Annke WZ500 info

AIexHbg said:

Done. They told me, that the WZ500 does not support FTP.
More and more I come to the conclusion that the firmware somehow does not fit this camera at all. The idea behind it does not make sense to me at all.

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I get the same feeling. I was on the verge of sending mine back when I found such poor firmware and support. I suppose you get what you pay for. Though now, with using Blue Iris and the config (above) for them, it's a decent camera with nice features. As long as I don't use the WebUI.

What were you trying to accomplish with the FTP upload? You can do a remote pull of the image using curl. (curl can be used on windows or macos too). But it wouldn't have any built in motion detection.

tedly said:

What were you trying to accomplish with the FTP upload? You can do a remote pull of the image using curl. (curl can be used on windows or macos too). But it wouldn't have any built in motion detection.

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I run multiple cameras, let the cameras detect motions, upload the images to a linux server and search for humans using AI. This works much better than the human detection built in into some cameras.
Constantly pulling videos or pictures from the camera would clog the WiFi and fill the Linux server with useless material. Eventually, this would be a huge overhead with little benefit.

AIexHbg said:

I run multiple cameras, let the cameras detect motions, upload the images to a linux server and search for humans using AI. This works much better than the human detection built in into some cameras.
Constantly pulling videos or pictures from the camera would clog the WiFi and fill the Linux server with useless material. Eventually, this would be a huge overhead with little benefit.

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Ahh. I understand now.

There are ways to install higher speed wireless mesh networks. I did that in one of my buildings where the camera streams were overwhelming the regular wifi. But that's not a simple fix and off topic for this thread.

After a few months, I'm more or less satisfied with the camera.


But I still haven't found a good solution for the nightly PTZ reinit. One minute after the PTZ reinit, a script using curl calls preset 1 to point the camera back to the desired position. So far, so good. But unfortunately the presets are gone after some days. So recalling preset 1 results in a completely messed up camera.

The only idea I have so far is to set the desired position without presets. Probably should be possible with a curl command that sets an x and y position. Does anyone know if and how this can be achieved?

AIexHbg said:

After a few months, I'm more or less satisfied with the camera.


But I still haven't found a good solution for the nightly PTZ reinit. One minute after the PTZ reinit, a script using curl calls preset 1 to point the camera back to the desired position. So far, so good. But unfortunately the presets are gone after some days. So recalling preset 1 results in a completely messed up camera.

The only idea I have so far is to set the desired position without presets. Probably should be possible with a curl command that sets an x and y position. Does anyone know if and how this can be achieved?

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I still get the random resets. It used to be at 1 am only but now it happens randomly through the day. It leaves a motion-detected event on my Blue Iris system. But it never blanks out my presets. I have three wz500 cams that have never forgotten their presets.

I don't have any relevant ideas to fix that since I haven't experienced it. But have you tried factory resetting your camera to see if maybe that fixes something going on that is causing it to clear the presets?

I agree with your statement about being satisfied. It could be better but it's a good camera at that price point.

Oddly I have 2 of these cameras, 1 has had issues day 1. Both bought at same time and both came with different FW. I made the mistake of upgrading the one that had the there is a new FW message. Didn't think to test out the other FW.. I asked the Support staff for old FW back to see if maybe that would cure the issue that it had. They told me NO there was no extra or different FW for the camera. There are many things I don't like about the camera.. 1 making many adjustments to the camera makes it flake out.. I can't use the camera or my Router to setup a Static IP like I do for my MANY other cameras I own. When this camera started NEW. It started with a low IP from my router. The Normal IP for the camera is 192.168.1.18 however was given 10.0.0.20 to start with. The second one I loaded was given 10.0.0.21 Most of my Camera hardware be it DVR/NVRs or IP cameras I like to make static above 150 and most are has high as 245. I setup a Auto Reboot at 3PM before I knew the camera would reboot every day at 1pm and 1am. It was after my setup time of Reboot that the camera would flake out. So I removed it and then it was at the 1pm reboot that it started to flake out. The camera changed IP to 10.0.0.2 even though I have a doorbell camera setup Static on that IP on My router.. The Camera didn't care and HiJacked that IP so I was forced to change the IP for the doorbell camera. Trying to setup Static Ip in the camera always fails and the camera will still load at 10.0.0.2 I tried to put in a Text like I do all my cameras and give it a name using the WebUI that has that option. Doing so crashes the Camera and removed all text even the TIME LOL.. The Time always resets to 4:00 even though I setup for 5:00 lol after a reboot it changes to 4 even though the camera comes out of the box setup to 8 lol.. This camera being a 5mp 20x zoom is only reason i kept it. However to be honest I have a 2mp 20x zoom camera from Amcrest (Yes I am Revo2Maxx that is on the Amcrest Forums) anyway that 2mp has a better picture then the Annke and that camera is over 8 years old. It is no longer supported with FW but the Picture is true and the Annke 5mp seems to use some type of Fake Color. I used to know what it was called but my Brain is not as sharp as it was once. One of the things that is fading with my old age lol..

