Review: TaoTronics TT-CD05 1080P Dashcam Car DVR with 2.7" LCD Screen

[Sunny]

Thank you @Lucian.c for providing Taotronics TT-CD05 Dashcam for review.
It is available or $99.99 at Sunvalleytek's amazon store here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0119F9EPGA 32GB microSD card is included along with full size SD adapter.
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Quick links to review sections: Will be updated as I test it...
Daytime Screenshots
Daytime Videos
Night Screenshots
Night Videos
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Conclusion: Will be updated later...
Pros:
Cons:
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Description from product site:

• High-tech build-in chipset can gives you the Full HD 1080P/30fps DVR with a true vision 150°wide angle sight. The most compact and convenient design that comes with a whole package of accessories to get you started,e.g. 2.7"LCD screen ,windshield mount, USB cable,car charger and a 32Gb superspeed class 10 orignal Sandisk TF card, your reliable driving companion on the road.

• High intergration of technology: Superior Night-vision, Six-Glass lense and WDR (Wide Dynamic Range)technology, as well as Loop recording provides unlimited storage from the 32G TF card, thus no need to delete once storage is full.

• More intelligent & Safer: Emergency Lock Button & Accident Auto Detection Feature (G-Sensor) can lock up current DVR recodering during critical moments (such as car accidents), thus protecting your high-quality recordings.

• Easy to Use: The Auto-ON/OFF syncs with the car engine; saving you from turning it ON/OFF each time you need to use it.

• 12 month Warranty To Cover Any Issues and profesional team support. All emails would be replied in 18 hours. 85% would be replied in 1-4 hours.Our contact email is inside the user's manual, contact card and quick installation guide. For FAQ and firmware update, please check Taotronics' official web site. 100% satisfaction guaranteed.

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Taotronics TT-CD05 Unboxing Video:

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Package contents:
The product box is specifically printed for this model with its image and specifications on the box.
1. Taotronics TT-CD05 dashcam.
2. Suction cup car mount that rotates all around.
3. Car mini USB charger.
4. 32GB Sandisk microSD card with full size adapter.
5. Product manual specific for this model.
6. mini USB to USB PC cable.
7. Thank you/warranty card.

Camera looks like it's built good.
The front is mostly black except Taotronics logo.
Lens housing has a chrome ring on the top that looks like it can be moved but it's not.
Lens housing is pretty wide similar to Dome models but not as tall.
There are no button on the edges nor on top, all the buttons are on the back next to LCD screen.



Side-by-side with Dome D201: Taotronics is slightly longer.
Front:



Bottom: Reset button


Right: microSD slot


Top: micro USB charging port, mount, AV and GPS (optional) ports.




Left: mini HDMI


Back: 2.7" screen. All the buttons are on the right side of the screen in white plastic.

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More coming soon...

 

[Sunny]

Taotronics TT-CD05 Folders and files:
Root folder has 'CARDV' folder that has the following subfolders:
MOVIE: for videos
PHOTO: for photos

MOVIE folder has 'RO' folder for triggered/event files.
[Note: Event is triggered by pressing 'Menu' button while recording.]
As you can see in the screenshot, it saves the entire clip when triggered.





File size and VBR:
A 3 minute clip is around 288mb in size and overall bit rate is 13.9 mbps with video @ 11.9mbps and audio @ 512 kbps.

Mediainfo File properties:

General
Complete name               : C:\Users\Sunny\Desktop\Dashcam Temp\Taotronics TT-CD05\2015_0715_082822_002.MOV
Format                      : MPEG-4
Format profile              : QuickTime
Codec ID                    : qt
File size                   : 282 MiB
Duration                    : 3mn 1s
Overall bit rate            : 13.1 Mbps
Movie name/More             : CarDV-TURNKEY
Encoded date                : UTC 2015-07-15 08:31:21
Tagged date                 : UTC 2015-07-15 08:31:21
Origin                      : NVT-IM

