Hands on: the Itronics ITB-250HD wireless dashcam

[Answer]

Taken on Amazon.com

After inserting the card, the first thing I had to do was change my camera's browse folder from the default (DCM100 or whatever) to "All" so that it would see the 3 virtual files on the card that are used to activate the different modes or restore defaults. To turn on the card, you are supposed to delete one of the images, which tells the card to go into action, apparently until is loses power.

The first time I tried to connect, I followed the instructions to put the card in "Direct Share" mode, but when I went to iPad, the hotspot didn't show up in the list of available networks. I turned the camera off and on and started over, and the next time, the network showed up, but when I entered the password, it said it couldn't connect and then the network disappeared from the list. On a hunch, I repeated my steps, but did them _faster_. This time it connected successfully. So I went to the transcend WiFi iOS app, and when it launched, it said it wasn't connected. It seemed that what was happening was the hotspot was coming online and then going away.

As a test, I repeated all the steps once more, but this time, after activating the card, I used one hand and continuously scrolled through photos on my camera while I did the rest of the steps on my iPad with my other hand, and sure enough: it worked.

If you really need to delete a virtual file to start the wifi, we are out of luck. Unless a firmware mod would do this each time the dash cam is powered on.

 

[Answer]

Oh, found in the user manual:

By default, the Wi-Fi SD card’s wireless network signal will automatically broadcast in
Direct Share mode once the camera is powered on. To connect to the Wi-Fi SD
wireless signal on your mobile device, go to step 4.

So it might work... Who want's to try it first? haha!

 

[dashcamjunior]

Mtk, interesting to see that your camera is probably running Linux under the hood.

Could be worth a try asking them for the source code :twisted: , and complain with the Free Software Foundation if they refuse. Maybe this helps in understanding how the .bin file works.

If it contains some standard file system, then it might be relatively easy to mount it as loopback, access it and rewrite it. squashfs is a common filesystem used on embedded devices. I don`t think they`d invent a proprietary one just for their camera.

It seems that you are very interested in the internal workings of our camera. Hacking such things, you will have to master a steep learning curve, but can earn endless possibilities.
Maybe use an old Fonera or a similar router off ebay for 5 bucks and OpenWRT for your first tries, instead of fiddling with the camera. The wireless stack will be the same. You will probably brick the Fonera, and learn to unbrick it. Linux on your PC will help a lot, but you can run a small distribution in a virtual machine, if you like to do so.

 

[Answer]

They are actually running Linux and couple interesting stuff can be found in the .bin (which is actually a gzip + tar file.)

 

[jokiin]

They are actually running Linux and couple interesting stuff can be found in the .bin (which is actually a gzip + tar file.)

I think the majority of cams run some sort of embedded Linux version, very common for this type of product

 

[dashcamjunior]

Do you know how they handle it? Extracting it to RAM on every boot, or update flash?

 

[Mtz]

1. Itronics not answering at mails. Wasting my time even changing mails with me can increase the quality of their product. Ignorant people. They were lucky with the 100HD which is working great and 250HD could be their second great camera but are limited in vision.
2. Some user from our forum made a patch for the 100HD to show mph insteand of km/h. Tried to contact him using PM, but no answer.
3. I don't know programming, I didn't ever used Linux. All the things made by me are because of intuition, thinking, connections. I can look in the firmware as Answer said but even if I will modify some setting I don't know how to put all things back using windows and create a BIN file which can be safely used to upgrade the camera. Some answer from 2.) is not coming.
I am interested only by:
- increasing the bitrate up to 8000kbps (from actual fixed (!) 5000kbps CBR)
- some noise reduction in low light
- decreasing the colors in low light (too much red)
They can easy fix all these things, but not interested. Maybe they don't want to sell too much.

I think they are using some Texas Instruments SDK or what name is for that part of firmware, something like Montavista or DaVinci and using the default settings.

jokiin, do you have some idea about this type of BIN?

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Answer]

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=136&p=897&hilit=linux#p897

It runs MontaVista Embedded Linux. If you have a linux distro running, you can un-gzip the firmware .bin then un-tar it and you will see a lot of stuff (you can also do this using 7-zip under Windows). But most of the files are compiled linux libraries, so you can't do much. But you can find out what packages they are using.

I'd suggest starting a new topic about firmware tweaking instead of going off topic here.

 

[dashcamjunior]

Consider a tar+gz file a sort of a zip file. You can extract it, and it contains single files and maybe a directory structure. If there is one, directories called etc (configuration), init.d (things to do on boot) and maybe bin and sbin (programs and scripts) will be the most interesting ones.

Creating one is another story, as Linux handles file permissions in a different way, and strange things may happen when file permissions are not like expected.

But at least you can simply browse this extracted structure on your PC, to get an idea of the inner workings. Many configurations on Linux are handled with plain text configuration files. I doubt that the video bitrate and color settings consist of a simple configuration setting, but who knows?

 

[jokiin]

2. Some user from our forum made a patch for the 100HD to show mph insteand of km/h. Tried to contact him using PM, but no answer.

not sure if it's for the model you need but I think someone was selling the patch on eBay, might be worth a look

I am interested only by:
- increasing the bitrate up to 8000kbps (from actual fixed (!) 5000kbps CBR)
- some noise reduction in low light
- decreasing the colors in low light (too much red)
They can easy fix all these things, but not interested. Maybe they don't want to sell too much.

I think bitrate and noise reduction are quite simple, playing with the colour balance in low light might not be possible, I would think it would be more difficult at least anyway as sometimes things like this are inherent to the chipset and possibly no ability to adjust is offered, hard to say as I'm not familiar with the TI solution so only based on experience with other platforms

jokiin, do you have some idea about this type of BIN?

enjoy,
Mtz

We have an SDK to work with so not really the same situation, I have worked with other similar type projects in the past and was involved in reverse engineering firmware to get the functionality we needed, it still required a toolset that someone had built to do the job, you probably need a bit of programming background to start though, maybe someone will work something out, in the projects I've worked on previously though it was usually the Chinese solutions that ended up getting reverse engineered as they were used more often so just had more eyes on the project

The reluctance of the Koreans to take user feedback is usually because they feel their way is best, they don't listen to customer feedback like they should

 

[rompetechos9]

Hi, i'm from Spain, so i can't understand english well. I have a easy question: it´s possible get the image of the camera in your smartphone ? I read that it's all in Korean, and only living in Korea you can get the app for you can see the image in your smartphone, etc.

Sorry for my poor english level

Thank you very much!

 

[Mtz]

Yes, you can view the live image of the camera, browse for files or setup the camera. All you need is the Android application installed on your smartphone.
Video from the smartphone:

If you want the camera with english software send a message to the owner channel. Read the video description.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[rompetechos9]

So what is the Android application that i need for view the live image? is in the android market?

Thanks a lot

 

[Mtz]

The Android application is from play.google.com, is in korean and can be downloaded only if you live in Korea. If you want the english version " send a gmail to exportix " as is wrote on youtube video, asking for the camera and/or english application.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[olddroid]

Is there a powersupply cable to this cam for USB?

 

[Mtz]

This cam is working at 12V. USB standard is 5V.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[olddroid]

I mean for use in car

 

[Mtz]

Sorry, but I don't understand. Maybe if you will explain with more words.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Vince33]

there is a cable that you can connect to your sigarette lighter, or cut the wire and attach it to other wires from your car that give 12V power.

 

[rompetechos9]

Hi mtz, how many paid for your itb-250? Reliability is good at the moment?