Did anyone find out if somehow the underlying OS (Linux I suppose?) is accessible, e.g. by SSH? That would help to figure out / fix the problem with the nightly reset at 1 a.m.

In general, I'm very pleased with the camera. When setting the image quality to highest it really has a great picture, even when using the also great zoom. ONVIF also works great.

The true manufacturer of the camera seems to be Hankvision, which sells them also in wholesale:

IP Camera 5MP 20xzoom 4G Outdoor PTZ Camera Poe 2-Way Audio Waterproof CCTV Security (hankvision.com)

Interesting to say the least. my WZ500 doesn't have all the features that is in that link you have there... I wanted to know and have taken apart the camera white area at the top and there is no wires for LEDs or LEDs on the cameras I own.. My guess is that the Annke has some features removed. The camera does have Port 23 open. Not that using user and normal password will access it.. Plus my cameras not only reboot every night at 1am it also reboots in the Pm as well at 1pm, Also my camera has some major issues and I wouldn't even keep the camera if the price I paid for the 2 I own wasn't so cheap. I would have to look at the second one that is mounted to see what the printed SN is. The one here at the desk was the 5th and my guess was for testing and Annke Sold them from demo stock. You know one of them devices you get as a demo for testing to see if it is a device that you want for Resell. Normally an item that isn't ever sold lol..

What I found out is that the SoC on my cams is a Goke GK7205V300 with a Sony IMX335 sensor. I have the current firmware installed:

Version: V3.2.13-Tuya_231018
Product info: IPC-E2A5Z18-W-B-TY

There seems to be alternative Firmware available:

OpenIPC firmware (only with access to RS232/UART, which I didn't find on the board):
SoC: Goke GK7205V300 - OpenIPC

OpenIPC "coupler" firmware which can be flashed directly from the Web Interface of the camera:
GitHub - OpenIPC/coupler: Seamless transition between video cameras firmware

Directlink to the "coupler" firmware:

I would love to put some FW on the camera that 1 I know is safe, 2 that would make this camera work better then it does.. For my camera it is IPC-E2A5Z18-W-TY and has a FW of V1.04.11-230511. I see your camera has a B between the W and TY not sure what the B is for. Maybe better system with the LEDS lol I don't know. Personally don't know that my camera is with the IMX335 both versions seem to be up to 60FPS and has much better image data then the 2 cameras can produce here anyway. Not sure how to extract that info from this camera. Most cameras come setup out of the box for best camera setting and this camera came setup with only 15fps and it does have the option for 30fps. Anytime I make any changes to the camera settings though the camera becomes unstable to the point within a Week it will need to be Reset back to factory lol. Can't even add custom text with the option there and the Time used to be displayed but I think Annke made a connection to the cameras backdoor and disabled it. Because for about a month with support staff over email talking about the camera won't let me choose what IP it will run at by setting a Static IP in camera or my Router it always defaults to 10.0.0.2 even when I first tried to setup for what the router gave it on DHCP. a day or 2 later it would be lost from Blue Iris or one of the connected NVRs and I could just put in 10.0.0.2 and it would connect, looking at the network set static at 10.0.0.22 nope. Last day I talked with them about date and IP issues the date was gone, After a Camera reset the date comes back for a day or 2 and after that one of the reboots when it comes back up the Overlay is gone. Add it back in and poof.. So that is one thing about this camera I don't like it is a Cloud Based P2P and not a normal one so all data passes through their Cloud server. One reason I think they sent some command to the camera that removes the Overlay.. Don't really know just a Theory.. At some point I will take it off my normal network and add it to my hidden Vlan. I don't use it wireless so turned that off in the WebUI because I have little trust of the camera lol. Anyway hope your camera is better off then mine.. I have maybe 20 or more post about the camera on their support Board. I bought it 1 cause price was right mainly to replace my Amcrest 850s because they are old. Amcrest camera has better quality picture even with 2mp over the Annke 5mp WZ500. So you really do get what you pay for lol.

