Cycle recording Probs, Mini 0801

[dawpooldad]

Hi,

I’ve just bought one of these devices, after extensive research on YouTube and the internet. It’s a great little unit, but as with most things, you have to get used to it to get the full benefit from it.

So far, it’s taken me a week to sort out the best type of micro SD (32GB, Class 6!). Also, in that time, I’ve sussed the best settings for the unit to cover my needs.

However, I’m now stumped, as I’m having problems getting it to cycle record. I’ve trawled the forum and tried everything suggested! I believe that I already have the latest firmware (20140308). I’ve properly formatted the card on my laptop and then formatted it on the device.

Now, I've tried it today, with the audio disabled, as suggested in one of the posts and voila! It seems to work!

So, my question is, how do I get it to cycle record with the audio switched on?

Great forum btw

Best regards

dawpooldad

 

[borland]

I also run the same firmware date, GPS w/no internal memory, and 32GB class 10 card. No problems with cycling using 5 minute clips w/audio.

What duration have you set the recording to? Since the file sizes vary depending on content and compression, the camera needs to leave enough memory space for the next/current recording. If you add audio, the file size will be larger.

Could be that the camera is not leaving enough room after delete to save and cycle. If you change/switch settings, you may need to manually delete more than one file in order to provide enough room for the next recording, thus allow the camera to cycle.

If you reformat the card, then you may have to wait a long time to completely fill the card before it cycles. So, your testing would not be as efficient as just deleting a few files.

 

[batal]

Try 20140115. With 0308 and 0312 I have cycle problems, but with 20140115 everyting is ok.

 

[Erik M]

http://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/official-mini-0801-firmware-20140308.4843/page-4#post-63501

I'm not a 100% sure but in my opinion all you need to do is try a faster class 10 SDHC Card.

Best regards
Erik

 

[RichD]

Try 20140115. With 0308 and 0312 I have cycle problems, but with 20140115 everyting is ok.

I had the same problem with 0308 and 0312 and have reverted to 20140115 (I think) which seems to have sorted it too.

 

[Tiaon]

I had the same problem with 0308 and 0312 and have reverted to 20140115 (I think) which seems to have sorted it too.

Just a me too - I bought 2 identical mini 0801s both with the same Samsung 32G class 6 cards and the same 0308. One wouldn't cycle and when full would work for about 8 minutes and then give the 'recover movie' dialogue and turn itself off.

I flashed it to 20140115 and its worked fine since.

 

[Jeremy]

I have GPS, no internal memory. Still on FW 1202. Using a Samsung 32GB class 6.

Cycle recording is fine EXCEPT when the G-sensor lock is triggered, either manually (volume button) or from actual motion. The camera will shutdown and the last file is lost.

Not sure what to do at this point. Gets me frustrated cuz that's the most important part.

 

[jokiin]

tried a newer firmware?

 

[Jeremy]

tried a newer firmware?

Man you're everywhere!!

I actually haven't tried any new firmwares (shame on me). Actually I think I tried one but had to back to 1202 or something; I've read up on some of the new ones but there seems to be so many lately and I can't reach a clear conclusion on which one is the most stable or might solve this problem.

 

[jokiin]

Man you're everywhere!!
.

nope, been here the whole time

I actually haven't tried any new firmwares (shame on me). Actually I think I tried one but had to back to 1202 or something; I've read up on some of the new ones but there seems to be so many lately and I can't reach a clear conclusion on which one is the most stable or might solve this problem.

seriously though if you have that version you can always roll back, the later firmwares are likely to have improved on this, @Tobi@s has most of the versions hosted on his page linked in his signature, might be worth your while to try some of the more recent versions and see how you go, he was adding a rating system to the firmwares so if you find one that works best for you maybe mark the firmware accordingly as it will help others

 

[oatflake]

Just to add another data point - I just bought my 0801 from ojocam (the "pro") and it came pre-loaded with 20140404, which is the "ojocam" branded firmware. I've had it set with 1 min video files with audio + GPS, and powered through the GPS mount on my desktop I've had it running continuously for 2 days and it's been automatically removing the oldest file and adding new ones. I have a 32GB Samsung Class 6 sdhc installed in it, and before I started I formatted it using the Camera's menu.

