Calibration Menu on AUTO-VOX A118-C

Sparkydave

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Hi all fitted new A118-C today, I replaced the included class 10 SD card with a new 32gb SanDisk Ultra SDHC UHS-I card and took it for a test run.
So far I'm very pleased the playback seems clear and sharp, I get no radio interference and the audio recorded via the mic is clear, it was super easy to fit and is a great compact form factor.

I noticed that even with audio turned off in the menu I could press the mic button and activate the mic while in standard recording mode, which seemed to override the "off" menu setting the next time it restarted.
While testing this I noticed that if I hold down the mic button when starting the camera after the splash logo screen the camera drops into a previously hidden calibration menu.
I haven't had time to fully explore the menu but wondered if anyone else has?
Maybe this menu could help some of you with problematic cameras.
couple screengrabs below..

cal01_zpstgyrf5ur.jpg

cal02_zpsbqc46mwc.jpg


SD.
 
Yeah that's good advice!
I don't plan on messing with any settings, I don't know if all the A118/B40 cams have access to this menu and obviously its not really for the end user but I stumbled on it pretty easily without trying.
If its a trade secret super hush hush Ill gladly remove my post :)
SD.
 
It's not that these menus are G14 classified or anything, there have been posts about these engineering modes on other models previously, the thing is if you do play around with the wrong setting you can screw things up
 
I think that "It doesn't hurt to try" applies. Couldn't we simply reinstall the firmware to reset everything back to normal? OP, thanks for sharing!

Having said that, I don't know what those settings fully means. It'll just be "trial & error" if I were to mess with them.
 
I think that "It doesn't hurt to try" applies.
I'm no expert but I think it would be very easy to "brick" the camera and possibly put the camera in a state where updating the firmware would make no difference.
Having said that some of those menus look very forgiving white balance maybe or ISO, but mess with any of these options at your own risk!

I'm very much "if it ain't broke don't fix it" kinda guy :)
SD
 
These settings are actually seperate to firmware usually - sometimes brand specific stuff is stored in one area such as boot logos and if you play with a couple of those settings in there you will end up with an uncalibrated camera sensor which is very bad news indeed as everything would end up looking either overexposed or underexposed all the time. I don't think a firmware reflash touches that area either which is why it can be bad news.

On some of the older Novatek cameras they actually let you back up the firmware via this menu but I think I only ever saw mention of that on one Russian forum and then no other camera ever had the option that I've seen.

I'm not sure what ECS stands for but @jokiin will know
 
I think that "It doesn't hurt to try" applies. Couldn't we simply reinstall the firmware to reset everything back to normal? OP, thanks for sharing!

Having said that, I don't know what those settings fully means. It'll just be "trial & error" if I were to mess with them.


I don't think a firmware reflash touches that area either which is why it can be bad news.

Firmware does not restore these settings if you make changes, some of this stuff needs special equipment as part of the calibration process

and if you play with a couple of those settings in there you will end up with an uncalibrated camera sensor which is very bad news indeed as everything would end up looking either overexposed or underexposed all the time.

yes it has the potential to really screw with the camera
 
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