New A118-C-clone with rear cam: Apeman C550

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Mexxxi

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I was trying to get Viofo A119, but had to realize that none of the A119 or even the A118 models were available in my part of the world. I did find a dash cam that is obviously a clone of the A118-C: the Apeman C550.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01F5BC6BE
I was quite surprised that this forum doesn't contain a single thread or even a comment that mentions this clone, so I want to remedy this by introducing the camera. May be it helps others who are also unable to get an "original" A118.

Some of the C550's features:

- capacitor based
- includes rear cam
- picture in picture on display
- motion detection by both cameras
- cigarette lighter adapter with extra USB-port
- supposed support of up to 128GB cards
- existing manufacturer support


The one feature that made me stop thinking about importing the Viofo was the included rear cam. It hooks directly into the AV-jack that the A118 uses to send an analog picture to a TV. The camera's menu still allows to choose between an NTSC and PAL video signal, even though this isn't applicable any more. The rear cam only has a resolution of 720x480 (=NTSC DVD resolution) and while that isn't too shabby for a free extra cam, the video quality is. Even though the rear cam footage uses a bitrate of around 4 MBit/s, the footage looks blocky and rather reminds me of old 240p Youtube videos than a properly encoded DVD-quality video. Both the codec (H.264) and the bitrate would be enough to deliver excellent quality, so I guess the camera itself is at fault.

The front camera's quality seems to be on par with the other A118C's. Each camera records to its own file. The dash cam display can be set up to either display a picture in picture composition of both camera inputs or either of them.

The camera's design does show some differences when compared to the Viofo model. The SD-card slot is hidden behind a rubber plug and the input labels look different as well. The biggest difference is in the AV-input. The C550 uses the middle jack for the rear cam while the A118C uses that one for the GPS mouse.

The manual uses pretty horrible English and covers the most essential functions. The implementation of the firmware and thus menu controls is lacking, though. For example, the "auto shut off" mode doesn't turn off the camera at all as it implies, but it causes the device to disable the G-sensor and motion detection so that recordings can only be made manually while the camera stays on, suggesting that it is still fully functional.

Setting up the screensaver has a similar effect: it disables motion detection, leading me to think that motion detection was broken entirely until I figured out what was causing this issue. I even contacted support thanks to this. They answered quickly and put quite some effort into helping me, but didn't have any in-depth knowledge about the technical side of things.

The current firmware my model has is 3.1.0.1. No firmware is available for download from the manufacturer's homepage. In fact, there's not even a special support section for this model on the website. I wouldn't be surprised if the Viofo firmware worked on this model, but it would probably kill the rear camera support. Since I have no original firmware to fall back on, I won't be testing this. The help desk evaded my requests to supply a copy.

The manual claims that the supported SD-card-size is limited to 32GB. I had no problems using a Sandisk 64GB card. The cam complained about the sector size when I plugged it in first, but allowed me to format it without problems, offering me 10.5h of 1080p front cam recordings, or 6.5h of 1080p front cam + 480p rear cam recordings. According to feedback on Amazon, 128GB cards should work as well, but I don't have one to test that.

A quick search online brought up another rear cam-enabled clone, called SmarTure A-128C:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/B01N6LSW13
The seller calles it "second generation A-118C". I have yet to check whether this camera comes with more capable firmware. I sure hope it does.
 
it's neither new or a clone of the A-118C, it's a generic product known as a B40D, has been around for about 2 years, it's basically the same as the copy A118C version so same sort of quality as the copy A118 up front but with a VGA resolution rear camera added, on all of these the rear camera is poor during the day and useless at night, these cameras are not related to the real A118 other than the factory that makes the plastic housing on the copy version also made this plastic housing, the insides are not done by the original supplier, the firmware is not compatible with the Viofo version
 
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jokiin said:
it's a generic product known as a B40D
these cameras are not related to the real A118
Click to expand...

