808 Car Keys Micro Camera Review

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

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#7 Camera
The #7 is one version of the 808 car keys micro camera.

Table of Contents

● #7 Camera Report
● #7 How to Configure
● #7 Firmware Update Burntool Instructions
● #1 #7 Anyka Schematic
● #3 #7 Video Comparison
● #7 Missing Frame Map
● #7 V3.01 Firmware
● #1 #7 Anyka Update Win7-64

101227- Anyka firmware (#1, #7) can be updated with Windows 7-64

Windows 7-64 is not compatible with the Anyka tools (M3USB driver, burntool.exe) used to update the firmware in the 808 #1 and #7. It seems that the M3USB driver isn't compatible.

101227 - Edgard reports that to get the M3USB driver (used with the burntool) to work correctly on Windows 7-64 he had to run it inside a Windows XP Vmware virtual machine and bridge the USB interface from the Host to the Guest; all went fine.

101223 - #7 V3.01 Firmware

101223 I tried V3.01. I reduced the FPS to 20 and tried encoding in MJPEG. It results in many video glitches making it unacceptable to me and not recommended. MJPEG was tried with a slower flash card and a fast class 6 flash card. Same glitches.

I was able to changed the photo resolution to 640x480.

At video 20FPS, XVID and indoor light, encoding the missing frame rate was about zero (0.02 %).
At video 30FPS, XVID and indoor light, encoding the missing frame rate was about 37% (terrible).

The 20FPS and 30FPS XVID AVI data rate was about 25E6 bytes per minute. The #3/#6 data rate is more than 3 times that. So the #7 could be used in applications that require a low data rate.

Conclusion: I'm not sure what advantage version 3.01 has over version 2.04.

101222 - Kim in the U.K. has a "turnigy keychain camera" he bought from eBay. The hardware ID is 04D6 065E. He downloaded and installed the latest firmware "V3.01"

==========

The following decoding comes from the "使用说明.txt" file. To translate, open the file in Microsoft Word and specify "other encoding" and "Chinese Simplified GB2312". Copy and paste the Chinese text to translate.google.com. Translate from Chinese to any language.

The 'userconfig.txt' has 7 comma-separated entries that must end with a period (.) and I've figured out what they all are as follows:

1/ f.p.s. 5 - 30                                      30
2/ Res: 3=VGA(640x480), 5=CIF(352x288)                3
3/ Date: Stamp on=1, off =0                            1
4/ Flip: 1=flip, 0=normal                              0
5/ 1=168MHz, 2=152MHz, 3=124MHz                        1
6/ Format: 1=MPEG4(XviD), 0=MJPEG                      1
7/ Still Res: 0=1600*1200, 1=1280*1024, 3=640*480      0

there is a MSDOS batch (****.bat) file in the firmware folder, once you've edited the 'userconfig.txt' you run the batch file which executes the 'ConfigPara.exe' executable to patch the bin file 'Spring1M.bin'.

Then run 'BurnTool.exe' as normal

===========
101222 - When I upgraded the camera firmware the video was flipped although I hadn't altered the 'userconfig.txt'

I checked userconfig and it was as follows:
30,5,1,0,1,1,0

I started to change the 1s to 0s to correct the flip as follows:
30,5,1,0,0,0,0.

The video flipped and the video quality was awful, broken and torn frames with some frozen green and purple blocks. (maybe this is my codecs, I'm running the k-lite codec pack under WinXP and ffmpeg under PCLinuxOS)

I then changed the file back to the original:
30,5,1,0,1,1,0

and re-flashed. The video stayed correct orientation and the colour back to normal.

I guessed that the firmware comes with Spring1M.bin configured differently from the sample userconfig.txt, how crazy is that? :D

My feeling is that the 3.01 firmware has improved the video quality (but not the weird audio :( )

The compression is higher than your reports on the other versions, I'm getting around 26MB/Minute.

