Review: LUKAS LK-9370WD Dual 1080p Dashcam Wi-Fi Sony IMX322 3.5" Touch Screen and GPS

[Calgary Dash Camera - Robert]

Thanks Sunny and Gabacho. Here are videos at around 10500 ft near Badrinath, Both front and rear cameras. Rear camera was behind a dusty windscreen. hence a little hazy.

That is one crazy beautiful drive!

 

[san55]

Thanks Ipol and Robert for watching the video.

I'm confused about lot of dropped frames in recorded video. Is it because:
1. I used micro sdxc card with the adapter instead of standard size sdxc card for SD card?
2. I formated in camera viewer the micro sdxc card with FAT32 instead of ExFat?

I'll appreciate any leads.

 

[Sunny]

Thanks Sunny and Gabacho. Here are videos at around 10500 ft near Badrinath, Both front and rear cameras. Rear camera was behind a dusty windscreen. hence a little hazy.

Nice scenery. I've been to places like that so can relate.
The video pauses/freezes every 5-10 seconds.
Is that how it's on the card or in youtube?
It looks as if it's pausing to write the footage in the card.

Are you using low class cards?

 

[san55]

Nice scenery. I've been to places like that so can relate.
The video pauses/freezes every 5-10 seconds.
Is that how it's on the card or in youtube?
It looks as if it's pausing to write the footage in the card.

Are you using low class cards?

I'm using Sandisk Ultra MicroSDXC 64GB UHS-1 Class 10 card 30MB/s +SD Adapter.
Video pause/freeze occurs on even the SD card which came with dashcam.
Its in the card as well, not only in youtube.
At the moment i'm putting the cards through H2testw.
Lukas did not reply to email.
I wish i had read reverend's review of 7950 regarding dropped frames before buying Lukas.

 

[Sunny]

Freezing like that for few seconds maybe different issue than dropped frames.
Neither 7950 nor 9370 I have freeze like that.

I had issues when I had Wi-Fi on and live view streaming while recording so make sure to turn Wi-Fi off by pressing the icon as it enables it automatically when dongle is in the camera or take the dongle out completely.

 

[Sunny]

Also, the rear channel is at High vs front is at Highest quality.
I like to record at Highest setting available.

 

[san55]

Freezing like that for few seconds maybe different issue than dropped frames.
Neither 7950 nor 9370 I have freeze like that.

I had issues when I had Wi-Fi on and live view streaming while recording so make sure to turn Wi-Fi off by pressing the icon as it enables it automatically when dongle is in the camera or take the dongle out completely.

Yes, i did make sure that wi-fi was off also because the manual mentioned on first page that recorded video will be of standard definition if wi-fi was on/connected.
Today i re-formatted the cards in dashcam. But still frame drops/freeze.
Tomorrow i'll try with medium video quality instead of highest.
Following is the MediaInfo of video file on card which i posted on youtube:

Format : AVI
Format/Info : Audio Video Interleave
File size : 78.3 MiB
Duration : 3mn 0s
Overall bit rate mode : Variable
Overall bit rate : 3 649 Kbps
Writing application : Lavf52.50.0

 

[san55]

H2testw v1.4 result of 64GB sandisk class 10 card:

Warning: Only 59004 of 60882 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 7.83 MByte/s
Reading speed: 18.0 MByte/s


H2testw v1.4 result of 8GB Lukas supplied sd card:

Warning: Only 7648 of 7649 MByte tested.
Test finished without errors.
You can now delete the test files *.h2w or verify them again.
Writing speed: 14.5 MByte/s
Reading speed: 18.4 MByte/s
H2testw v1.4

 

[Sunny]

Try upgrading the firmware.
What firmware is yours?

 

[san55]

Try upgrading the firmware.
What firmware is yours?

Firmware is LK05.5.7 /MV01

That is the latest. It was shipped in last week of Sept.

