[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

Any reason why it showed up in the first place?

No no, I haven't got this error, I asked you this question even before I did the set up as I had read it on the forums.

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

Are you using the dashcam case provided by SJCAM? If yes than the camera can be installed in the case the other way round as well. Please check the picture I posted above with the dashcam case.

Arre wah, I was not aware that soft case can be also used in both positions, will check this once . Till now I have only used waterproof case mounting on the helmet and had never checked out soft case properly.

I saw your pic also and it's mounted straight.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

Can you share a picture of the camera in the case with the windshield mount?

Don't have the picture yet, will take it today.

[francis_vaz]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

No no, I haven't got this error, I asked you this question even before I did the set up as I had read it on the forums.

Oh okay.

Arre wah, I was not aware that soft case can be also used in both positions, will check this once . Till now I have only used waterproof case mounting on the helmet and had never checked out soft case properly.

No, the waterproof casing won't allow you to record audio.
Use the dashcam casing only.

Don't have the picture yet, will take it today.

Cool.

[BeantownThinker]

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

[*]Supports SD-cards up to 128GB[/list]

Are you sure it supports up to 128GB? I had picked up a SJ4000 in 2015 through dx.com and when I tried using a 64GB card it just did not recognise the card.

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

No, the waterproof casing won't allow you to record audio.
Use the dashcam casing only.

You can record audio with the case on. Its just that audio will be a bit low. See below video recorded through the waterproof case. Audio is as is and has not been enhanced.

http://youtu.be/Rn532-srD8U

[francis_vaz]

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

Are you sure it supports up to 128GB? I had picked up a SJ4000 in 2015 through dx.com and when I tried using a 64GB card it just did not recognise the card.

I have not tried a 128GB card but the manual and the box does say it supports cards from 32GB to upto 128GB, where 64GB and 128GB works with some selected memory cards only. I am guessing a higher class of memory cards.

You can record audio with the case on. Its just that audio will be a bit low.

Yes you can, but the audio is a bit muffled when using the waterproof case.
There is a also a spare slotted back cover that can be replaced with the water proof cases back cover to use it to record audio, at the expense of losing water proof feature.

See below video recorded through the waterproof case. Audio is as is and has not been enhanced.

The audio is quite clear in the video, the waterproof casing on mine records only muffled sounds.
There is an underwater mode in the camera menu, maybe that can enhance the mics quality.
Will try that.

[francis_vaz]

FIRMWARE UPDATE:

Just checked online on the SJCAM website and found there is a firmware update for the SJ4000 WiFi. The latest version is 1.8. Updated the camera and found that the screen now turns off automatically after the recording starts and it stays off while only the blue light flashes to notify the recording is on. Pretty useful to avoid distraction. Although, I didn't find an option to disable this, incase someone wants the viewfinder to be ON while it's recording.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

FIRMWARE UPDATE:

Just checked online on the SJCAM website and found there is a firmware update for the SJ4000 WiFi. The latest version is 1.8.

Coincidence there I also updated SJ7 Star to latest version 1.21 yesterday night.

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

I am not sure why yours is mounted upside down. Are you using the dashcam case provided by SJCAM? If yes than the camera can be installed in the case the other way round as well. Please check the picture I posted above with the dashcam case.

I checked yesterday, you are right, soft case can in fixed on the Cam both the ways, so now I can happily hang it straight

Just another question, I don't want to enable loop recording as I am using Cam as both as dashcam and action cam through our 8 days road trip starting tomorrow, in that case will the dashcam recordings happen in one long time video file save or it still happens in short say 1 min each files.

KK

[francis_vaz]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Coincidence there I also updated SJ7 Star to latest version 1.21 yesterday night.

Nice; does the screen turn off automatically while recording now?

I checked yesterday, you are right, soft case can in fixed on the Cam both the ways, so now I can happily hang it straight

Hahaha, it saved you the hassle of inverting the videos, date and time stamp and what not.