#7 Information Not Cataloged Yet

Some Special #7 Tests
Special Case	Conclusion	Test
100808 - When the flash card is full.	The camera will not take video or photos. Mass storage device and webcam modes work.	● Power on - The LED comes on. ● Take a Photo - The LED stays on. No JPG file is created. ● Take a video - The LED flashes three times then stays on. No video starts. No AVI file is created. ● Power off - The LED goes off. ● Connect the USB cable - The camera installs as a mass storage device. Long press the power button - The camera leaves mass storage device mode and enters webcam mode. Long press the power button - The camera leaves webcam mode and enters mass storage device mode.
100808 - When the flash card is almost full (4 MB remaining).	The camera will record video until almost exactly 2E6 bytes are remaining and will then stop recording and close the AVI file.	● Power on - The LED comes on. ● Take a video - The LED flashes three times and goes out. Video recording continues for a few seconds. The video stops, the AVI file is closed and the LED comes on. The AVI file is playable and the flash has 1998848 bytes (almost exactly 2E6 bytes) remaining. It seams that the camera stopped recording and closed the AVI file with exactly 2E6 bytes remaining. ● Take another video - The LED flashes three times and stays on. No AVI file is created. The camera will not take a video with 2E6 bytes remaining. ● Power off - The LED goes off.
100808 - When the flash card is missing.	The LED will flash 10 times and the camera does not turn on. Mass storage device works. Webcam mode does not work.	● Power on - The LED comes on. The LED flashes 10 times. The LED goes off. ● Connect the USB cable - The camera installs as an empty mass storage device. Long press the power button - The camera leaves mass storage device mode (webcam mode does not start). Long press the power button - The camera enters mass storage device mode. If no flash card, then no webcam.

100726 - JC has these comments about the #7

Now that I've suffered with a Version 7 while also using a Version 3 in the same weeks, I can explain the disadvantages of Version 7 a lot better.

Summary - Get a #3. Stay away from the #7. A free or cheap micro SD card is no bargain. The 808 cameras need the fastest micro SD card. To work well you need to spend as much on a Class 6 micro SD Card as you spend on the camera or your videos will be all jumpy with 50% missing frames.

Power Button Too Sensitive - The worst problem with 7 is that the on off button is one touch not touch and hold like #3 so it goes on in your pocket. #7 needs to be carried in a little box in your pocket so the battery doesn't die always accidently activating in your pocket.

Unreliable Battery Charge Indicator - The second worst version 7 problem is the Unreliable charging sensor so you can't tell when it's dead or when it's fully charged. Sometimes when you are charging it, the LED stops flashing to let you know that it's fully charged. That is 1 out of 20 times. Sometimes it blinks 10 times to let you know that it stopped taking a video because the battery is drained down. Most of the time it just stops video recording with the LED out so you think it is still recording. You think that it's working until you try to play it back and you only got the first minute and nothing else.

Battery Unreliable - The Version 7 battery is unreliable. When fully charged it sometimes works well and can record 5 X 10 minute videos or 50 minutes straight one video but sometimes with a full charge it only records one 10 minute video and then the second 10 minute video it shuts down at 8 minutes and the third and forth and fifth it shuts down at just 1 minute each.

Audio is Terrible - As everyone knows the audio in version #7 is horribly distorted and skips some words.

At 30 FPS Missing Frame Rate is Bad - The video in Version 7 sticks and locks up / freezing so sometimes in the first 10 seconds portions of the video are lost just showing one frame. This is even fully charged using a class 4 tested at 4.4 Mb/s writing speed. This was at 30 frames per second setting as it was shipped. Many people don't have the time or the knowledge to reprogram it to 20 or 21 frames per second to improve the duplicate frame problem.

100723 - DL in Bangor, N. Wales, UK has these comments about the #7

Flash Card Socket Problem - I had an initial problem in getting the supplied flash card to locate properly - it would spring out again. Eventually I used a little more force and edge of a knife to push it home, sorted.

Audio Noise - Another point is the audio. I first tried the camera whilst fishing, and whilst the first 2 seconds sound ok, the sound then deteriorates to something that sounds like aliasing noise. At first I thought that this would be all it would do, but having now tried the camera in a model helicopter, the sound was ok - albeit just the whine of the heli gears. The camera seems to dislike either low sound levels, or anything akin to white noise (rushing water), not sure yet.

