...

[jokiin]

This is were you're completely wrong. Most of the interactions of Taxi drivers are in the vehicle: robbery, extortion and runaways are all performed in the car. don't forget their money.
!

he said non-taxi drivers don't need this, people that do not drive taxis

 

[Gibson99]

looks like he already fixed that...

i agree suction cup is useless in the back unless you glue it or something. that's why i would buy a mount like this:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00EOK1510/ref=ox_sc_act_image_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3I7NVQYVTT49L

in fact with the heat here, suction cups often fall even on a clean windshield, so i would probably use that mount in front too.

 

[tivan]

...

 

[kuoh]

Thanks, I checked them out. My unit is still in transit, so I don't have one to compare, but it looks like yours has a focusing issue on the right side at the very least. When stopped at the traffic circle, you see the building on the right edge is very out of focus, but the left side doesn't have that problem. It also looks like there may be a general focus problem causing a loss of overall detail. The night video looks better, probably because you can't see much of the edge. The overall brightness though, is quite good, especially for the $99 price. I'm happy with my purchase, as long as my focus isn't worse than yours. You might check the latest post in the Pano X2 thread to see what an improvement a slight focus adjustment can do.

KuoH

I just uploaded new day and night files. I find them extremely detailed. Don't forget to click the HD option to see maximal resolution.

 

[kuoh]

Well, I finally got my ProDriver and as expected, I was rather underwhelmed after having seen the other sample videos. The front camera was about the same or less quality as the generic $50 1080p single channel I currently use. Despite claiming 1080p, the generic is really only a 720p, as upping the recording resolution to 1080p results in only a couple hundred MB file size increase per 10 minute clip with no increase in image quality, just smaller OSD text. The ProDriver has the same file size regardless of whether it records in 720p or 1080p. My generic creates a 1.4gb mjpg file per 10 minutes of video, while the ProDriver creates a 225mb H264 file per 5 minutes of video and seems to have less detail. Media Player indicated a variable bit rate of around 6mb for the ProDriver, which I guess accounts for it's rather mediocre performance. The rear camera is even worse despite it also being 720p. File information indicated the video was 1280x720 24 fps mjpg, but it looked more like poorly sampled 640x480 with frequent glitching of the image. The front night time image is acceptable and is less susceptible to over exposure, but is also slightly less sensitive than the generic. Ironically, the daytime image seems to be over exposed. The left edge of the image is out of focus, similar to Tivan's videos, except his is on the right side. This leads me to believe that the sensor is not well centered with the lens and the overall image may also be slightly out of focus. It also came with a micro USB cable, presumably for connecting to a PC, but the camera only has mini USB interfaces.

I recorded the daytime video in 720p and night time in 1080p, but didn't see much difference. I'll compare the daytime 1080p between both cameras some more in the next few days, but I'm not expecting to see much improvement. Anyways, here are some sample still frames from all 3 videos if anyone wants to take a look before spending their hard earned money. The first image in each set is the generic 1080p camera, followed by the ProDriver front then back.

KuoH

You can see the left side focus problem in the following image comparison.

Here are some night time images. Notice the trailer truck on the left side waiting to cross is not as visible in the ProDriver image and also the car going up the on ramp on the right side. The colors are also not as saturated or accurate.

Here are some samples of the glitching that occurs every few seconds from the rear camera. Yes, I made sure the USB cable was firmly inserted in the front camera and the connector to the rear camera.

 

[jokiin]

I have to say your results seem consistent with what I'd expect taking into consideration what it sells for

 

[kuoh]

I agree, but the original introduction thread made it sound better than it was and also the videos uploaded by the seller "seemed" to look better than what I'm seeing. Theirs did not seem to suffer from the edge focus or color issues I'm seeing, but I noticed the OSD display is slightly different. That's why I requested more sample videos recorded in the higher resolution and in other areas in that thread. I'm guessing some product revision and possibly cost cutting may have turned an average product into a sub par one.

KuoH

I have to say your results seem consistent with what I'd expect taking into consideration what it sells for

 

[jokiin]

I didn't look but was any raw video offered before? Always hard to tell from samples that have been compressed

 

[kuoh]

I didn't look for the raw video files either, as I was ok with the Youtube samples. Also the sample videos were rather short with relatively low amount of motion, but they could've had a higher bitrate, since the OSD difference would indicate at least some firmware changes had occurred with the currently shipping units. Anyway, I'm not keeping it and the ultimate end user will be satisfied, since it still is better than what they currently have. I'll have to keep searching for better dual channel solutions, as the X2 is out of consideration given its price and other shortcomings like no standard SD or remote front camera.

