2CH Panorama X2. FullHD + FullHD ( 256Gb ). Sony Exmor CMOS. WDR. GPS. 24/7 Parking Mode Rec.

Received my camera today, Jon had everything setup for me. Thanks Jon!
The focus looks good both front and back in my original test in the garage. Tried testing parking figuring I would walk in front of each camera every few minutes. However, when viewing, it was continuous with short 3-4 second breaks in the file. Then I noticed that I had fans running in the background of both cameras and the cameras were detecting the blade movement. Getting the memory cards out of the camera the first time and into the carriers was a pain. They were very tight. However after working them a couple Times they seemed to loosen up. The front camera is bigger than GT680W measuring 66mm 96mm x 33mm (HWD), but still fits behind my rearview mirror. The screen resolution looks to be the same as my GT680W but because of the larger size the image appears more grainy. I'm not able to install it in my car until my cracked window is replaced. But I like what I see so far.
 
wrdjr20 said:
Received my camera today, Jon had everything setup for me. Thanks Jon!
The focus looks good both front and back in my original test in the garage. Tried testing parking figuring I would walk in front of each camera every few minutes. However, when viewing, it was continuous with short 3-4 second breaks in the file. Then I noticed that I had fans running in the background of both cameras and the cameras were detecting the blade movement. Getting the memory cards out of the camera the first time and into the carriers was a pain. They were very tight. However after working them a couple Times they seemed to loosen up. The front camera is bigger than GT680W measuring 66mm 96mm x 33mm (HWD), but still fits behind my rearview mirror. The screen resolution looks to be the same as my GT680W but because of the larger size the image appears more grainy. I'm not able to install it in my car until my cracked window is replaced. But I like what I see so far.
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You're welcome happy to help go the extra mile,
Welcome to the X2 club! I QA tested & custom set every order. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone share their feedback.
 
Brand new here. From the San Francisco Bay Area. Found this forum while I was researching and just about to order 2 Panorama Gs for front and back, then saw the X2. Talked to Jon earlier today to ask a few questions about it and just now ordered from his site. Looking forward to getting the X2 set up, especially since the last dual channel I tried from another manufacturer failed after just a few days of use.

I have very dark (limo) tint on my rear windows, so I'll post some rear camera night footage in the next couple weeks.
 
ezuser said:
2. How exactly easy is hard wiring? Never done any hard wiring and definitely need some guide to avoid bricking the X2 or damaging my vehicles. I don't know about others, but for me, this is about the only "issue" right now holding me back from a purchase.
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If you have basic DIY skills hard wiring is pretty simple. If you have ever changed the speakers in your car or installed a new head unit you most likely have the skills to hard wire the power for a dash cam. I prefer to use the add a fuse option to hard wire anything into my interior fuse panel. You can pick up an add a fuse at any local automotive parts store; you'll actually need 2 since you need two power sources. Every car's fuse box is laid out different, but you'll want a switched source that's only on when the ignition is on and an always on source for the parked mode.

Some vehicles have unused, but powered, fuse locations that you can put the add a fuse into. Your fuse diagram will be in your vehicle owner's manual. In addition to your vehicle's fuse diagram I would also use a volt meter to verify a switched power location and an always on power location.

As to not side track the thread from the X2 I won't go into anymore detail here. That said I just ordered my X2 from Jon, so if I have time maybe I'll take some video of the install.
 
Hi welcome to the club it's a great forum here. I'm happy to bring you into the world of Panorama. I have an idea. Since you're in the San Francisco Bay Area maybe I can come by and help install and or video your install. I could learn a lot from you it sounds like as well. I have an electronics background working on the U2 in the Air Force and home automation before DashCams. I'm ready to move from a car electrics novice to expert now that more and more of our products have hardwire options/requirements. A lot of it is watching YouTube videos I'm sure as far as how to take various panels off for a specific car. (Important for dual channel cable runs) So yeah, I might as well hand deliver the X2 to you haha.
 