Power Button Quirk - Having pressed the ON button, the LED comes on - but then flickers for 1-2 seconds, before settling as lit - I assume that this is the camera initializing, or similar - and that it's important to wait until it settles before pressing the MODE button to start a recording.

2010 July 17 - #7 Camera Report (Anyka with External Flash Card)

2010 July 17
The #7 camera uses the USBANYKA webcam driver. The webcam resolution is 320x240.

Al has this comment about using the webcam as a video capture device in VirtualDub - I found that it would work in VirtualDub in Capture AVI Mode if, instead of selecting "USB Web Camera (DirectShow)" from the "Device" dropdown menu, I selected "Microsoft WDM Image Capture (Win32) (VFW)".

Carlos sent me this information about his #7 camera he bought from HobbyKing.

The camera came with a 2GB unknown class SanDisk micro SD card. Carlos also bought a PQi 4GB class 6 card.

Video recordings achieved this results with firmware version 2.04.

Card	H2TEST Write Speed	FPS	Timestamp	userconfig.txt	missing frames
2GB SanDisk, no class	4.87 MBps	30	Yes	30,1,1,0,1.	58%
PQi 4GB Class 6	10.3 MBps	30	yes	30,1,1,0,1.	36%
		20	no	20,1,0,0,1.	0%
		21	no	21,1,0,0,1.	0% after a few at the beginning

Always there are around 6~7 missing frames in the firsts seconds.

2010 June 03
CX611C (printed on circuit board) has the same Anyka AK3651B processor. 16 megabyte RAM. The AVI is 30FPS but 16 duplicate frames per second. The AVI XviD is much more compressed: 12.4 megabytes per second.

2010 June 01
CX311C (printed on circuit board)
The #7 camera is a variant of the #1 camera and is sold by HobbyKing (HobbyCity).
I received an inside photo and a sample video of the #7 camera, and here is the preliminary analysis.

Variant of the #1 camera. Same audio. Same 640x480 video resolution. Same brand of processor chip (Anyka) but different part number. Called the CX311 on the Anyka firmware readerme.com website. Unlike the #1 camera it uses a micro SD card. The firmware is probably stored in the 8-pin chip shown in the photo. The battery is labeled 032030PL 140 mAh. The AVI sample is 44 megabytes per minute, about half of the #3 camera.

VIDEO - This is the first 808 camera to not use AVI MJPG video compression. The video codec is AVI XVID. The AVI is 44 megabytes per minute, KeyFrame every 90 frames, 30.000 FPS. The duplicate frame rate is about 12 per second, high and bad. The video frame quality is good. The video is not distorted (like 720x480). The date time stamp is white in the upper left (I don't know if it can be disabled). Indoor video is dark with a green cast.

AUDIO - The audio quality is low and bad. Audio is the same as the #1 camera 16 bit, 8000 Hz, 128kbps.

This camera probably does not have a "system mode" like the #1 camera. The firmware architecture of this camera is probably like the #3, in that the firmware is probably stored in the 8-pin serial flash chip (not an executable chip) and loaded into RAM on power-up.

The latest #7 firmware is on the readerme website under CX311.
I don't have a #7 camera so I can't test it. The instructions would be to use the burntool as documented here.

The CX311 firmware includes "spring.bin" which is probably the firmware that gets stored in the 8-pin serial flash chip. There are some interesting strings in there. Parts of the file look like font data, so if the date time stamp can't be disabled in the graceful way, it might be possible to change the font characters to blank characters, removing the date time stamp.

Allan (camera owner) reports that he loaded the latest 1.07 firmware. The low light video quality improved and the date time stamp went away! Don't know why. But another odd problem occurs: some of the videos are upside down.

When the 1.06 firmware was loaded, the video date time stamp now displays!