KuoH

I didn't look but was any raw video offered before? Always hard to tell from samples that have been compressed

 

[Mtz]

Looking at the title of this thread and at the kuoh posts and pictures I am asking, what ”ultimate” means? The real review of this dual channel crap was made by kuoh. Thanks!

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[jokiin]

I think we're still a long way off an ultimate version of any dashcam being able to sell for $99, common sense says it's not possible

is it better than an F70/i1000 though, maybe

 

[kuoh]

I did a little more research to see if I missed an image quality setting somewhere in the menus, but no such luck. I did however, find that the rear camera is indeed only 480p, per the specs on the last page. So it is not 2 channel HD as the original thread and ebay auction details indicated. The rear video is recorded with HD resolution, but the sensor is really only 480p. Perhaps if they increase the bitrate of the front camera with a firmware upgrade, the image quality can be improved, but I'm not convinced that the front sensor is really 1080p either.

KuoH

 

[Mtz]

Your first big pictures are 960p, not 1080p.
The second set is 720p but obtained from some zoom and crop or maybe from some interpolated 360p.
The rear pictures are looking like some codec issue or the chipset can not process so much information.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[kuoh]

That depends, the ProDriver is also more expensive. I haven't had it long enough to get a feel for the units reliability, especially in hot weather, but the external build quality feels good. The front camera image quality doesn't look much better than the i1000 in daytime, but nighttime does seem improved. The rear camera though, is definitely inferior to the i1000 due to the glitching and poor upscaling, but at least there is a left/right mirror switch. No up/down switch though so it can only be oriented one way unless you want to record up side down.

KuoH

is it better than an F70/i1000 though, maybe

 

[kuoh]

The first one in each set were 1080p, but the image hosting site seems to have downsized them. Still, they should be good enough to get the point across. I could upload a ZIP archive of all the images somewhere, but I doubt it's worth anyone's effort to scrutinize them. As for the performance of the rear camera, if they hadn't misrepresented the specs, I probably would've shopped around a little more. Perhaps I let the glowing recommendations from the Israeli taxi drivers sway me a little too much.

KuoH

Your first big pictures are 960p, not 1080p.
The second set is 720p but obtained from some zoom and crop or maybe from some interpolated 360p.
The rear pictures are looking like some codec issue or the chipset can not process so much information.

 

[jokiin]

interestingly I had some buyers from Israel visit me in Hong Kong looking for dual camera product suitable for taxi use

 

[kuoh]

It may indeed be sufficient for taxi company use, but we here at DCT tend to have higher expectations don't we. I realize that a $100 high performance 2 channel solution is not very realistic at this time, but there should be something between that and the $450+ price of the X2 which could be a good compromise. Unfortunately all of the models listed on the comparisons page seem to have reliability, picture quality or usability issues. I guess it's the same old adage of only being able to choose 2 out of 3. If only that would apply to women!

KuoH

interestingly I had some buyers from Israel visit me in Hong Kong looking for dual camera product suitable for taxi use

 

[tivan]

...

 

[kuoh]

I don't see how lowering the resolution should improve the image, unless the sensor is not really 1080p, but the front daylight videos I took were at 720p. I'm using a new Gskill 64GB class 10/UHS1 that has been capacity and speed tested on a PC. The camera also has a "Memorycard speed test" function which I ran and it gave an OK result.

As for using the rear camera to record the interior, that might be what taxi drivers want, but I think many users here would prefer to use it for an external rear view. Besides, that's what it's designed for, otherwise why would it have such a long cable and include a pigtail for attachment to the reverse lights and have the rear camera automatically take over the entire screen when 12V is applied? Can you post some sample video or images from your rear camera for comparison?

KuoH

After Mtz noted that "The Allwinner A10 specs say: H.264 HP video encoding up to 1080p@30 fps or dual-channel 720p@30 fps" I changed the resolution ProDriver to 720p. This significantly upgraded the front lens resolution, while did not affect the rear lens video recording.
I'm using the rear lens to record the car interior , so I find the rear lens resolution as more than sufficient.

Referring to the rear lens glitch you experience: Could you please reply which memory card do you use? I'm using Class 10 transcend card and haven't experienced any glitching so far.

 

[Mtz]

I currently find ProDriver the ultimate dual lens dvr for the average user.

Sorry, but a camera with such images cannot be „ultimate” even for average user: