Hacking Q3H (allwinner v3 - Camdroid)

Plus real pictures and a better image processor. Also I get the sneaky suspicion that these are reject IMX179 sensors. The weird noise I get only in the corner at low ISO and the massively overdone NR seem to imply it.

App still crashes as soon as it should show the live stream from cam, and image is swapped left-right. I still think that the sensor is OV4689 and not IMX179
Click to expand...

Don't know what's up with the app but I did try to flip your image since you said it was upside down, I guess I flipped it the wrong way. I'll have to try again. Its definitely not OV sensor or it wouldn't boot.

Does this fix the flip? http://www.mediafire.com/download/cwvcgy9i2v36dbn/full_img-hflip.rar
 
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The app crashes for me as well, I found one that works though. Its name is SportCAM, the icon is similar to XDV.
 
I don't know how to thank you, works perfecly, even better than before due to the newer firmware.
I have to thank also nutsey for the backup script, and lapy for his backup, which was the right one. Thank you all, also for the informations shared. I hope to give back in the future, if I will have the possibility.
 
lapy said:
The app crashes for me as well, I found one that works though. Its name is SportCAM, the icon is similar to XDV.
Click to expand...

Grazie lapy, found this app, works fine also on my cam
 
You can take a rootfs from another image if your script + kernel is ok. As long as it contains the imx179 module you can run it just fine. Then the XDV app will run. Is the sportcam app better than XDV (besides not crashing)... xdv is very buggy. It fcked up the OS on one of my phones and now I get an FC when wifi connects.... I can fix that a million ways probably but the ****ty app is ****ty.
 
thegamut said:
You can take a rootfs from another image if your script + kernel is ok. As long as it contains the imx179 module you can run it just fine. Then the XDV app will run. Is the sportcam app better than XDV (besides not crashing)... xdv is very buggy. It fcked up the OS on one of my phones and now I get an FC when wifi connects.... I can fix that a million ways probably but the ****ty app is ****ty.
Click to expand...
The app is pretty much the same, probably a tad less buggy.
 
I figured out how to put the rootfs onto the sd card but its still squashfs. At least it could be any size. The kernel only understands vfat and squafs from what I can see. I'm lost as to how to load modules before root is mounted to try to use something else.

So some upsides to sd boot:
*faster startup, nand might be slower than SD-HS(SDR25) 25MB/s
*you can wear out nand memory and we don't know which they use
*only have to compress rootfs, no more making images over and over
*can use larger file system
*much faster to write filesystem, flashing took 1:11, sd is almost instant
*easily try other FW rootfs

downsides:
*have to remove the sd card, its not accessible on usb (only fat32 is)
*wear out the sd slot?
*manually creating partitions the first time
*writing down partition starting blocks to paste rootfs
*I don't think you can format the camera in the card (have not tried)
*unprepared sd cards = no boot.
*takes away space (not much under 100mb?) from files

Overall its good for development, maybe for regular use too?
 
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I'm using your NewModuleUniform.img & the modified full_img.fex you did for my camera, XDV 16MP Fake4K Sports Camera. So far so good & I like the increase bit rate. 60FPS & 120FPS videos still doesn't look clean compared to their 30FPS counterpart. I guess the sensor only support 30FPS max (native)? I was hoping this camera can handle 1080p60 nicely.
 
60P is native but its smaller than 1080P with twice the pixel binning. Not as much detail in it.
 
hi everbody
my cams real problem is when I relase and plug the batery and power on the cam OK button is works. but I power off and power on the cam with battery OK button don't work. what is my cams problem
 
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thegamut said:
You have crane4k30imx179s_sdv-eng 4.2.2 JDQ3

Wooo, different module version !

You only have different LCD than me, you should be able to use my image no problem if you paste in your own script.bin or just move rootfs.

your real camera name is:
key_camera_exif_make = Qlippie
key_camera_exif_model = Q1
Click to expand...
where is script.bin location I copy there
 
It starts at 0x32000 inside full_img, look for "product".

but I power off and power on the cam with battery OK button don't work.
Click to expand...

Check kernel and logcat when pressing the non-working button.
 
Google. Its just a couple of commands in adb, ie logcat. The kernel messages are in kmsg inside /proc
 
plutonio said:
I don't know how to thank you, works perfecly, even better than before due to the newer firmware.
I have to thank also nutsey for the backup script, and lapy for his backup, which was the right one. Thank you all, also for the informations shared. I hope to give back in the future, if I will have the possibility.
Click to expand...

Is there any way you could post a .img file of your build? I have been having a similar problem, I get nothing but a white screen after upgrading the firmware, and while I can connect with the phoenix utility, I can't upload any .fex software, when I try ADB I get failure that my unit is locked. Maybe I am doing things wrong.

Thank you.
 
Some food for thought:
1. Phoneix will only flash IMG. To flash full_img.fex you have to unpack the IMG, place full_img.fex inside and repack.
2. Camera must be in loader mode, off- > hold OK and plug in USB cable -> detected as allwinner device, hit no to format dialog. Select flash image BEFORE connecting.
3. If you aren't in loader mode phoenix suite connects over adb to pull build info, using adb while its open might conflict.
 
Hi

I've just read whole thread, and I have to admit you have done very good job!

I have very same looking "4k" camera.
I bought it in China as "absolutely legit GoPro" with box and whole kit of waterproof case, mounts and other junk.
It even shows GoPro logo on startup.
I bought it only cause prize was close to nothing, while knowing it is more less NopePro.

I have attached firmware images, for your inspiration, and also if you can please look thru it if there is some hardware differences to models you have allready seen.

https://uloz.to/!3e4FlnceD6R6/backup-zip

I am also interested in upgrade, while camera acts strange sometimes, and it turns off or restarts for no reason ocasionaly. And also image is horrible not so nice...

Regards

Vit Soucek
 
My top reasons for shutdown/restart were loose or bent battery pins and the wifi app. It would look like its recording on the phone but the camera had stopped and then auto powered off. With the pins I would bump the camera and it would restart or power off.

I should put a guide to using ext2 at some point because adb push is a much easier way to test changing settings in the module. Last thing I messed with is limiting digital gain, I think its one of the reasons that low light is so bad. Nothing too awesome yet since it messes with the auto exposure but it was 200x easier to test than the other settings. The current IMX179s modifications produce pretty decent video when there is enough light. Changing the AE pattern to stop favoring the sky so much might help too.

My long term thought was to figure out why v4l-ctl settings don't stick and then control the camera with adb over wifi. 12bit raw modes are available and while there is no bandwith to record video, the stills would be nice.

https://uloz.to/!3e4FlnceD6R6/backup-zip is OV4689, 2k is full size. the only fixes are turning off post processing in the module like sharpening, denoise, etc.
 
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OK, so switching off was caused by battery pin having poor contact. I'm kinda busy for playing with camera firmware, hopefully next week will be better.
 
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