Mini 0806 - first impressions

[richcam]

Nigel I've checked the files tonight and you were quite right in that these files have been protected for some reason so I apologise to the developers for my earlier comments over the deleted files - am eating humble pie as I type!

Mtz, thank you for your advice about the G-sensor settings, will investigate tomorrow, I did actually think that I had switched off this option but perhaps not.

Jokiin, thank you for your recommendations, though I've never had a problem with copying files from the SD card to the Mac, though I don't recommend deleting files off the SD card using the Mac because that WILL cause problems with the dash cam. Have been copying the files off the 0801 since September 2014 with no problems encountered whatsoever.

One comment I will make is that the 0806 video footage always seems to be a little washed out compared to the 0801 footage and this is despite the fact that I have a polarising filter fitted to the 0806.

I tend to play videos using either QuickTime which is the default video player on the Mac, or VLC which is available for Mac and Windows, which pretty well plays any type of video format going.

As regards to the screenshots, whilst playing the video in QuickTime I select 'View' > 'fit to screen', pause the video clip where I want to take a screenshot, then use 'Snapz Pro X' which enables screenshots and other stuff. Is a great little prog, but not sure whether it is available on Windows.

And I must say to any visitors reading these comments, the 0801 and 0806 dash cams do provide some astonishingly good video clips, many of which are far superior to other dash cams costing hundreds of pounds more, and I have in the past purchased far more expensive dash cams in the past, so feel I can justify my comments because the 0806 really is a very well designed and manufactured piece of kit.

The 0806 dash cam is relatively new to the market and yes it has been suffering far more teething problems than it deserved both in terms of manufacturing and also in the software development, but the manufacturer seems to be improving their quality control. Yes I agree that the QC should have been spot on from day 1, but at least they have been taking steps to improve the 0806, and when you consider just how many 0806 dash cams have been sold worldwide since the beginning of the year it's not really surprising that a few have been faulty.

May well be flying out in China later this year so would be great to visit the factory and have a chat with the engineers. Am I right in thinking that the factory is in Shenzhen so I might need a visa?

 

[Nigel]

One comment I will make is that the 0806 video footage always seems to be a little washed out compared to the 0801 footage and this is despite the fact that I have a polarising filter fitted to the 0806.

It has less contrast than your 0801 because it is putting more information in the lower light levels, you might prefer it with the EV turned negative a step or two which will make it more like your 0801 but that will loose a little information from the darker parts of the image.

If you prefer more saturated colours then set the white balance on cloudy, I quite like that setting.

Looking at your images I'm wondering if your computer is decoding the video a bit bright for some reason, if you have access to another computer it would be interesting to compare...

 

[jokiin]

Jokiin, thank you for your recommendations, though I've never had a problem with copying files from the SD card to the Mac, though I don't recommend deleting files off the SD card using the Mac because that WILL cause problems with the dash cam. Have been copying the files off the 0801 since September 2014 with no problems encountered whatsoever.

it's cut and paste (as some people like to copy) or just deleting files that cause grief for the camera

May well be flying out in China later this year so would be great to visit the factory and have a chat with the engineers. Am I right in thinking that the factory is in Shenzhen so I might need a visa?

Yes they're in Shenzhen and you would need a Visa, the engineers don't speak a lot of English so unless you speak good Chinese there might be a bit of an issue communicating let alone getting some time with them

 

[richcam]

Have been viewing the most recent videos recorded at maximum resolution and am reasonably pleased with the results, I say reasonably because faster moving vehicles moving towards the camera seem to have their number plates blurred and I notice this problem more when the weather is overcast or there are trees at the side of the road which makes me think the bit resolution needs tweaking.

I think the other issue which I think needs an urgent firmware fix is the lack of recording to the 2nd SD card when the first one is full which defeats the whole point of having two SD card slots. This needs to be resolved quickly.

Nigel I updated the VLC player I have on my Mac and the videos play a lot better now than before with QuickTime with the added advantage than screenshots can be taken of individual video clips. The only drawback to VLC that I can see is that for some bizarre reason the clips can't be advanced or rewound one clip at a time using the forward and backward arrows when this facility has been available on Quicktime for many years.

