Setup D-Link DCS-8000LHv2 IP camera for Skype

The manufacturer D-Link has recently launched the D-Link DCS-8000LHv2 IP camera, an exciting model due to its design, technical characteristics, and the recording quality it has. This model allows us high configuration through the mydlink app, but it also incorporates the ONVIF S standard for use with an NVR and centralized display. Today in Droidcops, we are going to teach you how to use this D-Link DCS-8000LHv2 camera as if it were a webcam and use it for video calls on Skype or with any other program in Windows 10.

Usually, Cloud cameras do not allow viewing from the local network. However, this model is a hybrid between Cloud camera and IP camera, since it has the ONVIF S standard that will allow us to use an NVR or any program to view the camera that it supports. The RTSP protocol. Thanks to this protocol, we will be able to view the camera with such popular programs as VLC, use a specific program like SplitCam to “transform” the video stream into a webcam and then use it on Skype, and many more possibilities.

The D-Link DCS-8000LH2 model has a new version has three significant characteristics: it has Full HD resolution 1920 x 1080 pixels (instead of HD 1280 x 720 pixels resolution), it also adds intelligent detection of people on the move, and compatibility with the new WPA3 protocol.

Step 1: Install DCS-8000LHv2 camera typically using the mydlink app

The first thing we have to do is install the Cloud D-Link DCS-8000LHv2 camera in the usual way, using the configuration assistant of the free mydlink app, where we must scan the QR code or manually add it by selecting the model and entering the PIN code. We recommend you watch the following video where you can see step by step how this installation is done.

Once we have installed it, we must ensure that we can see the camera correctly through the application.

Step 2: Know what the private IP address associated with the camera is

The second step is to find out what is the private IP address associated with the camera that we have installed. This can be easily known by accessing our router through the default gateway, in the menu of “Clients” connected, the hostname of the camera should appear (DCS-8000LHv2) and see what private IP address it has associated. If the hostname does not appear, on the bottom sticker of the camera, we have the MAC address, so if we look at the concessions on the router or the DHCP server, the IP-MAC pair will appear, and we can quickly locate it. Once we have discovered what private IP address the camera has, we should point it and not forget it.

Optional but recommended step: We must remember that the camera has obtained this IP via DHCP, so it is highly recommended that we configure the “Static DHCP” on the router so that the IP camera always has the same private IP address, since, if change the private IP, we will have to reconfigure the SplitCam program. To configure the Static DHCP in some routers, it asks us to register the MAC address, in this case, we will also find this information on the sticker on the bottom of the camera.

Step 3: Download, install and configure the SplitCam program

SplitCam is a free program that allows us to receive the video stream from the IP camera to later “import” this video stream into Skype or any video conferencing program you are using. This program will also serve to add graphic effects, but we will use it as a “gateway” to use the IP camera. We recommend you download the SplitCam program directly from the official website.

Once we have downloaded it, we usually install it in the Windows 10 operating system and start it. When starting this program, it will show us an empty menu, since we will have to “load” the IP camera D-Link DCS-8000LHv2.

To load it, we need to go to “Media Layers” and click on “+,” then we must select “IP Camera”:

To add the D-Link DCS-8000LHv2 IP camera to this program, we must put the following syntax:

RTSP://admin: PIN_CODE@IP_PRIVADA/live/profile.0

What you have to change from this code, is the “PIN_CODE” for the PIN that your camera has, we must remember that this PIN is under the camera on the sticker and that you probably have needed it to install it with mydlink. You also have to change “IP_PRIVADA” for the IP address that the camera currently has on your local network. In our case, what we have had to put in the following:

RTSP://admin:098450@10.10.2.238/live/profile.0

Once we have entered it, click on “Add” to add the video stream:

Next, and almost instantaneously, we can see the camera image in real-time. This camera image does not have any delay; it is in real-time.

Once we see the image correctly in the program, we will have to go to Skype or any other video conferencing program.

Step 4: Set up Skype or any other video conferencing program

When we have seen the IP camera in the SplitCam program, we go directly to Skype. In the section “Configuration / Audio and video,” it will appear that in “Camera” we have “SplitCam Video Driver,” we select it, and we should already be seeing the image in real-time of our IP camera transformed to webcam:

As you have seen, the configuration on Skype is really simple because it detects SplitCam quickly, and the visualization of our «webcam» is instantaneous. An important aspect is that on Skype, we see the image as reflected in a mirror, but this has a solution.

Activate mirror mode to make it look good in video conferencing programs

If we want the image to be seen directly without «reflection» on Skype, we must go to the «SplitCam» program and click on the three dots to display the options menu. In the «Effects» section, click on «Mirror»:

The image will be reflected in SplitCam, but it will be seen correctly in Skype, as you can see in the following screenshot:

Although the IP camera has a microphone, the SplitCam program does not allow audio, so we can only use it as a webcam. Besides, in work or video call environments, we usually make use of the typical headphones with a microphone, so it is not a vital handicap either.

Before finishing, we would like to tell you that we can do this with the popular VLC program, only by adding a “network location” and putting the syntax 

RTSP: // admin: PIN_CODE@IP_PRIVADA/live/profile.0, we will access the flow of video of the camera to see it in real-time, although we have verified that with this program we suffer a delay of 4 seconds, something that with SplitCam does not happen.

So far we have come with this tutorial to use the D-Link DCS-8000LHv2 IP camera as a webcam, other models of Cloud cameras from the manufacturer D-Link also support this functionality. However, they do not officially put it in the technical specifications, and it is a little “trick” that will allow us to view them centrally on our NVR, without depending on the cloud services of the manufacturer D-Link.

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