M2 footage dash and action

[TonyM]

I would not be surprised if future FW turn down the bitrate or there will a disclaimer to not use so high bitrates without a good airflow over the camera.
It do get quite hot running those speeds.

Can anyone advise what component generates the most heat inside a dashcam, and what settings are likely to have the biggest influence on camera temperature?

Swapping out the battery for a capacitor seems to make a temperature difference in my M1. Not done this yet on my M2 as I have not routed 2no power cables to both cameras up front.

 

[Dashmellow]

Can anyone advise what component generates the most heat inside a dashcam, and what settings are likely to have the biggest influence on camera temperature?

Swapping out the battery for a capacitor seems to make a temperature difference in my M1. Not done this yet on my M2 as I have not routed 2no power cables to both cameras up front.

The DSP and the sensor are the two components that generate the most heat inside of a dash cam. The DSP gets hotter the harder it works.

 

[kamkar]

What he said

 

[c4rc4m]

I would have said there's a serious recording issue with the Mobius at high bit rates as the compression looks terrible.

I captured this screen grab from Vimeo playing it back in HD at 1080P (Vimeo as you know is usually insanely good quality).

You can barely make out the car here, never mind the number plate (large pic - click to expand):

I also noticed on playback it went in and out of focus at several points - impossible with a fixed focus lens, again pointing towards encoding issues - maybe the chip overheated?

There's no way 44mbs should look like that poor.

 

[Dashmellow]

I think it is best to judge the performance of a camera by raw footage rather than video found on the internet.

 

[TonyM]

I would have said there's a serious recording issue with the Mobius at high bit rates as the compression looks terrible.

I captured this screen grab from Vimeo playing it back in HD at 1080P (Vimeo as you know is usually insanely good quality).

You can barely make out the car here, never mind the number plate (large pic - click to expand):

I also noticed on playback it went in and out of focus at several points - impossible with a fixed focus lens, again pointing towards encoding issues - maybe the chip overheated?

There's no way 44mbs should look like that poor.

Ok, I think there's a few things to comment on here.

1. The original 901MB 3min file far exceeded my 500MB weekly upload limit at Vimeo. I trimmed it to 1min25s in Windows Movie Maker, which saved it to a 241MB file at 30fps/24Mbps, down from 60fps/44Mbps. Then Vimeo might have done something to it at their end.

2. Here is the identical frame direct from the original video:

As I said in my earlier post it seems that the M2 tends towards overexposure, especially so when the light level falls. See this comparative frame from my Mobius 1 at 1080p30 that I had installed alongside the M2 (with the narrower FOV A-lens):


So I think the overexposure has dropped the camera close to its 1/60s lower limit on exposure time, leading to motion blur. This was then compounded by re-encoding the video at 30fps and being viewed from an internet source. I don't think the bitrate setting has anything to do with how this particular frame looks.

Bear in mind that the M2 here is on its release FW1.36, whereas the M1 is on FW2.41 which came out 2 years after I bought it at release. Forthcoming changes to metering and image processing will hopefully deliver improvements to the recorded video file.

If anyone is interested, the 901MB original file has finally finished uploading and can be downloaded here:
https://mega.nz/#!v0JimBra!mfVTkBQsFPX5vO9u5s6Wx3Mn-PRrbgx2AnkiJlTKzek

 

[kamkar]

I really gotta get me some proper editing software as i also use movie maker, and while i can make do with the features of movie maker i cant make do with its lack of support in so many ways.
Movie maker is the editing software version of Youtube its a take it or leave it kind of deal.

My friend just got pinnacle 20, so i might grab that as i have a little experience using pinnacle 14 where i have misplaced the disk, and i am pretty sure my M8 will be on the phone pretty soon about the "POS" software that don't work like he want it to do.

 

[c4rc4m]

I think it is best to judge the performance of a camera by raw footage rather than video found on the internet.

I don't disagree, although there is plenty of good footage on the internet so if there's a difference it does tend to shout "issue", albeit it could be production and not just camera.

Ok, I think there's a few things to comment on here.

1. The original 901MB 3min file far exceeded my 500MB weekly upload limit at Vimeo. I trimmed it to 1min25s in Windows Movie Maker, which saved it to a 241MB file at 30fps/24Mbps, down from 60fps/44Mbps. Then Vimeo might have done something to it at their end.

2. Here is the identical frame direct from the original video:

As I said in my earlier post it seems that the M2 tends towards overexposure, especially so when the light level falls. See this comparative frame from my Mobius 1 at 1080p30 that I had installed alongside the M2 (with the narrower FOV A-lens):


So I think the overexposure has dropped the camera close to its 1/60s lower limit on exposure time, leading to motion blur. This was then compounded by re-encoding the video at 30fps and being viewed from an internet source. I don't think the bitrate setting has anything to do with how this particular frame looks.

