Lukas LK-7950WD (WiFi Duo) Ti/Sony IMX322 DUAL Channel (1080p Front and Rear) dashcam -Review

[Hai Pham]

Not sure about v-out only working on front camera. Does that do from both iphone and android?

My Note 8 android version is 4.4.2. I will check with other android phone.

As for V-OUT, I used cable similar to Lukas AV-Out cable in the photo below. It basically connects the dashcam to AV-IN of a monitor or TV so there's no control from those terminals. If front or rear cam could be selected for V-OUT it should be in Setting menu of the LK-7950.

 

[Sunny]

According to TI this processor should be able to handle higher bit rates:.

The Z3-DM8148-MOD is an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) ready module based on the TMS320DM8148 DaVinci™ video processor from Texas Instruments™. The Z3-DM8148-MOD includes display and analytics capabilities and is suited for power-sensitive applications requiring H.264 video compression at up to 1080p60. The RPS kit features a production-ready module, a reference application board and software demonstration kit, along with the documentation needed to quickly evaluate the capabilities of the produc

It's low bit rate for both front and rear but it's one chip doing both work so maybe end result is 7mbps front + 5mbps rear for a 12mbps total.
Video is good considering the low bitrate but it needs to be more.
SD cards are cheap so file size is not a concern. The only thing is if the existing hardware can handle 12mbps + 10mbps for a total of 20mbps or not. Hmm...

 

[Sunny]

After @reverend mentioned mileage off issue, I checked few videos and found them pretty accurate.
The video and red rocks posted above has mileage of around 32mi which is very accurate.
I checked with google maps and it's within a mile of what the Lukas reported.
Also, from today's video,



It shows 19.5 mi in above screenshot and google maps shows it's 19.3 miles which is very accurate as google maps slightly is off due to exact pin point is not that accurate.
Not sure why it shows more than google maps as it gets gps signal after a while of driving but maybe it remembers the gps from last drive when stopped. Hmm...

 

[mfbyrd1231]

Thanks Sunny for your reply. Tested again and noticed:

1. With my Galaxy Note 8.0. There are icons for front and rear halves at top-right corner. No matter which icon was touched, only front cam was shown.
2. With my iphone 5s, there is one icon for the live view, when the video is being shown and screen is touched, there is icon to switch between front and rear camera and it worked fine; it even remembered the last chosen camera and would show video from that camera when live view was selected.
3. Connection seems to be faster more stable with iphone 5s than that of Note 8.0.
4. Lukas app on the iphone 5s allows screen rotation while the app on Note 8.0 doesn't.
5. V-OUT function, I couldn't find any option in LUKAS Setting that allow to select video output from front or rear camera, only V-OUT from front camera as default.
6. All the settings will be reset to factory setting (language, wifi id and password, etc.) once the dashcam is disconnected from power supply.

So I guess it's Lukas App (for Android) bugs for point No. 1; new version of Lukas App may address issues mentioned in points No. 3, 4; and new firmware may support V-OUT for the rear cam (point No. 5) should the hardware support it.

I had the same trouble once with trying to select the rear camera for live view and it kept showing the front. There is a setting under "basic" that refers to the rear camera "cell phone midea player" love the mistranslation...but anyways I had turned it on or off and afterwards it would only show live video from the front camera no matter which one you chose. After reversing the setting I was able to view both cams live again.

 

[mfbyrd1231]

And I too would love an option to select which camera shows up on the analog output. The latency of the app does not allow you to use it for a a backup camera. Even though my vehicle already has a backup camera it only shows up in revrse. It would be nice to output this to a dedicated monitor with 0 latency

 

[Sunny]

I had the same trouble once with trying to select the rear camera for live view and it kept showing the front. There is a setting under "basic" that refers to the rear camera "cell phone midea player" love the mistranslation...but anyways I had turned it on or off and afterwards it would only show live video from the front camera no matter which one you chose. After reversing the setting I was able to view both cams live again.

I never messed with that setting so it was what it was set from factory and worked fine.
If changing that setting works, it's not a big deal.

I also noticed midea in multiple places, in printed manual as well.