*ALL* of those cameras are generic re-branded models. And it's not just the housing. All of them sport the same menu with the same functionality and design, save for the logo and the firmware version. As far as I'm concerned, all sellers (SpyTec, SG, Apeman, Viofo, B40, SmarTure) buy the generic camera from some Chinese manufacturer with a basic firmware which they adapt only to a minor degree, if even at all. The C550 shows the same quirks that users are reporting for the A118C on this forum indicating that not just the firmware, but also the chipset is the same or at the very least very similar with only minor variations at best which are probably based on the real manufacturer's changing stock and not on willful decisions on the seller's part.

As for the CMOS, the quality certainly does look the same as any "real" A118C. The C550 uses a Novatek nt96655 chipset and an Aptina AR0330 lens, offering a newer chipset over the "real" A118C and the same lens. As for the rear cam, it's resolution for the C550 is WVGA, not VGA. I wouldn't dismiss 12.5% of its resolution so quickly. While it might be useless at night (people on Amazon disagree with that btw), so will the front camera be, at least for parking guard duty. For recording accidents, it's still a nice bonus, considering that the Viofo A118C costs just as much and doesn't even offer the option to attach a rear cam. I'd rather take the chance of having extra evidence over not having some at all. Even if I chose to buy a second camera just for the rear, I'd still get a second set of the C550/B40D and use the rear cams to film out the side windows.

Btw, the B40D's rear cam looks a lot bulkier and is thus more visible. Judging by pictures online, it needs to be wired manually plus the camera needs a hard wire kit for park guarding:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/131978421999
None of that is required for the C550. I take it you have never held a C550 in your hands before.
 
There is an original version of the B40/A118/A118C, and there is a copy version made by a different solution company, at the moment I believe only Viofo still do the original version, all of the others are using the copy version (it's cheaper), the B40D solution is done by a different supplier also, they all have the same menu structure etc as it's the default Novatek interface
 
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Rear cam for sure is good add-on (better than nothing)， but I have doubt about recorded resolution over analogue signal as used in cars for that set up which has limitations no matter how high resolution is rear cam sensor. AFAIK max can be VGA. Unless its interpolated， or they use some “special” technology ?
 
niko said:
rear cam sensor. AFAIK max can be VGA. Unless its interpolated， or they use some “special” technology
Click to expand...

I don't see a reason why this resolution would have to be limited to VGA. There are analog devices that output WVGA resolution, for example the Sega Saturn. Anyway, I don't think that the rear cam transmits an analog signal as this would require an extra A/D-converter just for a tacked on feature. I'm pretty sure the image sensor outputs a digital signal which is then just compressed by the chipset. At least that would be the most cost effective solution, I think. Unlike the B40D which only seems to use two wires to hook up the rear cam, the D550 uses four.
 
Mexxxi said:
I don't see a reason why this resolution would have to be limited to VGA. There are analog devices that output WVGA resolution, for example the Sega Saturn. Anyway, I don't think that the rear cam transmits an analog signal as this would require an extra A/D-converter just for a tacked on feature. I'm pretty sure the image sensor outputs a digital signal which is then just compressed by the chipset. At least that would be the most cost effective solution, I think. Unlike the B40D which only seems to use two wires to hook up the rear cam, the D550 uses four.
Click to expand...

True， as I mentioned unless they use some special technology which I have not seen yet in dashcams with similar set-up.
For example AHD can do 1080p despite being analog ;)
 
Mexxxi said:
I don't see a reason why this resolution would have to be limited to VGA. There are analog devices that output WVGA resolution, for example the Sega Saturn. Anyway, I don't think that the rear cam transmits an analog signal as this would require an extra A/D-converter just for a tacked on feature. I'm pretty sure the image sensor outputs a digital signal which is then just compressed by the chipset. At least that would be the most cost effective solution, I think. Unlike the B40D which only seems to use two wires to hook up the rear cam, the D550 uses four.
Click to expand...

it's an analogue rear cam, 720 x 480 is an analogue resolution, digital rear cam would require 6 wires and the chipset they use doesn't support any greater than 480 lines on the rear channel so it's not going to matter anyway
 
jokiin said:
it's an analogue rear cam, 720 x 480 is an analogue resolution, digital rear cam would require 6 wires and the chipset they use doesn't support any greater than 480 lines on the rear channel so it's not going to matter anyway
Click to expand...