#7 camera bottom PWB

#7 camera

2010 May 28 - New #7 Camera (#1 with External Flash Card)

Jacobo bought a camera from HobbyKing and it is a new version of the #1 camera with an extern flash card. I have requested sample photos and video, and internal pictures. It has the Anyka AK3651B processor. I think it is the CX311 as listed here (use Google translate).

This will be interesting. Where does it put the firmware? The #1 puts the firmware on a partition of the internal flash card. Since the flash is removable and can't hold the firmware, the #7 camera must have a dedicated internal storage for the firmware.

2010 June 28 - #7 Camera - Updating the Firmware

Preliminary Instructions

Q. Does the micro SD card need to be installed to update the camera firmware?
A. The firmware update can be done with or without the micro SD card installed. Thanks to Al F. for this answer.

The #7 and #1 cameras both have an Anyka processor and the firmware can be updated using the BurnTool.

The #7 camera is a completely different software architecture than the #1 camera. The #7 camera does not have partitions, multiple drive letters or system mode. None of the #7 camera system files (the firmware) are on the micro SD flash card.

Download the firmware RAR file "cx311V2.04 1M.RAR" from here and unzip it. Do not move any of these files to the root of the camera flash drive. If this version does not work, try an older version.

Here are the important files in the RAR file:

BurnTool.exe	This program will use the M3USB driver to communicate through the USB cable to the #7 camera. BurnTool will write the firmware "Spring.bin" to the serial SPI flash chip in the camera, and do some other mysterious things. There are no tools available to dump this chip.
ConfigPara.exe	Running this file will take the information in the userconfig.txt file and use it to patch "Spring.bin".
userconfig.txt	You can modify this file with configuration parameters (see below), or leave it AS-IS. I recommend you leave it AS-IS, update the firmware and verify the camera works, then modify it as-you-please and update the firmware again.
Spring.bin	The camera firmware. When you power up the camera this data gets copied from the serial SPI flash chip into RAM and executed.

PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. YOUR CAMERA COULD BE UNUSABLE IF THIS PROCEDURE DOES NOT WORK FOR YOU, OR YOU USE THE WRONG FIRMWARE.

Here are the steps to follow to burn the software into the #7 camera using the BurnTool and the M3USB driver. If you stop halfway, the camera will not work, and you have to start over.

Install the M3USB Driver
1. Download the M3USB driver and unpack it into a folder (M3usb.inf, m3usb.sys, vssver2.scc).
2. Turn off the camera.
3. Put the camera in burn mode - start with the camera and the LED off. Press and hold the mode button then connect the USB cable then release the mode button.
4. Windows should notice that new hardware is plugged in and ask for the driver, so choose the folder with the M3USB files. If Windows detected a mass storage device (disk) then try again - in burn mode there is no disk device!
5. Disconnect the USB cable.

Burn the Firmware
1. Disconnect the USB cable. If BurnTool is running, close it.
2. Optionally modify the "userconfig.txt" file. Do not move the file. If modified, run "ConfigPara.exe". This is a DOS program that runs in a fraction of a second. Then notice that the Spring.bin file has been modified (the modified date time stamp on the file is current.)
3 Run BurnTool.exe
4. Connect the USB cable in burn mode - start with the camera and the LED off. Press and hold the mode button, then connect the USB cable then release the mode button.
5. You will see the BurnTool status gray square turn yellow. This indicates BurnTool can communicate with the camera.
6. Press the BurnTool green start arrow button. Burntool starts to load the firmware into the camera.
7. BurnTool has a blue progress bar and a timer. The burn takes about 95 seconds with firmware version 1.x and 25 seconds with version 2.x. Wait. If you abort here you will have to start over.

8. When done, the BurnTool status square and the progress bar turns green.
9. Close BurnTool and disconnect the USB cable.
10. Reset the camera and try it.
11. If the camera does not work, start over and try again.

USERCONFIG.TXT

See the #7 Camera Configuration page for the required format of "userconfig.txt" which depends on firmware version.

This Chinese language "使用说明.txt" file included with the firmware describes the format of the userconfig.txt file, but it contains some misinformation.

