[Resolved] Recently bought SG9665GC: Grainy video, terrible night vision. Is this normal?

[Kherven]

Post fix edit: Turns out I was on an incorrect firmware and my dashcam had a bit of a focus issue. After pier28 replaced it, I've not had any problems with the video quality.

After looking over many dashcams I ended up buying the SG9665GC. I've had it for about 4 days now and while I'm happy with many things about this dashcam, the video quality seems very bad for a $200 dashcam.

I watched some videos on youtube before I bought it, and it either seems they have a different dashcam than they say, or something is wrong with my unit. I've ensured my windshield is clean and also cleaned the lens with a microfiber cloth and I've gone through some of the settings but nothing seems like It'd be causing such bad quality.

I don't really want to post an entire video (But I can if it'd really help) so I've taken some screenshots of what the average shot of my video looks like.

Daytime: Reflection is a constant problem but it sounds like this is a problem everybody has. Lots of glare, can't read street sign.

Evening: This is where the real problem comes into play. Light sources just cause the camera to go crazy

Night with lots of light: Perhaps the best shot. Me at a complete stop in a high light area, but the business sign to the left is still completely unreadable. Very grainy

Night with streetlights: Light sources blow out any chance of seeing anything

Night with little light: Big amount of tunnel vision, not really unexpected but eh.

To be clear, i'm not trying to rag on this thing. I want it to work well because I like so many other things about it. I 'm just hoping to get some insight into why its performing so poorly. If this normal, I'm going to have to return the unit, however, as I need good night vision in a dashcam and I can get one with better night vision for a quarter of the price.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

This is a firmware issue. Please roll back to the release firmware until the reworked August firmware is available soon.

Please see the following for details:

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/high-noise-at-night.13443/

CPL is coming for daytime reflections/glare soon:
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/just-got-the-sc9665gc-any-way-to-get-rid-of-glare.12549/

 

[Kherven]

Thanks for the prompt response, I'll roll back the firmware and post some new screenshots later.

 

[Kherven]

Man, I was hoping that was the issue but sadly it does not appear to be. Screenshots from firmware SG20150305.002 . Its certainly different from above (more blurry/grainy than glarey) but no better. No day shot with this one as I didn't get a chance to today.

Night with lots of light:

Night with streetlights:

Night with little light (in the exact same place as the little light shot in the original post):

Any other ideas? :/

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Did you rest back to factory defaults after? You might need to manually recalibrate the sensor. I'll send instructions via private message. Check your inbox shortly. Auto calibrate will be in the next firmware.

 

[jokiin]

did you reset defaults after rolling back the firmware?

 

[Kherven]

I followed these steps:

• Extract the firmware file
•
• Delete any files from the memory card
•
• Copy the firmware bin file to the empty memory card
•
• Insert the card to camera
•
• Connect to constant USB power source, do not disconnect power at any time during update process
•
• Camera will power on, screen will remain blank while updating
•
• Once update has finished camera will startup as per normal
•
• Stop any active recording
•
• Enter settings menu and format the memory card
•
• Enter settings menu and reset default settings
•
• Set the timezone to correct setting for your region
•
• If GPS is being used format memory card again after GPS signal is received to allow correct file name order
•
• Any personalised settings will need to be re-entered
•
• Process is complete

 

[jokiin]

was the REC LED flashing when it was updating?

 

[Kherven]

When I plugged it in the first time (after firmware was added to blank card) the screen was blank and the REC light was blinking rapidly. After about 10 seconds it started up normally.

 

[jokiin]

Jon will send you the calibration details, once you've done that maybe give us a daytime shot in case it's the focus that's off, a bit hard to tell at night

if the focus is out its not something you can rectify yourself, if that's the case we'll arrange a replacement camera for you

 

[Kherven]

Sounds good, I'll get you a daytime shot next time the sun rises around this part of the world. Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention. The only thing I didn't do 100% to instructions was I used my SanDisk Ultra 64GB (it was formatted in the camera first) for installing the firmware instead of the supplied card. If you think its a problem I can try to reinstall the firmware tomorrow with the supplied 32GB card.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Sounds good thanks, it wouldn't hurt to reflash a second time but should be ok.

