M6Plus with Dashcam Viewer

Pottsy

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EDIT 4 Feb:

Don't bother with this - Dashcam Viewer 2.5.7 works with DDPai M6+ as perfectly as is possible (limited only by the crapness of the DDPai). :)

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As we know, Dashcam Viewer doesn't like the M6Plus. So I have created a script to make it work, and if you are brave you could try it yourself. I only made it for me, so good luck! It is written in Powershell for Windows, so should work on all modern Windows machines.

  • Unzip the contents into a dedicated folder (eg C:\m6plus).
  • Edit the m6plus2.ps1 file, to change the path of your micro SD card.
  • Save the m6plus2.ps1 file.
  • Run the file runme.cmd
  • When the magic has occurred, Dashcam Viewer should open. If not, you get a message telling you to open it.
  • When you are finished, close Dashcam Viewer, go back to the script and press any key and all the temporary files will be deleted.

What it does:

  1. Copies any unarchived gpx files to your PC. These are gpx files not appended with a D.
  2. Copies all the git files to your PC.
  3. Renames the git files as tar files.
  4. Unpacks any tar files that are newer than the oldest video file on your SD card. No point in unpacking gpx files for which there are no videos.
  5. Creates zero length gpx files to match parking mode videos. This just stops DV from crashing.
  6. Copies all these gpx files into your video folder on your SD card. Dashcam viewer now understands and can work!
  7. Tries to launch Dashcam Viewer for you when it is ready.
  8. Deletes all the mess when you are done.

Notes:

The M6Plus gpx files are still dodgy. If you are stationary, and it switches into parking mode, it writes duff data into the last gpx file. This makes the speed and location jump just before you go into parking mode.

Tested with 3.3.2.11 and DV 2.5.2. May not work with older DDPai firmware.

The blank gpx files match up with parking mode videos. They are just there to stop DV having a fit if it can't find appropriate gpx files. So now you can open a whole folder - but I don't bother because it takes for ever and is tainted by duff DDPai gpx data. But try it, and try opening a range of movie files to cover the time period you are interested in.

Dashcam Viewer is here: https://dashcamviewer.com/

Don't bother trying to use Registrator Viewer after doing this - it's a complete mess.

Use at your own risk. Because it's a script file, it's easy for anyone to modify. Go for it!
 

Attachments

  • m6plus_DV.zip
    760.8 KB · Views: 37
  • Dashcam Viewer_2016-12-02_21-43-46.png
    Dashcam Viewer_2016-12-02_21-43-46.png
    1.6 MB · Views: 47
Last edited:
Thanks. I have done this and unfortunately the dashcam viewer doesn't display the GPS. The balloon stays frimly stuck in the Ocean just off the coast of west Africa!

I am using a Windows 7 based machine and as far as I can tell the script is running OK.
 
As we know, Dashcam Viewer doesn't like the M6Plus. So I have created a script to make it work, and if you are brave you could try it yourself. I only made it for me, so good luck! It is written in Powershell for Windows, so should work on all modern Windows machines.

  • Unzip the contents into a dedicated folder (eg C:\m6plus).
  • Edit the m6plus2.ps1 file, to change the path of your micro SD card.
  • Save the m6plus2.ps1 file.
  • Run the file runme.cmd
  • When the magic has occurred, Dashcam Viewer should open. If not, you get a message telling you to open it.
  • When you are finished, close Dashcam Viewer, go back to the script and press any key and all the temporary files will be deleted.

What it does:

  1. Copies any unarchived gpx files to your PC. These are gpx files not appended with a D.
  2. Copies all the git files to your PC.
  3. Renames the git files as tar files.
  4. Unpacks any tar files that are newer than the oldest video file on your SD card. No point in unpacking gpx files for which there are no videos.
  5. Creates zero length gpx files to match parking mode videos. This just stops DV from crashing.
  6. Copies all these gpx files into your video folder on your SD card. Dashcam viewer now understands and can work!
  7. Tries to launch Dashcam Viewer for you when it is ready.
  8. Deletes all the mess when you are done.

Notes:

The M6Plus gpx files are still dodgy. If you are stationary, and it switches into parking mode, it writes duff data into the last gpx file. This makes the speed and location jump just before you go into parking mode.

Tested with 3.3.2.11 and DV 2.5.2. May not work with older DDPai firmware.

The blank gpx files match up with parking mode videos. They are just there to stop DV having a fit if it can't find appropriate gpx files. So now you can open a whole folder - but I don't bother because it takes for ever and is tainted by duff DDPai gpx data. But try it, and try opening a range of movie files to cover the time period you are interested in.

Dashcam Viewer is here: https://dashcamviewer.com/

Don't bother trying to use Registrator Viewer after doing this - it's a complete mess.

Use at your own risk. Because it's a script file, it's easy for anyone to modify. Go for it!

