updates?
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grege - Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:56 pm
updates?
Is this software still being developed? I tried the free version but would rather a 10 second video be sent to me, like I can do with Blue Iris, instead of 1 picture. I do like being able to define the areas to watch with VDV. Anybody know of software that is the best of both worlds?
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DrBunsen - Posts: 38
- Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:57 am
- Location: Fate, TX
Re: updates?
Hi grege,
About 7 months ago a beta program was announced with some minor updates to the current release being given. My understanding is that the updates are more for updating support for newer cameras, but I could be wrong about that.
However, I've not noticed any major bugs, or even minor bugs in VDV. In my opinion it is flat-out the best, fastest way to find those snippets of video with actual content that you want to watch - namely people and/or large moving objects. The other software that I've tried has relied too much on raw changes from frame to frame, so I'd have to watch way to much footage with false positives. VDV shows me PEOPLE. And it can also show me cars, birds, dogs, etc., but I can tell it to only show me people if I want, or all objects. It's amazing how well it works. I got real tired of other software showing me empty scenes just because the wind caused a lot of grass to move.
I'm STILL in the process of setting up my system (other stuff keeps getting in the way). I haven't heard of any way to just save clips of a particular size, but xper (in THIS THREAD) combined VDV with WebcamXP to have it send videos to him. And Falcon999 (in THIS POST) set up a Dahua DVR to record to and use the iPhone and desktop app to remotely view videos, while also RTSP to send to VDV to pick out people in the videos.
So it's possible to do some roll-your-own things, combining the outstanding people-detection feature of VDV with the features of other programs.
Ray
DrBunsen
About 7 months ago a beta program was announced with some minor updates to the current release being given. My understanding is that the updates are more for updating support for newer cameras, but I could be wrong about that.
However, I've not noticed any major bugs, or even minor bugs in VDV. In my opinion it is flat-out the best, fastest way to find those snippets of video with actual content that you want to watch - namely people and/or large moving objects. The other software that I've tried has relied too much on raw changes from frame to frame, so I'd have to watch way to much footage with false positives. VDV shows me PEOPLE. And it can also show me cars, birds, dogs, etc., but I can tell it to only show me people if I want, or all objects. It's amazing how well it works. I got real tired of other software showing me empty scenes just because the wind caused a lot of grass to move.
I'm STILL in the process of setting up my system (other stuff keeps getting in the way). I haven't heard of any way to just save clips of a particular size, but xper (in THIS THREAD) combined VDV with WebcamXP to have it send videos to him. And Falcon999 (in THIS POST) set up a Dahua DVR to record to and use the iPhone and desktop app to remotely view videos, while also RTSP to send to VDV to pick out people in the videos.
So it's possible to do some roll-your-own things, combining the outstanding people-detection feature of VDV with the features of other programs.
Ray
DrBunsen
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grege - Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2012 4:56 pm
Re: updates?
Did you test other software? Kind of hard for me to buy into software that is not really being developed anymore. Too bad they don't sell it to another company that could keep it going and improve on it. I think sending a 10 sec clip instead of 1 picture by email would be a great thing.
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DrBunsen - Posts: 38
- Joined: Fri Mar 30, 2012 11:57 am
- Location: Fate, TX
Re: updates?
It was back in July/August 2011 when I was having some neighborhood problems (multiple burglaries and nighttime harassment such as firecrackers going off on our porch) and needed to get something going. I didn't try too many software packages back then, but here's what I do remember:
WebCamXP - Can't remember why I didn't like it. (Sorry!)
iSpy - Free, open source software. It was originally developed to try to detect UFO's (really!). I liked the features, but it was flakey for me. I could walk across a camera's sight and it would only notice me 8 or 9 times out of 10.
Yawcam - Yet another freebie. Not enough features. I might be wrong, but I think that it required a PC for each camera.
Vitamin D Video - I tried it and was blown away with how well it works. Within 2 days of testing I paid for the Basic license, and recently upgraded to the Pro license.
Swann DVR - I knew that VDV was what I wanted to use, but I needed more cameras in a hurry, so I broke down an got a Swann 4-camera with DVR kit. I've regretted that ever since. Yeah, it works, but SO many false positives. It takes forever to sift through the video when trying to find something. And the cameras aren't super crisp when viewing live, but then the recordings are SO much worse. Tons of compression artifacts are added.
The the burglars were caught, and and nighttime harassment stopped as well, so the project was put on hold. Recently I've been working on it again, mostly in assembling parts for my eventual Vitamin D Video box, but other stuff keeps jumping first in line (sigh...).
There are 2 other pieces of software that I would've liked to've tried, but at this point I'm so happy with the people-detection in VDV that I'm just going to go forward with that, and not test any other software. My main gripe is with the lack of time/date stamping, but the HiDef camera I got has that already, so I'll just be grumbly about date/time stamping until I'm all HiDef.
As to development, I bought the Pro license even though I already knew that it's not in active development. The code for the free/Basic/Pro versions are the same (just enter the license information to activate the additional features), so I knew that it would work well. Yeah, I'd like some extra features, but the most important ones are the ones it already has. I check in here at the forums almost daily, and I've never seen complaints about show-stopper bugs - only complaints about features that are wanted. So if you do buy, you'll be getting a great program, but with no guarantee of feature set improvement. I'm OK with that, and gave them additional money as a result.
Ray
DrBunsen
WebCamXP - Can't remember why I didn't like it. (Sorry!)
iSpy - Free, open source software. It was originally developed to try to detect UFO's (really!). I liked the features, but it was flakey for me. I could walk across a camera's sight and it would only notice me 8 or 9 times out of 10.
Yawcam - Yet another freebie. Not enough features. I might be wrong, but I think that it required a PC for each camera.
Vitamin D Video - I tried it and was blown away with how well it works. Within 2 days of testing I paid for the Basic license, and recently upgraded to the Pro license.
Swann DVR - I knew that VDV was what I wanted to use, but I needed more cameras in a hurry, so I broke down an got a Swann 4-camera with DVR kit. I've regretted that ever since. Yeah, it works, but SO many false positives. It takes forever to sift through the video when trying to find something. And the cameras aren't super crisp when viewing live, but then the recordings are SO much worse. Tons of compression artifacts are added.
The the burglars were caught, and and nighttime harassment stopped as well, so the project was put on hold. Recently I've been working on it again, mostly in assembling parts for my eventual Vitamin D Video box, but other stuff keeps jumping first in line (sigh...).
There are 2 other pieces of software that I would've liked to've tried, but at this point I'm so happy with the people-detection in VDV that I'm just going to go forward with that, and not test any other software. My main gripe is with the lack of time/date stamping, but the HiDef camera I got has that already, so I'll just be grumbly about date/time stamping until I'm all HiDef.
As to development, I bought the Pro license even though I already knew that it's not in active development. The code for the free/Basic/Pro versions are the same (just enter the license information to activate the additional features), so I knew that it would work well. Yeah, I'd like some extra features, but the most important ones are the ones it already has. I check in here at the forums almost daily, and I've never seen complaints about show-stopper bugs - only complaints about features that are wanted. So if you do buy, you'll be getting a great program, but with no guarantee of feature set improvement. I'm OK with that, and gave them additional money as a result.
Ray
DrBunsen