Watchdog FAQ

1. When I start Watchdog, I see the message saying that "Your IP address appears to be an unroutable IP address..." What does this mean?

If your IP address is 192.168.x.x, or 10.0.0.x, you will see the message when you start the program. You can simply check Do not show this again and click OK to disable the message to show again.

If you only need to view it inside the local network area, it is OK. If you need to view it from the Internet, please configure the router or firewall. Otherwise, the router will block the inbound connection to the web server.





2. "Can't bind Port 80" error.



Click Setup, and then change the HTTP Server's port number on the Server tab. For example, enter 90 or 8000. 80 is the default port for web server. If you use other port, you need to add the number in your web address. For example, if you enter 90 in the Port field, your web address will be http://your-IP-address:90

3. What is my web address/IP address?

To check your IP address

Windows XP/2000
go to Start -> Programs -> Accessories ->Command Prompt

Enter ipconfig and you'll see your current IP address. If your IP address is 192.168.x.x, please configure your router or firewall to enable port forwarding or virtual server. Your web address is http://your IP address (You can logon to your router to find out your external IP address.)



4. When I open a video file recorded by Watchdog via Windows Media Player, I only see a black box. What should I do?

It may be related to Windows Media Player, display driver or DirectX. You may want to try Tools, Performance, disable video acceleration on Windows Media Player.

5. Can I find out who are my visitors?

Webcam Watchdog creates log file for you to track visitors of your website. The log files are created in the directory where you installed Webcam Watchdog. E.g. the log files are created in the "C:\Program Files\Webcam\Watchdog" folder if you installed the software under the directory.

6. How many users can view the broadcast at the same time?

The limitation depends on the performance of your computer and your uplink bandwidth. If you have a high hit Web site, you may want to use UNIX Web server or Microsoft IIS Web server. For integrating with other web server, please click here.

To maintain video quality, viewing by Windows Media Streaming is limited to 10 concurrent users. If you do not have enough uplink bandwidth, you can order Webcam Corp. Video Broadcast Services to serve more viewers.

7. Can I use multiple USB cameras with Watchdog?

Watchdog supports one camera only. For multiple cameras solution, it is recommended you use our capture cards. It is not recommended that you use multiple USB cameras because the driver of most USB cameras usually don't support you run the same USB cameras on a computer.

You may want to refer to WCSA440e or NetCamCenter for multiple camera solution.

8. Why did I see "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message, after I enter my Webcam Watchdog Member URL in my browser?

When you enter Webcam Watchdog Member URL in your browser, our server will find your IP address and redirect the browser to your site. If you see "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message", this means our server has redirected the visitors to an invalid IP. Please make sure you setup the IP address correctly in Webcam Watchdog. Your current IP address for Webcam Watchdog is displayed on the title bar of Webcam Watchdog.

To change your IP address (as you may have multiple network adapter on your PC), you can bring up Webcam Watchdog, press Setup button, on the server page, pull down the "Webcam server name" combo box, if there're more than 2 IP addresses listed, select the active IP address, hit OK and try again. For Windows 2000, you can type in "ipconfig" under CMD prompt to show the IP addresses on your machine. For Windows 98 user, you can type in winipcfg to find out your IP address.

9. I can see the webcam picture in the browser from my PC, but can't see it from other computer.

Please make sure you have set up the IP address correctly in Webcam Watchdog. Your current IP address for Webcam Watchdog is displayed on the title bar of Webcam Watchdog. You can type in "ipconfig" under CMD prompt to show the IP address on your machine. To change your IP address, you can click on Setup button. On the server page, enter your IP address correctly.

Your domain name or IP address must be accessible from the external network. Otherwise people in the external network won't be able to access to your Webcam Watchdog server. Please note IP addresses, such as 127.0.0.1, 192.168.0.x, 192.168.1.x, 10.0.0.x, are not accessible from the external network.

10. Can I access my video files remotely?

Yes, Webcam Watchdog can be used as a web server enabling you to access your files remotely. If you set the path of your video files under HTML document folder, you can access your video files from your browser. For example, if your HTML document path is c:\webcam and the path of your video files is c:\webcam\video, you can access your video files from your browser. Simply enter http://your_ip/video in the browser and you will see your video files. You can also set password to control the access to your video files.

11. Why did I see "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message, after I click on the Generate web pages button?

