"Real World" Questions on the DC

[IanQ]

I'm in the UK and I've just taken delivery of a SG9663DC which I purchased from Hinko on Amazon. I did a lot of research, including reading numerous postings on here, before deciding which make and model dashcam to buy. One of the reasons I decided on the SG9663DC, apart from the reported build quality, video quality and excellent after sales service, was because it had wifi. I realise that, according to previous postings, it currently has limited functionality but even in it's current from it will work with some Android apps which makes it useful.

But I cannot get the wifi on mine to work. It came with firmware v1.12 and after trying it first I updated to the current v1.14 and still cannot get the wifi to work. It is available as an option in the Menu and I can select the On setting but after turning it on there is no indication on the lcd that it is on and scanning for it does not find anything. Am I doing something wrong, has it been disabled since the previous posts saying it was working, or is mine faulty?

Not sure if I should have started a new post but as this thread has already mentioned wifi I thought I'd post it here.

 

[niko]

I'm in the UK and I've just taken delivery of a SG9663DC which I purchased from Hinko on Amazon. I did a lot of research, including reading numerous postings on here, before deciding which make and model dashcam to buy. One of the reasons I decided on the SG9663DC, apart from the reported build quality, video quality and excellent after sales service, was because it had wifi. I realise that, according to previous postings, it currently has limited functionality but even in it's current from it will work with some Android apps which makes it useful.

But I cannot get the wifi on mine to work. It came with firmware v1.12 and after trying it first I updated to the current v1.14 and still cannot get the wifi to work. It is available as an option in the Menu and I can select the On setting but after turning it on there is no indication on the lcd that it is on and scanning for it does not find anything. Am I doing something wrong, has it been disabled since the previous posts saying it was working, or is mine faulty?

Not sure if I should have started a new post but as this thread has already mentioned wifi I thought I'd post it here.

There are no wifi icon on display.
After you enable wifi from the menu settings, exit menu by pressing "menu" button, you will see "wifi" sign at the centre of the LCD screen for about 1sec., after that screen goes black with your unit SSID and password (12345678) displayed at the centre of the screen.

You are right, wifi function is there for beta testings at the moment, that's why it is not yet widely advertised because there are still some work need to be done (probably some bug fixings as well) before it goes public.

Sent from my VKY-L29 using Tapatalk

 

[IanQ]

There are no wifi icon on display.
After you enable wifi from the menu settings, exit menu by pressing "menu" button, you will see "wifi" sign at the centre of the LCD screen for about 1sec., after that screen goes black with your unit SSID and password (12345678) displayed at the centre of the screen.

You are right, wifi function is there for beta testings at the moment, that's why it is not yet widely advertised because there are still some work need to be done (probably some bug fixings as well) before it goes public.

Sent from my VKY-L29 using Tapatalk

Thanks for the very prompt reply.

I have now got the wifi working and tested it using Novacam, which works to play back files and also for a live view, but as has previously been mentioned, it is a bit buggy.

On the Wifi menu after using the Mic/Down button to highlight the On option I was using the Menu button to select it, which I thought had worked on the other menu options, instead of using the OK/Lock button to select it and then the Menu to exit.

The reason I wanted the wifi to work is that if you want to mount the dashcam as discretely as possible on the windscreen the lcd can be obscured by the rearview mirror and, being in the UK and righthand drive, the SD card is then very difficult to get to as it is against the mirror / rain sensor housing. Having wifi means that you can view the recordings on a phone or tablet screen, which a much larger screen, without removing the SD card.

Now I am happy that it will work as I wanted and the recording quality looks to be as good as described, although only tried indoors so far, I'll install and test it in the car tomorrow.

 

[puska]

One suggestion, can future firmware update have option to change the password, or at least make it more secure one?

@IanQ you won't be disappointed with quality, I'm returning customer who bought DC model for my new vehicle, and what I've seen quality looks really good from both cameras, and support you are getting is above and beyond anything out there, and that's important at least to me, don't want camera with buggy fw updates or no updates at all, and no one to talk to when/if issue occurs.

 

[jokiin]

One suggestion, can future firmware update have option to change the password, or at least make it more secure one?

we haven't really got into the wifi side of things just yet, it's off by default so not really much risk associated at this point

 

[IanQ]

One further thought regarding the wifi. Once you get your official wifi app working and released it would be nice to have an option to have the wifi on all the time with the screen totally blanked. Then when you mount the dashcam you don't have to worry about being able to view the screen if you are going to use the wifi and app to view recordings and live view.

