K2 video quality?

Okay...I finally made a run, and your modified firmware makes a HUGE difference. Just comparing front to rear footage you notice much more artifacts on the rear...even with the expanded MB/sec you coded in. The only oddity I noted was that I have some files in a subfolder labeled "PARK" when parking mode is turned off and the footage is when I'm on the road. Not a deal breaker, but just FYI as if this is incident footage (not sure why), I think the folder is supposed to be labeled "INCIDENT."

Hopefully I can do another test to see that it consistently performs. I don't know why I've had to flash the firmware twice to get it to take be it your modified version of the stock firmware.

Okay, I did more testing. I'm running a SanDisk 256GB Class 10 card. I located a memtester, and it passed 100% on read, write and data comparison. Write rate was 16MB/sec over my USB on the desktop.

I reflashed the firmware with your mod. This time, I was getting one-minute recordings. I can't fully evaluate the footage until I can do a run during the day, but it seemed to work now. The need to install firmware more than once to get it to take has been a consistent issue with my K2.

I'll let you know how it works out.

Okay...tried the modified firmware. Nada. If anything records, it’s only a few seconds.

This is an ongoing issue. If the unit is even recording properly is hit and miss, and video quality is consistently poor...and that’s with the OEM firmware. I’ve flashed the firmware multiple times. Reset the unit (button and via the app). I just am not getting consistent quality or performance.

At this point, I seriously suspect it’s just a bad DVR unit.

This should have worked consistently from day one, and it’s just not happening. I can’t see what more troubleshooting I can do. Any test requiring a road test is dependent on cooperating weather and daylight

Though 720P seems to look better at first glance (less artifacts), it is too low for good videos. So you should go for 1080P, but using the modified firmware.

Download this video and see the difference.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/o3xnk8u4alospta/AACujp6WUTmaX8ZepRSOVubca/Bitrate-compare.mp4?dl=0

I checked the videos and they look much better than what I saw at youtube. Now they look exactly like what I got when driving in a similar area, using the original firmware. So the compression artifacts you see are absolutely normal and due to the 12MBit bitrate.

Check out my modified 20Mbit firmware and you will see a great improvement.

Okay...I've uploaded 4 videos (thankfully iPhone doesn't permanently delete files).

1080p Front - https://app.box.com/s/e6etc64s8glifj5fzgo14bhy319m75k8

1080p Rear - https://app.box.com/s/optud4kutwrht36kjd0ray2ujtssk1uz

Taken 12/15/2019

720p Front - https://app.box.com/s/od51ykodigp2h7df3ec4iklf4wmf841y

720p Rear - https://app.box.com/s/h3znzq36pnothch41sjmewi2h4sp8pyx

Taken 12/21/2019

I got similar effects on a road like in your video, but the quality was not that bad. But before giving an opinion, we should first make sure it is not youtube, which added the artifacts. So could you upload a small raw footage to dropbox or so? This would also allow to check the video parameters.

Have you already tested my modified firmware, which increases the bitrate?

That makes sense. Is this common with other K2 users under similar circumstances or is it possible I have a defective DVR?

Just checked the videos and...wow...I hope, that the 1080P Front video is see is not what you got from the K2. It looks awful. I can't see any details, as the whole video is a bunch of compression artifacts. I know that the K2 has problems when there are much details in the area (trees with lots of branches, leafs, etc.) because of the low 12 MBit bitrate, but I never got a compression mess like this.

The 1080P Rear looks a little bit better, but still a lot of compression artifacts.

The 720P videos are ok.

The problem with the K2 is, that is has an exaggerated sharpness, combined with a relatively low bitrate (12MBit). This is ok when riding in a city, where aren't much details, as it allows to record the number plates. But as soon as there are more details (trees with branches, leafs, etc.), the 12MBit are not enough. Additionally, because of the exaggerated sharpness, there are much more details in the situation than necessary and the codec simply strikes sail => much compression artifacts.

I already asked Rock to allow the customers to alter the video settings (brightness, sharpness, etc.), but he declined, because he fears that the K2 will get too hard to configure for the normal user. And sadly I still was not able to find the video settings in the firmware. So the only way for me/us to reduce the compression artifacts, is to increase the bitrate.

Yeah. The new BS with children in video or being targeted by a video made it safer to age restrict them. I’ll do it now.

Could you remove the age limit of your videos? I cannot see them without a Google account.