Chuck LohrChuck LohrChuck Lohr    www.ChuckLohr.com  USA Flag
This is a non-commercial web site.  Advertising is not accepted.  I am not being paid for any mention or promotion.

To translate this page from English select a language

happiness
happiness
 808 Car Keys Micro Camera Review
hope it can help your life safe and happiness
happiness
happiness

#5 Camera
The #5 is one version of the 808 car keys micro camera.

Table of Contents
#5 (#2 variant) - 720x480
#5 Instruction Manual (for reference only)
#5 - Upside Down Image - Button Press Smokes Camera
#5 Flood
#5 Camera, Video Undistorted, Images Distorted
#5 Font Blanking
#5 Variant, Fake Upscaled 1280x960
   

  
110214 - #5 Variant, Fake Upscaled 1280x960 video

#5 HD variant, button side, photo by Jin'

#5 HD variant, battery side, variant photo by Jin', Syntek STK1262 CPU
110207 - Jin' in Germany emailed me about this fake HD camera.
110214 - Légrády in Hungary emaild me about this fake HD camera.

Summary: This is basically a variant of an 808 (#5, also like the #4) with Syntek processor camera with optional upscaled 1280x960 (HD) video, with a terrible missing frame rate.  Has the same hardware ID and same red blue LED and same audio as the #5, but the AVI video has been upscaled to 1280x960 with terrible results:  The missing frame rate is 57% to 58%. By analyzing the resolution of a video frame I have verified that the native camera module resolution is probably 640x480. The audio is also terrible, with lots of ticking noise, probably related to current surges when the camera writes the flash card. I will mention it on the 808 review page with your internal camera photos. At this time I haven't decided if it needs to be assigned a number.

Native camera module resolution 640x480
AVI video Two selectable resolutions:
640x480, or upscaled to 1280x960.
No apparent aspect ratio distortion. 
28.955 FPS in a sample AVI.
57% is the terrible missing frame rate of a 1280x960 sample. This camera processor does not have the CPU horsepower to do HD.
JPG photos Two selectable upscaled resolutions:
1600x1200 or 3264x2448
AVI frame sizes 87KB - Average good frame size
Audio PCM 8000Hz mono 64Kbps. 
Jin's camera audio has lots of ticking noise.
The Légrády camera is
OK.  Free of clicks or pops or other artifacts.
Webcam 320x240, STK02N, seems 30FPS
Hardware ID 05E1 0B02 - Mass storage device.  05E1 0B01 Webcam

Comment from Jin'

i already installed the STK-webcam-driver and it works - but only if i press and hold the operation button during plug in to the USB, pushing the power-button while at USB it will not work (does not work like my #3 keycam)

and i can tell you - the charging of the LiPo is working fine - if it is full the LED stop flashing and the cam will not get hot (like my #3 that don't stop charging) - and - it cannot change modes as described in the manual - it cannot record audio only - as i said it behaves exactly like my #3 cam only the LED is blue and red (flashes blue/red while charging, lights blue when full charged, when taking a video it flashes blue few times then the LED is off, when taking a photo, it flashes few times red, when in standby-on it lights blue)
Comments from Légrády:

manufacturer Syntek, webcam driver STK02N, hardware id of mass storage devie 05E1 0B02, video time is in the lower right corner and white text. 

Set time: time.txt: YYYY MM DD HH MM SS
 
Set resolution ( must place the file in the root, keep the rec button pressed, and connect the usb until led light switches off)
Originally it was at 640x480, after setting any of these, the video is flipped upside down. Reset has no effect.
N=1280x960 R=1980x960 Y=640x480
time1.txt
20090 909090909 N
or
20090 909090909 R
or
20090 909090909 Y

==========

It seems that all the command strings are just switching between 1280x960 and 640x480 modes.
It is always upside down (so buttons have to face downwards to make a good video).
I can not reproduce the 1980x960 resolution. (Maybe I made a misreading before?)
I bought it on an auction site (www.vatera.hu) from a person.
I did not get the original user manual, only (a crappy) one made in hungarian by the person who sold it.
As a webcam it sends video 320x240 (USB 1.1 speed)
Audio is always PCM 8000Hz mono 64Kbps 
Mode 1: Image size: 3264 x 2448 Video size: 1280 x 960
Mode 2: Image size: 1600 x 1200 Video size: 640 x 480

  
101217 - #5 Font Blanking
Roger M. received a #5 camera. The camera firmware is in the 8-pin SPI flash memory chip. Using an eprom programmer he was able to read the camera firmware, blank the font, and re-write the firmware.  Now his camera has no video date time stamp.  At this time the eprom programmer is required and there is no way to do this with software tools through the USB cable.

Here is the 1 megabyte (0x100000) original firmware and the blanked font firmware.  The original CRC32 is 290F9E41.
101219 RM 290F9E41 syntek_rom_original.bin
101219 RM 290F9E41 syntek_rom_datetime_removed.bin

#5 camera, Roger M. Button side

#5 camera, Roger M., Battery side


  
2010 June 16 - #5 Camera, Video Undistorted, Images Distorted
#5 William sent me a sample 720x480 AVI from a #5 camera that is undistorted.  By contrast the #3 camera produces an aspect ratio (AR)  distorted 720x480 video.