 

[mfbyrd1231]

Yea I just kept changing things to see how it would react because I was getting confused with the way they describe the settings. I kept understanding things as off was on and on was off with they way they put it.

 

[Hai Pham]

There is a setting under "basic" that refers to the rear camera "cell phone midea player" love the mistranslation...but anyways I had turned it on or off and afterwards it would only show live video from the front camera no matter which one you chose. After reversing the setting I was able to view both cams live again.

I turned on/off several places in the setting and was able to view both cams live but couldn't figure out which was the right one. So your post gives the answer. The media players now shows Lukas logo and scale for brightness when started and the media player window could be rotated, which was not the case before the setting.

And I too would love an option to select which camera shows up on the analog output.

I have sent an email to Lukas regarding V-OUT for the rear cam, hope that they'd take that into account for the new firmware (if LK-7950 hardware supports it).

Thanks.

 

[Sunny]

And I too would love an option to select which camera shows up on the analog output. The latency of the app does not allow you to use it for a a backup camera. Even though my vehicle already has a backup camera it only shows up in revrse. It would be nice to output this to a dedicated monitor with 0 latency

The video lag maybe only in wireless.
V-out is hard wired so should be real time without any lag.

 

[Hai Pham]

V-out is hard wired so should be real time without any lag.

Tested with V-OUT, it's stable, real time and no video lag.

 

[Sunny]

Tested with V-OUT, it's stable, real time and no video lag.

That's what I thought.

 

[Sunny]

I had the same trouble once with trying to select the rear camera for live view and it kept showing the front. There is a setting under "basic" that refers to the rear camera "cell phone midea player" ...

Just to be clear, that 'cell phone midea player' for rear cam setting is under 'Video', not under 'Basic':
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/attachments/screenshot_2015-03-16-21-14-50-png.11840/

There is another place where the rear camera is mentioned, under 'Additional' parking mode, rear settings but that is for parking mode:
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/attachments/screenshot_2015-03-16-21-16-58-png.11844/

 

[mfbyrd1231]

I noticed in parking mode the v-out cuts off. Not good for trying to adjust while parked. I had to up the amount of minutes so it wouldn't cut off so fast. And my mistake on the rear camera setting location

 

[Sunny]

Some screenshots from today:



and videos:
Front: At 1:05, tell me if the Honda Pilot was intentionally changing lane or distracted???
I think the latter the way he went back after realizing or do I see his blinkers on?
Had the minivan been little slower, there would have been a collision.

Rear:

 

[mfbyrd1231]

Hard to tell without a camera in the pilot facing the driver lol. After installing this dash camera now I wish I had 4 more cams in my ride. 1 to point out each side, 1 to point inside facing towards the rear, and 1 inside in the rear facing towards the front. These cams have also made me more mindful of a driver so if I need to provide evidence to the insurance company they won't say oh you were speeding or oh you didn't cone to a complete stop etc...

 

[Sunny]

Only in Denver, Colorado.
Yesterday, it was over 70 degrees and today it's below freezing and snowing...

Night video from pitch black street to lots of traffic lights... light rain and snow.
It's very good at night:
Front: VBR @ 7298 kbps, 30 fps

Rear: VBR @ 5326 kbps, 24 fps
Parking under street light really reflects the inside on the rear window.

Snow on windshield after few minutes at the pizza place:
Front:

Me cleaning snow on the rear window after brief stop at the pizza place:

I think Lukas' rear camera looks better than the front.

Audio is silent in some parts due to Youtube removing copyrighted songs, even classical ones.

 

[Ipol]

@ Looks like he changed his mind his indicator was blinking .....Ipol

 

[Sunny]

As you saw above, night quality is very good, even with light rain and snow reflecting lights.
Some screenshots:
Front:


Rear:

 

[Sunny]

To give an idea of how the vehicles right next to you look in the Lukas.
Bumper to bumper front and back FOV.
This is what it looks like when the front car is only a foot from the bumper.
Looks pretty close in video as well compared to the back.


This is what it looks like when the rear car is only a foot from the bumper.
The rear video makes the cars behind you look much farther away.
This Jeep is right next to my car.

 

[Sunny]

My 1st attempt on combining front and rear videos into one horizontally...

20150410-Audi passing me to get back but not quite-close call.