The compression from WMM will certainly have reduced the quality. Whether or not vimeo re-encoded it will have depended on what format WMM outputted the edited video in.

The reduction in frame rate 60> 30 shouldn't affect a progressive video as it should simply drop every other frame. If there was to be an affect, it would be "jumps" / "jerky" video. If however, you outputted from WMM as interlaced or blended progressive, then that would severely affect the quality of captured stills as the output will be a blend of 2 frames per frame ie 2 into 1 using every other line from each.

As for it being motion blur through shutter speed, it is possible as the M2 footage is definitely lighter suggesting either a more sensitive chip or longer exposure.

 

[TonyM]

I also noticed on playback it went in and out of focus at several points - impossible with a fixed focus lens, again pointing towards encoding issues - maybe the chip overheated?

Looking at that clip, plus others recorded today in overcast conditions in/out of the trees, I think the recorded image has steps in the brightness as the iso/gain is adjusted to maintain the minimum 1/60s exposure. It's not a very smooth transition from one effective iso to another. However watching frame by frame I don't see any change in actual focus.

 

[kamkar]

So me and my friend tried to walk the little RC trucks last Saturday, but we started with driving in the creek, and after a few minutes that had killed the ESC of my friends car so he was only able to reverse.

But w still got a few KM into the forest and i did manage to record some of the lesser challenging spots for the little trucks, so i compiled this video as we try to lure some of the other ppl driving the same trucks to our area.

This is a almost 30 minute long video, but maybe you can watch it if you get bored one day, o and its soundless so you will have to make your own soundtrack.

O the video also been thru windows movie maker, as if youtube was not enough

 

[country_hick]

Ok, I think there's a few things to comment on here.

1. The original 901MB 3min file far exceeded my 500MB weekly upload limit at Vimeo. I trimmed it to 1min25s in Windows Movie Maker, which saved it to a 241MB file at 30fps/24Mbps, down from 60fps/44Mbps. Then Vimeo might have done something to it at their end.

If anyone is interested, the 901MB original file has finally finished uploading and can be downloaded here:
https://mega.nz/#!v0JimBra!mfVTkBQsFPX5vO9u5s6Wx3Mn-PRrbgx2AnkiJlTKzek

I am wondering if the m2 is focusing on the dash instead of ahead of the car. The dash looks perfect. The other car, not so much.

 

[Dashmellow]

I am wondering if the m2 is focusing on the dash instead of ahead of the car. The dash looks perfect. The other car, not so much.

The camera is fixed focus. The reason the dash board looks clearer and more in focus is because it is stationary in relation to the camera.

 

[TonyM]

I really gotta get me some proper editing software as i also use movie maker, and while i can make do with the features of movie maker i cant make do with its lack of support in so many ways.
Movie maker is the editing software version of Youtube its a take it or leave it kind of deal.

My friend just got pinnacle 20, so i might grab that as i have a little experience using pinnacle 14 where i have misplaced the disk, and i am pretty sure my M8 will be on the phone pretty soon about the "POS" software that don't work like he want it to do.

I've found that PotPlayer works well for M2 playback and original frame grabs. You can use Avidemux to trim H265 files down to short clips, and save them without noticeable quality loss to H264 MP4 for upload to Youtube etc.

 

[kamkar]

Okay here we go again with the first firmware after release ( 2.02 )

This is the settings i used for the 2 recordings below.

1080/60
https://mega.nz/#!n1AXCCTa!AkAZfYvAjdcxFpWhVexX1Ln7S-34emRCagaXOmfr614

1080/30
https://mega.nz/#!igpxwKpC!ipOSWPIwsm_nrvSTC7XXs-IreA5c217mYR2PjDLOaUk

 

[TonyM]

I compared the M2 with 1080p60 WDR against 1080p60 no WDR, using multi spot metering and bright light priority. Static scenes used for colour/exposure comparison. Comparison to SG9665GC also for reference.

Full frame shots only for now - I should have time to upload video samples tonight.

M2 no WDR


M2 WDR


GC no WDR

Edit: GC WDR comparison removed as I'm not sure if I actually switched WDR on properly.

 

[kamkar]

Just took a run around town in the darkness, settings still the same as above.

 

[c4rc4m]

First thought is the Mobius not quite as sharp (look at the lower sign on the Drive Through Booth). It appears to my eyes slightly sharper on the GC.

 

[kamkar]

I think thats differences in contrast / saturation that do that ?

 

[jokiin]

Just took a run around town in the darkness, settings still the same as above.

what's your thoughts, I don't want to make a judgement based on YouTube footage, night was pretty shocking before though so wouldn't be hard to look better than previous I would think

 

[Harsh]

@Dashmellow What player are you using for H.265 videos from the Mobius 2. VLC or Quicktime don't work for me. Using Potplayer via Parallels works but in my MBP's case the video is jerky and skips. 1080p @60 H.264 playback is smoother since upgrading to Sierra (again for my old configuration MBP).