I own 6 DLink cameras, two 936L's, one 5222L (original model), one DCS-2132LB, and two DCS-2330L models.
The problem is with the 936L's (and the 5222L, but that's old and off topic- though related to this issue)...
I've never had any good luck with the motion detection on the 5222L. False triggers when the sun sets or rises, and missed motion all over the place. But because I felt more confident with newer models based on reviews I read, I bought the 2132LB and 2330L models more recently. These work great. Their motion detection is far superior, and when I log into the devices from my phone, it doesn't bring me to this weird icon selection screen and not let me configure the device. I have to "request desktop website" to get anywhere with the 5222L. Also, these newer models have a really great event flow menu options that includes an FTP option.
In comes the 936L. I got two of these. To my shock and sadness, they seem to come with the same horrible firmware as the 5222L, just repackaged for this camera. Motion detection is completely broken (triggers when the camera adjusts for lighting, but completely misses cars or people out the window). I had one of the 2330L's in the same location looking out the same window and it worked almost as good as it did when it was outside (I had to temporarily bring the 2330L indoors during a painting job) but the 936L doesn't compare at all. The 936L doesn't support FTP, and doesn't have the same high quality motion event menu settings that the other models have to drive video and stills to various locations. And, I find myself having to do multiple steps just like the 5222L to request the desktop website in order to get to the configuration from my phone.
As an aside, here is what I had to do in order to save videos from the 936L onto my server... I had to set up postfix on a raspberry pi, have the 936L email the videos to that device, and on the device I have a cron script that checks the account for mail every few minutes, and extracts the videos from the emails, and drops them into the same FTP folder path that the rest of the DLink cameras directly FTP into. Very annoying, and the camera won't allow less than 30 seconds between sending email, whereas the other cameras can FTP at any interval. I understand spam and email servers work differently, but I own the server. This device really needs FTP. It really needs a serious firmware upgrade.
I am running the latest firmware on the 936L's, 1.02. I've seen other threads where people are complaining, and wondering how to fix it themselves through camera adjustments. My suggestion, if DLink will take it, is to put the firmware for one of these other cameras onboard the 936L and make that work. It really can't be that much different. And it was suggested in a different thread that the motion detection algorithm processes the compressed data, which explains all the false triggering. I can't understand why the motion detection algorithm would run on the same compressed data sent out through the different video profiles, I would expect they'd be using the frames straight from the camera interface for the cleanest image and fewer artifacts in poor light conditions.
Anyway, these are my observations and recommendations. I hope at least some of this is useful for DLink. I have no idea how to get this to them, but have seen there are users who can forward info to DLink. Please consider the information here. If you need more information I will attempt to provide it. I would love to see the 936L reach the same level of quality as their other offerings, especially since it makes up 1/3 of my entire setup and is sold at popular places like Walmart.
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Topic: 936L Bad Firmware Needs Serious Upgrade (Read 4261 times)