Transfer files to home network via wifi

[Colin0801]

I'd like to transfer the video files on my dash cam to my home network via wifi when my car is parked at home... Has anybody tried setting this up? I'm thinking about maybe using a USB wireless adapter.

Cheers, Colin

 

[jokiin]

what dashcam?

 

[Colin0801]

what dashcam?

Mini 0801...

But I would think that you could put together a solution that would work with any dash cam that has a USB port.

Alternatively, maybe a wifi enabled sd card, connected via a micro sd to sd adapter...?

 

[jokiin]

can't see it working via USB, a few people have looked at the wifi SD card option before, not sure anyone has had any success with that so far though

 

[Colin0801]

can't see it working via USB, a few people have looked at the wifi SD card option before, not sure anyone has had any success with that so far though

I think the USB option would require more hardware in the vehicle. I might try the wifi enabled sd card...
I'd like to create a solution that would automatically transfer the video files when I park the car at home.

 

[jokiin]

From memory there was some issue about the file structure that was a problem for the wifi cards

 

[Nigel]

can't see it working via USB, a few people have looked at the wifi SD card option before, not sure anyone has had any success with that so far though

The Wi-Fi SD card adaptor is listed as an optional accessory for the Mini 0806 so I guess it works on that...

 

[jokiin]

The Wi-Fi SD card adaptor is listed as an optional accessory for the Mini 0806 so I guess it works on that...

they may have done something with the file system structure to support them, I don't think it's impossible, just not sure it's practical for anything other than limited use, a file or two maybe, can't see it being practical to archive daily for example

 

[Nigel]

can't see it being practical to archive daily for example

Easy answer to that is to get a bigger SD card. If your getting so much video that you are filling the biggest SD card daily then it's not going to be practical keep an archive elsewhere, unless you have a googol of storage!

 

[jokiin]

Easy answer to that is to get a bigger SD card. If your getting so much video that you are filling the biggest SD card daily then it's not going to be practical keep an archive elsewhere, unless you have a googol of storage!

just having more than one card and swapping them over and copy off would be a far more reliable way to archive files, the simple ways are still sometimes the best

would be nice to pull in at home have it recognise your network and seamlessly upload anything new, I think we're a long way from that being possible though

 

[reverend]

I was having a look into that - there was a older Wifi SD card that ran Linux that could be hacked to run an FTP daemon - basically you could configure it so that whenever it logged onto your home network you could start firing files at an FTP server via cron jobs etc.

The thing is it only supported up to a max of 32GB cards - has no SDXC support and I think it would interfere like mad with parking mode as you'd be doing concurrent reading and writing which most cards don't do too well - you can imagine the mess it would leave the parking video in. Also the throughput isn't great - you were looking at around 540MB per hour from what people were saying so I passed. Also you'd have to factor in the extra power usage - the Wifi cards on their own used around 200mA so around the same as a Panorama camera in parking mode.

Instead of sitting in the car moving files backwards and forwards I would just pull the card for now while the tech catches up and throw it into a USB3 reader.

 

[mcaf123]

I use an app called shuttersnitch on my ipad that let's me access the transcend WiFi sd card in my digital camera and download photos and videos. It would be a perfect way for you to download any important videos and view on a big screen when you need it, but I agree with @jokiin when he says we're probably a long way off from a solid solution and @reverend when he says it'll probably mess with parking mode

 

[reverend]

Those Transcend cards are one of the ones that can be hacked I think - I can't remember the one I was looking at but it was the same chipset and took microsd cards. It's one of the reasons I ordered the microsd to sd adaptors to try one out but then the price of the cards was bonkers!

What is the speed of the transcend cards like mate?

 

[mcaf123]

Those Transcend cards are one of the ones that can be hacked I think - I can't remember the one I was looking at but it was the same chipset and took microsd cards. It's one of the reasons I ordered the microsd to sd adaptors to try one out but then the price of the cards was bonkers!

What is the speed of the transcend cards like mate?

Yeah I believe they can be hacked and some sort of automation can be applied to the download of files.

The speed is actually pretty good with my photos being at least 5mb a pic and it takes about 20 secs or so to download to my ipad via shuttersnitch

 

[kuoh]

This really shouldn't be as difficult as it sounds. The camera doesn't have to do anything differently except write the files in a logical folder structure and with the correct file extension. All the reading and wifi functionality is handled by the card. Even parking mode shouldn't be an issue, as the card would only be written to when there's activity and the card pauses data transfer when it detects camera access. The eyefi already does this, except dashcam manufactures don't generally follow the naming conventions used by digicams, so they aren't as compatible. If a dashcam manufacturer were willing to work with the sd card manufacturer for direct integration, I wouldn't be surprised if they could develope a working system in a very short amount of time.

KuoH

 

[reverend]

Yeah but if you've got a slow Wifi card to begin with - say 250KB/sec, if that's running at full pelt it can't even shift 22GB in a full 24 hours - a lot of days I exceed that anyway.

It would be ok if you're not doing much driving as say the car is parked from 8pm to 8am it could only shift 11GB or less than 2 hours of footage in that time if it was going constantly. A lot of benchmarks I've seen only show half of that with some cards so you can imagine if your car is parked up overnight and it could only shift 1 hours footage it wouldn't be a massive amount of use right now if you do much driving or if there are many parking events happening as you'd be generating data quicker than you could shift it.

Don't get me wrong I really want them to speed up big time and make this a usable scenario as it would be great having everything automatically transferred to a NAS at home when I'm parked on the drive - I even bought some microSD to SD adaptors recently to try one out in my X2 but when I saw the throughput I stopped in my tracks. Saying that they still haven't turned up either.

Some cameras just use USB wifi dongles and they'd at least be quicker as they have a larger aerial footprint and you may have to make some modifications to cameras that have EMI coatings in the casing to use the SD cards.

Like you say there has to be a better way, and if @jokiin's been asked already you just know he's got something planned for down the road

 

[jokiin]

There's a lot more to it that people appreciate, everything always seems easier I guess if you're not the one that has to do it

 

[mcaf123]

There's a lot more to it that people appreciate, everything always seems easier I guess if you're not the one that has to do it

That's exactly what my wife said about childbirth

 

[jokiin]

That's exactly what my wife said about childbirth

You just need to alert her to the pain scale

3, childbirth
2, stepping barefoot on a Lego brick at night
1, man flu

Then she'll understand

Seriously though the wifi stuff is more complex than people think, plenty of wifi cameras around already, why don't they have this?

 

[mcaf123]

U missed out getting kicked in the balls