DDPAI Mini One - is it a new version ?

Densor

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I received a news story about a new DDPAI Mini One being released with a Sony sensor and improved night time vision. Banggood and Geekbuying have it as a new item. Is anyone fluent in all the Xiaomi / DDPAI versions and whether this might be an interesting one to buy and try out ?
 
Yes it's new version but u have to buy only from geekuying or other Chinese websites
 
And why DDPAI Mini One with SONY IMX 307 should be better ? IMX 307 is quite old.
The IMX323 is not newer / better ?

I can't decide between DDPai Mini (43$), DDPAI Mini ONE (55$), Blueskysea B1W (53$) or maybe Mini 0903 - nanoq (51$).

I need something small /discreet, with super capacitor. Please help! :banghead:

P.S. As far as I know the first version of DDPAI Mini comes with battery and a 32 Gb card limit. Why the Geekbuying specifies a capacitor and 128 Gb card limit limit ? Is there an upgraded version or a mistake of theirs ?

Thanks.
 

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Ordered the "DDPAI Mini ONE".

DDPAI MIX3 has the same SONY IMX 307 sensor. SONY IMX 335 (Xiaomi 70mai Pro) seems better.
Compare video here and here.

When I get the camera I will be back with a small review / video ... :cool:
 
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Ordered the "DDPAI Mini ONE".

DDPAI MIX3 has the same SONY IMX 307 sensor. SONY IMX 335 (Xiaomi 70mai Pro) seems better.
Compare video here and here.

When I get the camera I will be back with a small review / video ... :cool:
Dear sir, have you received and tested the DDPai Mini One Night Vision? How is it?
 
Well since nobody has anything to say about this dashcam, I took it on myself to order one and put it beside a DDPai Mola N3. The initial impression doesn't look promising for day-time footage. The file is 10.5 MB/sec in H.264. I'm trying to sort out with customer service if there's anything I need to do to put it into H.265 recording as promised in their marketing. Hopefully once that's done it will be better.


For comparison sake here is the same scene as recorded by the Mola N3. OV sensor running in 1440p mode, 14.5 MB/sec also in H.264.

 
Hmm, seems like YouTube compression is killing the Mini One's 1080p files making it look worse than it is (it's not great to start with). If anyone would like to see the SOOC file, I can upload it to OneDrive etc and share the link. The Mola N3's 1440p files look OK-ish compared to its original.
 
Cross-link: observation on power consumption between Mini One and Mola N3.

 
Some digging around indicate this dashcam is likely powered by Hi3516 V300. Datasheet indicates this SoC released in late 2016 has one ARM926 core running at 800 MHz, hardware encoder for H.265 for up to 1080p45 and 30 Mbps output bit-rate. Not much else interesting about it aside from the ARM926 core is outdated as of 2006 and code-compatible with ARM7 designs. It is however more efficient despite longer pipeline (5 stage vs 3 stage). This SoC is targeted at IP-CCTV applications.

Now something is curious and could explain why the level of detail in the output video isn't so great. The hardware encoder seems to have a limit of 30 Mbps (meaning 3.75 MB/sec). So why is it the files are 10.5 MB/sec? Did the CPU just pad the files to make it seem like it's going to contain a decent amount of details? That would be quite sad because the IMX307 sensor is capable of delivering more details than the encoder can cope with.

In comparison:
DDPai Mini V2 with IMX323 sensor (not Mini 2) uses Hi3518 V200. Hardware encoder is limited to H.264 2MP 30 fps but can output up to 100 Mbps.
DDPai / 9Eagles A2 uses Hi3516 V100. Hardware encoder is limited to 30 Mbps. I'll check it out when I receive this cam, but I expect them to pad it up to 10.5 MB/sec anyway :ROFLMAO:
DDPai Mola Z5 uses Hi3516 V300 as well and would likely have the same limitations. (not supercap! 3.7v 240 mA battery inside)
DDPai Mola N3 uses Hi3556 V200. Hardware encoder is limited to 100 Mbps (12.5 MB/sec) but produced 14.5 MB/sec files.
DDPai Mini 3 uses Hi3556 V100. Hardware encoder is limited to 100 Mbps.
DDPai Mini 5 and X2S Pro uses Hi3559 V200. Hardware encoder is limited to 100 Mbps. Now I'm questioning if 100 Mbps can cope with 8MP/4K sensor in the case of Mini 5, or with 4MP (OS04B10)+2MP sensor in the X2S Pro.

