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Hands On: D-Link IP Camera/WHS Solution

By on December 12, 2009 in Add-ins & Apps, Hardware, Network Cameras, Networking Reviews, News, Reviews, Software

Everything looked good; I installed three more cameras, and reopened the D-ViewCam software.

It suddenly felt I was sitting in front of a PC-XT.  Keyword: SLOW!  I opened the task manager and the DVC process was running 50-60% of CPU capacity.

How slow?

To get from this

Image38 300x221 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution

to this was approximately 1-1/2 minutes.

Image39 300x221 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution

I read a bit more and figured out  I could run this directly from another computer inside my network.  I typed in the appropriate URL in the browser on my workstation.  Nada, nothing.  The software is not x64 compatible.

So, I thought what the heck, let’s see how it works on an Atom-powered netbook.  Bad idea #3, that dreaded SLOW word reared its ugly head again.

Next, I tried my kid’s HP laptop.  Ditto on the bad idea/SLOW scenario.

By this time, desperation had set in and I got on #4 kid’s 6-year old Dell.  CPU usage was very close to being the same as any of the other scenarios, however, the software seemed fairly responsive (by comparison).  Not great, but better than the other attempts I had made on newer, faster hardware.

It was at this point I got D-Link involved in my dilemma.  My D-Link contact connected me with a very nice support person, and I explained my problem.  His explanation in the end was that live streaming from four cameras required a graphics card with adequate processing capacity.  Trying to access the D-ViewCam software over a RD connection or on a machine with an integrated GPU will not cut it.  Which is why the software seemed to work best on that old Dell.  At this point, I remembered to try one more machine: my self-built WHS.  32-bit, late model CPU, separate GPU.

The result?  A usable program!  It was still requiring massive amounts of CPU cycles, but program usability was quite good.

Joe also clued me in a different method to access the IP cameras.  All I needed to do was type in the local IP address in my browser to access any single camera.  This I could do even from my Windows 7 x64 machine.  The results?

With default settings (at night with full room lighting and subdued lighting) :

Image35 300x290 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution Image36 300x290 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution

With Night Mode enabled (at night with full room lighting and subdued lighting) :

Image32 300x290 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution Image34 300x290 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution

Image33 300x290 Hands On: D Link IP Camera/WHS Solution

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About Jim Clark

Hello. I’m from the heartland of the U.S. Lots of corn and beans, although Iowa is a lot more than just farmland. It also has a few computer enthusiasts (no, not me!). I’ve been around PCs since I got my 1st PC XT aloooong time ago. WGS is one of the first sites I found centered around WHS. And the best. Every once in awhile, I do get away from the KB and enjoy time with and my wife and our 4 kids. And I do have a day job.
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  • ernest

    Yeah, I didnt have much luck with the WHS software either. the online (mydlink.com) interface does seem to work okay though, as does going direct IP. but w/o the WHS integration, not worth it in my opinion, there are better cameras/software out there

  • billscarnage

    @ernest, what are some of your other suggestions for cameras/software. For the camera I'd really like one with decent night vision.
    TIA

  • http://www.dcdvreviews.com/ dking

    Ha~ The Camera is very nice

  • Ascario

    Nice read! Did you by chance test the audio quality/audibility? Where considering using a few of these cameras to record simulated patient consultations at uni. Since these recordings are for both research and evaluation purposes, sound needs to be of good enough quality.
    Cheers

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

      I did not do very much with audio (adjustment-wise). Using the default settings, I was able to easily hear real-time conversations, with a normal 1-2 lag time. On the one positioned behind my computer monitor, it was picking up a signficant amount of what seemed like background noise. It was sitting atop a speaker, which meant I was might have been hearing a bit of a feedback loop?

  • Ascario

    Thanks for the helpful reply Jim! At least this clears things up a bit. None of the ip cam reviews I've read discussed sound, let alone sound quality. Since we have a Home Server at our disposal in our office (mainly as a local backup and workspace server), it would be nice if we could use it with these cams.

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

      It will work OK with using a direct IP address. You will have to configure it to save to your WHS.

      Or the WHS software may work just fine using one camera. But no more…

  • scoob101

    I think your being a little harsh Jim to call this alpha software simply because some of your machines dont meet the the hardware requirements for video playback. From your article, the software appears feature complete, and you didn`t mention any serious bugs, so how can you call it an Alpha? Did D-link not mention minimum requirements in the documentation?

    Viewing video over RDP (i.e via the WHS console) is never going to be a good solution, so going down the IE path to view the cams directly on the client seems the only sensible way forward.

    As far as I can see, the only benefit to using a WHS with this type of setup is to have an always-on machine to save your captured video onto, and host remote connections from the internet. Anything else and your best off with a direct connection to the client.

    Were there any other camera features which the WHS helped with??

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

      D-ViewCam is part of the WHS software. The single window version is inherent to the camera itself and is not part of the WHS software.

      Per the manual: Min. display mem. requirement is 32MB. A 10 year GPU should suffice. There is no mention of "seperate" GPU required.

      Every machine (except 1) I tried this on had a MB/CPU/GPU less than 3 years old. I stand by my statement. I am not being harsh, simply being realistic. The SW does not work. If I said it worked and you purchased the HW for use with this SW; it did not work; would you not be somewhat upset with me?

      • scoob101

        Did you try accessing the D-ViewCam software from a wired ethernet client? Im wondering if the poor latency/bandwidth of a wireless connection to the WHS console had a part to play in the poor performance.

        • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

          It could be possible, however, one the better working machines (the old Dell) was wireless. My normal workstation, and my self-built WHS are both wired.

          I really wish that was the problem! :(

  • Aaron

    I have a similar D-Link ethernet webcam that I use with third party monitoring software called ZoneMinder. Although the camera itself does a great job, I have to say that the packaged webcam software from D-Link is some of the worst quality software I've ever used. I find it laughable that D-Link can include "world class quality" as one of their core values!

    • http://intensedebate.com/people/Jim_Clark Jim_Clark

      Yep, the camera seamed to work fine, although I will be the first to admit I do not have much to base a comparison on.

      If the SW had performed better, I would have been rather inclined to work harder to find the limits of the camera capabilites.

  • Feets

    If you have 4xCamera's recording to your WHS surely the CPU is going to get slammed? Off the shelf WHS are (currently) low power CPUs, ideal for always on but not for video encoding. Interested to hear how D-Link have solved this.

  • rpiboy

    Is the software absolutely limited to the Cameras listed in D-Link's documentation? Or would it be possible for the software to connect to some of D-Link's Small Biz cameras? Also, is it possible to for the WHS software to connect to a remote camera, ie through the internet, or will it only recognize LAN cameras? If you don't know, is it possible for you to follow-up with your D-Link contact?

    Thanks!