video camera apps

[trevor brooker]

My old action camera (very cheap generic) battery is now down to 5 minutes life. Before I get a replacement it occurred to me that I could use an app on my phone.
Any suggestions from those who have tried this route, as I did try out a couple but they do not like it when I turn the screen off.

 

[guerney]

My old action camera (very cheap generic) battery is now down to 5 minutes life. Before I get a replacement it occurred to me that I could use an app on my phone.
Any suggestions from those who have tried this route, as I did try out a couple but they do not like it when I turn the screen off.

It's all because of the battery longevity/thinness wars - they've all been at it designing thinner and thinner phones while saving battery power at all costs, to the point now many will simply disconnect all non-phone related network connections when the screen is turned off. With older Android phones circa Lollipop/Mashmallow featuring less power saving tech in their chipsets, it's less of a problem. With newer Android phones, it's a pain. On new Android phones and iPhones, most have to remain plugged with the screen on, with the app in question on top, for them to continue connecting - but the preceding is true of apps in general; Clever camera programmers may have found a way around such limitations. For my work it's a gigantic pain in the

 

[PC2017]

Assuming you mean using your phone as an action camera, if it is relatively new and you forget it's on your bike while popping in the shops it may not be there when you return or if you crash... Cex usually do 24 months warranty and have fair prices on 2nd hand cameras. Alternatively if you have a USB power bank and a small bike bag, I use my 2x 18650 cell bank to power my Go Pro 4, although with a hole cut in the side of the cam case it's not water proof but unless it chucks it down I tend not to worry.

 

[richtea99]

It's all because of the battery longevity/thinness wars - they've all been at it designing thinner and thinner phones while saving battery power at all costs, to the point now many will simply disconnect all non-phone related network connections when the screen is turned off. With older Android phones circa Lollipop/Mashmallow featuring less power saving tech in their chipsets, it's less of a problem. With newer Android phones, it's a pain. On new Android phones and iPhones, most have to remain plugged with the screen on, with the app in question on top, for them to continue connecting - but the preceding is true of apps in general; Clever camera programmers may have found a way around such limitations. For my work it's a gigantic pain in the

Hmm, there's quite a bit I disagree with there. Here's my take:
- batteries are getting bigger (because phone dimensions are generally bigger)
- thinness makes no difference
- they're lasting just as long as they ever did
- power saving can be disabled app by app, or for the whole phone overall on Android. (iPhone options are more limited.)
- other battery-draining features such as high screen refresh rates (120Hz, 90Hz, 60Hz, etc) can also be decreased for longer battery life

In general phones now have longer battery lives, but if you want to override that you can.
The real issue is that users are doing more with their devices. That's why power-saving modes exist.

Back to the OP: if you are after continual video as opposed to say a 5 min video, then you may hit storage problems as well as battery ones.

Battery limitations can be overcome by using a power bank if you have space. They're cheap even for huge ones.
Storage space can be overcome by an SD card. (Just experimented on my Android - 1920x1080 video at 30fps for 26 mins = 3GB storage needed. Battery used: about 10%. I didn't optimise anything.)

Just note that you'll need Android 11 onwards to avoid a 4GB limit on the size of your video on older Androids.
All that means picking your device carefully - you're probably looking at £200-300 min.

 

[matthewslack]

I have been having similar thoughts, but nowhere near an answer.

My wishlist includes:

Long running. Minimum 10 hours.
Quality sufficient to capture number plates.
Button like a dashcsm for saving clips of incidents.

I decided for now I might be asking too much, so have not gone any further.

 

[richtea99]

There are 3 or 4 dashcam apps for Android (that have 4+ stars or more*) which you can try. Most have ads and an option to purchase to get rid of the ads. Just search for 'dashcam app'.

Two things I noted:
- they assume you have a plug-in power source (see my note above about power banks as an alternative)
- I saw that one says image stabilisation isn't supported, so that aspect is worth testing before purchasing. It's no good having high res vid that's bouncing all over the place, and I'd say bikes bounce more than cars.

They all look like they avoid storage problems by looping & overwriting after a certain time, so that's good news.

* 4+ stars is a good cut-off. Above that you can be reasonably sure the app works and the app developer is proactive.
If it's 4.5+ stars and you're onto a winner. I'm an app developer, and it takes significant effort to keep your app above 4.

 

[guerney]

I have been having similar thoughts, but nowhere near an answer.

My wishlist includes:

Long running. Minimum 10 hours.
Quality sufficient to capture number plates.
Button like a dashcsm for saving clips of incidents.

I decided for now I might be asking too much, so have not gone any further.

I bought a Crosstour 4k cheapo which serves the function of capturing number plates, if they are close and well lit. It arrived with two batteries, which at 1080p provide about 5 hours of recording, less recording time at 4k (upscaled, I think). Additional batteries were available and not expensive, at the time of purchase. GoPros are great but the battery life is much shorter and additional batteries more pricey, and they stink in low light, but not anywhere near as much as the Crosstour 4k (unless you up the exposure setting to max, and even then it's pretty bad, but all action cameras are at night at the mo). The Crosstour only captures number plates at night if bright headlights are shone upon them.

 

[guerney]

- power saving can be disabled app by app, or for the whole phone overall on Android.

but if you want to override that you can.

The only app I know of which can do that effectively is Pegasus spyware, access to which doesn't extend to the general public Or one could try cooking up a custom ROM.

 

[richtea99]

The only app I know of which can do that effectively is Pegasus spyware, access to which doesn't extend to the general public Or one could try cooking up a custom ROM.

It's background usage that's being optimised of course, which is a little meaningless for my camera app example above, but it's useful to know for other apps.

 

[guerney]

View attachment 46640

It's background usage that's being optimised of course, which is a little meaningless for my camera app example above, but it's useful to know for other apps.

That doesn't work for every app every time on every Android phone, particularly if the phone is not detecting motion (a sub to reduce "unnecessary" power usage).

 

[richtea99]

That doesn't work for every app every time on every Android phone, particularly if the phone is not detecting motion (a sub to reduce "unnecessary" power usage).

You're correctly stating the bleeding obvious: nothing ever 'works for every app every time on every Android phone'. If you want that - buy Apple, and live safely restricted in their eco-system (because they know best, right?).

I only have OnePlus and Samsung Android devices to hand right now, but they both allow you to control background battery use of indivudal apps.

However, we're now way off-topic.

 

[guerney]

You're correctly stating the bleeding obvious: nothing ever 'works for every app every time on every Android phone'. If you want that - buy Apple, and live safely restricted in their eco-system (because they know best, right?).

I only have OnePlus and Samsung Android devices to hand right now, but they both allow you to control background battery use of indivudal apps.

However, we're now way off-topic.

Those (and other deeper) settings don't do the job effectively, but if your experience has been different, then it's been limited.

 

[soundwave]

not bad for 2017 but i want 4k hdr 120fps action cam for 50 quid

 

[guerney]

not bad for 2017 but i want 4k hdr 120fps action cam for 50 quid

So that's what Darth Vader does on his days off! What really irritates me is that all action cameras thus far stink in low light conditions - there are sensors which have far higher noise-free ISOs, but it'll take a very long time for them to be shrunk and incorporated into action cameras available for £50. A three chip solution for r/g/b using existing sensors might work, but it'd be expensive.