Mobius requests

[niko]

Good pictures because of rain. I can see the wipers cleaned area and propose better positions.
View attachment 2068
It is not important to hide a camera from your eyes but from stranger eyes. I saw this at most of the forum users. Also in the red position you can see the LED if you want.

enjoy,
Mtz

It was just a quick "beta" install version using windshield part of the magnetic bracket from my Panorama2 diy project.
For perfect install of course I moved whole unit to the most possible top part under rearview mirror sunshade-dots as you mentioned. And as closer to mirror bracket as possible to have most centre position.
Tried also behind sunvisor but my car inner ceiling liner is light colour, no tinted windows, so it more seen from outsids. Tried to put black electrical tape stripe along inner ceiling liner so it will not stand out if looking from outsids but it didnt help much. Due to car dont have tinted windows, still mobius standed out if look from outside.
So the best spot for me i found as it is on pictures, just will be moving a little bit up close to sun-shade dots because as it now it was just test install trying magnetic bracket.
Rear end led i can not see because mobius being behind mirror sticking with L-shape plug nearly into mirror, so i prefer led to be on bottom, but it does not disturb me. There is 1cm gap between mirror and mobius body si if I really need to see led i can see it, just need to watch under mirror.

I will post soon fully finished diy project with videos.

 

[Mtz]

Good, but post the final version of the mount in the Mobius mounting solutions thread.
My car is old, no big value, so I painted with a black matte spray the rearview mirror and the sunvisors (only the face to the windshield).
It is good you realised you need the top most position.

The 90 degrees USB connector I think is not helping me because I want to have also the video out and this is enabled by shorting some pins.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[niko]

Good, but post the final version of the mount in the Mobius mounting solutions thread.
My car is old, no big value, so I painted with a black matte spray the rearview mirror and the sunvisors (only the face to the windshield).
It is good you realised you need the top most position.

The 90 degrees USB connector I think is not helping me because I want to have also the video out and this is enabled by shorting some pins.

enjoy,
Mtz

For sure will post it specific thread. Just here earlier wanted to explain about L-shape plug how it works for me with some pics samples. Talk about this in other thread.

 

[russ331]

There are 90 degree miniUSB cables available. That should help.

I'm aware of this one...


I'm also aware that premature Mobius battery failure is likely if I use a cable &/or USB car charger that doesn't supply sufficient current, possibly through inadequate copper content in the cable.

If anyone's used the above cable for a month or so without problem, then I may buy it.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Dashmellow]

My query about the idea of using an external monitor along with the existing buttons on the Mobius to access an internal menu system seems to have generated a lot of interesting discussion about cables and connections but sort of veered away from my original "feature request". I guess the central question that I am still curious about is this: Since the Mobius uses the same components, particularly the Novatek NT96650 processor and the AR0330 sensor used in many current popular dash cams that do have screens and menu systems, does the potential to deploy such a feature already exist? Is a menu system already on the processor that can be activated or not by a developer? The issue of whether or not one could view live video on the monitor while recording is also very interesting to me and others but I think that is really a separate (but related) question from my original post. I'd still be interested to hear comments if anyone has anything to add about this.

 

[Dashmellow]

I seem to have "sort of" answered my own question by reading the data sheet on the Novatek NT96650.
The OSD capability is indeed built into the processor. I am assuming "Graphic-based OSD" means menu. Here are some screen shots of the data sheet.

 

[Mtz]

I don't think the Mobius principle or idea is to have something like this. When creating some special display we need to consider it must to be with touch screen or some special menu buttons. The main reasons of Mobius are small size, good price for good quality. I am sure the demanding for such displays will be lower and is very possible the resources allocated for display to be even bigger than for the camera.
But the next is more important.
The portability of Mobius is obtaining by simple possession of an Android smartphone. Using it we can set the Mobius or watch the recorded files. Almost all people are using these days an smartphone and going anywhere with it, so they always have the needed display of Mobius. But there is one big requirement which is not supported by all smartphones: USB OTG support.

