.

Another issue in the AX control is the lack of hints on what any of the controls inside the display will do. There's what looks like a photo icon in the middle of the shuttle control. Clicked on it. Nothing happened. To get a LivePreview of the camera, I have to select a channel. Not a camera (device name) but a channel of that camera. Mine for the single camera was "IPC" and I remembered seeing that channel name when configuring the camera in the smartphone app. At the right end of the button to pick that camera (well, a channel of it) are the "S" or "M" letters. They toggle when I click on that end of the channel button. Don't know what they do since nothing changes. Similarly, there are Focus and Iris buttons which don't do anything (just like they don't do anything in the smartphone app). The Zoom function in the AX control does work.

Without the only purpose for which I needed web access via AX plug-in in IE, I decided to uninstall it. Is there an entry in Add/Remove Programs to uninstall the plug-in? No. Alas, this is symptomatic of most plug-ins, especially AX controls for IE. There is no entry for their P2PSurveillence software in the Add/Remove Programs applet. Users have to ferret out the AX control to eradicate it from their computer, or restore to an image backup saved before installing the AX control. I nearly chose the latter since I have image backups scheduled to run every morning. When you look in Internet Explorer as to what add-ons have been installed in it, what you see listed are 2 entries (two of them) called "Plugin Class". Luckily Amcrest identifies themself as the publisher for the controls. You can disable their AX plug-ins in IE but that is not the same as cleanly uninstalling their ActiveX definition and files. Just before going with an image restore, I discovered store an uninst.exe file in under C:\Programs Files x86\webrec. There is no Add/Remove Programs entry and no uninstall shortcut added to their Start menu folder but there is their uninst.exe file. I ran that. Their webrec folder disappeared. Their add-ons disappeared in IE's add-ons list. Most of it disappeared thankfully yet I still had to do remnant cleanup of both the file system and registry: search on webrec, p2pserver, timegrid, webactive, amcrest, and class IDs of 62EF6FFE-31FE-423d-B3C3-A620C3CA134F, 82CE690C-68F8-4368-A6B4-71494DD43690, and B5E2F6B7-05D9-4ABC-A376-9CCCB9D34222. Also be sure to delete their P2Pserver firewall rule. Not really a clean uninstall but I can be stubborn in ferreting out what to clean out. Cleaning out or changing user profiles for Firefox or Chrome is much easier to eradicate an extension than of erasing an AX control to IE. I won't be reinstalling the AX control into IE to help resolve why Presets and Tours was disabled. I very likely won't be installing any further Amcrest software onto my desktop unless they guarantee they add an Add/Remove Programs entry and that it performs a clean uninstall.

For me, the web UI to the camera is a non-solution. I'm not using IE unless forced, and a wireless camera is not of sufficient critical need. I'm not switching to Google Chrome. I will continue using Firefox as my web browser. Their AX control is not available as an HTA to eliminate reliance on any web browser (but does rely on IE's libs). An AX control cannot be installed in web browser's on other hosts own by others. There is no guarantee they will want or let me pollute their setup. There is no cross-platform portable web-based access to allow anywhere on any host. And even when I tried the IE+AX experiment, presets were disabled so that was not a solution to a feature missing in their smartphone app which should be able to issue the same commands across a network to the camera. I use Firefox, not IE or Chrome. There are web browsers that won't even permit installation of add-ons aka extensions or plug-ins since those are considered security vulnerability vectors (e.g., Epic web browser). If a company says they provide web access to their remote hardware, it should not be web browser specific or rely on antiquated and deprecated technologies. I would rather run a portable local web-centric program as the client to the camera rather than get stuck using any web browser.

__________________________________________________
Phone: Samsung Galaxy Core Prime (Tracfone locked)
Phone OS: Android 4.4.4 KitKat
Amcrest camera: IP3M-941
Amcrest app: View Pro 3.41.0204

[VanguardLH]

https://support.amcrest.com/hc/en-us/ar ... cess-Setup

That web page says that I will offered the appropriate plug-in or extension based on the web browser (client) that I use to connect to that site. Nope, not true. I connect using Firefox. All I get offered is the ActiveX plug-in which is only usable inside of Internet Explorer (which I am not going to use, especially when away from home).

So why does Amcrest's server not properly recognize that my client is Firefox (and offer an extension usable within that web browser)?

[Melvin]

Hello VanguardLH ,

The camera should recognize Firefox and should direct you install the .exe. I believe this .exe is common for Firefox and IE. Once you have installed and the plugins allowed in Firefox, it should work in Firefox.

[VanguardLH]

I've registered an account. It's been verified. When I revisit www.AmcrestView.com, I am presented with a web page telling me that the ActiveX control will get downloaded. See the attached pic of that screen. It clearly says "install/update the ActiveX plug-in". ActiveX only works for Internet Explorer, not for Firefox or its variants, Chromium-based web browsers (e.g., Google Chrome), and not even in Microsoft's Edge.

When I did the experiment and downloaded the .exe file, I only saw the AX control added to IE11. There was nothing listed in Firefox as either an extension (aka add-on) or plug-in. The IE experiment failed miserably. Too many functions were disabled, like not being able to set preset pan/tilt locations. I had to restore my computer from an image backup because the downloaded .exe did not add an entry to the Add/Remove Programs applet and I wasn't going to spend the time drilling into the registry and file system to delete remnants there.

That web page offers me an ActiveX control, not a Firefox plug-in or extension. I tried hunting around the amcrest.com web site for the Firefox plug-in or extension but did not find it. There is nothing listed for Amcrest at Mozilla's store (addons.mozilla.org).

[Your are my Daddy]

Hello I have the same problem with the ActiveX as well I've Tried to uninstall the entire file and restart my web browser and does not work. its like the updated screwed up the other web browsers like it did when chrome wasnt working it just ask to redownload it every time Need to fix this ASAP!!!!

[Melvin]

Hello,

Could you please contact our phone support so that we can take a look at the issue and help you in the best possible way?

https://amcrest.com/contacts

[davot]

I tried Edge and Firefox but I found only Google Chrome works.