70mai 4K Omni (unboxing & first impressions) (Sony Starvis 2 IMX678/IMX662, Wi-Fi 6/GPS, Novatek NT98530, 4K60 front + 1080p rear, HDR both channels)

[Augustus]

Just wanted to make sure haha
Do you happen to know if there is a difference?

H.265 always has the much smaller file sizes which is handy, I could measure how big the h.264 files are - but don't even think it's worth it because most of the world has moved on from h.264

 

[Julian23]

H.265 always has the much smaller file sizes which is handy, I could measure how big the h.264 files are - but don't even think it's worth it because most of the world has moved on from h.264

It would be interesting how much smaller the H.265 files are and how much the recording time is increased in comparison.

Keep in mind that there are still enough countries that prefer H.264 since they didn't make the jump to modern computers that can handle H.265.

 

[Augustus]

A quick video demonstrating the Surround Scan feature in Collision Detection parking mode, on the 4K Omni. This feature was added in the latest 1.2.96ww firmware update a few days ago, and was originally present on the last-generation Omni X200.

Video is recorded at 4K60fps at 15fps with HDR turned on.

 

[Augustus]

ADAS functions of the 70mai 4K Omni:


There are quite a few options available to the end user as shown in the screenshot below. Calibration is done within the app itself, and after a few visual prompts asking you to align within the markers, the Omni instructs you to drive around for a few minutes above 25km/h to complete calibration. This was performed seamlessly and without issue in my vehicle.

ADAS performs quite well in most situations with the 4K Omni, and could be quite useful for those driving older vehicles, that don't possess in-built ADAS. When the dashcam detects the behaviour, it gives a spoken voice prompt and displays a rather cute sad face with quivering mouth. Some of the voice prompts spoken are listed below:

Forward collision alert: "Caution, front car"
Lane departure alert: "Lane departure"
Front Vehicle Start Alert: "Vehicle ahead, motion detected"
Pedestrian Collision Warning: "Attention to pedestrians"

 

[Augustus]

Battery life in parking mode of the 4K Omni (when paired with the 70mai Dashcam Battery):


A quick look at the expected battery life from the 4K Omni when in parking mode, one-channel. The parameters I have set are Collision Detection set to medium, and Motion Detection set to high. I've found these in my testing to work reliably and without being hyper-sensitive.

Of course these are more detailed battery figures out there for usage scenarios with the 4K Omni, but hopefully this gives a quick guide as to how performant this dashcam is.

As you can see in the first lot of screenshots below, we are looking at approximately 20 hours (from fully charged), and the battery still hasn't reached it's cutoff value of 12V set in the app. When checking the battery pack itself, it still has one bar of battery life showing.

I did perform a second battery check (see bigger-sized screenshots below), and the battery expired after approximately 28 hours of runtime, with the exact same user-defined settings. It also displays a message saying that the battery has reached the voltage cutoff value, and therefore will be turning off power.

 

[Augustus]

Bitrate analysis of the 4K Omni:


As I alluded to earlier in this thread, the 4K Omni mostly records at a bitrate of 32Mb/s. However, there are peaks up to higher values such as 40Mb/s or 50Mb/s, and apart from there being unsteady roads, I cannot fathom why this is happening.

No loss, as the footage is still being recorded without loss, but might be interesting to some viewers out there that may be able to shed some light on the matter. Both videos below were recorded at 4K60fps in daytime, with one video maintaining a steady 32Mb/s, while the other has ebbs and dips, peaking at a value of 143Mb/s. The one with a higher bitrate has a file size of 1.25GB compared to the other's 690MB. Both files recorded in H.265.

 

[lufa6977]

Just curious...if the ADAS is enabled and working, is it embedding information in the data stream? If so, perhaps bit rate goes up to 'better capture' events and embed info in the stream?

Normally bit rate is set, and set hard. If it is wavering then there is a bug or, there are other events that software registers and increases bit rate.

 

[Augustus]

Just curious...if the ADAS is enabled and working, is it embedding information in the data stream? If so, perhaps bit rate goes up to 'better capture' events and embed info in the stream?

Normally bit rate is set, and set hard. If it is wavering then there is a bug or, there are other events that software registers and increases bit rate.

That is a good guess....ADAS was turned off for both videos that were captured hours within each other. Not sure what is going on or what one could pin it on...

 

[Augustus]

Ring-indicator light colours of the 4K Omni:


There are three different colours of the ring-indicator light on the 4K Omni: red, blue and yellow. Each either stays on solidly or flashes in a 360-degree pattern, depending on what functions are being executed on the dashcam at that particular moment in time.