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@Midnight2012, thanks, it looks like I will be able to hard wire myself. I had spoken with Jon recently on and off and he has be more than helpful in answering all my questions with everything regarding the X2 from features I wasn't sure of to ideas/plans of install.
 
I'm definitely looking forward to get off this beta firmware as I can't quite work out if this unit has major focus issues or whether it's the AWB and so on in the beta firmware causing issues as at times it seems in focus and others out of focus.

Mine came with the black holder already attached - no transparent windscreen holder though which is strange.

These are some raw clips so far on the old beta firmware:
https://mega.co.nz/#!8F8DVLzB!IlmDBIuqS1J635L1QV-YdWmXTXtSE5QKtgk_speSIc8
https://mega.co.nz/#!9NcFDbSD!Y9DBzTCMX045c936fS8PNj4VeqIdqM70p_wksfGRjP4
https://mega.co.nz/#!tMcHSJLL!pgT49xauQs-h1vUFEh0qGgnBMVbRNhKcZt4CppcPO5I
https://mega.co.nz/#!9RlzxC7a!af8FAfrr9gjVO38_4a3DVbMKmR-qWJfiufiJy-DsRMU

And a few quick comparisons with another camera - the ones with the timestamps at the bottom are the X2 on beta firmware 1.00.11 - newer firmwares should improve these quite significantly.

You can see straight away how much brighter the sensor in the X2 is over something like the OV4689 which is in the A7 device - the moving night video is also nicer on the X2 than the A7 device - it's hard to put it in words but the video just flows better on the Sony based devices at night:
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@reverend, were did you get your X2 from, is it a preproduction or sample? Interesting that it is a black mount as opposed to the clear one. I'm guessing not from Jon.

Just from your pics, I think I prefer the lighter night pics.
 
ezuser said:
@reverend, were did you get your X2 from, is it a preproduction or sample? Interesting that it is a black mount as opposed to the clear one. I'm guessing not from Jon.

Just from your pics, I think I prefer the lighter night pics.
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He received a sample direct from Korea. I sell the black mounts if needed. (Same as Panorama S)
 
It's hard to explain the difference in words but the X2 video looks better than the other one and it's definitely capturing more data even if it wouldn't appear so - let me find an example πŸ™‚
 
Thanks Jon, I was guessing he didn't get it from you, figured you would have caught anything strange during your QC check.

reverend, I'll take your word for it that the X2 looks better at night. I was just looking at your night pics. They also may not have been the best captures for a comparison.
 
These were boosted with the same settings in VLC but you can see the X2 captures stuff that the other camera just clipped straight to black - I know Niko has asked if we can get settings like the pre 1.12.06 Panorama firmwares used on the X2 as they had the purple hue and captured more detail at night straight out of the box.

Yeah I'm still waiting for the update, I've dropped Sungmoon a message to see if he can shoot me a link over to the latest one πŸ™‚
 

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Pier28 said:
Hi welcome to the club it's a great forum here. I'm happy to bring you into the world of Panorama. I have an idea. Since you're in the San Francisco Bay Area maybe I can come by and help install.
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You just gotta respect a person like that πŸ™‚
 
Ah very cool - mine is stone age in comparison to that one!

Any chance you could hook me up please mate as this would get me straight up to speed?
 
reverend said:
Ah very cool - mine is stone age in comparison to that one!

Any chance you could hook me up please mate as this would get me straight up to speed?
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The shipped firmware binary hasn't been released to me. Only the official pre-release testers have copies at the moment. (Niko/Alex) I'll see what I can do, I know a new version is already in the works so was waiting until then. (v1.00.16)
 
Yeah he's been firing the updates off big time - it's a great sign though as some companies (not mentioning DOD at all πŸ˜‰) would release a camera with bugs and leave it on the market that way with no updates πŸ™‚
 
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