I just saw that my camera has found an update to install. V3.2.13 Current (according to the web interface, as seen in my post last year is "V1.04.11-230511"). Quite a huge gap, if it's the right ref in the web interface (can't find the current version in the Anke app). Hesitating to apply the upgrade. Has anyone been in touch with the ""support" recently. They were mentioning that there is was no firmware available. I'm curious if this could have evolved. Same feeling than Revo2Maxx... I do not dare to push this "update" button, taking into account the poor service that Ankke is (not) providing (apparently a discount on a new order, according to what I've read...).
Mine is still changing its position randomly (but not on a daily basis)... changing its surveillance area from front yard, to a bad angle on the back yard... Except this weakness, and very rare false alarm in case of heavy rain, I'm quite satisfied with it.

If you have a Random change of position and isn't related to hardware failure, you might want to do some local searching to make sure that there isn't someone making a connection to your camera. The only thing I know about the camera is having Preset1 setup is going to be a return spot after 30 seconds. If you don't want a return to home option then setup Presets 2 on.. There are some major flaws on this camera. I would turn off wifi if it is left on someone might be able to make a connection to the wifi without you knowing it. It is very odd that you said your camera has found an update. I mean I am on Version: V1.04.11-230511 and there is no option on my camera for Auto Check firmware update? I would personally love to get something new to try and use.. Buying 2 of these cameras coming with 2 different FW I asked Annke if they could give me the other one and they said no. No different FW was offered. I really wish I would have kept them on different fW to just see if they would both have the issues that the installed camera has.. Have you used the Alarm built in to this camera? does your camera have RED/Blue lights like the one that drsnuggles offered a link to? Or maybe the cameras are truly a better optoin camera. I know the Audio alarm part works. Not something I would use without the optoin of adding my own audio. Seeing the 3 offered not anything I want to use.. Plus as what was already stated Human detection even when using the PTZ of the camera. The App feels like I went back to Low Grade Cloud camera. Sure the camera is ok. Has good 20x zoom. Some things I would like to change to make it closer in quality to my very old 2mp 20x PTZ camera. I mean my Amcrest 850 PTZ has a better picture zoomed in or out IR or Color at night. The Amcrest camera picture is clearer and true of what I would see with my eyes if I was standing there.. Where the Annke comes setup with some options that make the picture look fake. Turning off the options on my camera setup from factory seems to crash my camera after a few hours to a day to 2.

Yes there is a menu entry that shows the firmware update availability. Watch your streaming live using the official app. On top right, you have 3 dots. Scroll down. Before the reboot option, you should see it there.

"Mise à jour trouvée" : "Update found". With the button on the right. Won't push for now.

For the random position, just figures out that it's actually position 1 that is no more correctly set up (homing / 0 position on one of the axis is not good anymore). I've removed these pre definitions for now, we'll see it moves again..

Well I had Auto Update off, So it is on now and just have to wait to see if it will be offered to me. Seeing you are in different area of the world it might be that there was an update to match some type of rule for your country. So might not even be offered to me. If it is I will update the camera to the new one. If it happens to be worse off I will just install the second one in the same place. Let you know what I find out if anything. Seeing I have more then 1 and the second is just here waiting to be used. If it happens to Brick no loss really. Hope it don't though.

