Mobius requests

[mmcp42]

I'm new here, but a fan of the Mobius camera!
I have the GUI interface, works fine, but ...

Request 1
I would like to be able to change settings AND format the card
without having to disconnect and restart the camera

Request 2
Can you publish the commands sent over USB, please?
I have my own board driving the camera, would be nice to add extra functionality

thanks!

 

[Isoprop]

I'm new here, but a fan of the Mobius camera!
I have the GUI interface, works fine, but ...

Request 1
I would like to be able to change settings AND format the card
without having to disconnect and restart the camera

Request 2
Can you publish the commands sent over USB, please?
I have my own board driving the camera, would be nice to add extra functionality

thanks!

• Formatting the card will ALWAYS disconnect the camera. That's done in firmware.
• In mSetup.cfg you can set SafelyRemoveDevice=0, then the camera will never safely remove itself when you set the parameters. I don't want to make the GUI more complicated by adding checkboxes that only a few people will use. However, I might add a backdoor method in a future update.
• The USB protocol is proprietary and not available to the general public. I don't have it. My code is reverse-engineered, it is not open source, sorry.

 

[mmcp42]

• Formatting the card will ALWAYS disconnect the camera. That's done in firmware.
• In mSetup.cfg you can set SafelyRemoveDevice=0, then the camera will never safely remove itself when you set the parameters. I don't want to make the GUI more complicated by adding checkboxes that only a few people will use. However, I might add a backdoor method in a future update.
• The USB protocol is proprietary and not available to the general public. I don't have it. My code is reverse-engineered, it is not open source, sorry.

ah ok thanks for the info
SafelyRemoveDevice=0
worked a treat - thanks

 

[Necromancer]

The thing with the save button is that its not accurate.
It surprises the users because they dont expect this behaviour.
It says save, and you dont expect anything more to happen when you click on it, but then it suddenly closes the program and disconnects the camera and youre left with the "oh **** im not done yet" feeling.
It may make perfect sense to you, but that is not coommon knowledge. Most people don't expect the program to close when they hit a button that says "save".
Either change it to "save and close" or "save and disconnect"
Or create one button that will say "save", and another that will say "apply"/"done"/"close". This way what happen wont surprise the users.

 

[Isoprop]

The thing with the save button is that its not accurate.
It surprises the users because they dont expect this behaviour.
It says save, and you dont expect anything more to happen when you click on it, but then it suddenly closes the program and disconnects the camera and youre left with the "oh **** im not done yet" feeling.
It may make perfect sense to you, but that is not coommon knowledge. Most people don't expect the program to close when they hit a button that says "save".
Either change it to "save and close" or "save and disconnect"
Or create one button that will say "save", and another that will say "apply"/"done"/"close". This way what happen wont surprise the users.

You are the first person in well over 10 thousand GUI users to complain!
The Nr16Setup button says 'Write Data To Drive' but this caused problems in the translations. I know the Mobius software is not yet translated, but that's because I can't cope with the extra work. Nr16Setup exists in 14 languages, and believe me, it's a lot of work to keep all the language layouts synchronized. When selecting button text I just have to keep all possibilities in mind. I also want to keep everything as simple as possible so adding a separate 'Disconnect' button, for example, would complicate the layout and people would forget to click it anyway - and that would lead to the possibility of corrupted files.
BTW, the program doesn't close, so if you make a mistake all you have to do is reconnect the camera. Not a big deal, IMO.

 

[Necromancer]

When i play a game and hit save, it doesn't immidiately close as well. In games it does, its explicitly states "save and quit".
Dont forget that when doing something for the people you dont only have to think practical, but also easy and understandable. Human engineering is where a lot of good products fail.

Im not complaining. Just pointing it out. Im sure most of the people did not expect the camera to disconnect when they pressed the save button for the first time.

 

[Isoprop]

When i play a game and hit save, it doesn't immidiately close as well. In games it does, its explicitly states "save and quit".
Dont forget that when doing something for the people you dont only have to think practical, but also easy and understandable. Human engineering is where a lot of good products fail.

Im not complaining. Just pointing it out. Im sure most of the people did not expect the camera to disconnect when they pressed the save button for the first time.

Just for the record, there is no 'save' button. The button text is 'Set Parameters'. Also for the record, the program does not close when you press the button, there is a separate 'Exit' button for this.
In addition, longer text can add to confusion and is not always understood by people who's native language isn't English.

 

[mmcp42]

not asking for a change to labels, just functionality
the default should be
SafelyRemoveDevice=0

 

[Isoprop]

not asking for a change to labels, just functionality
the default should be
SafelyRemoveDevice=0

No it shouldn't! My original Nr16Setup didn't include the Safely Remove and peoples cards or the USB driver became corrupted. That's why I added it early on in the development stage. After I added it, there were no more complaints and everyone was happy! Most people don't bother to safely remove their devices before they disconnect them, and that is very bad practice. The GUI does it for them - fully automatically. If you don't like it, you have the possibility to override the parameter - what more do you want?
Quite honestly, I don't see the problem. I'm always open to suggestions, but over the last 2 years the method used has proved how useful it is and no one has complained - until now

 

[BobDiaz]

I'm new here, but a fan of the Mobius camera!
I have the GUI interface, works fine, but ...