P.S.
SanDisk cards are not recommended for use in Novatek DashCam products due to SanDisk's proprietary controller. I'd get Lexar, or Transcend or you might experience long term problems.

 

[Kherven]

Huh, good to know. I'll re-assign the SanDisk to some other job and pick one of those up sometime later this week.

I'm gonna go ahead and retire for the night, but after I do all the re calibration and what not I"ll get you guys a day screenshot and an update. Thanks for all the help, I appreciate it.

 

[jokiin]

Sounds good, I'll get you a daytime shot next time the sun rises around this part of the world. Oh, and one more thing I forgot to mention. The only thing I didn't do 100% to instructions was I used my SanDisk Ultra 64GB (it was formatted in the camera first) for installing the firmware instead of the supplied card. If you think its a problem I can try to reinstall the firmware tomorrow with the supplied 32GB card.

I don't think that would have caused a problem. lets see what the picture looks like in the morning, the flaring from the lights can happen if the focus is off, dirty lens or dirty windows can give the same effect too but lets have a look at what the focus is like, with the other firmware it would have been too hard to tell as there was an over sharpening issue which puts everything out

 

[Kherven]

Alright! Round 3.

First to start out, the steps that I took:

Followed the calibration process Pier 28 supplied (Format SPI, bright and dark) DP status was OK. Reset to defaults.

On top of that I wiped down both sides of my windshield again to eliminate that variable, I also wiped down the lens with a microfiber cloth to get rid of any smudging that might have occurred when I did the calibration.

Results:

Darkish area to light: Handled itself pretty well, pretty bright looking into the bright area but as soon as it entered it adjusted pretty quickly.

License plate test: Number not immediately apparent from the angle, first 3 are

(no chance)

(no chance)

Could figure out what it is at this point by zooming in but still not crystal claer

As clear as it gets, can figure it out squinting a little bit at it, but not as clear as I'd like it to be this close.

Well there we go. You guys will have to let me know when my camera is behaving normally as I don't have a frame of reference for what I'm looking for.

 

[niko]

Best way to check dashcam focus and sharpness is if you do few tests:

1. drive to open air car park in a nice sunny day, park you car opposite other parked cars in front of you the way the sun shines not directly into your windshield. Sun can be at 12 clock or lower from behind ( 10-11 clock )

2. then drive in car park between rows and check footage for nubmerplates reading while sun is also behind your ( 10-12 clock )

3. now go and drive on normal road ( 35km/h ) , but again where sun is not shining directly to avoid dashboard glare.

Dashboard glare makes hard to judge actual camera performance.

 

[Kherven]

Wasn't able to go out again for the day and even if I could the weather dictated it wasn't going to be sunny anymore (big thunderstorm)

That said, I haven't really seen any part of the video where I ddin't have a massive reflection in the video, regardless of sun position.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

I haven't really seen any part of the video where I ddin't have a massive reflection in the video, regardless of sun position.

CPL accessory option is coming as soon as we can confirm samples to help with daytime reflections/glare:
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/just-got-the-sc9665gc-any-way-to-get-rid-of-glare.12549/

 

[jokiin]

That said, I haven't really seen any part of the video where I ddin't have a massive reflection in the video, regardless of sun position.

some vehicles do this a lot worse than others, windscreen angle and dashboard design (shape, material finish etc) have a lot of impact, CPL removes most of this, even a dashmat can make a world of difference, a few posts on here already about that

 

[Kherven]

well after trying a community approach and it not working this is usually the point where I'd start the return/replacement process through a retailer (Amazon in my case). I guess I have a bit of the unique circumstance where I'm already talking to the same people that'd talk to me there anyway, so I have a few more questions.

Any final ideas on testing the camera before I start one of the two processes? Anything in particular I can supply that I might already have? (I can't go out again tonight, but i have 64GB of video already so I"m sure I could find something)

Are my latest screenshots more or less normal performance? I know the glare makes it difficult to tell about the focus, but considering the glare is going to be there regardless with this camera I'm kinda stuck with it anyway.

If this is roughly expected performance, I'll probably start the return process as I do need a bit more clarity out of the video at this price level. If you guys think this performance isn't up to expected performance I'll start the replacement process.

Thanks for all the help so far.