kngharv
New Member
I have tried to find a way to automatically transfer video files from the dashcam to my home comoputer/server for a long time.
The scenario is the following: I return home, car is parked in the garage, which is within my home wifi's coverage. Ideally, I want video footage automatically transfer to an always-on home computer or a NAS server once the car is already in my garage. The entire process shouldn't require any human intervention.
Since most of dashcam are designed and made in Asia, and most of Asians don't have an attached garage right next to his/her apartment, such usage scenario is quite foreign to them. Thus , most of dashcam aren't designed with such scenario in mind.
Most of solutions I have surveyed require
- either a linux-based dashcam thus able hack it (find out rtsp URI or http-based streaming URI then write a script to download the video)
- and a way to keep dashcam stay on for tens of minutes while the car power is off. Most of the dashcam will shut off its wifi within minutes after the car is shutoff, not enough time to transfer files to a computer wirelessly.
Yet, the problem is that
- Most dashcam is designed as a wifi hotspot which require your phone connect to it, not other way around.
- Only one or two dashcams (thinkware/blackvue) are open enough for you to hack into it. For most cases, we don't know the streaming URI thus we can't write a script to download the video footage
- Again, most dashcam are designed to have wifi shut off within minutes car is off, even if you connect the dashcam with a fuse kit. This behavior turned out to be very difficult to override. Since video footage tend to be large in size (up to hundreds of megabytes), there is no way dashcam footage can be wirelessly transferred to home computer within the few minutes car ignition is off.
I have find a silly way to transfer video file seamlessly to my home computer once the car is parked within my home wifi's range (i.e. no human intervention during the entire process). However, it has a following requirements in order to make it work:
1. the dashcam app has to have an Android version (iOS won't work)
2. the app has the option of automatically download footage from dashcam to the app without human intervention (IMPORTANT)!
3. your car garage is within your home wifi range
4. an used Android phone dedicated to the dashcam app AND synching footage your home computer
5. usb car charger which charging that used Android phone all the time (or all the time when the car is on)
6. a free file sync software installed on both your home PC and your phone (i.e. syncthing)
Once everything set up, here is what going to happen
- have a dedicated Android phone attached to an usb charger so this phone is being charged while you are driving
- this android phone has dashcam app installed. During normal driving condition, this android phone is "dedicated" to dashcam (i.e. phone's wifi is connect to dashcam's hotspot all the time) thus dashcam footage will automatically transferred to the android phone
- once your car is parked in the garage and ignition is off, the android phone naturally disconnected from the dashcam's hotspot and switched to your home's wifi
- the android phone will then start to sync the video files to your home computer eventhough your car is parked, since the phone has a battery which it can run on
- note that this android phone will never leave your car.
This solution rely on
1. dashcam app automatically fetch footage to the dashcam app
2. syncthing's ability to set up directory-based synchronization and its ability to turn run at a specific wifi network. This is also the reason why iPhone wont work, as the user can't have the direct access to files inside the phone.
Such solution does require you to get an extra hardware, i.e. an extra android phone. But the beauty is that most basic low-end phone will do the job, and that a lot of people happened to have an old phone / a phone with a cracked screen lying around. In my case, I didn't have spare phone, so I end up buying a seller-refurbished Motorola phone for $35 dollars including shipping.
That is the gist of the solution. I end up doing something a bit more than that (i.e. i installed an automation app that turn on dashcam app when connected to dashcam's wifi... but i am not sure this is needed as my dashcam app has an option of start the app when the phone is turned on). If you guys have any question, please let me know
Harv
The scenario is the following: I return home, car is parked in the garage, which is within my home wifi's coverage. Ideally, I want video footage automatically transfer to an always-on home computer or a NAS server once the car is already in my garage. The entire process shouldn't require any human intervention.
Since most of dashcam are designed and made in Asia, and most of Asians don't have an attached garage right next to his/her apartment, such usage scenario is quite foreign to them. Thus , most of dashcam aren't designed with such scenario in mind.
Most of solutions I have surveyed require
- either a linux-based dashcam thus able hack it (find out rtsp URI or http-based streaming URI then write a script to download the video)
- and a way to keep dashcam stay on for tens of minutes while the car power is off. Most of the dashcam will shut off its wifi within minutes after the car is shutoff, not enough time to transfer files to a computer wirelessly.
Yet, the problem is that
- Most dashcam is designed as a wifi hotspot which require your phone connect to it, not other way around.
- Only one or two dashcams (thinkware/blackvue) are open enough for you to hack into it. For most cases, we don't know the streaming URI thus we can't write a script to download the video footage
- Again, most dashcam are designed to have wifi shut off within minutes car is off, even if you connect the dashcam with a fuse kit. This behavior turned out to be very difficult to override. Since video footage tend to be large in size (up to hundreds of megabytes), there is no way dashcam footage can be wirelessly transferred to home computer within the few minutes car ignition is off.
I have find a silly way to transfer video file seamlessly to my home computer once the car is parked within my home wifi's range (i.e. no human intervention during the entire process). However, it has a following requirements in order to make it work:
1. the dashcam app has to have an Android version (iOS won't work)
2. the app has the option of automatically download footage from dashcam to the app without human intervention (IMPORTANT)!
3. your car garage is within your home wifi range
4. an used Android phone dedicated to the dashcam app AND synching footage your home computer
5. usb car charger which charging that used Android phone all the time (or all the time when the car is on)
6. a free file sync software installed on both your home PC and your phone (i.e. syncthing)
Once everything set up, here is what going to happen
- have a dedicated Android phone attached to an usb charger so this phone is being charged while you are driving
- this android phone has dashcam app installed. During normal driving condition, this android phone is "dedicated" to dashcam (i.e. phone's wifi is connect to dashcam's hotspot all the time) thus dashcam footage will automatically transferred to the android phone
- once your car is parked in the garage and ignition is off, the android phone naturally disconnected from the dashcam's hotspot and switched to your home's wifi
- the android phone will then start to sync the video files to your home computer eventhough your car is parked, since the phone has a battery which it can run on
- note that this android phone will never leave your car.
This solution rely on
1. dashcam app automatically fetch footage to the dashcam app
2. syncthing's ability to set up directory-based synchronization and its ability to turn run at a specific wifi network. This is also the reason why iPhone wont work, as the user can't have the direct access to files inside the phone.
Such solution does require you to get an extra hardware, i.e. an extra android phone. But the beauty is that most basic low-end phone will do the job, and that a lot of people happened to have an old phone / a phone with a cracked screen lying around. In my case, I didn't have spare phone, so I end up buying a seller-refurbished Motorola phone for $35 dollars including shipping.
That is the gist of the solution. I end up doing something a bit more than that (i.e. i installed an automation app that turn on dashcam app when connected to dashcam's wifi... but i am not sure this is needed as my dashcam app has an option of start the app when the phone is turned on). If you guys have any question, please let me know
Harv