Hi,
got this camera for 3 months and my image quality is worthless. Do you have the same issue?
Please take a look at the attachments.
thanks in advance

pybypl said:

Hi,
got this camera for 3 months and my image quality is worthless. Do you have the same issue?
Please take a look at the attachments.
thanks in advance

Click to expand...

You need to log into the cameras using your browser (login/pw = admin/admin) and go to the video settings where you can set the bitrate and video quality to highest. The picture then will be much better.

You can also choose CBR instead of VBR which gives constantly good to very good image quality, but causes more traffic.

So there is a lot that can be going on there.. My guess is that you might have some type of lens issue, maybe heat to cold condition where the lens is fogged up or there is a Protective film over the lens cover. Next if you look at my night time picture here from tonight. The first one I setup to put the items in the far distance in focus. This makes the things near out of focus. In the second picture you can see that the back is now out of focus and the near is in focus. While I have done this manually there are issues that can come about where something you have this camera connected to can make it not look so great. At times a Reset of the camera is needed and before connecting it back to some 3rd party device or software you should double check that the issue is still present. If it isn't and you have it connected to a few different products be it hardware or software you will want to connect the camera back to them 1 at a time and check that the picture is still as clear as it was before making that connection. For instance I have an older 8ch 4port NVR, When I connect my Doorbell camera to that NVR there is something that the NVR changes and makes the doorbell go crazy and only way to fix the issue is to remove from NVR and do a Factory reset of the doorbell camera.. It is older NVR so I just have it noted not to use with my Doorbell. So it could be something like that as well for your camera..
Next, I notice that you have some display OSD showing in one of the pictures Speaker off, in another picture with X01 for zoom as mine also shows that and then other showing WZ500 in top left center right PTZ controls. These are things I don't see in my WebUI so I am guessing that you might be using some 3rd party software. In doing so there is a lot that can happen.. Personally I don't have any OSD anymore 1 because I found the camera is unstable when I enter something. Normally I use Revo2Maxx on all my feeds just entering that and Wz500 on the OSD makes the camera trip out. Also I think Annke did some command on my camera that removes the Time and date that used to show up in top right. After about a month back and forth with them over some issues I was having that is now no longer there.. If I do a Factory reset the camera will show the time and date for a day or 2 before it is no longer showing. I didn't do any type of CGI to it for it to be gone. So that is 1 other reason I am not 100% sold on how safe the WZ500 is being connected to my network with Internet access. Seeing it is somewhat a cloud based camera They have the ability to do things without me knowing..

One thing missing from the App is the ability to focus. Also the camera don't have the ability to choose the focal point like I can with another Hikvision type PTZ where I can choose from 3.9in to 66feet the WZ500 is set up without ability to change at 2M and there is no option even though there is a Drop down box the only option is 2M..

Next also kind of hard to judge when pictures are different format. If showing pictures it would be best to show same format and also is that Main or Sub channel of the camera? or in the App, HD or SD...

Thanks a lot guys, you might be right about quality and the focus.
What I saw is that today morning my settings were resetted to "medium image" quality and VBR ~ 1536kbps. But I have changed it recently to highest and I have no auto restart.
I was suspicious but now I'm sure my camera doesnt keep the settings

Will try to play with the focus settings now.

Still thinking about some open source firmware I saw on this forum yesterday..

pybypl said:

What I saw is that today morning my settings were resetted to "medium image" quality and VBR ~ 1536kbps. But I have changed it recently to highest and I have no auto restart.
I was suspicious but now I'm sure my camera doesnt keep the settings

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I only noticed this when the camera loses power, then it seems to reset to the default quality settings. Do you turn it off sometimes or does it somehow lose power?

I'm still considering opening one of them up (again) to search for a UART connection, then I'd be able to access the underlying linux as root and maybe find a way to get root access in general. That would enable us to e.g. set highest quality as default and other stuff too. I hope I'll find some time for that.