suggest: which dashcam hackable to night vision device?

Allegfede

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hello everybody.
I have already hacked a REALLY cheap, low hand, chinese dashcam to use it as a night vision device:

how to prepare the dashcam:

it works well for kids skirmish with nerfs in the house garden, but not suitable for serious airsofters like me :D

Indeed the problem is the very low definition lcd screen, more than sensor, so recorded video is quite great, but eye catched live feed (during movement and game) is terrible.

So the idea was to find out a GOOD dashcam with (i suppose):
> a sony starvis cmos sensor (imx290 ?)
> 1X (not magnification) lens
> an 800x600 (or more) lcd/oled screen. 5" max, ecause we need to focus it near eye with a focusing lens (viewfinder lens)
> AND a very customizable firmware, 'case i need to add / remove overlayed graphic from the back lcd image OR recorded video.

Indeed the needing of remove the graphic from the screen was not mandatory for a monocle night vision device, but for a stereoscopic goggle (2 device mounted side by side), overlayed graphic would be managed bad by the brain :D

Any one has some info or wanna join the project with knowledge or skill?

Thanks,

Federico
 
I use a cheap FPV goggle from hobbyking and a board camera ( 700 TVL ) as the goggle screen don't support HD anyway.
This of course need IR light to work, in darkness you will not see anything with a regular camera, in that case you need thermal.
The good thing is the goggle cupport 2 camera in i can toggle in between with a switch, so the other camera are mounted to my rifle scope and so enable me to kill rats in the darkness, and the other camera to the front of the goggle.

I am using Sony Effio E and Effio S board cameras, not lest on my scope that have a lot of glass blocking light you need a sensitive sensor.

My solution are of course for both eyes, but i have seen you can get one eye screens too, but i have not explored this avenue.

ATM if you want to go HD you will be good with a camera based on the IMX 291 Starvis sensor from Sony.

You can also get HD board cameras with a range of starvis sensors, and some have a analog out for a screen too, some even have on board micro SD card to record on to, just make sure camera record in a norma lH.264 or H.265 format.
 
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Yi Nightscape seems to be good for your needs. PM me.

thanks for the kind replies.

@kamkar1
i also look at those devices, in particular seems interesting this item on bangood:

on aliexpress maybe are cheeper:

but seems it splits the camera signal (1 sensor) on both eyes (2 lcd screens), so no real stereoscopic effect.

PS: for the price, seems a better alternative is the eachine fpv visor (better lcd resolution) :

i really wish to make a stereo visor to be able to "navigate" the field in darkness with a bit more of ease :D but i know that with a long training also special forces use mono tube dual screen visors (quad core navy seals nvg are not to mention :D)

@nutsey
yesterday night i saw the presentation of the yi nightscape and suddenly though about it. Have not found reviews on youtube that show back screen, so i hope they do not fill the display with fancy text/graphics).

PS: i'll PM you in minutes Nutsey :)
 
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Yes you don't get stereoscopic view, but with a little practice i find it okay to use, i think it is a 4 or 6 mm lens i use so i have a natural distance feel ( no zoom or no far away that wide angle give )
Wearing my goggles i have no problems controlling little things with accuracy, like reloading a magazine for my air rifle, or walking around in a area with things you have to walk around or step over.
But in my case "hunting" i am of course moving slow, i can recall from my paintball playing days in the early 90ties that at least in the daytime we was moving as fast as we could most of the time, with only enemy fire slowing us down for a little while.

For just shooting i have also contemplated putting a dashcam on the end of the scope and so just look at that instead of into the scope, but most dashcams don't allow you to dim the LCD display, and also it get awkward on my rifle as the scope get longer in eye end and i don't have the option to move the scope forward to compensate for that, so you get a weird shooting / aiming position.
 
My goggle i have 2 eyes on 1 screen thru a Fresnel lens, works fine for me, and the FPV racers seem to do awesome too flying thru scary small gaps.
But it do take some getting used to for sure, i can remember trying FPV on my little slow 4X4 truck, and as soon as it was out of hearing range and driving around on the forest floor, it did not take long before i was totally lost in a world of giant trees ( a HUD with heading or a home point would have been nice ) so i had to give up take off the mask and go the 20 - 30 M to retrieve my truck by hand.