Before I go to the expense of buying Dashcam Viewer can anyone tell me if I can slow down the Parkguard playback to normal speed?
 
Before I go to the expense of buying Dashcam Viewer can anyone tell me if I can slow down the Parkguard playback to normal speed?
I guess I have answered this question myself by trying the free version of Dashcam Viewer and finding that it doesn't work. Unfortunately I am not computer literate enough to use Pottsy's workaround (it's an age thing). So can anyone recommend a viewer that does work that can play the Parkguard files at normal speed?
 
Debsmcd6 - are you using the latest camera firmware?

DV will never get it quite right, because the DDPai is still writing nonsense in the gpx files. It will randomly jumble stuff up - I have no idea why but have raised it with DDPai and have no answer yet. Look how, in one file, the date just jumps to a random date in the past:

Code:
$GPSCAMTIME 20161209145713
$GPSENDTIME 20161209145713
3,N,00121.53285,W,0.022,,031216,,,D*60
$GPGGA,175537.00,5241.42110,N,00121.53298,W,2,11,0.87,182.1,M,47.4,M,,0000*4E
$GPRMC,175539.00,A,5241.42091,N,00121.53271,W,0.015,,031216,,,D*64
$GPGGA,175538.00,5241.42103,N,00121.53285,W,2,11,0.87,182.4,M,47.4,M,,0000*4A
$GPRMC,175540.00,A,5241.42083,N,00121.53262,W,0.037,,031216,,,D*6B
$GPGGA,175539.00,5241.42091,N,00121.53271,W,2,11,0.87,182.6,M,47.4,M,,0000*48
$GPRMC,175541.00,A,5241.42077,N,00121.53259,W,0.074,,031216,,,D*6E
$GPGGA,175540.00,5241.42083,N,00121.53262,W,2,11,0.87,182.7,M,47.4,M,,0000*46
$GPRMC,175542.00,A,5241.42074,N,00121.53254,W,0.057,,031216,,,D*62
$GPGGA,175541.00,5241.42077,N,00121.53259,W,2,11,0.87,182.9,M,47.4,M,,0000*4A
$GPRMC,175543.00,A,5241.42070,N,00121.53245,W,0.064,,031216,,,D*67
$GPGGA,175542.00,5241.42074,N,00121.53254,W,2,11,0.87,183.0,M,47.4,M,,0000*4F
$GPRMC,175544.00,A,5241.42066,N,00121.53241,W,0.021,,031216,,,D*62
$GPGGA,175543.00,5241.42070,N,00121.53245,W,2,11,0.87,183.2,M,47.4,M,,0000*48
$GPSENDTIME 20161203175735
9,M,46.6,M,,0000*4D
$GPRMC,165625.00,A,5207.76473,N,00049.23526,W,54.552,316.20,011216,,,D*46
$GPGGA,165624.00,5207.75375,N,00049.21827,W,2,10,0.83,117.0,M,46.6,M,,0000*46
$GPRMC,165626.00,A,5207.77573,N,00049.25226,W,54.752,316.25,011216,,,D*43
$GPGGA,165625.00,5207.76473,N,00049.23526,W,2,10,0.83,117.3,M,46.6,M,,0000*48

Bazza,

If you want to see the parking files in real time, it's going to be a painful slideshow, where the image changes once a second. So you need to play the video at 1/25th speed, or 0.04x. VLC play will do this (badly, it waits for about 20 seconds before it settles into that speed). MPC-HC will do 0.13x and DV only 0.25x. And no, there is no software that works properly with DDPai (other than the phone app).
 
Last edited:
Debsmcd6 - are you using the latest camera firmware?

DV will never get it quite right, because the DDPai is still writing nonsense in the gpx files. It will randomly jumble stuff up - I have no idea why but have raised it with DDPai and have no answer yet. Look how, in one file, the date just jumps to a random date in the past:

