Cowon Auto Capsule AW1

DashCamMan

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Just came across the Cowon Auto Capsule AW1. It is not on their website yet since it was just released today. Another WiFi enabled camera. Perhaps 2013 will be the year of WiFi for dash cams.

Cowan%20Auto%20Capsule%20AW1.jpg


Not much info yet but here is what we know:

1080p@30fps
Parking Protection with low battery cut-off
GPS is separate / external
Voice guide

Price in Korea is $275
 
I think is Cowon not Cowan.
They added some little information on their website. Maybe they are reading DCT forum. :lol:
http://www.cowon.com/event/event_main_l ... nt_num=376

Maybe the designer of the camera was ill when created it, inspired by some grey pill
images.ddccdn.com_images_pills_mmx_t107848f_ampicillin.jpg

If he had been treated with black pills maybe Cowon were doing a full black Capsule.

I don't know if this picture is with somebody ill or just a little "strange" for promoting a dashcam:


And yes, also I believe is the year of Wi-Fi cams in the same way that it will be the year of chinese quad-core smartphones.

enjoy,
Mtz
 

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Thanks Mtz, I updated the spelling. Great that you found it on their site.

Here is the overview page, design page and specs page. Note the operating temperature is pretty low at 60C. That is the same max as the original BlackVue which was plagued with overheating issues.
 
So nice for a camera launched yesterday.

Like:
- big 1/2.7" CMOS sensor (and something like "6 glass structure")
- great because have Wi-Fi. And not only browsing but also Live View and Setting the camera
- small size, just 38mm diameter (same diameter as Itronics ITB)
- asymmetric lens position so you can hide the left part
- micro SD card and its hidden place (personally I consider SD Card dead)
- the sky is blue and not white and because of lens type I expect better white balance which maybe can help reading the car license plates when too much reflecting light. Official video.
- optional GPS. In some way is good because saving some money if not needing GPS, but if needing it I expect about $35 just for the GPS module. So the total price will be not so nice if the module is included.

Not sure:
- if english voice guide
- how the camera is cooling because seems compact
- if I will like that circle led light also because it is on the right side where the lens is so will be more visible from outside and right in the front of my eyes if I can't hide the camera in the front of the rearview mirror.

Not like:
- I think it have the same image problems when cloudy and trees near the road. I expect the same Texas Instruments chipset DM365 367 or 368 so TI must to solve this problem in their code. Official video.
- I don't like because of the grey right part and the silver circle lens
- on their site I saw the price of the cheapest model 16GB as 300000KRW which means $275. So I expect including the GPS module to be $310 Korea price
Sadly it is not about $150 to make Itronics company cry, because they also are offering english smartphone software and this means to me they want to sell outside Korea.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
They already updated the Android application today, but no changelog. Maybe some small bug.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
Would like to get hands on a source video file, the one uploaded to Youtube has seen too much compression already before Youtube got its hands on it (strong blocking even on the timestamp).
 
has anyone bought this camera yet? Specially curious how it handles temperature extremes.
 
Hi,


The first? firmware update is out:-

From:-http://news.softpedia.com/news/Get-the-New-COWON-AW1-Auto-Capsule-Firmware-348059.shtml



COWON AW1 Auto Capsule Firmware 1.6.0 description

Fixes:
- Added a feature of wireless firmware update
- Adjusted conditions against high temperature
- Deleted Voice Guide for time synchronization
- Deleted sound effects for video out cable connection/ disconnection
- Fixed other bugs


It is highly recommended to always use the most recent driver version available.

Do not forget to check with our site as often as possible in order to stay updated on the latest drivers, software and games.

Try to set a system restore point before installing a device driver. This will help if you installed a wrong driver. Problems can arise when your hardware


Its on ebay uk but seems very expensive:- http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cowon-Auto-Ca ... 3a809e31e9
cheers

P
 
Hi

Advanced MP3 players in the UK are selling the AW1 for £169, far cheaper than any on ebay!

http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/sho ... b4i1d4ecj3

Unfortunately I STILL cannot find any Non-youtube, i.e. raw video to download and watch.

