Required 30 min or 1 hour mp4 files, 24+ hours capacity

[Module 79L]

Oh my! I just tried the MOV files sent earlier that were recorded by the Street Guardian unit. My review tool can play that video, both the individual MOV files and the merged file created by Registrator Viewer! Other MOV (and OGG) files I've tried would not play in the tool. This is awesome!

So, does the ability to play MOV files change camera recommendations from the Mobius and MateGo? Are there any others that only output MOV that I should consider?

Oops, pretty much every decent camera out there! Try to look at it in a positive way: now you're not limited by anything.

 

[Questions]

Oops, pretty much every decent camera out there! Try to look at it in a positive way: now you're not limited by anything.

Yep. Any specific recommendations, especially any that will record in 30 minute increments?

 

[Nigel]

Yep. Any specific recommendations, especially any that will record in 30 minute increments?

The longest loop mode segments I know of is in the GitUp Git2 which can do 10 minute segments, after that you run into file size limitations and it doesn't make much sense for loop mode so I doubt anything does longer. If you don't use loop mode then most cameras still have limited length or file size, plus they leave gaps between the segments. I guess that doesn't help much.

When I tried combining mp4 files using Registrator Viewer, I found ffmpeg could do it faster as long as it didn't need to reencode them, Registrator Viewer is great for high speed viewing but if you don't use the viewer then you may find ffmpeg to be the quicker and better tool since you could automate that and then just run a batch file to combine a days worth of segments into 30 minute segments.

 

[Questions]

[QUOTE="Nigel, post: 258888, member: 7825"...ffmpeg...[/QUOTE]
fffmpeg would be useful only if it has the capability to filter/remove duplicated frames when merging files. RV does it. I don't know if fffmpeg does.

I did find this camera that goes to 20 minutes, although I have no idea if it is a good one or not.

 

[russ331]

I did find this camera that goes to 20 minutes, although I have no idea if it is a good one or not.

The N1 has been reviewed by @Sunny ...

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...shcam-w-parking-monitor-nt96650-ar0330.17995/

According to him, the maximum selectable clip length is 5 minutes. With its Bitrate, you'll get around 21 hours from a 128GB card ... if it supports cards that size.

 

[Nigel]

fffmpeg would be useful only if it has the capability to filter/remove duplicated frames when merging files. RV does it. I don't know if fffmpeg does.

I did find this camera that goes to 20 minutes, although I have no idea if it is a good one or not.

ffmpeg can't remove 1 second when merging files without reencoding which will slow things down. I don't think RV can either unless there is a key frame in the correct place, which I wouldn't expect to be the case, RV only cuts to the nearest key frame.

However the Gitup Git2 has zero overlap between segments so it is not a problem

For me ffmpeg combined 6 five minute segments into 1 half hour segment in 65 seconds. At 4.32GB of 2560 x 1440 video it is probably a lot bigger than you need. Not sure how fast the computer is but in size it is only 4" x 4" x 1".

 

[kamkar]

I have the mobius in my living room window now, recording Mp4 files.

One thing that i find strange, before using MOV i had it set to 3 minute file length, but now just having changed to MP4 i have made a fjew test recordings.
And the first file was just 1 minute long, and the following file was 2 minutes long ???? thats really wierd, will have to see if that change to 3 minutes if i let it record even more.

Will have a look on the SD card in 10 minutes or so, and them allso have a look in the GUI to see if cnanging to MP4 have changet anything else.

 

[Questions]

I have the mobius in my living room window now, recording Mp4 files.

Thank you.

 

[russ331]

I have the mobius in my living room window now, recording Mp4 files.

One thing that i find strange, before using MOV i had it set to 3 minute file length, but now just having changed to MP4 i have made a fjew test recordings.
And the first file was just 1 minute long, and the following file was 2 minutes long ???? thats really wierd, will have to see if that change to 3 minutes if i let it record even more.

Will have a look on the SD card in 10 minutes or so, and them allso have a look in the GUI to see if cnanging to MP4 have changet anything else.

I think with Firmware v2.41 that selecting MP4 format will automatically disable loop-recording. It's a safety feature, as MOV must be selected to enable loop-recording, to avoid the 1 to 2 second gaps between consecutive files that arise when MP4 or AVI is selected. @Isoprop to please correct me if I've got this wrong.

 

[kamkar]

i am on 2.41 thats for sure.

I formatted the SD card after i changed to MP4 so no problem with space, when i have grabbed a fjew files for Questions i will let it record to see if it loop or stop when its full.

 

[Questions]

Well, considering that the MOV files produced by the Mobius can be played by my review tool, I'm not stuck on having mp4 now anyway. The more I think about it, that really changes the game. It opens up the field. I'm down to what camera would be optimal.

• One that has dual cameras would very nice. I previously hadn't seen any that recorded in MP4, so I dismissed the idea (although now I note a couple in the 2016 list). But now that I see I can use MOV files I'd love to have a two camera unit.
  • I see the list of dashcamtalk recommended dual camera units is a short list. Any that you all would recommend for my use?
• One that produces files that can be merged seamlessly (without adding extra frames) remains critical.
  