使用说明.txt

1、按照"userconfig.txt"的格式修改相应参数。
2、第1个参数----录像帧率5~30帧。
   第2个参数----录像格式,2为720*480,1为VGA录像,0为CIF录像。
   第3个参数----1为带时间显示,0为不带时间显示。
   第4个参数----1为正常摄像头方向,0为摄像头翻转。
   第5个参数----1为录像频率168MHz,2为录像频率152MHz,3为录像频率124MHz。
3、最后一个".",不能省略。
4、修改成功后,双击"配置参数.bat".

2010 June 25 - #7 Camera Configuration - UserConfig.txt

Marek sent me this great email about how to configure the #7 camera (Anyka CX311). Thanks! He contributed most of this.

This page documents the format of the userconfig.txt file. The format is dependent on the firmware version. ConfigPara.exe modifies the spring.bin file (the firmware) with the contents of the userconfig.txt file.

100704 - Update for the V2.04 firmware. The V2.04 firmware userconfig.txt file has 5 comma-separated fields followed by a period. The default is 30 fps, 640x480, video timestamp, not upside-down, 168 MHz

Firmware 2.04 fields (five fields and the final period):
userconfig.txt default contents: 30,1,1,0,1.
● Fps: 5 to 30
● Resolution: 2=720x480, 1=640x480 (VGA), 0=352x288 (CIF). It looks like resolution 720x480 is fake. It only exist in the AVI header while frames inside are still 640x480.
● Timestamp: 0=no, 1=yes
● Flip: 0=normal, 1=upside-down
● Video frequency MHz 1=168, 2=152, 3=124 (not sure what this does. Marek - doesn't produce visible effects for me.

Marek tested the missing frame rate:
- 30fps = 33% (about every 3) frames dropped (the same as for earlier versions)
- 22fps = 6% (about every 15)
- 21fps = 2% (about every 50)
- 20fps = 0%! (except few first frames which occurs in each recording)

I own #7 camera from HobbyKing and flashed it today with 1.07 firmware, and I discovered few things. I think that it could help somebody:-)

1. In firmware downloaded from CX311 there are two interesting files: userconfig.txt and ConfigPara.exe. First is configuration for camera, the latter is program that patches Spring.bin (firmware) with settings from userconfig.txt. After some experiments I've got:

Firmware 1.06 fields (four fields and the final period):
userconfig.txt default contents: 30,1,0,0.
● fps: 30
● resolution: 1 = 640x480, 2=352x288 (CIF). (CIF works)
● timestamp: 0 - no, files named as AK0000, 1 - yes, files named as time
● flip: 0 = normal, 1 = upside down

Firmware 1.07 fields (five fields and the final period):
userconfig.txt default contents: 30,1,0,0,0.
● fps: 30
● resolution: 1 = 640x480 (VGA), 0=352x288 (CIF). (CIF does not work. The camera hang and produces a 0 byte AVI file. It must be recovered by reset button.
● timestamp: 0 - no, files named as AK0000, 1 - yes, files named as time
● flip feature: 0 = off, 1 = on
● initial flip: 0 = normal, 1 = upside down (this field works only if
flip feature is on)

For example: 25fps camera with high resolution, without timestamp on
old firmware: 25,1,0,0.

If you flash with firmware 1.07 and flip feature enabled, when camera is on and idle, press shortly power button to change orientation (flip picture) for next recording. And mystery of flipped recordings is also resolved:-)

2. Dropped frames. In original firmware there are about 33% of dropped frames, sometimes with bursts up to 6 (it looks like freeze). After changing to 25fps there is a little less framedrop but bursts still occurs. When i go down to 18fps on Sandisk card, there are no dropped frames except burst. I replaced original Sandisk card (which have only 2MB/s write speed) with card with speed grade near to 4 (~4MB/s write) and I've got 17% of drops at 25fps but without bursts, so video is smooth. So, smooth video require at least speed grade 4 card (4MB/s write speed) - there are no bursts and freezes on fast card. This is clearly card issue. But to eliminate dropped frames, it seems that only reliable way is to decrease framerate, fast card helps a little.