 

[Calgary Dash Camera - Robert]

I'm using Sandisk Ultra MicroSDXC 64GB UHS-1 Class 10 card 30MB/s +SD Adapter.
Video pause/freeze occurs on even the SD card which came with dashcam.
Its in the card as well, not only in youtube.
At the moment i'm putting the cards through H2testw.
Lukas did not reply to email.
I wish i had read reverend's review of 7950 regarding dropped frames before buying Lukas.

Please email me for Lukas support at Rob@calgarydashcam.com
I will provide quicker Lukas support then Lukas [emoji3]

 

[Calgary Dash Camera - Robert]

Right now my best suggestion would be to use the Lukas brand memory cards, and test to see if the problem persist while using Lukas memory cards.

 

[san55]

Please email me for Lukas support at Rob@calgarydashcam.com
I will provide quicker Lukas support then Lukas [emoji3]

Thanks Rob. Will do in 5 minutes.

 

[san55]

After spending lot of time looking into the problem of dropped frames, i have come to following conclusion:

As per Lukas site, their dashcam needs SD cards with two requirements:

1. Minimum 14MB write speed.

2. MLC material inside. The NAND flash memory used in SD Memory Cards comes in three types. The SLC (Single Level Cell) type records 1 bit of data into a single cell. The MLC (Multi Level Cell) type records 2 bits of data into a single cell. TLC (3 level) is inferior to MLC.

Quote from Lukas site:

"LUKAS memory cards are different from other memory card because they are specially designed to withstand many and fast writing cycles. The cycle recording technology in LUKAS dashcams (and other dashcams) requires fast read/write speeds (up to 14Mbps) and must endure many write/delete cycles. LUKAS memory cards are extremely fast and take 3000 to 5000 cycles, where other memory cards usually stop working at 500 cycles.

LUKAS memory cards are made of special MLC material, which guarantees this high-speed writing/reading and extra cycle lifespan. MLC is also known to endure extreme temperatures of up to 85˚C, perfect for the use in hot environments. "

That means a simple Class 10/UHS-I SDHC/SDXC won't work as the minimum speed is 10MB/sec. (even that is suspect in case of SanDisk)

Also cards which do not mention minimum write speed even though they have written maximum speed 48MB/sec or 60Mb/sec or 95 MB/sec on their packaging could still be suspect. These are basically transfer speeds. Not the write speeds. And these could still end up writing at 10MB/sec - not good enough for Lukas.

Hence i'm inclined to try out class 10 UHS-3 cards which guarantee 30MB/sec minimum write speed - better than even Lukas cards.

My nagging concern is why even the Lukas supplied 8GB card also shows skipped frames and freeze. Can dashcam be also at fault in writing at proper speed to SD card?

Please let me know your views before i place an order for a U-3 card.

Thanks for reading.

 

[san55]

Finally ordered Transcend MicroSDXC Class 10 UHS-I U3 633x (ultimate) 64GB card.

Meanwhile no frame drops with following:
1. Removed Wi-Fi dongle.
2. Reformatted Lukas SD card in Lukas Viewer.
3. Set quality of both Front and Rear video to High (not highest).

Once i get the above card, i'll test on tree-lined roads during day time.

 

[USDashCamera]

anyone ever figure out what the TS-IN is?

 

[Sunny]

anyone ever figure out what the TS-IN is?

Haven't heard back from Lukas on that but it's supposed to be turn signal in so it doesn't trigger LDWS for intentional lane changes.

 

[san55]

Does anyone know of any video editing add-on to Premier Pro which can remove the freeze portions of video clips? Its really sad to watch such beautiful mountain drive with all those stuck up videos

 

[san55]

Finally tested on a U-3 64GB card with Ex-Fat formatting.
Perfect video, not a single frame dropped. None at all. No freeze frame.
Wish Lukas has responded to query.

Really wonderful colors and sharp imaging. Wish i had known this before going to Himalayan Trip.

 

[Ipol]

dont be too down about it san55 the videos were a pleasure to watch ..... I might go for the transcend card myself .......the latest firmware downloaded fine in case like me some of you hadnt noticed before when you go into the the touchscreen menu the firmware version shows up bottom right hand corner of the screen just under the manual tab .......put it down to old age.... Ipol