 

[Nigel]

Have been viewing the most recent videos recorded at maximum resolution and am reasonably pleased with the results, I say reasonably because faster moving vehicles moving towards the camera seem to have their number plates blurred and I notice this problem more when the weather is overcast or there are trees at the side of the road which makes me think the bit resolution needs tweaking.

Low light and fast movement = motion blur.

On the 0806 it is complicated by it taking multiple different length exposures so that it gets a sharp image of the bright bits and also merges in a useful amount of light in the dark bits even though the longer exposure then gives a lot of motion blur in the dark bits. Once the light level/speed ratio gets below a certain point, number plates suddenly become fuzzy due to the multiple exposures not lining up properly when they are merged even though the camera still manages to produce an image that still looks quite bright.

It's a compromise between keeping the readability of number plates and not loosing a bicycle in the shadows from too short an exposure. Maybe it can be improved but it is much much better than my 0803 for not loosing the bicycle in the shadows and only a little worse at number plates in low light.

I think the other issue which I think needs an urgent firmware fix is the lack of recording to the 2nd SD card when the first one is full which defeats the whole point of having two SD card slots. This needs to be resolved quickly.

Agreed, that and the parking guard waking up when you shut your door and then shutting down again after you have started the engine and then not recording the journey are the two big bugs that need fixing...

Nigel I updated the VLC player I have on my Mac and the videos play a lot better now than before with QuickTime with the added advantage than screenshots can be taken of individual video clips. The only drawback to VLC that I can see is that for some bizarre reason the clips can't be advanced or rewound one clip at a time using the forward and backward arrows when this facility has been available on Quicktime for many years.

You could also give Registrator Viewer a try before settling on your favourite. On the PC it steps single frames and zooms in and out very nicely, don't know if the Mac version does.

 

[richcam]

Low light and fast movement = motion blur.

Am sure that the firmware updates will improve the low light qualities and reduce the motion blur, any chance of uploading a video onto YouTube showing how to install the new firmware updates onto the camera?

Agreed, that and the parking guard waking up when you shut your door and then shutting down again after you have started the engine and then not recording the journey are the two big bugs that need fixing...

I've not tried using the Parking Guard option so wasn't aware of the problem, though must say it sounds like an excellent compromise to users who don't hardwire the camera in but want it to record any incidents whilst parked up, well always assuming it worked properly!

As for the 2nd SD card not being written to on the 0806, I think this is a major flaw and needs to be fixed pretty quickly - the ability to record onto two SD cards was the major reason for me buying the 0806 rather than the cheaper 0805.

You could also give Registrator Viewer a try before settling on your favourite. On the PC it steps single frames and zooms in and out very nicely, don't know if the Mac version does.

Thanks for the recommendations, I tried Registrator Viewer which is called Datakam Viewer for the Mac, and also tried Dashcam Viewer, though neither app seemed to be able to play the video full screen which QuickTime and VLC are able to do. Have to say that Datakam had the ability to zoom in and out very easily which was very impressive, the tech team at VLC could do with learning a few more tricks. I guess I will be using more than one video viewer depending upon what the requirements are.

 

[RavenManiac]

Rich, it's been a few months since your last post. How are things with your 0806 as of today? Have the firmware improvements helped?

 

[richcam]

Rich, it's been a few months since your last post. How are things with your 0806 as of today? Have the firmware improvements helped?

Hi RavenManiac, the 0806 has performed extremely well, it's never crashed, boots up very quickly in the mornings, the video quality really is very good indeed since I installed Nigel's firmware update and I'm running everything on the maximum quality settings without any issues.

The detail of the above paragraph...

Both A and B slots are currently occupied with Kingston 64GB Class 10 micro SD cards, though please note it only ever records to the card in slot B which is somewhat annoying because I had assumed that it would write to both cards, luckily slot B is on the underside of the body so is easier to eject for copying the card contents. I have used a Sandisk 128GB Ultra Class 10 card which recorded without any issues but that card is now fitted in the Mobius Action Camera.

For information I've had no problems with copying files off any of the cards onto my Mac computers, and contrary to what has been said on here have suffered no subsequent grief from carrying out this action. I format the cards occasionally using the pre-installed 'Disk Utility' app on the Mac which can be found buried in the Applications > Utilities folder.

