Cell Phones as Dash Cams

VideoReg (Android)

My last choice is VideoReg (Audio OFF, Video HQ) running on Samsung Galaxy S3 (US version) and using Aduro U-GRIP windshield mount. Here you have few test runs:


VideoReg

PROS:
- good video quality for daily shots
- above average video quality for nightly shots (when adjusted with some settings)
- small gaps between videos
- good GUI

CONS:
- free version allows to record only 20 minutes
- temp video storage folder is limited
- wasn't able to test G-sensor functionality
 
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summary:

LG P990 Android 2.3.4:

Standard Camera app
Day recording: 1080p/24, 720p/30
Night recording 1080p/24, 720p/30 (more light recording, Exposure Compensation works well)

Dailyroards
Day recording: 1080p/24, 720p/30
Night recording 1080p/8, 720p/8 (very dark recording, no Exposure Compensation)

Videoreg
Day recording: 1080p/24, 720p/30
Night recording 1080p/23, 720p/30 (very dark recording, Exposure Compensation didn't kick in)


LG P990 Android 4.0.4:

Standard Camera app
Day recording: 1080p/24, 720p/30
Night recording 1080p/24, 720p/30 (more light recording, Exposure Compensation works well)

Dailyroards
Day recording: 1080p/24, 720p/30
Night recording 1080p/15, 720p/30 (very dark recording, no Exposure Compensation)

Videoreg
Day recording: 1080p/15, 720p/15
Night recording 1080p/15, 720p/15 (more light recording, Exposure Compensation does work)


So, what's that about??? The issue is not the camera hardware, it works great with standard camera app. Only 3rd party apps have problems, so, my best guess is they are doing something different. But both DailyRoads and Videoreg developers tell me they can't change it, since Android is not letting them use all in depth features. And that sucks. End of story.

If the standard app could do loop recording and time stamping, I'd be done searching.

Need to say that Dailyroads developer is going to implement Exposure Compensation in next version, working on it now. That's good news, I hope it won't have implications for the frame rate though....

What a debacle....!!

DJ
 
What's happening is that the built-in app for your camera (I'm assuming that You're using stock LG firmware or something based on it) is using some other camera libraries (proprietary LG ones) than what the normal apps have access to (without some hackery).
The same thing is/was with Samsung Galaxy S2 (i9100) where you couldn't record above 640x480 or some similar horribly low-res video without getting your hands on a special library taken from the ROM and building it with that special library only for Galaxy S2. After including that special library, you could record at 1080p with your 3rd party app.
 
so, how is that going to work for my phone? Is that something like a custom rom? Or programming the 3rd party app with that LG Libraries? How would the developer get those lib's? I guess LG isn't giving it away??!?
 
Yeah, LG for sure aint going to give those up. The only solution would be to build a custom app version just for your phone and try then if it fixes the recording issue. Not an easy task unless you're familiar with coding for Android.
 
Hey people excellent thread was glad I stumbled across this as I am looking to set this up in my car

I am planning to use my old Samsung Galaxy S1 - only 720p recording but hopefully it is good for daylight recording anyway

Really annoys me that voyager only allows three recorded videos at a time, seems like a fairly large oversight imo I have nearly 10gb available for recording space.

One of the really cool things about using a smartphone as a dashcam that most people don't seem to have mentioned is you can set up android to push new videos to a your server at home via wifi if you want, means if you use a smartphone you no longer use daily you could make the installation a little more stealth and sturdy.
 
Mikk36 said:
Yeah, LG for sure aint going to give those up. The only solution would be to build a custom app version just for your phone and try then if it fixes the recording issue. Not an easy task unless you're familiar with coding for Android.


Oh NUTS..............!

Would you say a Huawei P1/P2 or W1 would be a good choice? As far as I know they don't mess about too much with Android, as sec as it gets, is that true?
 
dirkzelf said:
Mikk36 said:
Yeah, LG for sure aint going to give those up. The only solution would be to build a custom app version just for your phone and try then if it fixes the recording issue. Not an easy task unless you're familiar with coding for Android.


