Smallest Ambarella Car DVR a.k.a. Mini 0801

[Tobi@s]

Mini0801 GPS no-internal 8GB (from eprance ordered in mid sept):
(already put in a Transcend 8GB card before taking the photo)
-url removed-

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Mini0801 GPS no-internal 8GB (from eprance ordered in early sept):
(already put in a Transcend 8GB card before taking the photo)
http://straubinger-web.de/img/mini0801/P1020704.JPG

Nice! The 0801's missing the internal slot must be older stock then. (good to know) All we need now is the 20131026 firmware that supports inner/outer card selection in the menu. I plan on using my newest 0801 and will add an internal card once we get the firmware.

 

[jokiin]

They certainly make two main board versions for with/without internal memory, doesn't stop them from using the same board and just leaving out the internal memory

 

[Tobi@s]

So it's a ~50% chance to get an internal-sdcard version

 

[jokiin]

I guess

 

[Lunar]

My new eBay E-PRANCE (not "EPRANCE") Mini 0801 (with GPS, no-internal 8gb) arrived today! It came with firmware 20131026. Here's what I've noticed right away. (subtle difference, might give more clues?)

1) The buttons "feel" better and have a cleaner solid action when pressed. (different less harsh click sound to it as well)
2) The system volume speaker is a bit clearer/louder
3) The mini USB port is much tighter. The cable insertion feels nice and snug (no wobble) compared to my older 0801

I made a quick video to try and show the difference. The older Givoe is on top, the new E-PRANCE is on the bottom. (screen protector still left on)

EDIT (OOps, iMovie didn't combine two clips I wanted, I'll be uploading a new video shortly)
TEMP one for now>>>>

EDIT 2, ok here's the combined video I really wanted to show.
(place holder, still uploading) Here:

I agree with those 3 observations jon as all my problems have all just been on my first camera, the more recent 2 have been much better, and no bad ccd pixels either.
Lets hope it turns out to be a decent one anyway. Out on the road I tend to get between 13000kbps and 13500kbps, it rarely goes above 14000kbps, but inside house I only got around 10000kbps too.

 

[Lunar]

Nice! The 0801's missing the internal slot must be older stock then. (good to know) All we need now is the 20131026 firmware that supports inner/outer card selection in the menu. I plan on using my newest 0801 and will add an internal card once we get the firmware.

let me know if you have problems getting it jon. Though TBH E-Prance are not too bad at supplying firmware updates, their main concern however is a very valid one, they fear users may brick their camera's, which may result in them getting higher camera returns, and I know this does happen occasionally, so fully understandable.

When I was service manager for Master Care UK Ltd some years ago, you would not believe the numbers of PC's and laptops ect, get returned because customers had screwed up what should have been a simple bios update, same with other devices too when updating firmware's. :-(

 

[Street Guardian USA]

let me know if you have problems getting it jon. Though TBH E-Prance are not too bad at supplying firmware updates, their main concern however is a very valid one, they fear users may brick their camera's, which may result in them getting higher camera returns, and I know this does happen occasionally, so fully understandable.

When I was service manager for Master Care UK Ltd some years ago, you would not believe the numbers of PC's and laptops ect. returned because customers had screwed up what should have been a simple bios update, same with other devices too when updating firmware's. :-(

Asked both Givoe and e-prance for the 20131026 firmware with inner/outer card selection support. I'll let everyone know who responds first.

"Dear e-prance,

Hi Demi, I received the new 0801 thanks! (and your Samsung class 6 memory card)

It came with firmware 20131026. Here's what I've noticed right away. (subtle differences, all good)

1) The buttons "feel" better and have a cleaner solid action when pressed. (different less harsh click sound to it as well)
2) The system volume speaker is a bit clearer/louder
3) The mini USB port is much tighter. The cable insertion feels nice and snug (no wobble) compared to my older 0801

Do you have a version of firmware 20131026 firmware that supports inner/outer card? I'd like to try that on my other non E-Prance 0801

Thanks!
~Jon"

 

[Lunar]

The last person that opened up their non-internal 0801 said the 2nd microSD slot was missing all together. (you could only see solder points where it "should" be) I think they save money by not adding it on non internal models. Only one person confirmed this so it might have changed but doubt it's there.