Request 1
I would like to be able to change settings AND format the card
without having to disconnect and restart the camera
...

Maybe a button press at power-on to format the card. That way I could re-format the card without having to connect a computer to it.

 

[Isoprop]

Maybe a button press at power-on to format the card. That way I could re-format the card without having to connect a computer to it.

Button presses are dangerous. If you don't regularly use the camera you tend to forget which button does what. Then, if you press the wrong combination you'll delete all your files!
You don't need a computer to format your card, but you do need external battery power. Connect the power and wait until the yellow LED turns on. If you have automatic recording enabled, then stop the recording.
Now press the Mode button and keep it pressed while you disconnect the camera. Keep the Mode button pressed. The blue and yellow LEDs will occasionally blink before you get the familiar 3 red blinks and the camera turns off. Now release the Mode button and your card will be formatted.

 

[BobDiaz]

Thanks, I didn't know, OK I forgot there was a way to format without a computer.

 

[DHPMobius]

@Isoprop, I want to take this opportunity to thank you for creating and sharing this excellent UI for the camera!

 

[GrayGhost]

I've spent most of a year looking for a dash cam and finally settled on the Mobius. This is a simple straight forward camera that I can install and forget. The setup is adequate and will get the job done.

Other than having difficulty with the micro SD card everything has gone smoothly. Some of the suggestions on this thread are worth considering for the future, and considering how quickly the dash cam market is growing I would think these ideas would merit some timely effort. I've just installed the Mobius in a 2011 Ford Explorer (US) and it turned out so well that without a second look you would assume it was part of the original equipment. I'll add pics later.

I have three suggestions. I searched the web and located a 12V to 5V converter so I wouldn't have to use the cigar lighter. A kit from your distributors to include the converter would be useful. I agree that the window mount is larger than necessary (too tall) The other recommendations I've seen on this thread are much better. And, I did cut one of the locking pins off the case to make it easier to remove the camera.

I gather heat is a problem and adding air vents might help but I think I'll just remove the cover and drill some holes for myself.

It's a great product and with reasonable support you'll have a large following.

Regards,
SteveH

 

[russ331]

I've just installed the Mobius in a 2011 Ford Explorer (US) and it turned out so well that without a second look you would assume it was part of the original equipment. I'll add pics later.

Please post the pics at http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-mounting-solutions.2654/ ... I'm sure you've seen this thread already.

I gather heat is a problem and adding air vents might help but I think I'll just remove the cover and drill some holes for myself.

Replacing the battery with the capacitor kit may be beneficial.

It's a great product and with reasonable support you'll have a large following.

We already enjoy much better than 'reasonable' support in terms of continual Firmware improvements, & technical advice from people with links to the Developer, e.g. Isoprop, Tom Frank & therau2000 (the last two being active at RCGroups).

I think it's fair to say that Mobius is currently the only ActionCam with DashCam capabilities to have gained a large following among DashCammers. There are many ActionCams with DashCam capabilities, e.g. the SJ1000, which have failed to gain any following, despite some having been available for longer than Mobius.

 

[lamboboy732]

As already mentioned by others, I think eliminating the video overlap in between clips without loss of video is an essential feature. If something happens in between two clips or i want to combine many clips it is going to be a pain to have to remove exactly the right amount of time to get smooth playback. Also I plan to upload clips to YouTube and it adds to editing if i need to remove one second any time I have to span two clips.

 

[BobDiaz]

Personally, I consider the video overlap an unnecessary feature and a bit of a pain when editing the two clips together into one clip. I can fix the overlap in post, BUT it just makes for more work.

 

[lamboboy732]

Personally, I consider the video overlap an unnecessary feature and a bit of a pain when editing the two clips together into one clip. I can fix the overlap in post, BUT it just makes for more work.

Exactly how I feel. I CAN edit it but its just unneeded because all we want is for no video to be lost. For our uses we just need the uninterupted video with no loss, not more. I assume this would be the same for the other uses of this camers like RC planes. I cant see the overlap ever helping.

 

[Grimm]

Thanks Isoprop & Tom Frank for even listening to us dash cam folks and creating out of an awesome RC/action cam a very nice inexpensive dash cam.

This little camera makes me want to haul my old Nexus 46 heli out of the attic!

The rusty "skillz", aging eyes, and much slowed reaction time keeps the helicopter where it should be.

But I may pull out the trucks and carpet racers

 

[Isoprop]

Thanks Isoprop & Tom Frank for even listening to us dash cam folks and creating out of an awesome RC/action cam a very nice inexpensive dash cam.

This little camera makes me want to haul my old Nexus 46 heli out of the attic!

The rusty "skillz", aging eyes, and much slowed reaction time keeps the helicopter where it should be.

But I may pull out the trucks and carpet racers

As you have noticed, the developer tries to please the dashcam folks as well as the RC folks. In fact, he is so devoted to the camera that he tries to please everyone! In the meantime, the firmware has become so complex that small issues are inevitable, but are usually corrected quite quickly. There will also always be room for improvement, and the developer knows it. There is still a LOT to do and many new features are planned, but all this takes a lot of time if done properly. Pesky card issues and the like don't help the development schedule. Anyway, I'm glad you're happy with your camera and it's definitely time to take on some RC hobbies!