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

[Street Guardian USA]

Anyone happen to have the Ambarella A2S60 datasheet? I can't seem to find one, I want to check to see something. I wonder if they have wired up the mic to one side of the chip. I doubt very much it's a bug in the A2S60 that it's only got one channel and only the left side.

I had a look around and couldn't find anyone else with the same chipset complaining its only got the one channel.

Everything available is posted here: http://dashcamtalk.com/mini-0801/
If you find more data let us know.

I have a memory of reading the ProCam CX4 Russian translations that said the firmware update fixed the single channel problem.
Have a look here and see if you can make head or tails of what they said.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://videoregforum.ru/threads/procam-cx4.480/page-12&prev=/search?q=20130823+firmware+procam&biw=1355&bih=803

 

[nu7s]

After reading this thread (wich took a long time) I decided to buy this dashcam from Givoe on Aliexpress. Thanks to all of you (and the sellers) for all your hard work.

I hope I can be a productive member on this forum in the future.

 

[nu7s]

Just a small addition: I asked Lia (GIVOE) if there was a posibility to buy an extra non-gps mount so I can have that in my GF's car and use it on read trips and she did for $5. So I ordered 2.

 

[cranky]

Hi all,

I was watching this thread for a while and decided to buy one from GIVOE, it arrived last week, I have been using it since.

I noticed sometimes I don't seem to get a GPS fix, for example this morning, i made a 3 minute drive to the shops I had good GPS, then continued to drive to work, on the way to work I had no GPS, when parked in front of the shops I was under a building, does this camera take some time to get a good fix?

I also have a heated front screen which I know can cause GPS issues. Any tips or pointers will be appreciated.

Chris.

 

[nuxator]

I think that the black doted area near the mirror is letting the GPS going through. Maybe you should put the GPS part on it.

 

[ANI]

Could someone please shed some light on how the parking mode / motion detection operates in real life with Mini 0801?

I mean, does the recording start only after motion is detected, and if so, how long the delay is (how much recording should I expect to miss from the start of the first clip saved)?

Or does the cam "record" continually but just does not save the clips until motion is detected? If so, does it save only from the current clip onwards (meaning that I can expect to have 0s - 60s saved before motion detection) - or does it guarantee some amount of time before motion detection to be saved as well (meaning that it has an in-memory buffer for at least two clips)?

 

[jokiin]

CMOS remains active but not recording, if a specified amount of movement or change in light is encountered it will begin to record, it will shortly after stop recording until movement is again detected and so on, it's not foolproof and it won't capture anything prior to an event trigger either

 

[KenTi]

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your input on this camera. I ordered from the NZ based company on recommendation of TechMoan. I should have read this forum first as I didn't really care for their YouTube responses .

It came last Friday (took two weeks to deliver to Washington state). There is no secret sauce ... It also has the really lousy sound. Unfortunately, I'm a software developer, not a hardware one and I'm all thumbs, so I guess I'll have to live with it. It came with firmware 20130617 and I've sent e-mail to OffTheNet about a firmware upgrade. I'm not particularly eager to get the MOV update until the other glitches are fixed though.

I'm using MkvToMp4 to convert the TS to MP4 and then RegistratorViewer. I doubt I'll be looking at video's much unless I need to. Does the extra bitrate really help with the video? While I can read signs off to the side of the camera, it doesn't really do a good job of reading license plates that are to the left or right of me (just directly in front and at a close range). One day we'll get 4K video in a compact case, but I guess we'll just have to wait.

 

[Street Guardian USA]

Just a small addition: I asked Lia (GIVOE) if there was a posibility to buy an extra non-gps mount so I can have that in my GF's car and use it on read trips and she did for $5. So I ordered 2.

Good to know! In my rush to change out my old 0801 for the new 0801 I some how lost the old GPS mount! I'm going to have to order another $5 before I can use it as my rear cam or just sell it on ebay.

Could someone please shed some light on how the parking mode / motion detection operates in real life with Mini 0801?

I mean, does the recording start only after motion is detected, and if so, how long the delay is (how much recording should I expect to miss from the start of the first clip saved)?

Or does the cam "record" continually but just does not save the clips until motion is detected? If so, does it save only from the current clip onwards (meaning that I can expect to have 0s - 60s saved before motion detection) - or does it guarantee some amount of time before motion detection to be saved as well (meaning that it has an in-memory buffer for at least two clips)?

CMOS remains active but not recording, if a specified amount of movement or change in light is encountered it will begin to record, it will shortly after stop recording until movement is again detected and so on, it's not foolproof and it won't capture anything prior to an event trigger either

That's a good question, like I said in a few posts back. My contractor friend wants to buy one of these to help catch people steeling tools. He asked me to test out the motion detection feature so I'll do that soon and report back to all. (I'll observe and take notes)

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for your input on this camera. I ordered from the NZ based company on recommendation of TechMoan. I should have read this forum first as I didn't really care for their YouTube responses .