Just another question, I don't want to enable loop recording as I am using Cam as both as dashcam and action cam through our 8 days road trip starting tomorrow, in that case will the dashcam recordings happen in one long time video file save or it still happens in short say 1 min each files.

If loop recording is OFF, the camera will record one long video file unless you stop it or the memory runs out.
But I'll not recommend you to do that because the memory card is formatted FAT32 and FAT32 does not allow you to transfer files to PC above 4GB. So you will end up with a large video file in the camera itself and you will have a hard time downloading it via WiFi.
There is a ten min loop as well, you can try that.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

Nice; does the screen turn off automatically while recording now?

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

FIRMWARE UPDATE:

Just checked online on the SJCAM website and found there is a firmware update for the SJ4000 WiFi. The latest version is 1.8. Updated the camera and found that the screen now turns off automatically after the recording starts and it stays off while only the blue light flashes to notify the recording is on. Pretty useful to avoid distraction. Although, I didn't find an option to disable this, incase someone wants the viewfinder to be ON while it's recording.

In the previous version I was using, I had the option to switch off screen while recording or even set time of say 30 sec or 1 min and so on as the time in which it should get turned off. So, while I was using it as action cam on the helmet for rides I use to turn off the screen and when I was using it to shoot on trips I use to keep the screen on option ON.

There was a Screen Off option in one of the settings. Have not checked after the update, let me check it today.


Edit - Just checked the SJ7 Star User manual for the updated version 1.21v, the option of screen off is still there, see the screen shot below. May be you can download the current version user manual of 4000 and check once.



Edit - Sorry missed asking this earlier, which resolution you have found to be better for dashcam recording, so that I can make out the number plate readings in case required. I am inclined to keep it at 720, 60 fps.

[BeantownThinker]

Originally Posted by francis_vaz

FIRMWARE UPDATE:

Just checked online on the SJCAM website and found there is a firmware update for the SJ4000 WiFi. The latest version is 1.8. Updated the camera and found that the screen now turns off automatically after the recording starts and it stays off while only the blue light flashes to notify the recording is on. Pretty useful to avoid distraction. Although, I didn't find an option to disable this, incase someone wants the viewfinder to be ON while it's recording.

I have 2 SJ4000 cams. One bought in 2015 (through dx.com) and the second bought last month (through Amazon India). I have not done any firmware update in either of them. They are just the way it came out of the box. And in both of them the screen turns off while the recording continues. You have a menu option to turn off screen after a delay.

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

Just another question, I don't want to enable loop recording as I am using Cam as both as dashcam and action cam through our 8 days road trip starting tomorrow, in that case will the dashcam recordings happen in one long time video file save or it still happens in short say 1 min each files.

KK

Video file size and loop recording are independant of each other.

Loop recording means that when the memory card is full, the newer recording overwrites the oldest recording.

Splitting recording can be done in segments of 3 minutes, 5 minutes and 10 minutes. This means that each file will be a duration of 3, 5 or 10 minutes, whatever you select. Selecting the "Off" option in this menu means that the entire recording will be one file.

The risk of using loop recording "On" with splitting "Off" is that once the memory card is full the entire old file is deleted and replaced by the new recording.

I see that you intend to use the camera both as dash-cam and an action cam for your road trip. Keep in mind that a typical 32GB memory card holds about 4 hours of footage. So if your drive time is more than 4 hours and you want to retain the entire footage, then you will have to keep replacing the full memory card with a blank one every 4 hours.

[francis_vaz]

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

In the previous version I was using, I had the option to switch off screen while recording or even set time of say 30 sec or 1 min and so on as the time in which it should get turned off. So, while I was using it as action cam on the helmet for rides I use to turn off the screen and when I was using it to shoot on trips I use to keep the screen on option ON.

There was a Screen Off option in one of the settings. Have not checked after the update, let me check it today.

Edit - Just checked the SJ7 Star User manual for the updated version 1.21v, the option of screen off is still there, see the screen shot below. May be you can download the current version user manual of 4000 and check once.