As you know I opened my first camera up, and I can confirm there is no internal card slot, in fact it will be opened up again over the few days when I have time because I need to replace the mini USB B socket connector, the one on this particular camera is rubbish, not so bothered about the base connector as I have a couple of NON GPS bases on the way to me. I managed to get a couple of better quality mini usb sockets from RS Components and they arrived this morning with a few others bits I'd ordered. I'm changing the OK button SM switch as well, as that's started to give a little trouble.
There is no doubt my first camera is not built so well as the second 2 I bought.

 

[Choachy]

Here is a reply I got yesterday from E-Prance (via Amazon) when I asked about getting the 20131026 firmware:

I am sorry to tell you that we don't have any firmware since the factory don't support us . Some camera will be death caused by the update firmware and the factory don't support us to return for replace or repair. This is really out of our control. Hope you would like to understand me=) sorry for that I couldn't help you this. But I would like to suggest you a forum which is named forum. many nice customers find answer for problems on it , may be you also could find it =) Hope it will help you.

If you have any questions, Please feel free to contact with me, I will do my best to help you solve it asap.

Have a nice day

Sincerely

Nancy^_^

I like that she referred me to a forum named forum. However, I've been running my 0801 on a new Samsung class 6 for 3 days without any problems. So unless I run into an issue, I wont be upgrading the firmware. Because the Samsung class 6 was on backorder, I had put in a sandisk class 10 just to see what would happen...and of course after it began looping, I got the expected I/O error. All seems well now.

 

[Lunar]

Here is a reply I got yesterday from E-Prance (via Amazon) when I asked about getting the 20131026 firmware:

I am sorry to tell you that we don't have any firmware since the factory don't support us . Some camera will be death caused by the update firmware and the factory don't support us to return for replace or repair. This is really out of our control. Hope you would like to understand me=) sorry for that I couldn't help you this. But I would like to suggest you a forum which is named forum. many nice customers find answer for problems on it , may be you also could find it =) Hope it will help you.

If you have any questions, Please feel free to contact with me, I will do my best to help you solve it asap.

Have a nice day

Sincerely

Nancy^_^

I like that she referred me to a forum named forum. However, I've been running my 0801 on a new Samsung class 6 for 3 days without any problems. So unless I run into an issue, I wont be upgrading the firmware. Because the Samsung class 6 was on backorder, I had put in a sandisk class 10 just to see what would happen...and of course after it began looping, I got the expected I/O error. All seems well now.

I suspected you may get a reply like that, and of course they are right.. I know for a fact they have major concerns about releasing firmware updates. Would you replace something which has been bricked by the customers attempt to update the firmware. I'm not saying you would, but the reality is.. that some people don't take precautions and devices can get bricked. There are no checksums supplied with these firmware either, so files could get corrupted.. they obviously are not.. but you never know. I would not update any firmware unless I could afford to bin it, and certainly wouldn't dream of returning it after I had bricked it, but the fact is.. some people do, so TBH one can fully understand their position.

If you read a few recent posts you will see that I already posted that official E-Prance 1026 firmware on the forum, and stated so in reply to you a few posts back. jazjon has since also kindly posted links to it too. If it's working okay AYS, no real need to update, and IMO a smart move on your part. Also Note that 1026 firmware likely has slightly inferior image quality to what you may already be using, as 1026 does drop the recording bitrate from 17000kbps down to around 13000kbps, but may be more stable with some cameras that have issues.

 

[Tobi@s]

That's not correct. You can't flash corrupted files since every part of the binary flash file (BST, BLD, PRI, ROMFS, DSP) contains a checksum at 0x00000800h. If you try to flash a corrupted binary it will abort.

Look at the yellow part:

But even if you success in flashing the wrong firmware (lets say from another device with same bin-Format and correct checksum: you can always recover your dashcam using a burning cable (miniusb pin4+5 connected))

I'd say it's almost impossible to fullbrick the device.

