A118C Novatek 96650 Capacitor Battery Dash Cam@Gearbest

SuperGoop said:
I just tested March 20, 2015 firmware in sunny and rainy/cloudy day. It is much better now. Still a bit of noise in the video, but perhaps that is a fair compromise to get slightly better night quality. Either way, it is acceptable to me now. Better than the original Jan firmware.

The day time is good, I can read licence plates, and the "focus" issue seem fixed. Technically, I don't think the focus can be changed, but the January 2015 firmware would sometimes (say 30% of the time) over soften the picture which gives it an out-of-focus appearance.
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So it is good to use this firmware in future batch.

About the "focus" problem, the engineer replied maybe it is related about the brightness, they said if brightness and contrast added, it is not easy to see the "focus" problem.
 
@billknow I am happy with Mar-20 FW, but I think you should wait for @Gibson99 to complete his testing. I only tested Mar-20 FW for a very short period and for very limited conditions. I haven't tested it at night yet.

If your engineer can remove some more "noise" (i.e. blotchiness/artifacts/sparkles), that would be perfect.

Also, with the Mar-20 FW, please remind your engineer to correct the "Version" number. It still reads "A118C.20150312.001" on the dashcam.
 
Hi,
I've tested this FW,i like it but hope if future for a less sharpness version of it,sharpness can be added in edit if you really want to.I will be more than happy with a FW with flat image if possible.
Here is my morning drive in directsunlight.
WDR on and EV:0
L.E-a less contrast setting might help in future for CPL filter users(i'm planning a CPL install),as you know CPL does raise up contrast
 
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I used a CPL filter with my G1WH. It was great at eliminating all the windshield glare BUT it was terrible at night. It reduced brightness very much (around 15%). On a bright sunny day, the CPL was no problem since there is more than enough brightness to compensate, but on cloudy or night video, the CPL made it too much darker. I don't use the CPL anymore.
 
I have tried higher EV, but it doesn't improve much for the CPL. These are artificial boost and introduce other issues like blockiness. It can't boost what is not there. A CPL will physically block out a good amount of light. Ok if there is enough light to spare, but terrible for low light conditions.
 
Night footage is not that usable,number plates in direct headlight are overexposed so it is pretty useless. My only wish for now is a FW with lower contrast and sharpness,so then i can mess around with different lenses and cpl filters untill i get a satisfying result.
 
jokiin said:
it may work, there is some variation in the PCB but button layout, major components etc are all the same, worst case you can roll back to your other firmware
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Update: I have been using the March 20, 2015 A118C firmware on my battery A118 for a few days now, and it seems to be working fine. I am using a Kingston 64GB Class 10 card on both my A118 and A118C. No problems. Card is completely full and it continues to loop fine.
 
Here is my night test with 20/3/2015 FW , WDR on and off and EV set to +1/3 and i think i will stick with this EV setting as it softens contrast in daytime and looks a lilttle better in nightime. Untill now no problems encountered,boots up fine,slow shutdown is a must have feature,mic level is quite good,i'm actually impressed with the sound,`tho i don' t always have it on.I'll have a few long drives in the weekend so i'll test how it handles a 8hour drive.
L.E-youtube is slow and will take some time untill video will be available in 1080p.
 
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jokiin said:
looks good
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Hehe jokiin, I hope you are just joking (no pun intended). That low-res 360p looks crap, better wait for 1080p video before I make my final judgment.
 
efoo said:
Hehe jokiin, I hope you are just joking (no pun intended). That low-res 360p looks crap, better wait for 1080p video before I make my final judgment.
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only judging lighting, even at 1080p YouTube is useless for evaluating quality
 
jokiin said:
only judging lighting, even at 1080p YouTube is useless for evaluating quality
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True. We all know YouTube video is not the true original video quality. Still better than 360p as I try to catch a glimpse of the car number plates.
 
Happy to look at a low res YouTube version as a reference of what the file is about, original file for download along with it would be preferred though
 
problem? i'm not sure if it's...so probably any of you can help me verify. Eversince I received this A118c from GearBest end Jan, I did noticed I had to plug in battery before I can turn on the cam, once the cable is off, the cam goes off as well. Doesn't the capacitor battery shld hold some stored energy to do a proper shutdown? I tried the new FW 3.20 that many of you post (thank you ;) ) but this problem(??) still exist. Actually this problem don't really troubles me when mounted on car where the plug-in cigar-power have a delayed 2-3mins power shutdown but this irritates me when i dismount it & use it at home. :confused::confused::confused:
 
That sounds normal, once the dash cam receive no power, it shuts down pretty much immediately as the capacitor cannot store that much power to keep the camera going longer probably. The FW 3.20 only delays the shut down by about 1 to 2 second, whereas the January FW shut down immediately after the power is lost.





And here's another sample clip at night (not complete dark yet either, but shows the camera adjusting to the lighting situation)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hm258cjnegqgoye/2015_0402_195238_018.MOV?dl=0
 
Adriano said:
L.E-youtube is slow and will take some time untill video will be available in 1080p.
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Thanks for your effort of posting high-res 1080p night video, at least now I can read a few number plates in your video. It does seems brighter than my Mini 0801 at night, I guess WDR helps it. One suggestion though personally I would prefer the angle of your dashcam pointing slightly downward, say turn it down just one notch as I feel it is pointing too much towards the sky. Just a suggestion that's all.
 
I was trying to hide as much as i could dash reflections,you're right it looks better pointed downwards.
I really am happy with the night result,it does look very good for a 70$ camera.
 
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