Attachment 1811799

I just checked the camera menu, there isn't a screen off option anywhere in the menu. Maybe SJCAM reserved it for the higher models.

Edit - Sorry missed asking this earlier, which resolution you have found to be better for dashcam recording, so that I can make out the number plate readings in case required. I am inclined to keep it at 720, 60 fps.

I keep it at 1080p 30fps since the 60fps on my camera appears jagged when viewed on the PC. You might yield better results since the SJ7 Star has a better hardware while the SJ4000 is trying to be better with software support only.

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

I have 2 SJ4000 cams. One bought in 2015 (through dx.com) and the second bought last month (through Amazon India). I have not done any firmware update in either of them. They are just the way it came out of the box. And in both of them the screen turns off while the recording continues. You have a menu option to turn off screen after a delay.

The camera that I posted the review of is almost 6-8 months old brought from Amazon. It was on firmware V1.7 when I brought it. Last week I brought one more SJ4000, this had the newer V1.8 firmware, it is after using the new camera I found about the newer firmware. Since you said you brought the camera in 2015, I am assuming the older firmware enabled the screen off by default and it was maybe removed in the later update.
Can you share a picture of the menu where you found that option?
I checked, but couldn't find it anywhere.

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

But, can we set video recording of say 10 mins each even without enabling loop recording option.

No, there isn't an option for that.

[KK_HakunaMatata]

Originally Posted by BeantownThinker

Video file size and loop recording are independant of each other.

Loop recording means that when the memory card is full, the newer recording overwrites the oldest recording.

Yes, I know loop recording overwrites once memory is full, have learnt it hard way after loosing good footages.

Splitting recording can be done in segments of 3 minutes, 5 minutes and 10 minutes. This means that each file will be a duration of 3, 5 or 10 minutes, whatever you select. Selecting the "Off" option in this menu means that the entire recording will be one file.

But, can we set video recording of say 10 mins each even without enabling loop recording option.

[BeantownThinker]

Will double-check on both my cameras tonight and get back on both queries.

[BeantownThinker]

Checked both my cameras over the weekend to answer both queries.

Query 1 : Was screen off an option in the 2015 model?
Answer : There is no screen off option. However, there is a screensaver option provided that functions the same way screen off does.

Query 2 : Can we set video recording of 10 mins without enabling loop recording?
Answer : No we cannot. I was wrong earlier.

[n_aditya]

I bought this action cam a few years ago and used it a couple of times as a helmet cam. Owing to the poor battery backup (around 45 mins of recording time in full HD), I bought extra batteries to go with it.

Now that I have the Sena Prism Tube as my helmet cam, I use the SJ as a dashcam with the belt/holster attachment, installed on the windscreen using 3M tape. Works like a charm and did not fall off the glass even with the car parked in the hot sun and windows rolled up fully.

A decent cam for HD recording but battery life could have been a LOT better. Do inspect the batteries periodically though as one of my batteries have bulged and I don't use that anymore.

[francis_vaz]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

I bought this action cam a few years ago and used it a couple of times as a helmet cam. Owing to the poor battery backup (around 45 mins of recording time in full HD), I bought extra batteries to go with it.

Yes the battery backup isn't good, although the option to have a removable battery makes things somewhat even, except the hassle to open the case and change the battery.

Now that I have the Sena Prism Tube as my helmet cam, I use the SJ as a dashcam with the belt/holster attachment, installed on the windscreen using 3M tape. Works like a charm and did not fall off the glass even with the car parked in the hot sun and windows rolled up fully.

SJCAM has kept the quality of accessories quite good, given for the cost it's retailing at.

A decent cam for HD recording but battery life could have been a LOT better. Do inspect the batteries periodically though as one of my batteries have bulged and I don't use that anymore.

Thanks for the heads-up, I was planning on changing the battery in the camera given the amount of time it is ON. The battery is also inexpensive to replace at 500 bucks.