It came last Friday (took two weeks to deliver to Washington state). There is no secret sauce ... It also has the really lousy sound. Unfortunately, I'm a software developer, not a hardware one and I'm all thumbs, so I guess I'll have to live with it. It came with firmware 20130617 and I've sent e-mail to OffTheNet about a firmware upgrade. I'm not particularly eager to get the MOV update until the other glitches are fixed though.

I'm using MkvToMp4 to convert the TS to MP4 and then RegistratorViewer. I doubt I'll be looking at video's much unless I need to. Does the extra bitrate really help with the video? While I can read signs off to the side of the camera, it doesn't really do a good job of reading license plates that are to the left or right of me (just directly in front and at a close range). One day we'll get 4K video in a compact case, but I guess we'll just have to wait.

Welcome to the forum, yeah it's not a big deal to convert the TS to MP4. After that ise the new RegistratorViewer 5.3 beta should pickup the GPS .LOG files. (as long as you keep the same file name)
http://download.registratorviewer.com/download/RegistratorViewerB.exe
(5.2 has issues with non standard .MP4 files. I used VideoRedo h.264 suite.

Maybe I can ask for the older TS firmware for those that want to roll back as well.

 

[KenTi]

Maybe I can as for the older TS firmware for those that want to roll back as well.

That would be great. That's another reason why I'm hesitant about updating the firmware. I'm not sure how I would downgrade it if it became too much of a problem.

 

[Enander]

First, thank you every one on this thread for all the information on where to purchase the 801 at a good price and associated tips!

A quick question if I may. Is there a recommended battery draining protection device such as the BlackVue Power Magic that is recommended for use with this device if i was to hard wire the unit in? I want to use the "Motion Detection" mode so that when I am parked it will have power to record on activation. Also, I assume it is ok to have this mode on whilst driving?

 

[Enander]

CMOS remains active but not recording, if a specified amount of movement or change in light is encountered it will begin to record

So, does the internal battery power the CMOS whilst being active? IF so how long will the battery last?

Thanks

 

[jokiin]

So, does the internal battery power the CMOS whilst being active? IF so how long will the battery last?

Thanks

these will run 10 minutes or so on battery, parking mode on any camera is only designed to work when permanently powered, permanently powering a camera that has a battery though carries some risks due to the high temps that are possible in a car when parked, something to keep in mind

 

[Enander]

permanently powering a camera that has a battery though carries some risks due to the high temps that are possible in a car when parked, something to keep in mind

Very good point!!

 

[jokiin]

Very good point!!

I'm building products without batteries specifically for this reason, Australian temps are about as harsh as they get and it's certainly a liability to have a battery in the window in summer

 

[sinabu]

I got my mini in today so excited. It looks like the firmware is 20130903 loaded. Will that one be fine or should I put a different one on? Only thing I didn't see was how to change kmh to mph. I did a couple test runs just sitting in the car and it seems to record ok.

Ill test it tomorrow to/from work and check out the quality

One question though. I set it to cycle at 5min but I noticed the recording/timer just keeps going. Is that normal or does it just split the file and keep going? I'll check it out tomorrow either way once I get some mileage on it.

 

[jokiin]

Only thing I didn't see was how to change kmh to mph.

you can't

One question though. I set it to cycle at 5min but I noticed the recording/timer just keeps going. Is that normal or does it just split the file and keep going?

yes, recording is continuous, it's just a split point

 

[Street Guardian USA]

I got my mini in today so excited. It looks like the firmware is 20130903 loaded. Will that one be fine or should I put a different one on? Only thing I didn't see was how to change kmh to mph. I did a couple test runs just sitting in the car and it seems to record ok.

Ill test it tomorrow to/from work and check out the quality

One question though. I set it to cycle at 5min but I noticed the recording/timer just keeps going. Is that normal or does it just split the file and keep going? I'll check it out tomorrow either way once I get some mileage on it.

I turn all stamps off. Use registratorviewer 5.3 beta as the playback software and enable MPH there.
http://download.registratorviewer.com/download/RegistratorViewerB.exe

I use 1 minute loop mode since all files are played seamlessly via registratorviewer with GPS route map to the right. (Hit f3 to enable google maps) windows only app FYI

 

[trancen]

Mine arrived on Tuesday, BUT it's still sitting at the postal office, I will pick it up in the morning before heading off to work. Will report back the firmware I have on it.

 

[cranky]

Hi guys, I have a problem with my cam that I thought was limited to 0509 firmware, I have a 32gb class 10 sandisk card the red and gray one. When it reaches about half way full I get low write speed and I think it says storage low it flickers on and off quickly and stops recording. Does any one else have this problem on a 32gb card? If I format the card it seems to carry on again until around the 2 hours remaining point. FYI I have the givoe gps model with no internal storage.