G1WH can take firmware from DOD LS388W, Shadow GT300W 1306180 and others

[Module 79L]

Maybe you can just buy a better lens and replace it.

But where? And how do I know it's better than the one that came with the camera? Isn't it as much of a lottery as buying another one of these cameras?

 

[Sunny]

But where? And how do I know it's better than the one that came with the camera? Isn't it as much of a lottery as buying another one of these cameras?

Not sure. maybe at aliexpress or something or look for broken g1w's in ebay and buy it cheap for parts.

 

[Dashmellow]

But where? And how do I know it's better than the one that came with the camera? Isn't it as much of a lottery as buying another one of these cameras?

The type of lens used in dash cams, a standard called an "M12 lens - m12x0.5" - which has a male metric thread with a 5mm pitch, comes in different qualities and focal lengths. You can find them easily on eBay and elsewhere but like most things in life you get what you pay for. It's not a lottery like buying a cheap generic dash cam unless you buy a cheap generic lens. Although these lenses will easily screw right into the existing mount on your dash cam, most of these lenses do not come with an IR cut filter which is required to produce accurate pleasing colors during daylight hours. The lens on your current camera has one attached to the rear element. You can buy IR cut filters but you need a deft tough and the proper adhesive to install these filters on an M12 lens.

Generally speaking, it is not worth the time money or effort to install a new lens on a cheap camera like the G1 series unless you happen to have one from another camera.

You are better off investing your money in a higher quality camera.

 

[Module 79L]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the G1W-H! When I bought it I knew what I was buying. If I wanted to (or could) spend more money I'd buy something else.
Come to think of it, I guess I'm just picking on small things, like the glare, when actually I never used the G1W in this time of the year before (had it since February 2015), so I didn't know how it would cope with May's sunlight conditions until I done the lens swap.
Upon reviewing again the footage of the G1W-H with the G1W lens I find it to be only a little less bright but the glare is pretty much the same. I also noticed I see the same glare, with the naked eye, that the camera captures, so it's actually doing a good job of capturing things as close as possible to reality.

Now that I have good picture quality from side to side and nice audio, after the mic swap, I think I can live with a little bit more glare.

 

[Dashmellow]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the G1W-H! When I bought it I knew what I was buying. If I wanted to (or could) spend more money I'd buy something else.
Come to think of it, I guess I'm just picking on small things, like the glare, when actually I never used the G1W in this time of the year before (had it since February 2015), so I didn't know how it would cope with May's sunlight conditions until doing the lens swap.
Upon reviewing again the footage of the G1W-H with the G1W lens I find it to be only a little less bright but the glare is pretty much the same. I also noticed I see the same glare, with the naked eye, that the camera captures, so it's actually doing a good job of capturing things as close as possible to reality.

Now that I have good picture quality from side to side and nice audio, after the mic swap, I think I can live with a little bit more glare.

I wasn't challenging your experience with the G1 cameras. I was simply trying to answer your questions about buying a new lens for the camera regarding what is involved and what the pitfalls are. If you ask questions here on DCT you shouldn't be surprised when someone tries to offer an answer.

 

[Module 79L]

I wasn't challenging your experience with the G1 cameras. I was simply trying to answer your questions about buying a new lens for the camera regarding what is involved and what the pitfalls are. If you ask questions here on DCT you shouldn't be surprised when someone tries to offer an answer.

I know what I wrote may appear like I wasn't happy with what I've got now but I was never going to buy a new lens for this camera.

 

[Module 79L]

One very important thing I forgot to tell you about these firmwares: only the original ones and the DA380 display the card's available recording time. At least I don't remember seeing that on any of the other firmwares.
That's very handy when you're on a long trip and you want to check how much more time you can record until the card starts overwriting the older files.

 

[Module 79L]

Any idea on whether any of these firmwares fix the low audio/microphone issues some people are having with the G1WH? That is, there are many reports of these cameras sometimes dropping the audio during a recording or just recording audio extremely quietly.

No, they don't fix it. The problem is the mic. I have a G1W that had awsome audio quality and because I replaced it with the G1W-H, I took the mic out and now I have that awsome audio quality on the H.

 

[Module 79L]

The Firmware listed on the FAQ page for the regular G1W with the S1088 main board is named FWS1088

That may not be that linear because my G1W-H has a S1088 mainboard and it only accepts DM800H named firmwares.

 

[Module 79L]

I think the G1Ws are hard to brick.

I tried a bunch of incompatible firmwares on my G1WH a while ago just to see which ones would work. The ones that "bricked" my camera (caused the screen to just go black and not boot) were easily fixable by using the hard reset button on the camera. It reset it back to the g1W firmware every time.

