Mobius In Time Lapse Mode

[BobDiaz]

This mode is a lot of fun, but tonight I discovered a problem that may kill using a Mobius as a security camera.

I assumed that the camera would record just like it did as a dash cam with 3 minute or 5 minute clips and the oldest clips are deleted. Well today I recorded at 2 seconds per frame for about 7.5 hours. With a 5 minute clip size, that should have given me 2 separate clips, but it's one long 7.5 minute clip.

I'll double check the setting again, but if the camera can't erase older clips, it can't be used as a set and forget security camera. One would have to come back at regular intervals to start/stop the camera and clean out the older clips.

Has anyone tested this?


Bob Diaz

 

[Isoprop]

This mode is a lot of fun, but tonight I discovered a problem that may kill using a Mobius as a security camera.

I assumed that the camera would record just like it did as a dash cam with 3 minute or 5 minute clips and the oldest clips are deleted. Well today I recorded at 2 seconds per frame for about 7.5 hours. With a 5 minute clip size, that should have given me 2 separate clips, but it's one long 7.5 minute clip.

I'll double check the setting again, but if the camera can't erase older clips, it can't be used as a set and forget security camera. One would have to come back at regular intervals to start/stop the camera and clean out the older clips.

Has anyone tested this?


Bob Diaz

Are you referring to time-lapse video or time-lapse photo mode? I will check this next week if I can free up one of my cameras.

 

[reverend]

The ones I've tried in timelapse video have come out as one video over the interval - I think they're assuming if you want timelapse mode you just want one clip output though? Maybe they could add a toggle parameter to suit both needs?

I've just checked and the last timelapse I did the camera was set to loops of 2 min clips for standard clips, and the timelapse video is 02m33 - I've got to admit I did expect one timelapse clip but do see where you are coming from.

 

[BobDiaz]

Isoprop,

I was recording in timelapse mode one frame every 2 seconds to a video file and I'm sure I set the recording length to 5 minutes.

If someone is making a long timelapse recording like a drive somewhere, I can see where they might want to have it as one single file, but as a security camera, having loop recording is important.

Personally, I wish Mobius would get rid of the video overlap feature when spanning clips. If I want to edit two clips together, I have to cut a bit off of one clip or the other and I can't just put them one after the other in the editor.

By the way, every summer my wife and I drive from California to Idaho to see family up there, it's a 1,100 mile (1,770kM) 20 hour, 2 day drive. I'll bet the timelapse video will be amazing.

 

[BobDiaz]

I almost forgot to point out something interesting. When shooting in timelapse video mode, 1 frame every 2 seconds, the camera does NOT get hot, warm, but not hot. I assume that because it is only doing 1/60 of the work, it runs a lot cooler.

 

[BobDiaz]

OK, I see where I went wrong with seeing the 50x showing when I select timelapse mode of 1 frame every 2 seconds. I was playing around with different settings and left the setting at 25p rather than 30p. No wonder the calculation was off. Not a bug, just a foolish operator.

I'm trying another long timelapse recording to video file right now, but it will be a long while before I can see what happened. ...

 

[BobDiaz]

Just an update, I set the recording length for 3 minutes, 1 frame every 2 seconds, on a 30P video timeline. The video came out as one long 7 minute 30 seconds clip. It appears that in timelapse mode, the video does not split into smaller clips. The timelapse is really cool, but the single clip is a potential problem.

 

[Michael Campbell]

Is it possible to do a timelapse photo (1 file per shot) instead and stitch them together with some other software? (If you upload them all to Google Plus, it might auto-awesome them together for you.)

 

[GJHS]

Previous versions <V2.10 only took individual photos that you would use an outside program to make a movie with. In V2.10 the movie is created for you.

 

[Michael Campbell]

Previous versions <V2.10 only took individual photos that you would use an outside program to make a movie with. In V2.10 the movie is created for you.