• One that allows for longer clips, like 30 minutes, would still be nice.
• Ability to accommodate storage that will hold 24 hours of video remains very important.

I've created and placed a test page here that uses the same video playback engine as the review tool I use. If anyone wants to test whether resulting video from any unit will work for me then feel free to try it out. If it renders on the test page then it will render in my tool without issue.

The "Lukas LK-7950 WD" is a dual camera unit that has tons of storage, but it records in AVI. Does anyone have one that could use the link above to see if the AVI files generated by the unit or a similar unit will play in my tool? (The cheap dash cam I have here at home produces AVI files, but they won't play in my tool, so I figured no AVIs would play. That may not be the case.) Still, I can buy 3 Mobius for the price of the Lukas, so this may be a moot point.

Thank you again. I can't say how valuable all your input has been.
Andrew

 

[kamkar]

It do look like there is a short black hole between the MP4 files of the mobius, and each starting file have a quick flash with a blue hue to it, and its there on everyone of the 20 files i have just recorded.

The Lukas dual cameras allso all have a pretty "large" front unit, just advertising its presence, there is little doubt the Lukas design department focus more on the home marked where bling is popular.

I will keep my Mp4 files i just made then Andrew, or rather put them in the bin on my computer and change the mobius back to MOV format.

I think consensus at the moment is its better to have 2 good single cameras, than 1 good dualchannel camera.
It seem the current ones all have some form of issue, but its not nessesary a major issues but there is things to be avare of when buying.
Allso ther IQ isent as good as in good single cameras, thin i think is based on dual channel cameras using a lower bitrate on one or both cameras.

 

[Questions]

...and change the mobius back to MOV format.

As I ponder the whole thing, forget the Lukas. Why buy a Lukas when I can get three Mobius for the same price.

Can you do me a favor (again).

• Record in MOV format at 720p and 20-ish fps for awhile (or whatever fps is convenient for you).
• Merge some files into a single 30 minute file using Registrator Viewer.
  • Let me know (about) how many seconds it takes to perform the merge.
  • See that the merged file plays on my test page.
  • Confirm no 'extra' seconds added to the merged file.
• Let me know the resulting file sizes of the files create, so I can calculate how many hours of video I can put on a 32 or 64 GB card.

Again, as I ponder, the price point of the Mobius makes it both attractive and flexible. I note that you can purchase units with different lenses to get different fields of view. That's attractive too. The Mobius, partially because of its price point, also poses less risk; both for testing and wear/tear/theft in the field.

Thanks again,
Andrew

 

[kamkar]

yes there is a fjew stock lens options for the mobius, and it use regular cctv lenses with M12 fine thread, so you can put just about any cctv lens on it.

Just have to be carefull most cctv lenses dont have a IR cut filter on the lens as thats normally a active filter in the socket with IR block for day use and at noght the IR filter is removed and the camera go into B&W mode and turn on the build in IR light.

But there is still a lot of lenses with IR cut filter, or you can get a IR filter and glue it on the camera end of the lens yourself ( note aftermarked lenses can be expensive )
Dont fall for cheap non megapixel lenses, you need a decent megapixel lens for a megapixel camera. so its normally 30 dollars and up for extra lenses.

Cant select FPS as such on cameras, so for the most its 30 FPS or 60 ( that only a fjew dashcams do ATM )

Ill get the mobius recording soon, but sun is setteling and there is little light on the street below, so not much to see in some of the footage.

 

[kamkar]

Offcourse if you are not too bothered with colorcorrectness, then you can use a IR pass lens all day long, but without a IR filter the colors will be off.

 

[kamkar]

Here is on youtube 1 of the MP4 files

 

[russ331]

As I ponder the whole thing, forget the Lukas. Why buy a Lukas when I can get three Mobius for the same price...

At 1080p/30fps I think Mobius will get roughly 24 hours on a 128GB card at the 'Low' Video Data Rate setting. Not sure about expectations at 720p/30 or 720p/60.

 

[kamkar]

Sorry i can do 20 FPS on the mobius ( see pic above from mobius GUI software )

I have selected 720P / 20 FPS - lowest bitrate for this run.

 

[russ331]

@BobDiaz has posted about Mobius Bitrates here ...

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/mobius-undocumented-features-specifications.3506/

 

[Questions]

This is great stuff everyone.

I have a MetroFlash action cam that I use for a 'shot cam' on my rifle. I replaced the original lens (and glued on an IR filter), so I'm familiar with that process. (And thanks for the note on cheap lenses. I got lucky on getting the right one for my MetroFlash or maybe they just don't have cheap extreme focal length lenses.) I've seen other hunter's posts on changing the lens to the Mobius as well, but for this project the stock lenses will likely work fine.

It looks like when all is said and done that the Mobius is going to do what I need. We'll take a look at kamkar1's results to confirm, but I'm pretty confident it's going to work.

Thanks again,
Andrew