To periodically check the files, instead of ejecting the card I've connected the camera directly to my Mac via USB without the GPS dock; the Camera powers up, says "USB connected" on the screen. By doing this, the Mac writes tiny little status .DS_Store files (this would happen even if I inserted the memory card directly) but it does not seem to make a difference to the camera's operation; it safely ignores these.

I've noticed the camera says there is about 478 MB of free space on my 32GB card, and the number of AMBANNNN.MOV files in the DCIM/100MEDIA directory is 460, regardless of the size of the files.

I'm guessing that the system looks at the total size of memory card and size of video clip you've chosen and has a table that indicates this is the maximum number of video files to hold; it probably does not actually look at the free space on the card itself every minute when it has to make a decision about whether to delete the oldest file before creating the new one. So things that can mess this up are having extra metadata on the card that could have been added by picture viewing utilities. I know some programs have thumbnail generators and those tiny files can add up and eat up that last 1% of space.

It's possible that the firmware authors have tweaked the free-space algorithm a bit too close to using all of the space on the card. Anyway, the 20140404 firmware and a 32GB Class 6 seems to work fine.

 

[oatflake]

Also, another interesting though on the subject of rotating files:

The file names on my camera looks like AMBANNNN.MOV where NNNN goes from 0000 and keeps going upwards. I've only been running the camera for a few days and at 1 min intervals I'm up to AMBA0822.MOV. It wasn't clear to me if the camera is smart enough when it reaches AMBA9999.MOV to start going back to AMBA0000.MOV and correctly understand that the *higher* numbered files are now actually the older ones.

I did some tests by changing the time stamps on the lower numbered files to be newer than the highest numbered files, and the camera still deletes the lowest numbered file, so that confirms my theory that it only pays attention to the file numbers, not the time they were created.

I also created some fake 0 length files with a gap in the number sequence below the lowest numbered files and it *does* remove all of the lowered numbered files. I also renamed the highest numbered files and it will always create the next file with the next number in sequence.

However, what it will not do is wrap around once it hits AMBA9999.MOV. That's the last file it creates, and it will quietly think it is making new files with no errors or indications anything is wrong on the camera while this is going on.

So that's probably why it's a good idea to re-format your memory card every so often. 10000 files at 1 minute each is 160 hours, which is a *lot* of driving time, so if you were someone who drove 8 hours a day like a cab driver you might need to reformat your card every 20 days of driving if you had it set to 1 minute file lengths, and only every 100 days if you were using 5 minute file lengths.

 

[elbandito]

Try 20140115. With 0308 and 0312 I have cycle problems, but with 20140115 everyting is ok.

Where I can download a version of 20140115? I also have cycle problems with audio enabled.

/edit
I uploaded this version:
20140115GPS + External cardMPH/KPH setting, provided by OJOCam
http://dc.p-mc.eu/dl/?id=20140115-GPS-1CARD&t=bin
So far, it works well with audio enabled

 

[Rudy Amid]

I've been using the Ojocam Pro (firmware 20140404) for a while now and tried all sorts of combinations to make the cycle problems work (turn off audio, change the file sizes, reformat, turn off GPS, etc.) It would work for a while then eventually it would give me that File is Damaged error message.

I think the cause may be the improper shutdown when power is off. When it works, it usually tries to close the recorded file properly and produces a ringtone indicating it's shutting down. But most of the time it would just turn off, rather quickly too, without the ringtone. I believe that may have caused the file damage.

At this point, I'm going to try the old firmware 20140115. But, Ojocam really needs to fix this problem.

 

[jokiin]

have you spoken to them about it?

let them know if you haven't already

 

[gqukyo]

I have the same firmware as Rudy, 20140404, and I initially I saw some missing files but after a while, there were no more gaps in files. This was with GPS and audio on. Friend told me not to use GPS and audio so I'm turning those off and trying it w/o either. Hopefully I wouldn't run into any issues. Bought mine from newegg on sale w/ the bundled samsung 16gb c6 card.