A digital device doesn't need more than 4 wires. Any standard USB 2.0 cable uses only 4, two lines for power, two for data and that's all that's needed to hook up any kind of device, whether it's a web cam or a rear/front cam for a car. Whether the chipset also supports analog video additionally to being able digital video is pure speculation. Doesn't matter in the slightest though. Not to me anyway.
 
Looks like I triggered some OCD here...
 
Mexxxi, I'm having similar issues with my ApemanC550. Motion detection doesn't seem to be working. I have the screensaver on. You're saying that when the screen goes blank, the motion detection stops as well? So I should turn the screen saver off? Presumably then the screen will stay 0n 24/7.... is that wise?
Yeah, I agree the manual is very poor!
Thanks :)
 
I've just bought two of these (to be exact one each of this and this.)
Both on Amazon lightning deals. I first bought the Apeman, planning to replace my current rear camera which is simply unreliable.
Then I saw the almost identical Aras one for £10 less, cursed my luck then bought one to, errm, cut my losses! o_O

The menu system seems identical, only the boot screen and firmware version numbers are different, I've yet to see if there is any significant difference at all, other than the LEDs on the Aras rear camera that can light up if you wire them to the reversing light (?) I never bothered with that on my current camera which has the same LEDs.

I'm currently toying with the idea of having the 2 main cameras at the top left and top right of the windscreen, for redundancy and slightly different angles, and the two 'rear' cameras pointing to the sides out of tiny portal windows in front of the doors.

The external cameras are low resolution (I don't see any other blockiness), but good enough for some purposes. I'm wondering if shortening the massively long leads would improve image quality a little.

PS Even though the cameras are different, and have different numbers of conductors on the plug that goes in to the main unit (3 vs 4) they appear to be interchangeable. Unfortunately my old rear camera has a smaller plug (maybe a simple adapter would work?)
 
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Rajagra said:
I'm wondering if shortening the massively long leads would improve image quality a little.
Click to expand...
Doubt it. On my old f70, I shortened it to be about a foot long (to have the rear can pointed inside while mounted right next to the main cam without having to bundle the extra cable) and it didn't change rear video quality at all.
 
hi i just purchased the apeman c550 split screen on the camera is fine showing both cameras are working but when put the sd card on my computer it only shows front camera anybody go any ideas on why this is also i have brought the gps add on can you recommend a good sight to use to view this back i did here that apeman have a webpage to do this but cant find it
 
It should record each view in different files. E. G. one file ending in xxx08A and another ending in xxx09B
The larger file is the front view, smaller one is rear.

PS My two cameras seen to be reliable so far, except the rear view on the Apeman glitches every few seconds, on playback it keeps jumping backwards a few frames then continuing normally until the next glitch.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 
Rajagra said:
It should record each view in different files. E. G. one file ending in xxx08A and another ending in xxx09B
The larger file is the front view, smaller one is rear.

PS My two cameras seen to be reliable so far, except the rear view on the Apeman glitches every few seconds, on playback it keeps jumping backwards a few frames then continuing normally until the next glitch.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...


Thanks i will take a look i was expecting to see it as same image on dashcam do you have any advice on how to show the gps tracking on my computer i have the separate gps antenna and its finding signal all ok
 
Sorry I don't have the GPS add on. There is a menu option for GPS being on or off, but I don't know anything beyond that.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
 
Rajagra said:
Sorry I don't have the GPS add on. There is a menu option for GPS being on or off, but I don't know anything beyond that.

Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

thats ok thanks for your reply
 
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