I also did some experiences with firmwares from other sources but when the camera didn't boot up afterwards I just flashed it with one of the proven firmwares and it was back in business again.
I'm not saying this will work on every G1W-H. I've seen at least two different boards and two different firmware names, so everyone should either try to know which name their camera's firmware have or try a different name until you get it right. Don't assume right away that your camera has a DM800H firmware.

 

[Module 79L]

Well, I for one would like to know which one you go with so please do update this thread once you decide. Thanks!

So, after all the tests and even though I have to "sacrifice" a lot of storage space, I decided to keep the DA380 for normal daily use and the original 2014.0504 for trips over 4 hours long.

 

[petepete]

And on the strength of this thread...

I decided to try and then keep DA380 ...

 

[petepete]

And on the strength of this thread...

I decided to try and then keep DA380 ...

and then after 4 days use reverted back to 388 because of the reflections off the dashboard that da380 seems to cope very poorly with in sunlight destroying the quality of footage...

 

[Module 79L]

and then after 4 days use reverted back to 388 because of the reflections off the dashboard that da380 seems to cope very poorly with in sunlight destroying the quality of footage...

Sorry to hear about that. In fact, the 388 shows less dash reflections than the DA380 but that's because it makes the picture so dark that you almost can see them. The DA380, on the other hand, shows them as they are.
If you can see those reflections yourself then the DA380 is doing a better job of capturing the reality than the 388. What you have to do is find a way of attenuate or get rid of the reflections. Myself, I'm working on that right now, because personally I wouldn't want to be using the 388 in the event of an accident caused by some vehicle coming from the shadows.

 

[Dashmellow]

Firmware has no effect on windshield reflections which are an optical phenomenon. Any notion that different firmware will increase or decrease the problem is an illusion or a just fantasy.

To reduce dashboard reflections on your windscreen you can use a polarizing filter or you can use a black Dash Mat cover.

 

[petepete]

As you say "almost cant see them"...

And when you playback and turn the brightness up just a bit using VLC enhancements .. those shadows then go completely and reveal a perfect image right across across the frame and numberplate capture from the shadows is far superior...

Try as I might using da 380 I cant get rid of the exaggerated screen reflections that completely destroy the image and ability to read numberplates...

The mark of a good firmware or camera is NOT the played back image - It is what you can do with and glean from the image when enhanced.

( my gt360w shows a black screen with 2 distant street light blobs at night on playback... enhance it in VLC and I get a full colour image showing everything including houses 50m away...)

 

[Module 79L]

As you say "almost cant see them"...

And when you playback and turn the brightness up just a bit using VLC enhancements .. those shadows then go completely and reveal a perfect image right across across the frame and numberplate capture from the shadows is far superior...

Try as I might using da 380 I cant get rid of the exaggerated screen reflections that completely destroy the image and ability to read numberplates...

The mark of a good firmware or camera is NOT the played back image - It is what you can do with and glean from the image when enhanced.

( my gt360w shows a black screen with 2 distant street light blobs at night on playback... enhance it in VLC and I get a full colour image showing everything including houses 50m away...)

The question is I want the clips to look as the camera recorded them, not altered by some external effects to make it look good. If you want to show the footage to someone on the spot, you won't have VLC at hand to "enhance" the picture and if it's already difficult to make out anything in the shadows on VLC without the enhancements, imagine how difficult it would be to watch the footage on the camera's LCD...
Besides, of all the firmwares I tested, the 388 is the one with the worst reaction to light changes. I can almost say that it doesn't react at all.
But I respect your choice. After all, not everyone uses the footage for the same purpose and for mine, the 388 is unusable.

 

[Module 79L]

Firmware has no effect on windshield reflections which are an optical phenomenon.

That goes without saying, but some of these firmwares make the picture so dark that the windscreen reflections are a bit "masked" to the human eye by it.

To reduce dashboard reflections on your windscreen you can use (...) a black Dash Mat cover.

I'm working on it...

 

[Insane_Dawe]

@Module 79L, I'be been thinking about hot rodding my G1W-C as well with a lens. I've found a couple places and a lot of them offer optional IR Cut Filters. Just gotta figure out what FOV I want.

I've also been thinking of swapping out the capacitors from the G1W to some higher capacity. Probably 3x 10F 5V. It'll hopefully be enough power to flash normal G1W firmware on it and not corrupt the last file.

 

[Wookie]

Hello

I have a problem with the conversion of the firmware on the GT300W , I like everything in the instructions , change the file from FW / GT300W on the name FWDM800H , throw in a memory card in the device that is formatted and nothing happens , the device turns on as if there were any file. Any suggestion?