In another bizarre twist, the photos from his #5 camera are AR distorted!  The  1280x1024 images display a circle as a tall oval.  They would be undistorted if rescaled to 1280x960.

The video needs to be played at an AR of 1.5 to be undistorted.  This is puzzling because most players do not normally playback at this AR.

Most NTSC DVDs are encoded 720x480 with AR distortion, but rescaled and played at 4x3 or 16x9 without distortion.

Could the native resolution be 720x480?
Could the native resolution be 720x540 and cropped to 720x480?
Could the native resolution be 640x480 and cropped to 640x427 and scaled to 720x480?
#5 Camera, 720x480 with no aspect ratio distortion  

Some #5 cameras use the LLH-7670 camera module.  Is the 640x480 OmniVision OV7670 sensor used in the #5?

Does anyone in China know what they are doing?  Imagine how great this camera could be if it was being produced by someone who cared about photography.  Creating a camera that takes undistorted video and distorted photos makes no sense.  Some idiot in China is probably tweaking the software from a stolen cell phone design.
The 1.5 AR would be dead, except for the fact that all 35mm film image area (36x24 mm) is 1.5 AR.  The very high end Canon D5 digital camera has a 36x24 mm sensor, only to be film accurate.

===========

At this time, I consider any Syntek processor camera with 64Kbps audio that takes 720x480 video to be a #5.

Questions waiting to be answered about the #5:
Does every camera offer the option to remove the date time stamp?
Does every camera take undistorted video?
How many different variation are there?

  
2010 June 09 - #5 Flood
#5People are reporting that they are receiving a #5 cameras when they think they are ordering a #3 camera.

The #5 is 720x480, 30.000 fps, and has the video date time stamp in the lower right, but the color is white or orange.  The processor is Syntek not SunPlus.

The video quality of the #5 is not as good as the #3, probably because the data rate from the internal camera module is half that of the #3.

The audio quality is worse.  The #5 audio data rate is 64Kbps, vs 353Kbps for the #3.

All of the #5 sample AVI files sent to me have at least one error in the AVI encoding that might make the file hard to play on some players.  This can be fixed by opening the file with VirtualDub, and saving it without re-encoding it.

  
2010 Mar 25 - Camera #5 - Upside Down Image - Button Press Smokes Camera
Camera #5, blown diode
Camera #5, top side, smoked diode in red oval.
If you hold the reset button while pressing the power button, you can smoke the camera.

Nigel wrote me to say that his #5 camera (similar to a #2 camera) takes an upside down image. Also, the Y N thing in the date time file will not disable the date time stamp.

Nigel wrote:
==========
 "I discovered I had let the smoke out of the electronics! Whilst pressing buttons to try to discover some hidden mode, I had held in the reset button whist powering it up.  This caused a diode to short circuit (not open circuit) hence being able to turn it on but not off. If the diode goes open circuit (or is removed) then it is not possible to turn the camera on. I replaced the diode and can now turn it on and off. The diode is at upper left leg of the chip CO-TOC near upper middle here: up.JPG

 I let the smoke out for a second time so know exactly what created my 'fault' !
Also, if you look at the upper right side of the above image, there are 2 LED's - on mine, one is visible through the pinhole in the casing (Yellow/Orange in mine) the 2nd one is a Red LED and flickers when attached to a PC via USB cable as it read/deletes images. Maybe there is yet a way to 'talk' to the device?

The image is still upside down and timestamp is lower right. If I turn the camera upside down, take a pic or video, the image is now right side up and timestamp is still lower right ?!

I have no idea how to get the image the right way up again and can imagine that there is still a possible electronic fault or maybe a hidden mode I need to discover.
==========

  
2010 Mar 02 - #5 camera (#2 variant) 720x480
I am getting reports of a "new" camera that is 720x480.   I would call this #5 camera (a variant of the #2 camera, they use the Syntek processor).  This will make it difficult to distinguish the 720x480 #3 camera from the #5 camera.  Comparisons:

  #5
(#2 variant)
#2 #3
AVI Resolution 720x480 640x480 720x480
Flash micro SD card external internal or external external
Audio 8 bit, 8000 Hz, 64kbps 16 bit, 22050 Hz, 352kbps
Video Date Time Stamp, lower right white orange or white yellow
FPS 30.000 about 29 30 to 31
LED blue yellow yellow
Photo Resolution 1600x1200 1280x960 1280x1024
Date Time File timerset.txt
20100221001100 Y
time.txt tag.txt
Past Example eBay Listing 160401280765
(photo resolution is wrong)

260542014569 (delivered with problem 4GB card)
350318167191 180467377034
Can Disable Video Date Time Stamp? Yes Reports are NO No No
Webcam Driver STK02N STK02N SPCA1528
Processor Syntek Syntek SunPlus

#2 camera 720x480
Camera variant, 720x480, Blue LED
#2 camera 720x480
Camera variant, 720x480, internal bottom view, micro SD slot, click for full size
C5
#5 camera bottom
C5
#5 camera top


Creative Commons License
This work by Charles E Lohr is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Google Analytics javascript is used on this page.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics

IIS 6.0  There is no politically correct content on this web site.  I have never owned an SUV.