2014 DOD LS460W Sony Exmor CMOS, ISO3200, F1.6, WDR, 3DNR, 5x GPS, HUD

Hi,

Firstly, a big thank you to Reverend for taking the time to run comparisons and post his videos and his latest 430w versus 460w comparisons.

I have to admit I had every intention of buying the ls430w after spending some time in researching dashcams. It just so happened that when I went on to the Dod UK site the 460w was on offer. Naturally presuming this newer model was a improvement I opted for the 460w.

Do I regret purchasing the 460w over the 430w? I'd have to say I would have preferred the 430w, but there's not a lot in it to be honest. And the night time footage is excellent with the 460w. Like others I agree the daytime video is a tad overexposed.

I've uploaded a raw video from my ls460w (approx 340MB). It would be interesting to hear others comments on the vid quality in comparison to their footage.

https://mega.co.nz/#!28plAIKL!YFLML6WzYUpVABav4_zKRYwbl0PFumV49fYQTUYzClI

Cheers,

T.
I
 
Your ISO readings seems to react to their surroundings more than mine, such as when you have trees on the left to darken the image, and number plates are clearer from a lot further away.
 
Jeez that's absolutely razor sharp - thought it was London at first and then spotted one of the buildings I recognised in Manchester from when I worked there for a while - we were at the Trafford Centre yesterday actually for the In The Night Garden show.

Yours does show the same blurring of plates when they're up close - I'm actually trying with a lower EV setting at the moment to see what that does - but really need to do a side by side to see if it affects the LS460W and the LS430W the same.
 
Well I've tried it with EV at -3 and -2 and at -3 it can actually start to read numberplates with my HID headlights which makes a change, but it's dark video - swings and roundabouts really.

If someone took this Sony sensor and added HDR in theory that could potentially be the dogs b*llocks.
 
Here's a night clip at -3:
https://mega.co.nz/#!8V9DTLhb!tm7Tj0aGKRwfpKnH-YJLEF4XglRlwZVVjL2E8TfZni4

And then -2:
https://mega.co.nz/#!tVkU0R5T!RYCztQCxdr7WMYkjjsQg9O1LtSaPEqm8EU6Ty_X1K2U

You can see numberplates are more legible with xenon headlights with EV set to -3, but at a cost of a dark video.

I've just done an A/B comparison with the G90 and this is finally now better at plate reading and across the board, albeit with a darker image - it looks like I'm finally seeing the extra dynamic range of the Sony sensor come in to play.

Here's some more sample footage with the EV lowered:

https://mega.co.nz/#!EUEzXISQ!w5gI-rdKcbJgEdfp9kjUM2SBjY1r9U4HoV5MGLDB2CY

https://mega.co.nz/#!9Mc1xJjS!ALTzmyPbHBbB1644b7OPBLfmQO1ZxhwM8cNWtEZe0ag

https://mega.co.nz/#!tYdUhTaa!5jPYVjCmJbbb104kfGoHPti-smAAGP-oGOX0MZbTZKY

As per usual the raw footage is higher quality than the Youtube stuff.

I've also attached two photos below to show the difference between EV-3 and EV-2 - I should have done more to show all values in hindsight but I was in a hurry :)

ev-3.jpg ev-2.jpg

In a nutshell I think the current firmware is trying too aggressively to get a bright image, at the expense of sharpness. Maybe instead of the F1.6 lens they should have taken a leaf from the Panorama book and gone for a 2.0 or 2.8?

I also found that Sony released an IMX322 which is a drop in for the IMX122 and IMX222 - so which one is in this camera is unknown!
 
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This is 720P at 60FPS and the number plates seem clearer close up


Video looks clearer on youtube direct
 
jokiin said:
probably good advice really, hard wiring to a permanent power source is not advisable for cameras with internal batteries, and the motion detect doesn't work very well on these and you'd find if you left it on all the time you'd miss things when it really should be recording, wrong product for this usage scenario
Click to expand...


Seems silly that they'd include parking mode features in a camera not well suited to it.

What I really wish they'd have is three power input terminals. GND, 12v constant and IGN.

Always powered all the time, but an input of 12v at IGN would switch it to "Drive" mode and the camera would function like a normal dashcam, charge up the battery until full.
When no power is present at the IGN terminal, it would indicate that the car is off, the camera could switch to "Parking" mode, stop topping off the battery and enable the motion detection.

With all the companies making dash cameras, you'd think someone would have figured this out by now. Virtually all car electronics have a third power input to alter its power state.
 
So who makes DoD branded cameras?

They sure do a good job of convincing me that they make their own cameras, take a look at the intro video on that page. There are employees wearing DoD shirts running the assembly machines.

EDIT: Here's the page I was referring to, I didn't paste properly above: http://www.dod-tec.com/about.php#1
 
A few weeks on, how are you finding the reliability of the 430W and the 460w? With these being such critical devices should an accident happen, the thought of turning to it and finding no video stored....
 
I had two LS460Ws replaced due to nothing being recorded although the camera was showing it was recording.

I'd look elsewhere as the current firmware has issues!
 
Did you find the 430w an improvement reliability wise?
 
To be honest I've not clocked as many hours on the 430 but I dlgavent had any problems.

The 460 should be better but has focus issues in the hot weather, although that sort of problem has been reported in other DOD cameras.

The 460 needs firmware work - whether you'd actually ever get one from DOD is another matter though. It's a shame as cameras like the Panorama and Blacksys CF-100 have gotten better with every release and if DOD don't fix the shortcomings with the 460 it's a waste of good hardware underneath (other than the focus issues in heat which they should really fix through hardware!)

It's a shame as when it works it's great footage at day and night. Hopefully the new Panorama X2 will be an example of all good components working in harmony :)
 
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do you know if DOD LS460W can use the video out mode while recording? i remember i had their L360 and it couldnt play in video out without stopping the recording.
 
i can't found,

anybody make 25l320 dump with FG1406260EN11 ?

I look in LS430W FW, what means backdoor.txt at SD card ?
it skip password for LS460W ?

which CPU type used in A8 ? i't non like arm, x86 or ppc/mips.

thanks.
 
My LS460ws went back so were never opened - @Pizdy opened his but not sure if he has access to a Bus Pirate or BlackCat or anything similar to pull the firmware off?

The CPU is a standard Novatek NT96650 and the image sensor is either a Sony IMX122 / 222 or 322.

I'm still waiting for a firmware to come out so that we can see what image sensor it is actually using in there :)
 
thanks for answer and for "Novatek%20NT96650.pdf", so CPU is MISP.

my LS460W version: FG1406300RU05 E00ECA00A01
 
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