When you click on the Publish and Preview button, Webcam Watchdog will bring up the browser to display the webpage for you. If you see "Page Cannot Be Displayed" message", this means the browser failed to connect to the IP address you entered in Webcam Watchdog. Please make sure you have set up the IP address correctly in Webcam Watchdog. Your current IP address for Webcam Watchdog is displayed on the title bar of Webcam Watchdog.

12. Can I use UNIX Web server or Microsoft IIS Web server with Webcam Watchdog?

To integrate with other web server, you may have Webcam Watchdog FTP upload the images to the web server first. If the IIS web server and Webcam Watchdog are on the same machine, you may point Webcam Watchdog's HTML folder to IIS's web directory.

13. How can I increase the frame rate with limited bandwidth?

To increase the frame rate, you may reduce the picture size or the Webcast image quality. To change the Webcast image quality, click Setup. On the Server tab, adjust the Webcast image quality.

14. There is no image in the preview window of Watchdog when I start Watchdog for the first time.

If you start Watchdog for the first time and cannot see the video in the preview window, please make sure you have install DirectX 8.1.

15. When I click Device, Watchdog freezes.

To run Watchdog, the computer must have a sound card installed. Please install a sound card.

17. I see no video on Webcam Watchdog.

Incompatible hardware device.

18. How do I estimate disk space needed for recordings?

Recording time	Watchdog 12 KB/sec data rate	Typical PC Based MJPEG DVR
a day (GB)	1 GB	3 GB
a week (GB)	7 GB	21 GB
a month (GB)	30 GB	90 GB

* 1 GB = 1024 MB

19. How do I setup audio source for broadcasting?

To setup an audio source

Windows XP

1. Click Start. Click Programs -> Accessories -> Multimedia (Entertainment) -> Volume Control.



2. Click Options -> Properties. Select Recording and check the Device.





3. Click OK. Select desired recording source. (Note: you may need to restart Webcam Watchdog after you change the source.)

Windows 7

1. Click Start. Select Control Panel.
2. Click on the View by drop down menu arrow, and select Small icons.
3. Click Sound. Click desired recording source and select Set as Default Communication Device. (Note: you may need to restart Webcam Watchdog after you change the source.)

20. Does Webcam Watchdog have audio support?

   Yes, audio is supported by Watchdog 4.0.

21. I cannot fast-forward a video.

Please click Setup.

Click Maintenance.

Select the time that the video is created .

Click Repair video.

22. How do I reduce CPU usage while running Watchdog?

Video requires a lot of computer resources to process it. And for surveillance and video streaming, the data must be processed in real time.

Please keep in mind, the more data you pump in to the PC, the more jobs you assigned to the software, the more computing resources (CPU, memory, storage, network ...etc.) are needed to process the data.

Here are some suggestions if you favor low CPU usage :

Cut down camera resolution and/or frame rate. E.g. in general, a 1M pixel camera requires 10 times more computer resources to process it compare to a 0.1M pixel camera.

Please keep in mind more video/image related features (e.g. motion detection) you turn on, the more CPU cycles are needed.

23. When I start Webcam Watchdog on Windows Server 2008, I see the error message "This application has failed to start because wmvcore.dll was not found. ..."

You need to enable Desktop experience for Windows Server 2008 in order to run Webcam Watchdog. Please follow the steps below to install.

1. Click Start and select Server Manager.
2. When the Server Manager window appears, go to the left pane and select Features.
3. On the right, click the Add Features link.
4. Check the Desktop Experience checkbox.
5. Click Next. Click Install.
6. When the installation is complete, restart your server to complete the process.

24. Can I run Microsoft Security Essentials with Webcam Watchdog?

1. Double-click Microsoft Security Essentials.
2. Go to Settings tab.
3. Click Excluded files & locations. Click Add.
4. Select the folder where Watchdog is installed. Click Save changes.





5. Click Excluded file types. Click Add.
6. Enter *.wmv.
7. Click Add. Enter *.jpg. Click Save changes.

1. Using iPhone for remote viewing
• Start the browser
• Enter the IP address of Watchdog.
• Click MJPEG Stream.


2. Using Android phone for remote viewing
• Start the browser
• In the address bar, enter http:// IP address of Watchdog/pda.htm. For example, enter http://211.211.1.1/pda.htm