Mobius 2 Action/Dash Cam support thread

[Dashmellow]

Can you add full specs (chipset, sensor)?

Mobius is typically rather vague about identifying which exact components they use in their two cameras. They even go to the trouble of laser etching the DSP in the Mobius 2 (as they did in the Mobius 1) to make it harder to identify it or clone the camera. There have been a few knowledgeable theories and speculations but I'm not sure anyone has confirmed any of it yet. My understanding at the moment is that the sensor is thought to be a 2MP Panasonic and the DSP is from Hisilicon

 

[Dashmellow]

Can you add full specs?

Specifications:

• Angle of View：FOV 130°(Diagonally: 165°) Super wide angle.
• Video: 1080P 60fps, 1080P 30fps, 720P 120fps, 720P 60fps, 720P 30fps

H.265 HEVC and H.264 AVC, MP4

• Photo: 1920*1080; 1280*720
• Time Lapse photo supported. JPEG
• Mode switches: Video Mode 1, Video Mode 2, Photo Mode, you can customize each mode to suit your application.
• TV out: PAL/NTSC
• Interface：Mini 10Pin USB(USB2.0)
• Memory: support Micro-SD memory card (not included in the package). Suggest Class 10 or above. 64GB card supported.
• LED indicator light: Red, Yellow, Blue, Green
• Internal lipo battery: 820mah. it can record over 120 minutes of 1080p 60fps Full HD videos
• Power Input: standard USB DC5V, with over voltage protection (5.6V-25V)
• Outer Dimensions: approx 64mm(L)*36.5mm(W)*18mm(H)
• Net weight: approx 45 grams only, with battery.

 

[thancam]

I am very curious about SKD. It can make a video with 40 Mbps and compress video at H265. It's not something we can see in others chipset on market.
Even newest model dashcams on market now only has around 20 Mbps at 1440p resolution.

 

[jokiin]

Mobius is typically rather vague about identifying which exact components they use in their two cameras. They even go to the trouble of laser etching the DSP in the Mobius 2 (as they did in the Mobius 1) to make it harder to identify it or clone the camera. There have been a few knowledgeable theories and speculations but I'm not sure anyone has confirmed any of it yet. My understanding at the moment is that the sensor is thought to be a 2MP Panasonic and the DSP is from Hisilicon

it's not something they can hide really as it's all there in the code for anyone that cares to go looking

 

[Dashmellow]

it's not something they can hide really as it's all there in the code for anyone that cares to go looking

Yes, I'm well aware of that but they do laser etch the DSP to make it obvious only to those with the required skills. I guess when the camera has been around for a bit longer, people will explore the code.

 

[jokiin]

Yes, I'm well aware of that but they do laser etch the DSP to make it obvious only to those with the required skills. I guess when the camera has been around for a bit longer, people will explore the code.

good chance they will deny it even when it's in black and white, to this day they still claim the Mobius 1 has some special version of the Novatek chipset which does not exist, that's the party line though and they all stick to the same story, why they feel the need to hide what they use I don't know, they should be proud to achieve what they did on a platform that many others didn't do anywhere near as well with, they are not alone though, there are others that play the same game with trying to hide what they use, one serial offender even has a fake chipset company setup that is supposed to be the manufacturer of their screen printed chipsets

 

[kamkar]

We can either confirm or deny your claims

 

[Dashmellow]

good chance they will deny it even when it's in black and white, to this day they still claim the Mobius 1 has some special version of the Novatek chipset which does not exist, that's the party line though and they all stick to the same story, why they feel the need to hide what they use I don't know, they should be proud to achieve what they did on a platform that many others didn't do anywhere near as well with, they are not alone though, there are others that play the same game with trying to hide what they use, one serial offender even has a fake chipset company setup that is supposed to be the manufacturer of their screen printed chipsets

I think the number of fake Mobius cameras flooding eBay suggests an answer to their evasiveness. They seem to have staved off the counterfeiters longer than I expected.

 

[jokiin]

I think the number of fake Mobius cameras flooding eBay suggests an answer to their evasiveness. They seem to have staved off the counterfeiters longer than I expected.

knockoffs depend on popularity of a product, not because they know what's inside it, the problem knockoffs use different hardware anyway so what's inside the real one is of little consequence to someone wanting to produce a fake

 

[Matt_V939]

knockoffs depend on popularity of a product, not because they know what's inside it, the problem knockoffs use different hardware anyway so what's inside the real one is of little consequence to someone wanting to produce a fake

Well, on the long term yes, but on the short term you can lure customer using just "same hw as a mobius". Might be using same HW the mobius tool app could work too as well as firmware, who knows?
And sometimes appearance is more than enough, look at those #808.

 

[Harsh]

Yes, please let us know. I don't think it's quite so easy as simply flipping the lens module.

It's of no consequence to my application, but will nevertheless give it a shot without trying to break anything.

Cable is not long enough and the orientation of the CMOS sensor in regard to the design won't allow the rotation.

You already knew that. Didn't you?

 

[Dashmellow]

Cable is not long enough and the orientation of the CMOS sensor in regard to the design won't allow the rotation.

You already knew that. Didn't you?

I assumed it would be similar to the Mobius 1. Some DIYers managed to use the short lens extension cable and a modification of the case to achieve 90 degree rotation on the M1 and if they come out with a lens extension for the M0bius 2 that may also be possible. Or perhaps they plan to come out with a factory rotated lens option for the Mobius 2 the way they did with the Mobius 1? That might even be one of the reasons for the current firmware 90 degree rotation settings.