Code:
$GPSCAMTIME 20161209145713
$GPSENDTIME 20161209145713
3,N,00121.53285,W,0.022,,031216,,,D*60
$GPGGA,175537.00,5241.42110,N,00121.53298,W,2,11,0.87,182.1,M,47.4,M,,0000*4E
$GPRMC,175539.00,A,5241.42091,N,00121.53271,W,0.015,,031216,,,D*64
$GPGGA,175538.00,5241.42103,N,00121.53285,W,2,11,0.87,182.4,M,47.4,M,,0000*4A
$GPRMC,175540.00,A,5241.42083,N,00121.53262,W,0.037,,031216,,,D*6B
$GPGGA,175539.00,5241.42091,N,00121.53271,W,2,11,0.87,182.6,M,47.4,M,,0000*48
$GPRMC,175541.00,A,5241.42077,N,00121.53259,W,0.074,,031216,,,D*6E
$GPGGA,175540.00,5241.42083,N,00121.53262,W,2,11,0.87,182.7,M,47.4,M,,0000*46
$GPRMC,175542.00,A,5241.42074,N,00121.53254,W,0.057,,031216,,,D*62
$GPGGA,175541.00,5241.42077,N,00121.53259,W,2,11,0.87,182.9,M,47.4,M,,0000*4A
$GPRMC,175543.00,A,5241.42070,N,00121.53245,W,0.064,,031216,,,D*67
$GPGGA,175542.00,5241.42074,N,00121.53254,W,2,11,0.87,183.0,M,47.4,M,,0000*4F
$GPRMC,175544.00,A,5241.42066,N,00121.53241,W,0.021,,031216,,,D*62
$GPGGA,175543.00,5241.42070,N,00121.53245,W,2,11,0.87,183.2,M,47.4,M,,0000*48
$GPSENDTIME 20161203175735
9,M,46.6,M,,0000*4D
$GPRMC,165625.00,A,5207.76473,N,00049.23526,W,54.552,316.20,011216,,,D*46
$GPGGA,165624.00,5207.75375,N,00049.21827,W,2,10,0.83,117.0,M,46.6,M,,0000*46
$GPRMC,165626.00,A,5207.77573,N,00049.25226,W,54.752,316.25,011216,,,D*43
$GPGGA,165625.00,5207.76473,N,00049.23526,W,2,10,0.83,117.3,M,46.6,M,,0000*48

Bazza,

If you want to see the parking files in real time, it's going to be a painful slideshow, where the image changes once a second. So you need to play the video at 1/25th speed, or 0.04x. VLC play will do this (badly, it waits for about 20 seconds before it settles into that speed). MPC-HC will do 0.13x and DV only 0.25x. And no, there is no software that works properly with DDPai (other than the phone app).

Thanks Pottsy.
 
Pottsy's script seems to be working well for me for the straight video files with the trial version of Dashcam Viewer. I'm using a small Windows 10 laptop and had to reduce the resolution setting of the camera for the video to be visible in DV.
My car has a permanently powered lighter socket and for this and various other reasons I haven't yet got a sensible directory with a decent trip in the first 5 files, but I can start DV and then move to individual files where there is something happening.

It does link the GPS in time, and the tracking position seems to be very accurate, so it's all very good.

I haven't yet looked at any parked-up files because I'm still searching back through forum posts trying to find where on the memory card
they are now stored. These forums don't seem to have any "stickies ", which is a shame.
Is there anywhere that describes in simple terms all these git and other files and how dash cams use them?

Bazzza, it's quite simple to try the script, and you can't be much older than me and still driving. :)
 
If you look at the memory card in the videos folder, and list by time, you'll see some videos with a name that starts with an "S". Those are the time lapse parked-up videos.

Cameras produce gpx files that have the position data for their associated video (normally the same file name).

The DDPai compresses old gpx files into an archive (to keep a long history). The archive should end in .tar, but DDPai decided to change that to .git, for some unknown reason.
 
If you look at the memory card in the videos folder, and list by time, you'll see some videos with a name that starts with an "S". Those are the time lapse parked-up videos.

Cameras produce gpx files that have the position data for their associated video (normally the same file name).

The DDPai compresses old gpx files into an archive (to keep a long history). The archive should end in .tar, but DDPai decided to change that to .git, for some unknown reason.

Thanks, Pottsy. I'm trying to make notes as I gather the information, so that's a major help.

I actually found the "S" files last night and was looking at how to look at them and step frame by frame on a PC. At about 3pm today our neighbour knocked and said they had been burgled, with a brick through a door this afternoon. Our car was parked outside so I've been looking at and taking stills of all the suspicious people in the road. Unfortunately the car was facing the wrong way for her house, so there is nothing that will help, but it's been a useful exercise.
I found a player called "SMPlayer" that is free and enabled relatively easy navigation through the files and taking snapshots.
 
Hi Pottsy. I do have the latest firmware and I have purchased the full version of dashcam viewer and tried again. The script now works...thanks Pottsy! :) Also thanks for the info about git files, I was able to do some mucking about manually and see some old GPS data.
 
Thanks Pottsy - the script works for me using the trial version of DashCam Viewer on Windows 10.

For Info, I recently had a couple of email conversations with Mr. Kevin Lee, Director, of ddPai, initially to ask if ddPai had any software to view the M6 Plus video files, complete with GPS information, on a Windows PC. The short answer is "NO" and it seems that ddPai is only interested in the "fun" (my word) Social Community Market Segment.
For me, ddPai ignoring the more serious / professional Dash Cam user is very disappointing. Despite being very happy with my M6 Plus technically, had I known that Windows was not supported I would have bought a different DashCam.

