Please Help me.

[johnr9q]

I'm 85 years old and not very computer literate but want to get this dash cam to work. I get to the Menu but don't know how to navigate. First off I don't know how to change the playback/record etc in the very top line of the settings window.I have a Rock Space N56 (looks just like the Keeken N56)

 

[jokiin]

never seen the model but typically menu navigation is to use the left and right buttons to scroll through the menu, ok button to enter any setting, left and right to select, ok or menu to exit, give it a try and see how you go

 

[johnr9q]

jokiin, I really appreciate your willingness to help me. The following is maybe too much but I hope you can address all my concerns. My unit has 4 buttons on the front, the leftmost button is up/left, top button in middle is OK, bottom button in middle is menu, right button is right. I can't consistently get the menu button to go to menu, it just stays on the screen showing the video that is alive. I push the ok and menu button randomly and finally it will go to menu. (I tried double clicking it and holding it down but nothing happens). Once I do get it to go to menu it will sometimes go to setup and I toggle the menu button and it will go to still. I understand what to do in those options except don't understand what exposure is. (it gives me options of -5/3, -1.0, +1/3 etc). I think the options at the top of the screen when I finally get to menu are: Video, Still and Setup, Once I am in the mode that toggles between setup and still, I can't figure out how to go to Video and I think that is where I need to be for it to operate normally taking video's as I am driving. I have no idea how to get the unit to playback videos but can do that on my computer so won't even ask. Thanks for your help.

 

[SawMaster]

From a quick read of Amazon reviews it seems that there may be differing firmwares which might make the buttons function differently. Nobody likes the owner's manual and I couldn't find one online (but I wasn't trying hard). I did notice a couple review videos on YouTube under "Keeken N56" which seems to be the same. Those should show you something about how to set this up. This one

seems to be better than the other two I had a glimpse at.

It can seen daunting to start with, but you only have to set up the cam once, and after that it's easy to deal with. @jokiin I did see one reviewer mention it's that same menu as the A118/A119 if that helps.

Phil

 

[johnr9q]

SawMaster: Thanks for your help. I have been looking at videos and reviews and pushing buttons on the camera for the last 4 hours but still don't have everything figured out. I was just out in my car trying to get everything to work and found, in addition to setup, video and still, I also have playback. Only 2 options in playback: delete and protect. I wanted to delete all the junk I had on the camera so selected delete. I could, however, not figure out how to get out of playback so I turned the camera off and back on and that worked. Hope someone can still help me with my second post.

 

[jokiin]

you will need to make sure to pause any recording before you get into the menu, if you have trouble working that out you might find it easier to do with no memory card installed as that will prevent it recording or allowing any playback related functions, generally easier to get back into the menu then

 

[johnr9q]

I got it installed and the record light is flashing. When I put the SD card in my computer I get a video so I guess that is all I can expect. I will just leave it alone now, forever.

 

[jokiin]

if you want to pause recording press the OK button, once the light stops flashing press the menu button to enter the first menu screen, press it twice to enter the second menu screen

 

[SawMaster]

USDashCamera is a member here- he did one of the youtube vids for the Keeken n56 version. Worst case scenario he should have the answers since he's got the cam!

Phil

 

[kamkar]

You can not leave a dashcam alone, if you do you will be another of the guys that come in here and say " i got a dashcam a year ago, and yesterday i had a accident and i found out my dashcam stopped recording in January"
You can leave messing with the settings, but having a look on the memory card now and then are a very good idea,

 

[johnr9q]

jokiin, Pushing the OK button to get out of the recording mode was very helpful and I was easily able to get to the menus but I was only able to get to 2 menus and still have all my original questions unanswered.

 

[johnr9q]

kamkar1, if the recording light is flashing doesn't that mean everything is working fine. I will do as you suggest and check the SD card occasionally.

 

[jokiin]

jokiin, Pushing the OK button to get out of the recording mode was very helpful and I was easily able to get to the menus but I was only able to get to 2 menus and still have all my original questions unanswered.

once in the menu press the left and right buttons to navigate, on these dual menu configs they generally only navigate the menu in one direction initially, press some buttons and see what works, you can't go too far wrong and can always reset it and start again

 

[kamkar]

I have a video of explaining menus, but on another camera, but still you might be able to use something from that, many of these cameras work much alike, and have similar things in the menus.

 

[kamkar]

But video above explain the exact camera in question.
And yes if your LED are flashing, and there are also a red dot in the LCD screen flashing you should be recording.
You can always play around with the camera all you wish, should be neigh to impossible to ruin anything, and you can always reset settings to default to clean the slate and start over.

 

[johnr9q]

kamkar1, thanks, the video was helpful

 

[kamkar]

dashcams inherently want to record if they are getting power and have a working memory card inside, only if you manual have stopped a recording will you have to start it again.
Some cameras can appear to be recording judging by LED flashing and so on but dont actually record due to broken memory card most likely, but newer models will sound a alarm if something are wrong.
No matter what it is always a good idea to put the memory card in a card reader and have a look at the recordings on the computer. ( some dashcams come with a little USB memory card reader )
It take me about 6 minutes to look over a 128 GB memory card, doing this i focus on the first and last recording in a drive session or a days drives if i had several stops.
I then make sure the camera have started to record where i would expect it to do so, and likewise for the last recordings stop where i would expect them to, so in my case first file are most often me setting off from the back yard where my car are parked, then i often stop at the same gas station a few miles away - set off from there again, and then go to any of 5 or so regular destinations like my sisters place - my mothers place ASO.
I just make sure the each of the files i inspect can launch when i double click on it and my computer play it with its default video player in my windows 10, so i only watch 5 seconds or so of each file, you cant watch it all cuz that would take as long as it took recording it.
Inspecting the memory card every 1 - 2 months will be just fine, i do it a bit more often as i put bad drivers i encounter on youtube, on the other hand i only do about 3-5 hours of driving every week, cant afford more as a early retired Dane.
If your home computer are one of those Apple things, you will probably have to format the memory card in the camera when you return the memory card to the camera, this is due to those computers leaving some hidden files on the memory card that can trip up the operation of the dashcam.

When new you will probably look at the footage you have recorded often, but that soon fizz out as you find out what is recorded are the same you saw while driving, and if nothing happened then the recordings are so to say just "garbage" footage.
Many new people to this want to save everything they record, but why do that if nothing interesting happened, it will just be expensive in computer storage space.
Personally i save about 10 minutes every month of the bad drivers i encounter and want to shame in public. and that is out of the 8 dashcams in my car,,,,, yes i know thats a lot of cameras, but i do a little testing for some brands so it suddenly add up.
ATM i have 4 cameras on my windscreen - 1 camera on my mirror filming the cabin - a camera in each side, and finally a single camera in the back window.
For normal non addicted or otherwise deep into things people, a single front camera will be fine, and a camera in the back too just about bullet proof.
you dont have to film the guy running into you, your camera document what you do, and if you do nothing wrong in regard to the traffic code, well then surely you cant be to blame for what might have happened.