The video quality of the 0806 in the daytime is extremely good with everything pin-sharp except number-plates of approaching vehicles which are blurred if the speeds are fast, which I have to say is a major disappointment because I was expecting the video quality of the 0806 to be better not worse of recording car number-plates.

The low light video quality of the 0806 is much better than the 0801 dash cams and the Mobius Action Cam that I have also been using, though considering the higher cost of the 0806 I would expect it to be better.

One thing the 0806 is definitely better at since I installed Nigel's firmware update is recording detail in the shadows which can be viewed by using VLC Media Player to play the videos, and increasing the gamma levels of the video footage, I was actually quite astonished by what can be displayed in the darkness by increasing the gamma levels which is easily done on a Mac by selecting from the upper menu options 'Window' > 'Video Effects', the clicking the 'Image Adjust' box and moving the Gamma slider, I think it is similar format for Windows except I think the setting is under 'Tools', I don't have a Windows computer to play on so can't be sure.

I've noticed that the GPS speed reading tends to somewhat erratic, sometimes the speed is displayed, sometimes not, and have no idea why this is happening.

The actual windscreen mount is becoming a little bit slack, this I think that is a design issue caused by the whole weight of the dash cam hanging over on one side. Why they didn't put the hinge in the middle is beyond me!

Am led to believe that the 3rd batch of 0806 dash cams are now available which will hopefully be more reliable than the previous batches, am sure that as the firmware and design evolves, the 0806 will indeed be one of the best dash cams on the market.

It's a nice compact design, matt black, with plenty of ventilation holes for cooling, now if the manufacturer would just stop dashing around designing newer models, and just sit down and fix the existing flaws in the current 0806, like lack of twin SD card recording, and the parking mode that doesn't, etc. then it would be a truly great dash camera.

As for me, I'm quite happy with the performance of this 0806 which has proven itself to be very reliable to date, and the video quality has been extremely good since I installed the firmware provided by Nigel - so you can blame him for the results

Would I recommend the 0806 to a friend, well yes I would, but I would also suggest they take a look at the Mobius Action Cam.

 

[RavenManiac]

Wow. Nice write up. Thanks Rich.

I'm glad to hear you're finally happy with your mini 0806. Hopefully mine, which was shipped Wednesday, will be a 3rd generation unit. I totally agree with you on the rapid development of newer models. Tweaks to an existing model are fine, but I can't imagine that totally new models are good for anyone, including the manufacturer. Plus, this manufacturer needs to live up to the promises it made before moving on to something else. Consumers don't easily forget unfulfilled promises and this market is way to competitive for mistakes like that. Plus, although everyone truly appreciates what Nigel has done in terms of tweaking the firmware, isn't that the manufacturers job?

 

[richcam]

OK then, since the installation of the 0806 in Feb earlier this year it's all settled in very well, and aside from the firmware update provided by Nigel which greatly improved the video quality I've not meddled too much, the CPL filter has been adjusted after I noticed the white line for alignment was in the wrong place which is a bit ironic, but hey, they meant well!!!

So aside from the major annoyance that the 2 SD slots don't work as anticipated in that when the card in slot A is full the recording starts on slot B - except it doesn't!, obviously some moron in China was responsible for that blatant lie... you know who you are don't you

Aside from this (and the parking guard which doesn't work at all) the 0806 has performed admirably and has never once failed to start up and record video nearly every day on my drive to and from work in extremely high quality in the daytime, except that oncoming car number-plates tend to be blurred so cannot be read easily.

I continue to compare this 0806 to the Mobius which is fitted alongside in the same car, so comparisons can be easily made and the 0806 is just a little bit sharper in terms of video quality, but the Mobius has the advantage that the lens is easily adjusted so I've been fine tuning the focus of the lens and it's getting ever closer to the 0806, with the added advantages that the Mobius lens, battery, circuit board can be changed very easily.

The 0806 does seem to have a less obvious footprint on the windscreen of the car so is less likely to be seen from outside, though unless you are into dash cams I don't think you would notice either of them.

For info I'm currently using a 64GB card in the 0806 formatted FAT32, and am using a 128GB card in the Mobius formatted FAT32.

Bottom-line: Am thoroughly impressed with the performance of both cameras to date, though think the Mobius will be the more reliable of the two long-term only because it can be easily disassembled and parts replaced as and when necessary - including changing the battery.