- 1CH DRIVING REORDER, 1920x1080p Full HD, 30Frame, 135degree Angle, 0.5LUX
- H.264 (AVU Format), Built-in 30-axix impact sensor, Sirf Star GPS Built-in(Saves driving information)
- Security LED Motion, 37mm UV Filter, Real time video output of Blackbox using output terminal
- Emergency Record Button, Sound Recording Button (High-performance MC)
- Sensitive motion detection function, Auto Exposure Function,
3 stars for the manual. The ad said English manual, English firmware, English Viewer. The box contained a manual in Korean. Vendor said I need to go to lukashd.com and download and print the manual. Not good, but I did it. It reads as if it was translated from Korean to English by an app, and is in a very small font. Syntax and nuance are all screwed up and in many places it made no sense at all. The camera had Korean in its firmware, and the viewer was in Korean. Long, frustrating story short the manual, firmware and viewer were convertible to English (of sorts.) While I did not ask for it, the vendor (Green Sum)gave me a five dollar credit on my PayPal account for this.
5 stars for video. Using their SD (class unknown/undisclosed) and the default settings (except for time, which I changed to UTC-5 with daylight savings time on the US east coast), daytime video was excellent. License plates, road signs, advertisements, and inane bumper stickers were clearly readable. Night video was evaluated in a rural and suburban environment (none to very little public lighting) and was good; I could read the license plate of the car in front of me, and roadside signs. Using my SanDisk 32 gb class 10 Ultra, I plan to tweak the settings (using the viewer) to see if I can improve video quality. If I have a significant improvement, I will add it to this review.
5 stars for audio. Clear recording and playback. The mic is quite sensitive and will pick up road and wind noises if you leave the window open. It also picked up the noise of my engine running, however, that could be because I have a diesel engine. Overall, this clutter was partly avoidable (wind up the window), and not intrusive.
4 stars for viewer software. Easy to install in PC and use, but not explained very well. No way that I can see to change trip mileage from kilometers to miles. Video and Audio are also great on Win 7 version of Media Player. Replay using Lukas viewer or Win Media player on Win XP Pro does not work on my desktop PC, but this may be because I have an AMD 64 (Clawhammer) processor in this 8 year old homebuilt. Literature says it should work, but ...
Does not have a built in real time or in-camera playback viewer, like the Vacron and others. To me this is not a con. On-site replay can be done, if needed, via a tablet, using a card reader, and the screen would be much larger.
What got me interested in this specific device are the ISO certifications for the company, and the Sony chip. I took a chance buying it the way I did. I wish I could have bought it "Amazon Fulfilled" even if it cost me a few bucks more. So far, it is working out, but only time will tell.
May 12,2013
No noticeable improvement using my 32 gb class 10 SanDisk SD, day or night, after increasing camera settings. This device (Lukas 7900) is supposed to be able to use up to a 128 gb SD.
May 15, 2013
4 stars for the LK 290-12/24VT Auto DC Power Cut Off adapter. Hooked it up. Works great. See http://lukashd.com/eng/product_info/power_lock.html for a description and the manual. Minus 1 star because I cannot see how to change the running time setting, and the manual is so poorly written.
June 3, 2013
Photo of relative size, and a homemade sun shield added.
Overall Very satisfied with the camera; recommend it.The item works well and has not yet frozen while taking HD video, as have other cameras I had bought from other manufacturers. I am using the 32GB card it came with.
Shipping was incredibly fast, the customs documents indicate it came from South Korea and I had it within a week (it was shipped to Canada)Good quality video and specs for high temperature operation were my primary reasons for choosing the Lukas LK-7900 HD ACE. This camera is spec'd to run at 80C (176 F). Another big plus is it uses standard lens filters. It ships with a UV filter which is mostly for protecting the primary lens. The package I bought included a 32 GB SD memory card and a polarizing filter.
The polarizing filter (CPF Circular Polarizing Filter) is really an improvement in the blazing Phoenix AZ sun. It is like sun glasses for the camera. But, to "set" the filter, you have to rotate the front part of the filter until the glare and reflections are removed. I tried moving the filter, record the results, display on the computer and repeat. It was time consuming and ultimately unsuccessful. The quick fix is a small LCD display and video cable to adjust the filter in real time.
No video cable is included. You need a 3.5mm Mono Plug to RCA Plug Patch Cable which is widely available. My local Radio Shack had some on the shelf. Also need a small display screen. Amazon sells a low cost screen at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006MPRFJQ/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The screen comes with a power cord with stripped ends. I soldered on a cigarette lighter power plug and it works perfectly. Note this display needs a video input before anything is displayed. So, with a real time display, I was able to set the polarizing filter in seconds. It is best to change to the UV filter at night. I'll only do that on road trips. Night time video is OK with the polarizing filter. Changing filters will be easy with the LCD display to reset the polarizing filter.
Interestingly, my camera was shipped by DHL. When I looked at the tracking details, it shipped from South Korea. The manual and audio language were in Korean. After finding the English manual online, changing the camera to English was easy.
The plastic mounting bracket comes with some 3M gel adhesive pads that are super sticky. There were three sets of brackets and adhesive pads in my kit.
There is an excellent technical review of this camera at http://forum.dashcamtalk.com/viewtopic.php?p=10375
So far, so good. I'll update after a summer in the Arizona sun and a road trip to Vegas.
No comments:
Post a Comment