Also tried FPV with my friends Phantom 1 quadcopter, thats something else too, and i couldent help but think " i am going to ruin my friends new expensive toy soon" and i was just flying around nice and easy with all flight aids turned on so really you would have to work hard to crash the damn thing.
 
My goggle i have 2 eyes on 1 screen thru a Fresnel lens, works fine for me, and the FPV racers seem to do awesome too flying thru scary small gaps.
you can check which side your eye bias is like this

Extend your arms in front of your body.
Make a triangle shape using your fore fingers and thumbs.
Bring your hands together, making the triangle smaller (about the size of a coin is good).
Find a small object in the room and focus on it through the hole in your hands (using both eyes).
Try closing just your left eye and then just your right, your view of the object will change with one eye but not the other.
 
You are right, left eye i can see the thing too, right eye only and i am far from seeing it.
So i guess that mean my left eye are favored, where i cant do nothing but easy big stuff with the left arm / hand / fingers or left leg / foot.
 
you can check which side your eye bias is like this

Extend your arms in front of your body.
Make a triangle shape using your fore fingers and thumbs.
Bring your hands together, making the triangle smaller (about the size of a coin is good).
Find a small object in the room and focus on it through the hole in your hands (using both eyes).
Try closing just your left eye and then just your right, your view of the object will change with one eye but not the other.

wow nice trick!!!!

i'll use in my shooting training lessons for new players! Thanks

@nutsey: you are true ... but costs a lot of money and the chance to acquire a pair to make the stereo device (like is done with pvs14) is low (a lot of stuff on screen)
 

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amazon's day yesterady and i got my yi nightscape ...
i'll get in 2 days and i'll open it in bits has soon as i have some spare time.

unboxing, dismantle and internals soon on my youtube channel :D .... and some photos and info here ;-)
 
camera arrives and on the back of the package, the sticker says the lcd display resolution is 32x200 ..... really low :-(

going to open it in few days

PS: on a chat with YI customer care service, the operators sad they do not have that information (lcd resolution .....)
 

I read a lot on that camera (the original one), and also view some reviews on youtube.
Seems good, but a person, that managed to mount 2 of them in a stereo rig (like he does with pvs-14) .. said that the syonix introduce a quite high lag in the video captured (i suppose is the dsp trying to increase interpolate the data to increase the gain).
He said that with so high lag, using for "navigation" is impossible. you will get headache and stomach pain :-|

quite normal for a device thought to be used in nocturnal boating for a quick view of possible ostacles
 
Yeah for sure you dont want output lag on a NVG of a camera on a rifle scope, though i only shoot at animals ( rats ) sitting still, but often they dont do that for very long.
It is the same that have plauged FPV flying where you of course want as little lag as possible, not least if you are a quadcopter racer or something really hectic like that.
 
Good morning everyone.
I made a little unboxing video (italian speaking, but images are international :D)

I also made some video rec for the (incoming) review of the dashcam, and i found the cmos (i suppose) have some dead pixels (attached images).
Maybe is a problem of my unit, and i wrote YI to inform of the problem.

So before opening my camera down, i wish to have working unit with a good sensor ;-)

Camera was bought from amzon so i suppose the replacement could be fast.

I'll get you informed.

Cheers
 

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Hello everybody.
I solved the dead pixels mistery.
There are NO dead pixels.

The dots in previous screeshots, seems have been generated by a noisy current from the power bank i used to drive the camera.

With a stable power supply (the one i use in my raspberry), the screen is all black (i cover the lens with my hands).

So i'm ready to open the device and inspect the inside :D
 

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Hi Allegfede,

it will be quite difficult to find such a dash cam that would suit all your conditions.
It is much easier to create such a camera yourself ;)

- cvbs (analog) camera (Runcam NightEagle, Foxeer Cat, Sony ICX673/829 CCD or IMX290/307/327 CMOS modules, etc.);
- 6mm F1.0 lens https://aliexpress.com/item/4000215908402.html ;
- near-eye display https://aliexpress.com/item/4000165458058.html ;
- other stuff such as battery, voltage regulator etc ;
- optional - 940nm IR illuminator, micro DVR.

Cheers
 
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seems like Yi Nightscape is not that good....
 
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