Dashcam Viewer for Mac and Windows

[Bill W.]

Hi, I just downloaded the program for my win computer (win10). My dashcam is a new 0805. I have a problem where the gps works and the linked data all shows up but the actual movie playback window is black. My research has returned some possible issues. One is insufficient or poor codec ... so I upgraded to the K-Lite pack. No change.
So, I downsized one of the mov files and it plays fine ..... so it seems that the program doesn't handle the highest resolution.
Is that true? Will I have to run the dashcam at the lower 1920 x 1080 resolution (30 or 45 fps)?
Is there some other reason why the program won't play the movies?
Thanks for your help.
BTW, if this is the wrong place to ask this question please copy into the correct section of the forum.
Again, thanks.

 

[traveler]

Bill, yes, the Windows version of Dashcam Viewer has issues with resolutions greater than 1080p for some dashcams. Unfortunately, this is due to the 3rd-party movie library I use and I don't have control over it. BTW, I set my new 0806 to record at 1080p even though the Mac version will play the higher res movies. It just doesn't seem to make that much of a difference, IMHO.

 

[Bill W.]

Thanks for the quick reply! I'll set the cam to the lower resolution and try it out for a day. Then do a compare.
Thanks again traveler.

 

[SawMaster]

Look into different viewing programs. VLC Player works nicely in my W8.1 and much good has been said of Registrationviewer as well. There are several others so one of them should suit your needs. Just don't expect such quality from MS- ain't gonna happen.

Phil

 

[Ralph2]

Look into different viewing programs. VLC Player works nicely in my W8.1 and much good has been said of Registrationviewer as well. There are several others so one of them should suit your needs. Just don't expect such quality from MS- ain't gonna happen.

Phil

Is there ANY that will connect via WIFI to eliminate the hassle of removing the memory card? Such a common sense addition yet...............

 

[jokiin]

wifi isn't fast enough on any camera I've seen to make transferring or viewing data a practical option

 

[Street Guardian USA]

JooVuu-X is developing a PC app to work with the new wifi camera coming soon.

 

[Ralph2]

wifi isn't fast enough on any camera I've seen to make transferring or viewing data a practical option

If it works fast enough for live viewing.. would a compressed stored file not be transferred or viewed as least as fast?

 

[jokiin]

If it works fast enough for live viewing.. would a compressed stored file not be transferred or viewed as least as fast?

if, plenty of them struggle to do this even when the live view is actually a low res stream

 

[kuoh]

I'm fairly confident that current generation wifi speeds are more than enough to stream a 3-20 mb/s video without issue. With 802.11N we can get up to 300 mb/s and with AC up to gigabit speeds, though there are overheads to consider, there is still plenty of bandwidth left over. Now if what you meant was that the dashcam CPU isn't fast enough to encode the video, save to SD and manage the data transfer, then I could agree with that.

KuoH

wifi isn't fast enough on any camera I've seen to make transferring or viewing data a practical option

 

[traveler]

Hi Everyone, we just released Dashcam Viewer v1.8.7 for Macintosh and Windows. More dashcam model compatibility, features, and bug fixes. Here's a summary

New Features:

• Added the Center checkbox to the Map view. You can toggle this option to have the map auto-center with the vehicle, or unselect it to have the map stay still and the vehicle marker move. Thanks to user Thomas D. for the suggestion.
• Added new keyboard shortcut: type ‘A’ in the Graph window to autoscale the view.
• Added support for zBlackBox_HD3 dashcam
• [Mac] Added GPS support for Thinkware F550
• [Windows] Added GPS support for Thinkware F750. Strangely, this dashcam’s MP4s won’t play in the Mac version of DCV, nor in QuickTime Player.
• Added support for Contour+2 Action Cam
• Added support for newer version of ION Adventure Cam

Bug Fixes:

• The progress bar displayed after loading movies now displays meaningful progress.
• Improved the focus of the start/stop button in player window. This should make the spacebar start/stop function, and other keyboard shortcuts, more reliable.
• Fixed recently-introduced bug in which Koonlung K1S dashcam would only show the first channel.
• Better compatibility with GPS files from MINI dashcams.
• Fixed bug in keyboard shortcuts for adjusting time offset in the Graph View.

Regards,
John

Website: http://dashcamviewer.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dashcamviewer

 

[kandrey89]

Why are you developing 2 separate versions of this software?
Should have used Qt to write Windows/Linux/Mac compatible code and let Qt framework worry about adapting the code for each system...

