LK-5900HD Quality Settings? Clarity? Chroma? etc...

[JayCam]

Hi all, been a bit of a lurker on here for a while and after trying a couple of cheaper dashcams decided I wanted to go with something with more features. I went for the LK-5900HD as it was within my budget, has decent reviews and is from a good manufacturer. It's a tad bigger than I was expecting - not too covert, but I can live with that.

I am however slightly disappointed with the video quality. I know it's not the full HD 7900, but the youtube videos I have seen taken with the 5900 all look far less blockier than mine. I am trying to work out the best video setting to use. I have bumped it up to "Highest" quality in the settings, but I am not sure what some of the other settings do. I can alter the following:

Clarity
Chroma
Effect (this one seems fairly obvious!)
Scroll Screen(UP)

I'd be grateful if someone can tell me what they do Thanks

 

[StarDust]

Hi,

I have the same dashcam and just updated to the newest version of the LUKAS viewer.
I have no clue what each means, but I can tell that in the previous version of the viewer "Clarity" used to be "Resolution".

My guess is that this is a imperfect translation from Korean representing something like "Contrast" / "Hue" etc.

I would confirm that online videos look far less blockier than mine as well. I can hardly read any plate numbers even under perfect sunny day conditions unless I am really standing right next to the car on the traffic light.

The online videos make it look like you can read the plates from further away even under more adverse light conditions.

Let's see if the newest firmware changes it (just installed). I bumped the image quality to the "Highest"

 

[JayCam]

That makes sense. I Googled the word Chroma and it is something to do with picture setting, so probably is Hue/Contrast?

Mine came with HF-11 installed which looks to be the latest.

I have a few SD cards, so I think I will try a different Set Up folder on each and swap the cards when I park somewhere.

Clarity defaults at 1, so I will try a card with 5 set up. I will also bump the ScrollUp pixels from default 28 to 92 and see what that does!

 

[StarDust]

I tried Clarity = 3, but it seems that I'll need to re-do the test. My windshield was too dirty and the weather was too different to make any meaningful comparisons.
I am also on HF11 now (I was on HF05 before upgrading). No filters attached (not even UV).

 

[JayCam]

I've tried varying a few of the different settings, but to be honest can't seem to make any real difference in the quality. It's still quite pixelated, and vehicle number plates are unreadable apart from the one directly in front of the camera at lights/junctions. I have a CPL filter now, so will try it with that but I suspect it won't effect the overall picture quality.

I did notice that there is an updated viewer. No real difference expect the older one defaulted to "High" for the quality and the new one defaults to "Highest", and the timezone defaults to Korea rather than Malaysia as the previous one did.

All in all, I'm happy with the features but a bit disappointed with the image quality. I now also have a Mobius Action cam, and as soon as the screen mount arrives I will try that. If it's as advertised I may relegate the Lukas to the rearview and keep the Mobius up front!

Here are some images from different times of the day. Actually the second and third ones aren't too bad - both were taken stationary/very low speed. You can see the difference in the higher speed (30/40mph) ones!

 

[StarDust]

Hi,

Thanks for posting the pictures!
I tried mine and had no success impoving it either. It looks very similar to your pictures.

I still think the new firmware is much better (in terms of new features). It allows to turn off displaying your Speed on the video. I definitely don't need that.

My plan is that I'll eventually get BlackVue DR500GW-HD and I'll move this camera to record the view from the back.

 

[Dave Draper]

Remember the viewer software is very basic. If it is imported to a real AVI professional viewer and editing software all is there and in the best views possible. Again I say, you are not shooting a motion picture, but having documentation of a crash, fraud or act of vandalism. The GPS is correct as is the time, the colts and shape of the vehicles. Were this to be used in courts all of the license plates would be as obvious as possible. This is not a GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition, and I think you would be surprised at the video that actually comes from them when viewed on a similar viewer. All the raw data is there. To really appreciate it, you need a better viewer of the aVI graphics. Anybody telling you that other cameras will show so much better with the same software is selling you something. The police and courts have access to the best viewing software. If its needed it will be available. Much of the things we see on TV or the Movies is edited using CGI and other expensive editing software. the raw data is there in the 5900, whether the SONY name is there or not. Clean your windshields, keep most settings on 1 and use the UV filter, which is there to protect the lens from degradation and only that. You can't expect perfection without spending thousands for the software and the accompanying software engineers. I do have a GoPro Hero3 and have replaced it with a full time Lukas dash cam. I don't see any advantage to spending the upgrade to the LK-7900ACE, besides the buffaloing sales pitch. If you want to upgrade buy the camera with Mac software, but AVI can be processed on any Mac with the proper converting software. PCs are not the computers of choice for video editing.