Right, but the OP doesn't want a file longer than 5 minutes, and the movie to be created in shorter periods. My suggestion was to manually stitch together photos so he can control it to whatever size he likes.

 

[BobDiaz]

Just so you understand, I plan on using a second Mobius as a low cost security camera. Using stills works great UNTIL the memory is full, the camera does not auto erase older photos.

Ideal for a security camera is to have the camera shoot timelapse videos that the running time is 3 minutes or 5 minutes per clip AND older files are erased. This would be exactly as the way the camera acts in dash cam mode. The current version 2.10 software does not do that. My understanding is that this is a bug they'll fix in a later version.

My calculations show that at the lowest data rate, 1920x1080, with a 32GB card, and 2 seconds per frame, the camera would hold at least 14 days of material. Tests out my front window show at at 2seconds per frame, I do catch people walking up to the house and even cars driving by the house.

 

[Isoprop]

As a side note, if you take individual photos with a time lapse of 5 minutes or greater the camera will turn OFF after it's taken a picture. It will turn ON again and take another picture after the time-out has elapsed. This sequence will continue until the battery is flat. I have no idea how many clips can be taken starting with a full battery. Most likely not very useful for security purposes!

 

[BobDiaz]

In looking at the test videos I've shot, even 5 seconds seems like almost too long a wait between each image. Personally, I think 2 seconds is about the limit for any type of useful security video and having shorter times is even better. I did shoot some video with 0.25 seconds per frame (4 FPS), even driving down the road there were enough frames per second to see what is happening.

I'm considering a 64GB or maybe even a 128GB card to allow for long recording times and shorter times between frames. Once the fixes come to the software bug, I'm going to get a second Mobius for the security camera.

 

[Timelapse]

Personally, I wish Mobius would get rid of the video overlap feature when spanning clips. If I want to edit two clips together, I have to cut a bit off of one clip or the other and I can't just put them one after the other in the editor.

Why not go for the MP4 format then, as it does not support seamless video. There will be a small gap in between the clips.

 

[jokiin]

Personally, I wish Mobius would get rid of the video overlap feature when spanning clips. If I want to edit two clips together, I have to cut a bit off of one clip or the other and I can't just put them one after the other in the editor.

load the files up in registrator viewer, there's a trim option to get rid of the excess second on each segment and you can export the files without any encoding etc, would take less than a minute from start to finish

agree it would be better without it but this is a dead easy way to manage the files better

 

[BobDiaz]

Final Cut does a really nice job of allowing me to trim the clips. I just hate trying to find the correct point. It would be nice if no frames are dropped or added between clips.

 

[jokiin]

Final Cut does a really nice job of allowing me to trim the clips. I just hate trying to find the correct point. It would be nice if no frames are dropped or added between clips.

yeah that's what I like about the way Registrator Viewer does it, you just set the trim value as a default and it will take that off every file, no need to locate the start and end points and it will just dump the file with all the excess trimmed

 

[Deleted member 37895]

There is a simple way to do this, just set it to regular video mode and use the lowest framerate which is 5fps. Then you can speed it up in software to 30fps at 6x the speed, or 60fps at 12x, etc.

1 frame per 2 seconds is way too slow for timelapse, it ends up looking jerky and there's no continuity between frames. It also makes it useless as a dashcam because half the vehicles going the other way won't be captured

 

[jokiin]

There is a simple way to do this, just set it to regular video mode and use the lowest framerate which is 5fps. Then you can speed it up in software to 30fps at 6x the speed, or 60fps at 12x, etc.

depends how they have things setup but I think you'll find that it will play back at normal speed, just changing the framerate doesn't change the playback speed as that info is contained in the header info of the file, not the same as timelapse

 

[Deleted member 37895]

depends how they have things setup but I think you'll find that it will play back at normal speed, just changing the framerate doesn't change the playback speed as that info is contained in the header info of the file, not the same as timelapse

You can change things like that with "demux" programs. What's important is the video has the framerate you want in real time, changing the header to set the playback framerate is the easy part