Oh NUTS..............!

Would you say a Huawei P1/P2 or W1 would be a good choice? As far as I know they don't mess about too much with Android, as sec as it gets, is that true?
Don't really know. A sure bet would be a Nexus phone :D
 
i used for some time Nexus 4 with dailyroads.
videos are in my opinion quite ok. night videos not so good, but compared with other cameras i believe it is ok.
as mount i use one purchased at dealextreme. i think it was this one:
http://dx.com/p/car-windshield-swivel-m ... -0cm-42062
however at the beginning it was vibrating too much. in the end i had to mount it not close to the mirror but right over the dash. so the smartphone was placed directly over the dash and the mount was not vibrating anymore.
however i had to stop using it because of the sun, the smartphone started to become very warm and i didnt want to damage the phone.
 
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I used my galaxy S2 whilst I was between dedicated cameras. whilst everything seemed OK, when I came to review footage, I found whole chunks of time missing - it simply hadn't recorded them, even though i knew the thing to have been recording.
I also noted that the phone got quite hot in use - maybe why files weren't saved?
I also believe some lost time was down to the phone responding to incoming email or text - the video being power hungry, the phone decided to accept email/text & momentarily drop the video?

To my mind, it's OK as an emergency backup but a real PITA remembering to set the thing up each time, remembering to start/stop recording etc.
 
Thanks for the reviews, just had a quick look and can i ask why not use the video on the phone without the app? I can understand some does the GPS and other stuff, but what if you dont really need all that but only need to use the clip to flim?

Im only intrested in only getting a clip with the time and date on, would i be better off with the apps or just using the phone video? thanks.
 
rexyrex said:
Thanks for the reviews, just had a quick look and can i ask why not use the video on the phone without the app? I can understand some does the GPS and other stuff, but what if you dont really need all that but only need to use the clip to flim?

Im only intrested in only getting a clip with the time and date on, would i be better off with the apps or just using the phone video? thanks.
Neither the special apps nor the built-in video recorded are able to embed a timestamp onto the video.
Built-in video recorded has it's limitations, for example not being able to cycle record.
If you don't need that and the recorded allows you to record long-enough clips, there's no need to use a special standalone app.
 
Thanks for the replay, i just tried it out today using the normal phone video, and it was really bad really bad. So looks like i might have to go for one of the apps.
 
Mikk36 said:
rexyrex said:
Thanks for the reviews, just had a quick look and can i ask why not use the video on the phone without the app? I can understand some does the GPS and other stuff, but what if you dont really need all that but only need to use the clip to flim?

Im only intrested in only getting a clip with the time and date on, would i be better off with the apps or just using the phone video? thanks.
Neither the special apps nor the built-in video recorded are able to embed a timestamp onto the video.
Built-in video recorded has it's limitations, for example not being able to cycle record.
If you don't need that and the recorded allows you to record long-enough clips, there's no need to use a special standalone app.

Correct, but..... Videoreg and Dailyroads can generate date/time/location FILES, they have the exact same filename, but different extension. On your PC you can install VLC media player. If you play the video, VLC will overlay the date/time/location info that was stored in the extra file, IF it is in the same directory on the pc as the video file.

I also do remember that VideoReg can generate this on the fly, so overlay while recording, but I have'nt tested that.
 
DAILY ROADS stops recording when my phone locks and screen turns off ?


Hello, Daily road is a great application but can you confirm that it is because of my mobile that it stop recording when screen turns off and locks ?

I have a Samsung Galaxy Prime duos and I want to use the minimum battery to record long time when my car is parked, how can I do ?

Thank you so much.
 
DuiCam application on spare iPhone 4 simple and basic does it for me. Getting wide angle lens from eBay and 3 m power cable ext. no overheating probably due to simplicity. 390kb memory used compare that with the others. More whistles and bells = more problems
 
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