Proprietary Software (this may be a rant)

Dymetrie · 07-11-2007, 18:49

At work we use Digital Video Recorders (DVR) from a company called Dedicated Micros (DM) all in all then the units are pretty good, can record decent quality footage which can be downloaded and passed on to the Police, Housing Officers etc. We've even had some stuff used by the Police to put bad guys away (murderers, drug dealers, etc) and I've been involved with this and it's a good feeling to know that you're doing good.

Up until a 18 months ago the model of DVR we were using had a nice, simple, easy to use software package which allowed you to capture Jpeg and Avi files which would work on any computer, anywhere (y'know, within reason, let's not get carried away here)...

Unfortunately we then bought some of the new super dooper brand spanking new units. Which, to be honest, are really good. More storage, less degredation, the unit itself is easier to configure.

However. DM, in their infinite wisdom, decided that these spangly new recorders would 'work' with only 2 pieces of software. Either IE (which doesn't work properly with it anyway, you try and grab an image and it distorts the picture, no timestamp, nada) or Netvu Observer (hereafter known as 'that piece of ****', or '****' for short).

This new software means that any images or video you download can ONLY be viewed using the same software. Combine that with the fact that the software doesn't even work properly and I can't scan to the desired time/date by typing it in, I have to rewind the footage...

WTF!

So I download hundreds of images for the Police and hand it over saying "by the way, you'll need to install this bloated software on your computer which has such high requirements you probably either can't do it or your IT department will laugh at you, or you can't view these images which could potentially put a dangerous person in prison."

un-be-smegging-leave-able

The main reason for my current state of pissed-offedness is that this afternoon I was asked by the Police to capture some images/footage of an incident.

Now, because the software is so **** I'd taken to
using IE to navigate to the correct time and date then using a screen grab (which I then refined in paint... yeah... paint... I works for the government :/) so that I could get a decent image with the time/date stamp, and if I needed video footage, sending my engineer to the actual unit to manually download it onto CD. Unfortunately something has happened on the Camden network and I can no longer log into the DVRs this way... But I could at home... Until I tried today...

I'd promised the Officer that I'd look into it when I got home and would call him/e-mail him with what I found. And now I'm stuck. Because of this **** proprietary software which causes more problems than it solves.

/me puts his brain to work on figuring this out to get something for the Police tonight and then passing the problem over to IT tomorrow who'll just say "we don't support that" and annoy me even further

/end rant

/apologies for rant

07-11-2007, 18:49	#1
Dymetrie A large glass of Merlot Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Letchworth with a Lightsaber Posts: 5,819	Proprietary Software (this may be a rant) At work we use Digital Video Recorders (DVR) from a company called Dedicated Micros (DM) all in all then the units are pretty good, can record decent quality footage which can be downloaded and passed on to the Police, Housing Officers etc. We've even had some stuff used by the Police to put bad guys away (murderers, drug dealers, etc) and I've been involved with this and it's a good feeling to know that you're doing good. Up until a 18 months ago the model of DVR we were using had a nice, simple, easy to use software package which allowed you to capture Jpeg and Avi files which would work on any computer, anywhere (y'know, within reason, let's not get carried away here)... Unfortunately we then bought some of the new super dooper brand spanking new units. Which, to be honest, are really good. More storage, less degredation, the unit itself is easier to configure. However. DM, in their infinite wisdom, decided that these spangly new recorders would 'work' with only 2 pieces of software. Either IE (which doesn't work properly with it anyway, you try and grab an image and it distorts the picture, no timestamp, nada) or Netvu Observer (hereafter known as 'that piece of **', or '' for short). This new software means that any images or video you download can ONLY be viewed using the same software. Combine that with the fact that the software doesn't even work properly and I can't scan to the desired time/date by typing it in, I have to rewind the footage... WTF! So I download hundreds of images for the Police and hand it over saying "by the way, you'll need to install this bloated software on your computer which has such high requirements you probably either can't do it or your IT department will laugh at you, or you can't view these images which could potentially put a dangerous person in prison." un-be-smegging-leave-able The main reason for my current state of pissed-offedness is that this afternoon I was asked by the Police to capture some images/footage of an incident. Now, because the software is so I'd taken to using IE to navigate to the correct time and date then using a screen grab (which I then refined in paint... yeah... paint... I works for the government :/) so that I could get a decent image with the time/date stamp, and if I needed video footage, sending my engineer to the actual unit to manually download it onto CD. Unfortunately something has happened on the Camden network and I can no longer log into the DVRs this way... But I could at home... Until I tried today... I'd promised the Officer that I'd look into it when I got home and would call him/e-mail him with what I found. And now I'm stuck. Because of this ** proprietary software which causes more problems than it solves. /me puts his brain to work on figuring this out to get something for the Police tonight and then passing the problem over to IT tomorrow who'll just say "we don't support that" and annoy me even further /end rant /apologies for rant __________________ Khef, Ka and Ka-Tet....