 

[kamkar]

On several occasions when i plug in the M2 to the computer it is found and then within seconds lost again, but usioally when i plug it in the second time it remain there.
Its a little weird i think, have tried several USB wires and also scanned the PNY card i use in the camera, and all turn out okay.

 

[kamkar]

Here is a little numbers for H264 performance, for baseline i was recording a 1 minute file of my wall.
The test is made with the 1080/60 setting i assume most ppl will use with the mobius 2 camera.

First bitrates in the 7 settings.

Then on top of that file size for a 1 minute file ( sorry could not be bothered to wait 3 minutes for each recording.

The other recordings in that window is made with standart bitrate and is 3 minute recordings.

 

[kamkar]

Okay here i am again, this time i have changed the camera to H265, and all else in the same as above.

So ! file size is now smaller, but not mind blowing smaller.
This is off course due to the still "high" bitrates that's in use, but the great questions now is ?
1. do a still "high" bitrate on H265 equal even better IQ than a H264 recording made with similar or close bitrate.
2. is footage made with a much lower bitrate setting in H265 just as good as a recording made with H264 and a much higher bitrate.

Really to answer these questions i would need another camera so i can be sure i record the same at the same time with 2 different settings in play.

 

[phufracric]

Really to answer these questions i would need another camera so i can be sure i record the same at the same time with 2 different settings in play.

Not really.
You could just mount the camera in a fixed position in front of your television set or computer monitor, and playback a video clip while recording using H264, and then playback the exact same video clip while recording using H265.

 

[jokiin]

1. do a still "high" bitrate on H265 equal even better IQ than a H264 recording made with similar or close bitrate.
2. is footage made with a much lower bitrate setting in H265 just as good as a recording made with H264 and a much higher bitrate.

some statements from Tom Frank on this

TF You have the option to record at the same bit rate with either codec, or chose a lower one when using HEVC to get smaller files while not giving up any video quality.

TF But with H.265 codec, the bit rate can be about 1/2 of what the H.264 sample uses and still get the same quality! But you have to manually pick a lower setting in the configuration to do that, and it's not clear from the settings right now what bit rates they produce until you shoot some clips. I'm developing a table with these values, but it's not complete. At any rate, you won't improve on the original using H.265 vs H.264, so you might as well save yourself some time.

some replies to the comments

Me so H.265 at 20mbit will deliver the same sort of results as H.264 at 40mbit, I think that's what you're saying

TF The quality of the two clips (all other things being equal, e.g. cameras, settings, scene, resolution, frame rate, etc.) will be virtually identical, BUT the H.265 file will be approximately 1/2 as large!

Me so H.265 at 40mbit won't look any better than it did at 20mbit
TF NO, it has the potential to look better (as does H.264), as the bit rate increases, but it depends on how much detail and motion are in a scene.

Me and won't look any better than H.264 at 40mbit either?
TF H.265 has the potential to look better than H.264 at any given bit rate, but again it depends on many things (e.g. cameras, settings, scene, resolution, frame rate, etc.). For 1080p-60fps video, you may or may not see a visual improvement. I suggest doing a google search on "H.265" or "HEVC" for MANY hits that go into this a lot deeper than I can do here, some have image samples.

to say that the contradictions are confusing is an understatement, still can't make sense of Tom's logic on this

 

[kamkar]

I will be recording with H265 in the days to come, and i will be using the lower bitrates to see how it works.
Right now i have mode 1 seet to 1080/60 and low ( H265 )
I have just verified even with H265 night footage using 1080/30 + WDR is still noisey as hell, and even 1080/60 also have some graininess to it, and i don't notice that on day recordings.

With H264 and standard bitrate, regular driving look good at least when it come to blocking in the footage, the road in front of my car and the greenery alongside the road look good.

I still have not driven in any challenging spots, the usioal tunnels of trees on the way to my sisters house have all been cut back a lot, so not much work for camera there anymore.

 

[Matt_V939]

some statements from Tom Frank on this

......

to say that the contradictions are confusing is an understatement, still can't make sense of Tom's logic on this

My understanding of that it depends on what you are recording.
If you record your room with no movement at all, you will not notice much difference at all btw the 2.
But once there is a lot of movent and there is a lot of changes from 1 frame to the next, there is a potential improvement (potential because you have to compare also how the camera resolves the issue, not only the bandwith used to write those informations)

 

[DennisOlof]

Well, h265 is not miracle cure, but it is better, in terms of saving space. However for dashcams not so much.

A real space saver in the real world is if you do a re-encode of a video file and go for variable bitrate, and set a upper and lower limit, and re-encode the file,
it will bring down the size a lot, but this is not something you can do in real time. You have a fixed bit rate and that is it.

h265 will probably be 5-15% more efficient for dashcam use, that is not much. And all of this is based on how h265 works
in order to save space, if you are interested you can read about it and watch videos online. But the short version is that
h265 has a dynamic grid pattern it can use to compress parts of a video even more, so if you have a static scenery or
the right conditions you can save lots of space. h265 is not something new, it is just a improvement on the h264.

The thing I was wishing for the most was that the mobius m2 would have 0 90 180 360 increments on the lens or
something similar, and a extra long ribbon cable and that it connected to at the back of the IC-board. This way you
could shift the lens all the way round and that would give you great ways of mounting the camera and physically just shifting
the lens to the correct position.

Also two microphones, one in front and one in back or something like that, all though I did like the original mobius where
you could customize it to use another microphone.