The email conversation is below:

Hi:
Thanks for your suggestion.
That is segment market issue, our products were designed to connect to smartphone for pictures and video sharing on social community, and we built our own community to make more fun to use our social car dvr, rather than just recorder.
For dash cam function, you also could free download in your smartphone and you also could take off micro SD card to read videos on your PC.For
For GPS data, it was stored also in Micro SD card, but you could check your track in our APP with many information with your driving behaviors.
With our APP support, our device could send all driver information, GPS data to insurance company or police system directly in the future. Currently, we cooperate with police in China, drivers could report illegal behavior by our social car dvr to policy directly.
So our social car dvr is not same as current dash cam, it is new way for car life.
Thanks for your understanding.
Best Regards,
Kevin Lee (Director)
DDPAI Technology Co., Ltd
Address: Floor 12,Yihua finance building, Nanshan software industry park, Xuefu Rd, Nanshan district,Shenzhen, China
Mob:+86-15899862801
Email:kevinlee@vyoutech.com; kevinlee@ddpai.com
www.ddpai.com
www.vyoutech.com

---------------------------------------
From:
Date: 2016-12-13 10:45
To: kevinlee@vyoutech.com
Subject: Re: M6+ - playback on a Windows 10 PC
Hi Kevin,
Your email is a disappointment.
There are a lot of people, especially those who use Dash Cams for business, who want to view Dash Cam video on a PC.
It is important in the case of an accident where they need the Dash Cam video to give to police and Insurance companys.
There is well known third-party software for viewing Dash Cam video, but because of how ddPai stores GPS data, those softwares don't currently work properly.
The softwares are :
- RegistratorViewer_6000.exe (it is no longer updated as the developer died in an accident)
- DashCam Viewer.exe (the developer wants to include ddPai, but is waiting for ddPai to finalise how it stores GPS data) https://dashcamviewer.com/
A forum which you would find interesting is: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/forums/ddpai.197/
One of the threads talks about a script which can be used to view ddPai video, and show GPS information https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/m6plus-with-dashcam-viewer.25782/
I am very happy with the video quality of my ddPai M6 Plus; it is the best of all the Dash Cams I have used so far.
Your company seems to be concentrating on the recreational market (Facebook type of users?) who want to share videos on social media via Android / iOS.
I can assure you that there is also a lot of interest from professional users, who use Dash Cams for business use and have a need for using a Windows type player.
I hope that you will be able to meet our needs, so that ddPai will be recommended for professional Dash Cam users as well as recreational users.
Best regards,

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 13-Dec-16 7:58 AM, kevinlee@vyoutech.com wrote:
Dear
Thanks for your inquiry!
Our products were designed for smartphones (IOS and Android only) and car dvr connection, we will not have plan to develop program for windows computer and windows phone.
Sorry!
Best Regards,
Kevin Lee
DDPAI Technology Co., Ltd
Address: Floor 12,Yihua finance building, Nanshan software industry park, Xuefu Rd, Nanshan district,Shenzhen, China
Mob:+86-15899862801
Email:kevinlee@vyoutech.com; kevinlee@ddpai.com
www.ddpai.com
www.vyoutech.com

----------------------------------------------------------------------
From:
Date: 2016-12-12 19:33
To: kevinlee
Subject: M6+ - playback on a Windows 10 PC
Hi Mr Kevin.
My dash-cam is a M6 Plus.
Would you please advise which software program will playback the recorded footage directly from the SD card
(including displaying GPS and other sensor information) on a Windows 10 Personal Computer.
Many thanks,
 
Two-Dogs, thanks for finding out this info., I won't waste any more time on it.
Thanks also to Pottsy for the script.
 
Two-Dogs, thanks for finding out this info., I won't waste any more time on it.
Thanks also to Pottsy for the script.

Just for the record, by using Pottsy's script, Dashcam Viewer and VSDC Screen Recorder, I've been able to produce small (silent because VSDC only records from microphone) videos with all the necessary information. Whether this would stand up where evidence was required is another matter.
Am I right to assume that DV has no internal method of recording its full screen video output to a standalone file?
It's a shame that it's all so nearly, but not quite, there when the hardware seems so good.
 
Last edited:
Looks like DV 2.5.3 broke this script. Going back to 2.5.2 works fine - but no idea why DV is not reading the gpx files now. :(
 
This script is now obsolete - DV 2.5.7 works as well as is humanly possible with the M6+. Brilliant job, John Coggi.
 
I've found out that the GPX files of Ddpai M6Plus are in reality NMEA files. If you change the extention to .nmea Dashcamviewer works fine.
 
I've found out that the GPX files of Ddpai M6Plus are in reality NMEA files. If you change the extention to .nmea Dashcamviewer works fine.
If that's all it requires then @traveler can probably sort that out in the program, has anyone shared any source files for checking?
 
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