 

[Sander]

Well.. For me its impossible to unbrick the device after trying every .elf out there. ;-)

 

[Lunar]

Tobi@s, post: 36187, member: 3699[/EMAIL]]

I'd say it's almost impossible to fullbrick the device.

That's re-assuring. E-Prance will be very pleased to hear no more bricked cameras will be returned by its customers.

Good information indeed.. cheers matey. It will allay any possible fears many users may have had about updating their firmware. However, in the highly unlikely event the impossible did happen and some unfortunate forum member does have issues after a update would you mind if we refer them to you, as you obviously have a good knowledge in this area.. if that's okay.

 

[Tobi@s]

Well.. For me its impossible to unbrick the device after trying every .elf out there. ;-)

How did you brick it?

Lets move to another thread

 

[Lunar]

Well.. For me its impossible to unbrick the device after trying every .elf out there. ;-)

You must be mistaken Sander.. it's not possible...lol

Seriously though, it's obvious that Tobi@s has good experience in this area, so I think he's the most likely user to help you get it going, but would suggest you start a new thread or move it to Tobi@s Hacking thread if that's okay with him, as this thread has reached it's centenary. I also suspect if Tobi@s can't get it going again nobody can.

 

[Choachy]

I suspected you may get a reply like that, and of course they are right.. I know for a fact they have major concerns about releasing firmware updates. Would you replace something which has been bricked by the customers attempt to update the firmware. I'm not saying you would, but the reality is.. that some people don't take precautions and devices can get bricked. There are no checksums supplied with these firmware either, so files could get corrupted.. they obviously are not.. but you never know. I would not update any firmware unless I could afford to bin it, and certainly wouldn't dream of returning it after I had bricked it, but the fact is.. some people do, so TBH one can fully understand their position.

If you read a few recent posts you will see that I already posted that official E-Prance 1026 firmware on the forum, and stated so in reply to you a few posts back. jazjon has since also kindly posted links to it too. If it's working okay AYS, no real need to update, and IMO a smart move on your part. Also Note that 1026 firmware likely has slightly inferior image quality to what you may already be using, as 1026 does drop the recording bitrate from 17000kbps down to around 13000kbps, but may be more stable with some cameras that have issues.

Sorry, I saw the replies from you and Jazjon, but didnt see where it was said that the linked firmware from was E-Prance. I went back and read, and see it now.

 

[Lunar]

Sorry, I saw the replies from you and Jazjon, but didnt see where it was said that the linked firmware from was E-Prance. I went back and read, and see it now.

No problem matey.. I'm assuming your likely on E-Prance 0913, if so, that's not a bad version, as it records at quite a high bitrate, so the video quality is a touch better, only snag is.. unless the camera, and card are optimum some users get a slow card error message occasionally, so 1026 with it's lower bitrate in theory helps to resolve issues on those particular cameras afflicted, though I'm not sure how successful it's been, it certainly works fine for me, and AFAIK many other users too.
However 0913 worked fine for a long time for me, but some users found it can be fussy with cards,. IOW cards that work for some people don't always resolve issue for others, so all a bit hit n miss unfortunately. 1026 firmware in theory should be more stable because of the lower recording bitrate, albeit with a slight drop in quality.

AYS, if yours is working fine, then best left alone is my advise, you can always try E-Prance 1026 (GPS ONLY Model, NO internal memory) firmware if you get any issues later. In the event you update at any time, always make sure the battery is fully charged, and after copying the file to the root of the card, always power on the camera using the cable, NOT battery only, even if the battery is fully charged.. still power up with the cable.
BTW I applaud your thinking of ensuring its genuine E-Prance firmware, as the hardware specs inside camera's from other sellers may not be exactly the same.

 

[Grzegorz]

Ok my cam finally arrived... It's the 8 gb/no gps version. Does anyone else have this version? It seems most people have the no internal memory/with gps version.

There seems to be no way to disable the beeping when it turns on/off. The instruction book says there's a "beep sound" in the menu right after "g-sensor precision" but there is not.

The firmware is 20130922.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

The beep sound control was taken away several firmware versions ago. I was told they have limited space to fit the firmware. Some features were probably cut to make room for the fixed MOV firmware. (I'm assuming) That's why there is not both KPH and MPH as well.