 

[jokiin]

it would be nice to have an option to have the wifi on all the time

this is unlikely to be offered as an option, it has more negatives than positives

 

[IanQ]

this is unlikely to be offered as an option, it has more negatives than positives

It's only a suggestion and it asumes that your wifi app has the appropriate functionality. If it was an option then only the customers who wanted to use it that way would enable it, so I'm not sure what the negatives are.

 

[jokiin]

It's only a suggestion

suggestions are always welcome

I'm not sure what the negatives are.

heat, potential for interference, some devices lose internet access when connected to a wifi device

 

[IanQ]

suggestions are always welcome

heat, potential for interference, some devices lose internet access when connected to a wifi device

I never considered the extra heat from the additional current draw with the wifi on. Will it be significant? I wasn't expecting the wifi output to be very high, so only a low power draw and a low chance of interference, as I only thought it would need to cover a few feet ie only as far as the back seat of the car. I wasn't expecting to be able to connect to it from the house when the car was in the garage.

My phone and tablet lost internet connection, they were getting it from the home wifi, while I was connected to and testing the dashcam but I didn't consider it a problem as I would not expect to be connected to the dashcam wifi permanently. I was only thinking of being connected to it while editing the menu options, viewing recordings or the live view while setting it up or making adjustments. In the UK the police don't encourage drivers to use a phone or tablet to look at videos while driving.

I'm not sure if I used my phone to connect to the dashcam using wifi while the phone also had data enabled if it would keep internet access. But as I said above i would not consider it an issue if it didn't.

One of the dashcams I was considering before deciding on this model was the Thinkware F770. I was considering it mainly because it had wifi and no screen as it made mounting it discretely easier as you didn't have to worry about being able to see the screen.

To me the wifi option is an additional selling point, assuming that the app made for it has the correct functionality. Maybe I'm in the minority.

 

[jokiin]

To me the wifi option is an additional selling point, assuming that the app made for it has the correct functionality. Maybe I'm in the minority.

there's no one size fits all, there's give and take with any solution

 

[mcaf123]

Just installed my DC today and will be using the latest BETA firmware. I have the CPL on the front cam and tinted rear windows, so what would be the the recommended EV settings for optimal recording quality based on people's experience?

 

[DT MI]

Just installed my DC today and will be using the latest BETA firmware. I have the CPL on the front cam and tinted rear windows, so what would be the the recommended EV settings for optimal recording quality based on people's experience?

I have the same configuration and just left EV at default setting. Camera does real time exposure adjustments so it should adapt to the CPL and tinted glass on it's own.

 

[jokiin]

some people have been running the front EV down one step, the rear up two steps, but that was prior to newer firmware though so I'd probably start at defaults and see what you think

 

[mcaf123]

I have the same configuration and just left EV at default setting. Camera does real time exposure adjustments so it should adapt to the CPL and tinted glass on it's own.

Thanks. Is there supposed to be the date and time stamp on the rear video files as well as the front?

 

[jokiin]

Thanks. Is there supposed to be the date and time stamp on the rear video files as well as the front?

rear should follow the front setting, there was a bug previously that was affecting that

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Latest Beta firmware fixes the missing rear date/time stamp.

 

[mcaf123]

some people have been running the front EV down one step, the rear up two steps, but that was prior to newer firmware though so I'd probably start at defaults and see what you think

Thanks for the advice. Will run at defaults for the time being. So far I've only got night footage from this evening and its been raining, so not the ideal start to checking out what it can do. Even on the original firmware number plates are quite clear at night on the rear cam which is promising!

 

[mcaf123]

Latest Beta firmware fixes the missing rear date/time stamp.

rear should follow the front setting, there was a bug previously that was affecting that

Cheers guys - I'm just about to update to the BETA before I go to bed and will see how it gets on tomorrow

 

[mcaf123]

Just updated it. First impressions of the firmware update process is not very intuitive. I put the file in the root folder, put the card in the camera and turned on the ignition. The screen remained black and the REC button flashed red in a seemingly random sequence. I at first thought something had failed, but decided to stick it out and lo and behold the SG boot screen appeared. I fear other people might freak out at this and pull the plug in the middle of the update process? Could you at least show a message on the screen saying "firmware update in progress"?

I can confirm date/time stamp now works on rear cam as well . Is this hard coded onto the video (as well as the speed) or can an appropriate video player turn this on and off? I haven't got RV on my new laptop yet.