Panorama 2 / S v1.12.04 (v1.12.03) vs v1.12.06 Day / Night Comparison

[niko]

This is a comparison test of a new firmware for Panorama 2 / S v1.12.06 vs 1.12.04 ( v.1.12.03 )
Just to clarify, v1.12.04 is the same as v1.12.03 from point of view of video recording. In v.1.12.03 G-sensor was calibrated. I know it sounds odd that first came out 1.12.04 and only then was improved FW v1.12.03 ( G-sensor calibrated ), but this small mix-up was due to FW relase to different markets in different times.


What kind of changes in FW v1.12.06 vs v1.12.04 ( v.1.12.03 )

- WDR is tuned a little bit,
- also background "purple noise" reduced at night, but this led to darker video at night
- colour contrast is slightly tuned, colours are not that "strong" as before, especially yellow.
- at daytime it looks like brightness also added a little bit.

v.1.12.06 was initially made upon request of specific market ( reseller ) for their market with bit-rate of 12.Mbps. Originally it had front security LED enabled ( for Panorama S models ), but with later firmware release for western market, LED was disabled and added 3 bit-rate options ( 12, 15, 18 Mbps ).

At daytime there are no big changes, but at night time as you see the purple noise is removed, but video is darker, especially in the areas with low- or no surrounding street lights. In city centre or in areas with good street lights ( billboards ), there are no much difference.
For those who want to have more night vision recording, they can stay on v1.12.03 ( v1.1.204 ).

Some of you may ask : " ... why purple background noise can not be removed or replaced with other colour?!". The reason is that at night in dark or pitch dark areas in order to separate one dark object from other ( ex. tree or building from night sky ), - need some other than black colour to separate two objects in the dark. I know some other dashcams have slightly green, or brown - effect instead on purple noise like Panorama 2, but its all comes to each individual CMOS sensor characteristics / behaviour / nature on how they reproduce dark or pitch dark footage. For those who is familiar with other dashcams which are using Sony CMOS IMX122LQJ, you know that all of them have that purple or blueish background "noise" at night in order to separate one dark object from another.
So this is kinda normal this situation. We are not shooting here a Hollywood movie to have all colours correct. Most important ( for many dashcam users ) is to read and record details, especially at night.

But of course it's up to individual taste with which firmware video recording settings to go with.

You may download v1.12.06 from HERE

Raw / original files can be downloaded below:

DAY

NIGHT

Screen shots.

Top: v1.12.04 (v1.12.03), 12Mbps
Bottom: v1.12.06, 12Mbps

 

[niko]

 

[niko]

 

[niko]

 

[niko]

 

[niko]

Below, no lights




Below, with driving ( low-beam ) lights




Below: high-beam lights

 

[Sungmoon Jang]

Thanks for your effort. I will release some firmware which can read plate number which is high reflection of light condition.
Best regards,

 

[alexsoll]

Niko, well done, great review!

 

[Street Guardian USA]

The innovation is non-stop with @Sungmoon as usual, excellent! (great testing Niko)

I prefer the new natural look of night black/brown colors over the slightly enhanced detail of violet. The new night video registers better with my brain somehow. Daytime Looks outstanding!

 

[wby3]

added 3 bit-rate options ( 12, 15, 18 Mbps )

Which one do you choose and why? What is the difference between the three.

 

[niko]

added 3 bit-rate options ( 12, 15, 18 Mbps )
Which one do you choose and why? What is the difference between the three.

You can read this which and why:
Panorama II / S Bit-rate: 12 vs 15 / 18 / 21Mbps Day'n Night test

 

[niko]

The innovation is non-stop with @Sungmoon as usual, excellent! (great testing Niko)

I prefer the new natural look of night black/brown colors over the slightly enhanced detail of violet. The new night video registers better with my brain somehow. Daytime Looks outstanding!

I would also like to see less purple ( maybe instead of purble to have brown, which is more close to dark / black colour scheme ), but if it's not possible to achieve without sacrificing night sensitivity , then personally don't mind what background colour is there as long as I can record more data.

 

[spotnz]

Just a thought.

Would it be possible to alter the video's brightness, depending on the incoming light? Perhaps in the same way a still frame camera can? Or perhaps electronically? So that bright sunny days, have the same ( or similar ) on screen brightness as dull overcast days.

Whilst I suspect that our current hardware cannot achieve this, maybe it can.

david

 

[niko]

Just a thought.

Would it be possible to alter the video's brightness, depending on the incoming light? Perhaps in the same way a still frame camera can? Or perhaps electronically? So that bright sunny days, have the same ( or similar ) on screen brightness as dull overcast days.