I have an Android TV stick and installed the aMCA application to setup the camera. (For me, the strange thing was because for aMCA I need to use the normal USB connector and not the OTG one like I expected, even I know the Mobius is using the OTG standard to output the video.)


I think more important for Mobius is to have some ios application because I think are many iPhone users.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[Dashmellow]

I don't think the Mobius principle or idea is to have something like this. When creating some special display we need to consider it must to be with touch screen or some special menu buttons. The main reasons of Mobius are small size, good price for good quality. I am sure the demanding for such displays will be lower and is very possible the resources allocated for display to be even bigger than for the camera.
But the next is more important.
The portability of Mobius is obtaining by simple possession of an Android smartphone. Using it we can set the Mobius or watch the recorded files. Almost all people are using these days an smartphone and going anywhere with it, so they always have the needed display of Mobius. But there is one big requirement which is not supported by all smartphones: USB OTG support.

I have an Android TV stick and installed the aMCA application to setup the camera. (For me, the strange thing was because for aMCA I need to use the normal USB connector and not the OTG one like I expected, even I know the Mobius is using the OTG standard to output the video.)
View attachment 2083

I think more important for Mobius is to have some ios application because I think are many iPhone users.

enjoy,
Mtz

I agree about the smartphone app. In fact, in my original post about this idea I said, "I wish someone would simply make an iOS app to match the Android app that is available for the Mobius but since that is not likely to happen anytime soon, it led me to fantasize about another way to do this."

Anyway, I am a little confused what you mean by your statement, "creating some special display", so just to be clear, my idea is to use the OSD capability already built into the NT96650 chip in the Mobius using its three control buttons to allow the camera to plug into any available monitor or TV for configuration. I'm not suggesting building a "special display". As I mentioned elsewhere, you can buy a 4 or 5 inch TFT monitor these days for 20 USD if you just want a simple method for aiming the Mobius.

 

[jokiin]

just to be clear, my idea is to use the OSD capability already built into the NT96650 chip in the Mobius using its three control buttons to allow the camera to plug into any available monitor or TV for configuration.

this is exactly how it is done on a lot of sport cams where there are only a few buttons, plug into a TV, hit some button to bring up the menu and there's a combination of button presses, short press, long press etc to navigate and change settings, not hard to do on most platforms, whether the Novatek can work this way I'm not sure as it is quite limited in its functionality in some respects

 

[Dashmellow]

this is exactly how it is done on a lot of sport cams where there are only a few buttons, plug into a TV, hit some button to bring up the menu and there's a combination of button presses, short press, long press etc to navigate and change settings, not hard to do on most platforms, whether the Novatek can work this way I'm not sure as it is quite limited in its functionality in some respects

Yes. This would seem to be entirely a firmware challenge rather than anything that would add to the cost of manufacture. I suppose a mini HDMI or 3.5mm AV out socket would be nice to have but as we know, it wouldn't be a necessity.

Edit: Wouldn't this just about the same as having the menu system on the GT300W or the GT550W that use the same DSP as to "whether the Novatek can work this way "?

 

[jokiin]

Yes. This would seem to be entirely a firmware challenge rather than anything that would add to the cost of manufacture. I suppose a mini HDMI or 3.5mm AV out socket would be nice to have but as we know, it wouldn't be a necessity.

Edit: Wouldn't this just about the same as having the menu system on the GT300W or the GT550W that use the same DSP as to "whether the Novatek can work this way "?

generating the menu graphics is no issue, I'm just not sure if they can support the navigation by so few buttons which requires long or short presses, I know this is supported in Ambarella based stuff, just not sure about Novatek, I do deal with some Novatek product but don't do anything like what we can do with the Ambarella product, it's only used for very limited function product

 

[Dashmellow]

The GT300 uses a basic three button system to navigate the entire OSD menu system so if the power button on the Mobius alone could be configured for one long press to drop in and out of the menu and "enter"......and the other two buttons could handle "up/down" it would likely work. As you say, it is a question of what the Novatek is capable of.

 

[Mtz]

I suppose a mini HDMI

I never understood why a dashcam have HDMI output. Maybe some car players have HDMI in? How to use a bulky HDMI cable in the car?