2010 June 07 - #7 Missing Frame Map

Camera #7 about 1/3 missing frames at 30 FPS as delivered

Here is a map showing frames and missing frames from a sample AVI file taken with a class 2 flash card. The frames of length 6 are missing frames. A player will replace a missing frame with a previous frame. "." is a good frame and "D" is a missing frame.

......D.D..D..DD...D..D..D.D..D..D.D..D..D.DDDDDD.D.D

00000800 [00dc:   22654]: stream 0: byte pos        0, chunk 0
00006086 [00dc:   14466]: stream 0: byte pos    22654, chunk 1
00009910 [00dc:   14698]: stream 0: byte pos    37120, chunk 2
0000D282 [00dc:   22636]: stream 0: byte pos    51818, chunk 3
00012AF6 [00dc:   16670]: stream 0: byte pos    74454, chunk 4
00016C1C [00dc:   19140]: stream 0: byte pos    91124, chunk 5
0001B6E8 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   110264, chunk 6
0001B6F6 [00dc:   19374]: stream 0: byte pos   110270, chunk 7
000202AC [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   129644, chunk 8
000202BA [00dc:   16478]: stream 0: byte pos   129650, chunk 9
00024320 [00dc:   21238]: stream 0: byte pos   146128, chunk 10
0002961E [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   167366, chunk 11
0002962C [00dc:   20888]: stream 0: byte pos   167372, chunk 12
000307D4 [00dc:   21112]: stream 0: byte pos   188260, chunk 13
00035A54 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   209372, chunk 14
00035A62 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   209378, chunk 15
00035A70 [00dc:   20420]: stream 0: byte pos   209384, chunk 16
0003AA3C [00dc:   16822]: stream 0: byte pos   229804, chunk 17
0003EBFA [00dc:   19734]: stream 0: byte pos   246626, chunk 18
00043918 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   266360, chunk 19
00043926 [00dc:   23146]: stream 0: byte pos   266366, chunk 20
00049398 [00dc:   19148]: stream 0: byte pos   289512, chunk 21
0004DE6C [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   308660, chunk 22
0004DE7A [00dc:   18530]: stream 0: byte pos   308666, chunk 23
000526E4 [00dc:   19750]: stream 0: byte pos   327196, chunk 24
00057412 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   346946, chunk 25
00057420 [00dc:   16576]: stream 0: byte pos   346952, chunk 26
0005B4E8 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   363528, chunk 27
0005B4F6 [00dc:   16354]: stream 0: byte pos   363534, chunk 28
000614E8 [00dc:   16456]: stream 0: byte pos   379888, chunk 29
00065538 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   396344, chunk 30
00065546 [00dc:   15958]: stream 0: byte pos   396350, chunk 31
000693A4 [00dc:   16632]: stream 0: byte pos   412308, chunk 32
0006D4A4 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   428940, chunk 33
0006D4B2 [00dc:   16334]: stream 0: byte pos   428946, chunk 34
00071488 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   445280, chunk 35
00071496 [00dc:   16780]: stream 0: byte pos   445286, chunk 36
0007562A [00dc:   13844]: stream 0: byte pos   462066, chunk 37
00078C46 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   475910, chunk 38
00078C54 [00dc:   15208]: stream 0: byte pos   475916, chunk 39
0007C7C4 [00dc:   14098]: stream 0: byte pos   491124, chunk 40
0007FEDE [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   505222, chunk 41
00081EF4 [00dc:   13864]: stream 0: byte pos   505228, chunk 42
00085524 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   519092, chunk 43
00085532 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   519098, chunk 44
00085540 [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   519104, chunk 45
0008554E [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   519110, chunk 46
0008555C [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   519116, chunk 47
0008556A [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   519122, chunk 48
00085578 [00dc:   13340]: stream 0: byte pos   519128, chunk 49
0008899C [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   532468, chunk 50
000889AA [00dc:   13818]: stream 0: byte pos   532474, chunk 51
0008BFAC [00dc:       6]: stream 0: byte pos   546292, chunk 52


2010 XXX XX - XXXXXXXX

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

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