Please, if anyone has some video of the AW1, or can point me at a D/L location, (or even can tell me the bitrate!) , I will be very grateful

regards

Patrick
 
Last edited by a moderator:
superpat said:
Hi
Advanced MP3 players in the UK are selling the AW1 for £169, far cheaper than any on ebay!
http://www.advancedmp3players.co.uk/sho ... b4i1d4ecj3
Unfortunately I STILL cannot find any Non-youtube, i.e. raw video to download and watch.
Please, if anyone has some video of the AW1, or can point me at a D/L location, (or even can tell me the bitrate!) , I will be very grateful
regards
Patrick

That's a good price.
Apple-ct is selling for $250 but I'm not sure if his comes with the 16GB card.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Re: Cowon Auto Capsule AW1 --- RAW VIDEOS!

HI,

I have been looking for raw videos from this camera for some time.

I eventually found some:-

Code:
http://translate.google.co.uk/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.cowonrussia.ru/%3Faction%3Dproducts%26mode%3Dsearch%26category_id%3D16%26product_id%3D45&prev=/search%3Fq%3DCOWON%2BAW1%2B-YOUTUBE%26start%3D10%26sa%3DN%26hl%3Den%26biw%3D1600%26bih%3D1032

There are 3 "test videos" which can be downloaded just after the "Description" paragraph.

I would like to read what other people think about the cameras quality. The bitrate is about 7 - 8 kbps, according to VLC info. At first the video appears very sharp, but then you notice a lot of block artifacts in the peripherals of the picture..

I believe that this is one of the penalties for choosing a camera with WIFI output. The size and bandwidth of the video is restricted to allow it to be transmitted "live" to a viewing device.

regards

Patrick
 
I have just purchased one of these from Advanced MP3 Players, but have had to return it almost immediately as the internal battery would only power it for a few seconds, which I believe is incorrect ?

The store, however, is saying that it is working correctly, but in the options you can select either a 3, 5 or 10min shutdown delay, so I am now confused.

Has anyone else bought one of these and can they say if it should run for more than a few seconds off its internal battery ?

I was impressed by the unit in the short time I was playing with it, I particularly liked the voice annunciations of what it was doing.
 
Yes Dave, the shop is correct. Internal battery is only for correct ending for current recording. Shutdown delay is available only if the item is not powered off.
 
Found a review on Amazon
Hello...

Unit Cowon AW1...

First review on this product. While I had high hopes for it, I will say that it falls short of expectations.

1) The unit ger VERY HOT and shuts itself down based on the heat. Hello...this is made to be in the windshield of a car. It will be in direct sunlight. You need better heat sinks.
2) It DOES NOT HAVE a GPS Receiver. It is OPTIONAL however it is not available anywhere for purchase. In other words....NO GPS. For the price of the unit...it should have it already.
3) Hardwire install kit is also nowhere to be found.
4) Customer support from the company is more or less NON-EXISTENT. They do not respond at all after several emails directly, though their site, and via they Q&A system that you must register to use. NO REPLIES at all.

For such a company with a very nice looking site...it is hard to believe that this unit falls so short.

The video quality of the camera is nice, when it runs and is not shut down based on heat. It has issues detecting driving mode vs parked mode. (Ver 1.9 of firmware which is current.)

The app is nice, however while I can stream live video for setup... I can not stream videos that were recorded. It fails. To see the videos you then need to download them and then play them back.

All in all, lack of support. Lack of being able to even buy the "options", and it not being able to stay running based on the temperature (It was only 76 degrees out) makes this unit on it's way back to Amazon.

Such a shame really.

UPDATE - JULY 5th...

After taking a trip with it and needing to look back at some video. We were shocked to find how much was MISSING! Yes, missing. We would find gaps of 5 to 10 mins of time. It was set to record 1 min video files which should pick up right where it left off file after file. Nope, we would look at a file, then want to continue fron where that file ended so we would then play the next file. However, we came to find out the next file was 5 minutes later. (Heat issues again?)

Still, TO THIS DAY, I have had no contact from the manufacturer after 3 attempts. One even though their support website! STAY AWAY IF YOU THINK YOU WILL NEED SUPPORT.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/B00CPTE62M
 
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