K3 Lan with WIFI

Hi Lemaire,

The base working of a dashcam is 'Install and forget'.
I am using my bicycle every day as i use it to go to work.
And i have no more use the app since i finished configuration.
And i guess, i wont use it anymore. I would prefer connect directly the computer to grab the videos.

I am with you. Since I configured my K2/K3, I haven't used the App anymore.

But you have to rate this from the manufactures/sellers point of view. For most users, a technical product has do be as easy to use as possible. Just because most people are not that tech savy than you and me. Almost everybody can handle an instruction like "Connect to the wifi, then open the app". But they won't be able to follow an instruction like "Check at your router what IP address your Kx has got. Then open a browser and enter http://....and so on". They would be unable to cope with that. And more worse, they would blame the product for being "too complicated". As you said..it is a dashcam and should be install and forget.

The next point is, that maybe 0.1% of the users would like connect the Kx to their local wifi. Most customers probably does not have wifi in their garage anyway. Of course, Innovv would be able to enhance the exisiting webpage of the DVR to allow an easy configuration, but for whom? Only for nerds like you and me, who want to play around with it ? :-)

So from Innovvs point of view, it makes no sense to implement these features.

I wanted to play around with the K2 to see, what is possible and what not. That's why I figured out how to modify the firmware to make in join my local wifi. Though it is useless, as the Kx wifi is way too slow to download videos in a reasonable time.

Really you work is good. If i remember well (not sure), you said that with your modifications, you can anyway control the DVR with specific URL's.

No. My modification changes the default behaviour/values of the K2 (the K3 acts the same). Per default, you can switch the wifi to STA mode by using some http commands. See here

But as the Kx does not save these settings, on next reboot it will switch back to AP mode.

So I disassembled the firmware to find where all default values are stored. That way I can now make a firmware which starts in STA mode per default. Or change any other default values, like volume, audio sampling rate, bightness, etc.

At least at the K2. I did not try this at the K3, but as they share the same firmware base, it should work at the K3, too. Below are two screenshots of one init function of K2 and K3 firmware. Except the offsets, they are identical.

Init function of K2

Init function of K3

The webpage of the DVR, where you can download videos or enter the http commands, was already there and is not my modification. In fact, the app does nothing more than sending these http commands to configure the Kx.

Then for the battery saving, you can use the really standard WOL to wake up the DVR only when you need it.

For WoL to work, the wifi adapter would need to be running to catch the magic paket. That would not be a good idea at a battery power device. I don't know how much power a wifi adapter takes to receive broadcasts, but I am sure that nobody of the normal customers would accept to find their battery drained after two weeks or so, just because their DVR was waiting for a WoL paket :-)

Well i may be dreaming, but i still think there are solutions for using the DVR just as a lan video server ^^.

Erhmm...yes and no.

Yes, it can act as a simple http video server, where you can up- or download videos. But with strong restrictions. For example, it can not handle more that two or three requests at the same time. The queue is simple too small.

And no, it can not act as something like a DNLA server. Only if you write your own firmware :-)

It would be so fun if they find a solution to connect the DVR as client to the home WIFI. Dunno what way.

I'm sure they will not do it. Because you won't be able to connect to the K3 with your smartphone anymore, so you won't be able to use the app to configure the K3.