1. Repeatedly putting in and out the MicroSD card is a little bit frustrating also because the place is very small and is not easy to take the card out even using a small nail.
2. Yes, the wireless thing is a very good and nice feature, also I like it very much but its costs more. This feature is good for people which accessing many times the recordings or doing other things like live watching, or frequently setup (for bright for example) but for a "set and forget" camera you can buy any small camera. I consider wireless the future of dashcams also because almost all people will have an Android or Mac object in their home.
For parents which are expecting to not play with the camera the best is to use a quality camera to not have surprises like not working , stopping, overheating so you need a quality (korean, maybe?) camera and this Livue is a cheap korean. Regarding overheating I don't understand why a manufacturer put the chipset to the front PCB of the camera which in some bad mounting solution can add the heat to it by the direct sun.
This is my measured temperature over the ceramic heatsink: 52ºC (125.60ºF)
3. The Itronics are two: one is 100HD with 1080p resolution and best image and the other is 250HD which is 720p like LIvue and night image not so great as 100HD. So when you compare with one of them you must specify the model.
I feel also the Livue is trying to offer the maximum brightness of the sensor, maybe too much gain. In a complete dark you will see some blue vertical stripes, but I consider not a bug because when is complete dark you can't see anything. Also I don't like the auto white balance is changing very often but this is not a big issue. A big I consider the lens are not so clear or sharp than I expect. Maybe just mine are like this.
Sutitan said:
Could you explain the function of this camera to me a little bit. Im curious how it turns on and off.
Does it have a small internal battery? Since its powered from 12v cigarrete lighter, does the unit shut down as soon as the car is turned off?
Does the camera automatically start recording once it has power?
I saw that the camera records in small clips (<30seconds). Does the software put the clips all together for one continuous video?
1. Yes, it have internal battery, you can see the first post with disassembled camera. When the camera is no receiving power anymore, depending of its status of the actual record it smart shut down in two ways:
- if the camera was recording in Normal mode (top back led blinking in orange) the camera will shut down in about 10 seconds
- if the camera was recording in Event mode (top back led blinking in red) the camera will shut down in about 20 seconds
So if you are planning to take out the card after stopping the engine check if the LED is blinking or not. Depending on sensitivity camera setup, the Event mode can be started by a closed car door.
2. Yes it is starting after about 40 seconds after it receives power. A blinking orange LED and a female voice is announcing you. (You can disable this voice in setup).
These are the start up sequences:
a. 8s > blackbox init
b. 20s > voice announcing "Normal recording will start" (or "Event recording will start" if your setup is made only for Event files)
c. 30s > video signal received. G-sensor init
d. 40s > start recording and save file on the card
The recording will stop in this way:
A. Normal recording:
These are the boot sequences:
a. 1s > recording counter stop. Still video out
b. 10s > voice announcing "Recording will be end"
c. 11s > camera shut down
B. Event recording:
These are the boot sequences:
a. 5s > recording counter stop. Still video out.
b. 20s > voice annuncing "Recording will be end"
c. 21s > camera shut down
So you can safely take out the SD Card after the voice announce.
The event saving duration can be smaller if the internal battery is not charged. For example because the dashcam was used only few minutes.
3. The viewer software is very simple. But if you want to join clips is very easy to do this with the free
MP4Cam2AVI. Select what you want and save.
From my experience watching so many russian
accidents, usually an event is in about 20-30 seconds. 1 minute clip is considered safe to contain an recorded event.
enjoy,
Mtz