Red: surveillance modes (collision detection w/surround scan, motion detection), ADAS events
Blue: initial setup, powering on dashcam, formatting microSD memory card
Yellow: removing microSD memory card, microSD needs to be formatted

 

[lufa6977]

Ring-indicator light colours of the 4K Omni:


There are three different colours of the ring-indicator light on the 4K Omni: red, blue and yellow. Each either stays on solidly or flashes in a 360-degree pattern, depending on what functions are being executed on the dashcam at that particular moment in time.

Red: surveillance modes (collision detection w/surround scan, motion detection), ADAS events
Blue: initial setup, powering on dashcam, formatting microSD memory card
Yellow: removing microSD memory card, microSD needs to be formatted



View attachment 79536 View attachment 79537 View attachment 79538

Well, daum! That is a nifty feature, the colour bands; on the 360 surveillance at what point does it stop the spin? Does it latch onto an moving object and then follow it?

 

[Augustus]

Well, daum! That is a nifty feature; on the 360 surveillance at what point does it stop the spin? Does it latch onto an moving object and then follow it?

It does and tracks only one human , even if there are multiple in or passing across the frame. It will keep spinning until that person goes out of view

 

[Augustus]

Motion Detection response times of the 4K Omni (phase detection autofocus):


There are quite a few options available to the end-user in terms of sensitivity, for both Motion Detection and Collision Detection. This is not the most scientific test, but I timed these responses in the mid-afternoon sunlight in a sunny exposed carpark, initially standing to the side of my vehicle behind the camera, and then stepping immediately out in front of it. I stopped the timer when the red ring-indicator light of the 4K Omni turned on. The results are the average of three-timed runs for each setting.


Motion Detection:

Ultra-high: 7.17 seconds
High: 13.10 seconds
Medium: 28.63 seconds
Low: 47.17 seconds

As you can see, there can be quite a broad difference in range between the settings. The only setting that warned of excessive power consumption was the Ultra-high in Motion Detection mode.

I should also note that I did try other movements where I moved from right to left in front of the 4K Omni, and it reacted faster when I looked directly at the camera than what I did not.

As the NT98530 chipset has native support for PDAF (phase detection autofocus) and scene detection, I suspect that this is being used here in the 4K Omni along with some element of facial recognition.

 

[mentadent]

47 seconds ouch.

 

[Augustus]

47 seconds ouch.

Does seem a bit long, maybe they could reduce it by some seconds. I presume it's a compromise between having accuracy and not picking up false positives, versus picking up intruders.

Fine-tuning could be up to the algorithms implemented, again since the specs say the chipset uses CNN (convolution neural networks), I suspect strongly that the AI-side is on Novatek, and the dashcam manufacturers can set their own specific parameters based on what they have been provided.

Bit of a spiel here about HW-CNN on the chipset: https://ipxchange.tech/boards/demo-kit-for-novatek-nt98530-camera-soc-with-ceva-sp500-dsp/

 

[lufa6977]

47 seconds ... man, that is brutal! Did you set it on Low, and faced the camera in testing?

 

[Augustus]

47 seconds ... man, that is brutal! Did you set it on Low, and faced the camera in testing?

I did, tried twice, walking past and the other time just walking up to it standing there. No variations in timing.

I understand what they were going for, but i would probably drop that time down a bit if possible.

 

[lufa6977]

I did, tried twice, walking past and the other time just walking up to it standing there. No variations in timing.

I understand what they were going for, but i would probably drop that time down a bit if possible.

🙂 Ya know, if you really wanted to experiment you can make a copy of a photo of your face, glue to wooden paint stirrer, and walk past the camera, looking straight ahead, but put the picture of your face about where you head is, facing the camera. Granted, if you do this in a public place, you may get hauled away for a 48 hour mental hold, but it could indicate how the camera detects a human looking at the camera.

 

[Augustus]

🙂 Ya know, if you really wanted to experiment you can make a copy of a photo of your face, glue to wooden paint stirrer, and walk past the camera, looking straight ahead, but put the picture of your face about where you head is, facing the camera. Granted, if you do this in a public place, you may get hauled away for a 48 hour mental hold, but it could indicate how the camera detects a human looking at the camera.

Bwahaha I would check myself into a mental institution doing this! 😛 Honestly, it's probably just the Novatek AI they have implemented for the chipset .....would be nice if there was a white paper somewhere to explain how it all works. But then it's probably what most other chipset manufacturers do know as well, so I would presume they all work roughly the same ..

 

[mentadent]

It has paper face mask detection prevention.

 

[Augustus]

There has been some more updates to the 70mai APP in the Google Play Store:

70mai - Apps on Google Play

70mai App is a mobile phone software used with 70mai Smart Dash Cam.

play.google.com

The latest version is now 3.9.0 and brings the following improvements:

- Support for new device T800
- Add auto-marking for viewed and downloaded files
- Add Malaysian regulatory information for certain devices
- Fix Master watermark time format error
- Fix some English and Arabic translation issues
- Fix other known issues