Video
ID                          : 1
Format                      : AVC
Format/Info                 : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile              : High@L4.1
Format settings, CABAC      : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames   : 1 frame
Format settings, GOP        : M=1, N=15
Codec ID                    : avc1
Codec ID/Info               : Advanced Video Coding
Duration                    : 3mn 1s
Bit rate                    : 11.9 Mbps
Width                       : 1 920 pixels
Height                      : 1 080 pixels
Display aspect ratio        : 16:9
Frame rate mode             : Constant
Frame rate                  : 30.000 fps
Color space                 : YUV
Chroma subsampling          : 4:2:0
Bit depth                   : 8 bits
Scan type                   : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)          : 0.191
Stream size                 : 256 MiB (91%)
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2015-07-15 08:31:21
Tagged date                 : UTC 2015-07-15 08:31:21

Audio
ID                          : 2
Format                      : PCM
Format settings, Endianness : Little
Format settings, Sign       : Signed
Codec ID                    : sowt
Duration                    : 3mn 1s
Bit rate mode               : Constant
Bit rate                    : 512 Kbps
Channel(s)                  : 1 channel
Sampling rate               : 32.0 KHz
Bit depth                   : 16 bits
Stream size                 : 11.0 MiB (4%)
Language                    : English
Encoded date                : UTC 2015-07-15 08:31:21
Tagged date                 : UTC 2015-07-15 08:31:21

 

[Sunny]

Taotronics Daytime video screenshots:
Daytime video quality is very good with all areas in focus and colors are very natural.

 

[Sunny]

Pictures when mode button is pressed while video recording...
When MODE button is pressed, it takes a photo.
However, the photo is only 1920x10890p resolution.
That means, it's only taking a screenshot, not actually using photo mode.
This is nice feature, specially for posting screenshots as I don't have to grab screenshots from videos.

 

[Sunny]

Night video screenshots:
Low light/Night video quality is not that great due to motion blur so license plates are not readable unless when speed is very slow but objects like cars/lights/road signs are easily visible.





This is same screenshot as the one above in previous post taken by pressing MODE except this one is from video grab. They look exactly same.


Here's the same pic from 'MODE' button: SCREENSHOT.

 

[Sunny]

Daytime videos:
Daytime video quality is very good with all areas in focus and colors are very natural.
Audio is pretty good as well. Can understand radio without low frequency distortion and volume is good.
1. Residential streets to highway:

2. My usual highway alongside mountain and frozen lakes:

 

[Sunny]

Reserved...

 

[Sunny]

Taotronics TT-CD05 Low Light and Night videos:
Low light/Night video quality is not that great due to motion blur so license plates are not readable unless when speed is very slow but objects like cars/lights/road signs are easily visible.
1. Underground parking lot:

2. Residential streets with street lights and intersections:

3. Highway with minimal light:

 

[Sunny]

Internal battery lasted for 8 clips of 3 minutes each, total of 24 minutes so pretty good.
It does deplete on its own when not used so that test is immediately after full charge.
That was with LCD on all the time.

Update: tested again and this time with LCD OFF after 60 secs and I have 9 complete files (27 minutes) on battery.

 

[Sunny]

Keeping this video in Taotronics thread...

Almost an accident...

 

[Sunny]

Taotronics TT-CD05 Motion Detection Videos: Works good, audio has hiss noise when there is no other audio.
1.

2.

3.

4.

 

[Sunny]

Taotronics now has a GPS module that works with TT-CD05 dashcam.
The GPS module is TT-CD05(G) and available here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01BBO3H94


In order to use the GPS Module with good results, you have to download updated firmware and use TPS player (registrator viewer).
New firmware link:www.taotronics.com/media/downloads/AT-20151125V1.0.zip
TPS Player link: www.taotronics.com/media/downloads/Player.zip



Cold start takes around 2 minutes to lock on to GPS signal.
Hot start (stop of around 1/2 hour) is instant, as soon as camera starts, GPS is locked.

A video clip with latest firmware.
1080p

Overall VBR is 13.1 mbps:



Few screenshots with GPS location: GPS data is embedded in the video and not a separate file so only TPS player (registrator viewer or similar player) can display it but you can export the GPS track if needed.





Here's how it looks in TPS player.
GPS location is dead on accurate.




Here's a screenshot of GPS track exported and then displayed during playback with a different player.