Whilst I suspect that our current hardware cannot achieve this, maybe it can.

david

With current HW I guess it not possible ?, but there is an interesting finding: Sony Exmor CMOS sensor data recorded and saved to memory card in its raw / original output no matter how its processed later via FW settings. You are able to "pull out" maximum CMOS sensor performance using Video Editing software or Media player that has colour related adjustments. I have done many tests and it true works.
You may read about this HERE

 

[DJR96]

Just a thought.

Would it be possible to alter the video's brightness, depending on the incoming light? Perhaps in the same way a still frame camera can? Or perhaps electronically? So that bright sunny days, have the same ( or similar ) on screen brightness as dull overcast days.

Whilst I suspect that our current hardware cannot achieve this, maybe it can.

david

All cameras are doing exactly this all the time already.
In a purely digital camera like these it requires the processor to analyse the data signal coming from the sensor to work out how strong the signal is and then adjust the sensitivity of the sensor to correct the signal. The aim being to maintain signal within a certain range to create an image. Too strong and it all goes over-exposed and whites out, too weak and it goes all dark. Either way you lose visible detail. Not what you want or need.

It really doesn't matter how natural the colours are, or whether there is a slight purple cast across the image. What does matter is detail. Detail, detail and detail. We need the images to be sharp and legible under the widest range of lighting as possible. To achieve this the camera needs quality hardware. Lenses that don't interfere with light, sensors that are high resolution and fast, processors that can deal with data efficiently and minimise the post processing of that data. Limited sharpening. And preferably little compressing into video format. All of which detract detail. The trade off is data volume increases as the bitrate goes up. So you then need more storage and storage that can write consistently fast enough too. Being able to record in a RAW format might be nice, and then process the data afterwards when you download it to your PC which has far better processing power. But most dashcam processors struggle to deal with that much data. The fact that this PanoramaII S can actually do 21mbit/s is quite something. The hardware is pretty good. It's getting the software to process the data without losing detail is the hard bit. Hence the number of firmware updates we see.

 

[GET]

With current HW I guess it not possible ?, but there is an interesting finding: Sony Exmor CMOS sensor data recorded and saved to memory card in its raw / original output no matter how its processed later via FW settings. You are able to "pull out" maximum CMOS sensor performance using Video Editing software or Media player that has colour related adjustments. I have done many tests and it true works.
You may read about this HERE

Really? Are you sure? You mean it writes 1920x1080x30fps*60s=3560Mb/min of RAW video data.
MP4 is an MPEG encoding and it is not loss-less. You can't alter JPG image and change it's exposition instead of RAW. And sure you can't change exposition of the MP4 video. Black area will not give you more details, they are lost. You can increase brightness and get grey, but details will be lost anyway.
There are numerous different codec settings available for device manufacturer. Some settings like CABAC improve video quality, but mathematically will require much more computing resources for decoding. Anyway, CSR Zoran Coach 12P ZR364242BCCG processor has enough resources to encode H.264 video. But I don't know which features manufacturer has licensed.

 

[niko]

Really? Are you sure? You mean it writes 1920x1080x30fps*60s=3560Mb/min of RAW video data.
MP4 is an MPEG encoding and it is not loss-less. You can't alter JPG image and change it's exposition instead of RAW. And sure you can't change exposition of the MP4 video. Black area will not give you more details, they are lost. You can increase brightness and get grey, but details will be lost anyway.
There are numerous different codec settings available for device manufacturer. Some settings like CABAC improve video quality, but mathematically will require much more computing resources for decoding. Anyway, CSR Zoran Coach 12P ZR364242BCCG processor has enough resources to encode H.264 video. But I don't know which features manufacturer has licensed.

If you read and watch videos I posted in that other thread I gave link, you understand what I meant.

 

[Milamber]

Hi Niko

Just a little confused and what to confirm something, the best firmware for night without purple haze is v1.12.06?

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Just a little confused and what to confirm something, the best firmware for night without purple haze is v1.12.06?

Correct and another new one is being tested.

 

[niko]

Hi Niko

Just a little confused and what to confirm something, the best firmware for night without purple haze is v1.12.06?

For me word Best for Night, means that FW which has best Night vision details reading. If you want more details reading, then it has to be with purple haze, if you go with any other ( non purple haze ) then you will get natural night look, but it will not be a best details reading. So here is dilemma for you which is more important for you: natural look or details readings. You can not get both at the moment. You need some kind of "haze" to split in the dark background details. Some dashcams have blue, some green, some brown, - Panorama has purple haze. Hope you know what I mean.