The Mobius have AV out and it is working. And I think the AV Out is the real solution for a dashcam or even an Action camera. These days more and more TVs have USB connection and can play various video formats.
When using the dashcam as a video player is not important to see the details but to check if you have the video. The details will be searched on a big TV screen.

CVBS (analog AV Out) is everywhere, HDMI not.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[jokiin]

I never understood why a dashcam have HDMI output. Maybe some car players have HDMI in? How to use a bulky HDMI cable in the car?

there's a couple of uses, some car head units now have HDMI in, connected to a TV though it at least allows HD picture, composite AV output is only capable of SD resolutions, it's quite limited use in most scenarios though

 

[Mtz]

I don't expect in cars to have big displays. The real difference between HD and SD can be seen only on bigger displays and we must not forget we are not looking at some movie or Discovery Channel. For example is no reason to look at a 30GB movie on a smartphone. The same watching experience can be with the movie at 500MB and lower resolution, even 480p on such small displays. Without a video zoom function in the camera video player the HD resolution is not important.
Also I was thinking at the scenario when going in the house to look at some video from the card using the camera and my big TV, it must have batteries or if not I need to have a charger.

I don't have what to do with HDMI in my car. I have a small monitor, a wireless video sender, maybe a car player, all with AV in, no HDMI.
I see HDMI good only for sale purposes.

But already prepared to many scenarios...


enjoy,
Mtz

 

[niko]

Most car headunits dispkay resolution is 800x480. Everything over this will not play importance.
Most modern ( even 3-5y old ) tv has usb-in and for sure an hdmi. Most people have in their household microsd usb card reader. Just in case i keep one in my car. When visiting friends can eject microsd from mobius and play fullgd footage on tv using microsd usb card reader.
In case some tv dont have specific video codecs, then i also keep in my car smartphone hdmi otg cable. I can isert mobius microsd into phone ( hot swap ), connect via otg hdmi to any tv with hdmi and play all files. Microsd usb card reader 1usd, smartphone hdmi otg cable 10-15usd. Total max 15usd solves my playback options on the go if needed.
Also I keep in car spare 2gb microsd card so in case presenting video evidence to police on the place, i take mobius microsd card, insert into smartphone ( hot swap ), copy file with incident into phone internal memory, remove original microsd card, then insert spare microsd card into phone, fopy video file fir police.
Of course can do copy files to phone quicker also directly with special mobius otg cable which again I keep in my car.
So there are planty of cheap options, but first I want to see how 2 in 1 AV cable solution works as isoprop proposed diy with pins to have live video to car headubit aux in and same time charging.

 

[Alert744]

I've noticed that the Mobius (mounted in my car and connected through carligther) starts up when I turn the contact key and begins recording as expected.

But when the car engine really starts the voltage drops a little and Moebius stops. Then I have to pull and plug the usb cable so that recording starts again.

This is a little annoying and recording delay options don't seem to help here.

It would be great if Mobius started video recording after engine real start, instead after electric power on by just turning the key car.

Thanks,
Alert744

 

[niko]

I've noticed that the Mobius (mounted in my car and connected through carligther) starts up when I turn the contact key and begins recording as expected.

But when the car engine really starts the voltage drops a little and Moebius stops. Then I have to pull and plug the usb cable so that recording starts again.

This is a little annoying and recording relay options don't seem to help here.

It would be great if Mobius started video recording after engine real start, instead after electric power on by just turning the key car.

Thanks,
Alert744

Have you tried to turn car keys all in one go to start an engine without "stopping" at ACC ( ignition ) position ?

 

[Mtz]

If you have a diesel and need to wait some time before starting the engine this is not OK.
But you can think to a solution regarding connection to some fuse as described here.

If not solved in 0,57 firmware I think this will be solved by the Mobius developer. He must to think to not let the camera Auto-Power Off if the charger is not ON for about 30 seconds

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[jokiin]

He must to think to not let the camera Auto-Power Off if the charger is not ON for about 30 seconds

this might be more of a challenge in the firmware if he is supporting super capacitor power supply