 

[kandrey89]

Is there a feature to do a sort of screen-record?
For example, I would configure the GUI as I like it, showing windows as I want them and where I want them, having PiP for dual cam, and then I want to record the whole interface just as if it plays the dashcam videos from start to end. The idea is to show the video and show the other data in a video of its own. This could be useful when using the program in court is not an option and showing a video with various meta-data is useful or necessary alongside the dashcam footage itself.

Don't know about you but maintaining 2 projects at the same time is a daunting task that will burn you out. I'd consider switching to Qt framework for version 2.0 of your program. Sometimes I'm boggled by people who have a great tool they came up with, that's very useful, but they decided to write it on the wrong coding platform thereby limiting their flexibility and increasing their coding complexity and freedom to offer it to more people.

 

[traveler]

Why are you developing 2 separate versions of this software?
Should have used Qt to write Windows/Linux/Mac compatible code and let Qt framework worry about adapting the code for each system...

<geek mode on>
Ah, the promise of multi-platform frameworks. Write once, run everywhere! I *am* using the Qt framework for the Mac and Windows versions of Dashcam Viewer, @kandrey89. I'd say about 95% of the code is shared between both platforms. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that no semi-sophisticated Qt-based software has 100% code-share. There are just too many differences in the underlying resources, toolkits, GUIs, OS hooks, etc. That said, the Qt system is best multi-platform solution out there. It just won't take you all the way, unless your software is fairly simplistic.
<geek mode off>

The idea is to show the video and show the other data in a video of its own.

This is a good suggestion, but it pushes DV into the realm of screen recorder software. There are already many good choices out there for both Windows and Mac.

 

[kandrey89]

<geek mode on>
Ah, the promise of multi-platform frameworks. Write once, run everywhere! I *am* using the Qt framework for the Mac and Windows versions of Dashcam Viewer, @kandrey89. I'd say about 95% of the code is shared between both platforms. I'll bet you dollars to donuts that no semi-sophisticated Qt-based software has 100% code-share. There are just too many differences in the underlying resources, toolkits, GUIs, OS hooks, etc. That said, the Qt system is best multi-platform solution out there. It just won't take you all the way, unless your software is fairly simplistic.
<geek mode off>



This is a good suggestion, but it pushes DV into the realm of screen recorder software. There are already many good choices out there for both Windows and Mac.

I have to admit I didn't download your software, hence why I didn't know you used Qt, I reviewed all the features and comment posts here though. I was having reservations about how that if you aren't using Qt, I'd question feature and platform support.
Fears alleviated.

Yes, I know that there's still some OS specific preprocessor directives with OS specific code that might need to be used but it beats having to maintain 2 separate code bases, GUIs, etc.

Re: screen record, the reason why I posted the feature request at all keeping in mind the screen record software is because the screen record software will need exactly the same amount of time to record the video as the length of the video. Where as if it's a feature in your software, you wouldn't need the same amount of time, you'd just re-encode the video with generated GUI and info dialogs, should be much faster than playing the video in real time and screen recording.

 

[dave798]

will this software now show 2 channels when using k1S files and viewing on windows 10 64 bit?

 

[traveler]

Dave, two-channel support is currently only available on the Mac version of Dashcam Viewer. I can't give you an estimate when it will be on Windows, but it's on my list of things to finish.

 

[dave798]

sounds good am really interested in purchasing this software but I will hold out till it supports 2 channel K1S cameras

 

[traveler]

Hi Folks, we just released Dashcam Viewer v1.8.9 for Macintosh and Windows. Added more dashcam compatibility and a few improvements:

New Features:

• Added support for Ausdom A261 Dashcam
• Added support for additional RAC Dashcams
• Added support for Flytrex Core/GoPro Hero4 combination (DJI Phantom 2)
• Improved speed of dashcam auto-detection so movies load faster
• Simplified Map window GUI to conserve space. Map window can now be made smaller than before.

Bug Fixes:

• Improved key press handling, especially the arrow and page up/down keys.

Regards,
John

Website: http://dashcamviewer.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dashcamviewer

 

[Ralph2]

A repeat request from your last version of your viewer ANY... chance this will ever be able to connect to WiFi enabled dash cams (as in BlackVue)? If.. you ever get that feature established you will get at least one (and I am betting many) paid subscriber (s)