PS: The X2S rear sensor seems to have its own SoC. So yeah the Hi3559 V200 is probably OK to deal with OS04B10 in the front.
 
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I didn't think about it at first, but 32GB storing 300 min (5 hours) seems like an awful lot. If we work backwards, 32,768 MB divide by 18,000 seconds = 1.82 MB/sec maximum possible bit rate. So even if the encoder is able to output 3.75 MB/sec, the actual stored file could be much less in order to optimize the limited storage on-board. The Mini 3 and Mini 5 doesn't make any claims on how long the internal storage can record for, only speed and durability claims.

6370388270995875005180318.jpg
 
The three models using Hi3516-based designs are sharing a fair bit of their code (which makes sense). There's probably a bunch of older models using the same codebase as well. The codes have reference to a few different sensors, of which we know the Mini One is using IMX307 because its in their marketing material. Reference to IMX323 probably came from Mini v1 (v2 uses Hi3518 and has a much larger code-base).

Two other sensors mentioned about the same number of times in the codebase are OV2735 and GC2053. It's a toss-up in the air as to which one went into the DDPai A2. Both are 1080p 1/2.7" designs. Of course I'm hoping it would be the OmniVision product, because I can't even find a spec sheet on the GC2053. 3um pixel pitch at least has some hope even if it's not backlit design. Power consumption is 176 mW.

The strangest bit is the Mola Z5 uses this codebase, but none of the sensors referenced to are 5MP. The marketing material also mentions the Z5 is a dual-core SoC design, which the Hi3516 is not. This particular model is definitely very weird, and I will not be bothered to try it out. In fact, anything employing the Hi3516 with its 30 Mbps encoder limit is probably not going to be usable.
 
DDPai Mini One low light parking recording sample.


Comparing it to DDPai Mola N3.



DDPai Mini One low light driving sample.


Comparing it to DDPai Mola N3. You can see the Mola N3 booted up faster and started recording first before the Mini One. Both devices are powered by their respective hardwire power kits tapping at interior fusebox.


This concludes my findings on Mini One. Overall it is limited by low bit rate recording due to limited internal storage, and also by SOC limited to 3.75 MB/sec bitrate output. There is not very much else to report because at the ~US$50 price range within the DDPai family, the Mola N3 has a stronger feature set, better heat sink design, and better sensor and SoC combination.
 
It occured to me that the Mini One has been removed from en.ddpai.com and the official AliExpress store. Looks like they're focusing on fewer models and trying to make it good. Meanwhile, the matured Mini 3 soldiers on with its own unique value proposition ...
 
Some digging around indicate this dashcam is likely powered by Hi3516 V300.
Have you ever seen the firmware for miniONE ?
I bought it too because of very low price, but the 'update/update.sh' trick does not work on this device for some reason.
 
It seems that miniONE is the only DDPAI dashcam which runs 'LiteOS only', and not 'Linux only' or 'Linux+Liteos', therefore the internal name "miniONE_LITE_Overseas".
 
@helg unfortunately DDPai China website doesn't want to let me in anymore, keeps kicking me out to English site which have no firmware links. I did have an old download already unzipped somewhere in my drive. It contains:

25/01/2019 09:53 AM 825 config
02/04/2019 10:18 AM 3,382,544 liteos.tar
02/04/2019 10:18 AM 7,615,032 media_app.bin
02/04/2019 10:18 AM 20,971,520 rootfs
25/01/2019 09:53 AM 296,904 uboot
02/04/2019 10:18 AM 150 upginfo
02/04/2019 10:18 AM 8,388,608 usrcfg
8 File(s) 40,655,583 bytes
 
I wonder if that's a VPN related issue? I do recall you had to "jump through some hoops" with the help of a friend living there to get access before.

Phil
 
@SawMaster that was to sign up for a user account via the China DDPai app (installed via APK). It was necessary to get the Mini 5's 4G bracket working. However, I've been able to download China-based firmware in the past by going to the Chinese language section of the website. Seems like now that is no longer possible.
 
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