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[livid]

First off, I'm going to try to remain as civil as I can on this forum as I am, in reality, looking for help.

I bought a DCS-920 to use as a nanny cam as I think bad things are happening in my home when I'm not around.  The package I picked up shipped with D-viewcam 2.0.3.  I set everything up and started recording.

First off, the positive:

• The camera itself was easy to set up and hide.
• Video quality is what you would expect.
• The software seemed fairly simply to use.

The issues:

• Exporting scheduled video simply does not work.  I have used all 3 codecs that it came with and end up with a 0 byte file.  After reading up on the subject, I decided to upgrade to d-viewcam 2.0.4 and still experience the same issue.  No progress bar, but it does replay the video from the cue in to the cue out very rapidly.
• I followed another piece of advice to try to record manually.  I took a one minute video and exported it just fine (it did have the progress bar, but did not play back the video while exporting).  So I decided to start the recording when I left for work and then stop it when I got home.  I ended up with an error "Manual recording was full, Manual recording will be stopped."

I immediately checked into this. and found that...

• I still had 11 Gb of free space on my 40Gb drive.
• The manual recording split the video files into 15 minute chunks instead of the 1 hour chunks.

I wasn't too worried about it thinking that it was out of space as I had about 10 hours of video which was a little more than I need. 

While using 2.0.3, I only did scheduled recordings.  When I got a day's worth, I would copy/paste/delete over the network so I could actually check out/export (just a little processor intensive). 

Today I had 29Gb of free space when I clicked the manual record button and received the same error as before about manual recording being full.  I received the same error after a reboot as well.

Seriously, do I have to use the backup function for it to know that I have freed up disk space?  Or is there something else going on?

Also, it took about 2 hours to encode/export a 15 minute chunk of video using the cinepac codec at quality of 50.

[ECF]

On schedule recording are you using economic recording?

Did you change the save path of your videos or is it still set to the default location? And is it on the local machine or a NAS or external storage?

[livid]

Not using economic recording.

Save path is default location C:\Program Files\D-Link\D-Link D-ViewCam\Storage\(ManualRecord or Schedule)\DCS-920-(Last octet of the camera's IP address)\(Date of recording)
All files are saved to the local machine.

Currently, I am copy/pasting the files from the machine to a 500Gb USB drive for later review.  Then I go in through the app and query it about which files it knows about and proceed with a "Delete without backup" on each available file.

The issue I am having is that it's a 40Gb HDD with around 32Gb free.  But the app reports "Manual recording full" after 10Gb of recording.  I'm running this on a windows XP SP3 box.

[ECF]

Have you tried it on another PC to see if you have the same issues?

[somedude]

I have this exact issue as well.

Willing to upgrade to 3.0 as soon as I can just get one or two clips exported, but not until then.

Just found out about 3.0, and it looks nicer! 

According to the (tier1) rep, it records in a different format?  Is this true?

Tier 2 support suggested that I try using Nero Recode.  Nero Recode cannot open a .dvf file...

Any suggestions?  I can even PM a case # from the phone call today.

There has to be a way to get exports working correctly.  I find it hard to believe that something which used to work, and now does not, is simply unfixable. 

Somebody else has to have run into this before, and fixed it...

Please advise.  Thanks.

[Mackerel]

If you only need to convert the files before upgrading to V3.0 then there is a way to convert the whole file in one go, no part selection possible. Please visit website-link:

http://bliny.net/blog/post/Converting-D-Link-D-ViewCam-DVF-files-to-AVI.aspx

This does required you to have the old DViewCam app installed as it uses the supplied codecs. It is not a very friendly or versatile program, but it gets the work done...

After you are done just drop/deinstall V2 software and get up to steam with the new and shiny V3.0. There are still some teething problems, but compared to V2 it is a stellar product. When using 64bit Windows, then please, for now, set your max resolution to 1280x1024 as the combination of 64bit Windows and really High Resolution kills the Playback.exe program. Something with the resource-files is not up to par.

[somedude]

Thanks for the reply!

...I found that program actually, and unfortunately, it did not work

Same results, a 0 byte file.  Even though the author said that the codec didn't matter, I tried all 3 with that program and still got nothing.

Seems like whatever output codec is in place, isn't actually in place. 

Is my last option installing 2 on another machine (even a virtual one...), copying the video file(s), and trying to re-encode from there?

Of course, I'd much rather just fix the existing installation, grab the clip(s), and then run with 3.  OS isn't 64-bit, but thank you very much for the helpful heads up on the limitations/bugs

Thanks!

[Mackerel]

Your conclusion seems right. Something does not Jive on your box. You may have installed other codecs on the same box (like the Vista Pack) that somehow interfere with your conversion... So, from a distance, I would not know what could be the source of the problem as the bliny is a straight up-and-down process.

If you have the option of installing on another box, then that may be the only solution. Luckily the .dvf files are fully self-supporting. You will notice that on V3 the OSD-info is much cleaner embedded in the generated files (either med-res AVI or low- to hi-res ASF). But that does not help you right now.

I you have the chance of installing elsewhere and convert there, then that will probably be the quickest and cleanest solution. That is what I would do. I currently have 4 boxes with DViewCam V3.0 (vista/w7 32/64) and I have no regrets. V2.03/V2.04/V2.05 [Australia] were iffy at best.

[basumarsa1710]

i will say you try to install another box.
and if you cant solve this problem from this forum then please try to find anyone in your locality who is know that well.
it will be the best way to solve your  problem. i think so...........

[somedude]

Ended up installing 2.x on my virtual XP within Windows 7.  From there, it was able to be exported. 

Good times.  Will have to jump to 3.0 soon.  Being that it's Friday, I'll probably wait to have this be a project for next week.

Thanks!

[Mackerel]

Ended up installing 2.x on my virtual XP within Windows 7.  From there, it was able to be exported. 

Good times.  Will have to jump to 3.0 soon.  Being that it's Friday, I'll probably wait to have this be a project for next week.

Thanks!

Good luck and keep us appraised on your experience with the new-and-shiny V3.0... You will notice quite a few changes in storage, terminology and UserInterface.