Frequently Asked Question
If you are running AxDDM2, having a grey video preview could mean a few things:
- Your equipment is not detected (maybe due to a Windows Update that broke your SD video encoder drivers)
- The selected mode is different from SD (wrong unless you have an early AxVIEW HD)
- The specific video encoder is already displaying its feed in some other application (maybe AxDDM is still running or you have a software webcam safety filter installed)
- The given number of divers is greater than the connected system can handle.
This could be repaired by downloading and running our driver installation tool available over here: https://axsub.com/download/Axsub_DriverInstallTool.exe.
Having a blank video preview can be explained by a badly choosen video standard (NTSC or PAL depending on your camera model) or a power switch on the AxVIEW set to the OFF position.
AxDDM3 has a "Preview - Decoder" field where you can choose a profile that's more appropriate for your hardware if you have third-party decoders installed on your system. LAV Filters provides a great video decoder that is supported by AxDDM3. The latest installer is available at the following URL: https://github.com/Nevcairiel/LAVFilters/releases/latest.
Unless you have a dedicated graphics card or AMD hardware, D3D11 is usually the best option for the latter, otherwise DXVA2 Native and DXVA2 Copyback are suggested, in this order.
In some occurences, if you are using the paid version of an anti-virus solution, you could find yourself in a situation where you don't have a preview showing up on screen or recordings are not completing because of a webcam protection module. Here is a list of the affected versions and a link describing the required actions to take in order to allow full functionality of the software:
- Avast One – Webcam Protection
https://support.avast.com/en-ca/article/use-one-webcam-protection/ - AVG Internet Security – Webcam Protection
https://support.avg.com/SupportArticleView?l=en&urlname=use-avg-antivirus-webcam-protection - Bitdefender Total Security – Webcam Protection
https://www.bitdefender.com/consumer/support/answer/2028/ - Dr.Web Security Space – Privacy protection
https://support.home.sophos.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005517966-Disabling-Enabling-webcam-protection - ESET Internet Security – Webcam protection
https://help.eset.com/eis/16.2/en-US/idh_config_webcam.html - Kaspersky Internet Security – Webcam Protection
https://support.kaspersky.com/kis20/settings/protection/14981 - Norton 360 – SafeCam
https://us.norton.com/feature/safecam - Quick Heal Total Security – Webcam Protection
https://docs.quickheal.com/docs/qhts/privacy/webcam-protection/ - Sophos Home – Webcam Protection
https://support.home.sophos.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005517966-Disabling-Enabling-webcam-protection - Surfshark One – Webcam Protection
https://surfshark.com/blog/webcam-protection
Exceptionally, Windows Update could have upgraded the graphics driver with a partial version that does not feature video decoding capabilities. In this case, you should head to your computer manufacturer support website to download and install the latest GPU driver.