Originally Posted by Tom Frank

See "The MEGA Keyfob Camera thread in this same forum".

Thannks, Sir!

Originally Posted by Tim Cullip

I just got my camera from eletoponline365 but I can't seem to get it to work.

If I push the power button (the bigger of the two buttons) the yellow led starts flashing: on about a second, off about 1/2 sec and just continues to do that over and over again.

Pushing the "shutter" button (at least that is what the instructions called it, the smaller of the two buttons) doesn't have any effect at all, led just keeps flashing yellow as above.

Pusthing the power button again once it is flashing as above will cause the yellow led to flash once quickly and then it returns to the 1 second on:1/2 off yellow flashing.

Eventually after a couple minutes of not pushing any buttons and the unit turns itself off again.

Plugging in the usb cable and the red charging light comes on and stays on (until charged up and it turns off).

Pushing the power button when the usb is connected causes it to alternate between red and yellow led flashing and I get a "Removable Diske E:" on my computer which if I open I get "DCIM" and in that folder I get "100MEDIA". Sounds promising, but I never get anything inside 100MEDIA no matter what series of buttons I push to try to get it into either video or still picture mode (with or without the usb cable attached). If I right click on E: it tells me it is FAT with 8,192 bytes used and 970,752 bytes free (that seems might small - isn't this thing supposed to have an internal 512Mbyte memory?).

The only recording mode I've ever gotten it into is as a usb camera (those instructions - post 427 - are the only ones that seem to work).

Am I just incredibly dense/stupid when it comes to trying to follow simple instructions or is something wrong with my camera?

Thanks
Tim

Tim,

Did you install a micro card?

Bill

There's no internal memory used for storage, that 512MB Hynix chip is only used as a buffer for the camera. You HAVE to have a memory card in it to use it. With no memory card, the camera will turn on, blink exactly as you describe, then turn off.

Originally Posted by Prof100

BD,

Thanking Tom Frank is a great idea. He devotes a lot of time and energy to this topic. It's most appreciated.

Bill

Yup, Tom Frank is an awesome member of this forum. I remember I had problems with a few of my micro cameras (FlyCamOne 2, key chain cam, gum cam, etc.) last year. I couldn't get the video to show up on my computer. So I posted my question on another thread about the key chain cameras and sure enough Tom Frank sent me a PM and helped me get all of the cameras working. He saved me a lot of time and money (I probably would have through the cameras out).

So a big thanks to Tom Frank. We would be nowhere with these key chain cameras without him.

Bill

Originally Posted by KeithLuneau

There's no internal memory used for storage, that 512MB Hynix chip is only used as a buffer for the camera. You HAVE to have a memory card in it to use it. With no memory card, the camera will turn on, blink exactly as you describe, then turn off.

Thanks for the response.

Okay, I guess I am incredibly stupid No I didn't install an external memory card - thought the internal one would be used if no external one was iinstalled. Managed to get through 32 pages of posts without anyone else posting about that (guess no one else is quite as ignorant as I am ).

Any particular things to look for when I go shopping for an external card?

Thanks,
Tim

Originally Posted by Tim Cullip

Thanks for the response.

Okay, I guess I am incredibly stupid No I didn't install an external memory card - thought the internal one would be used if no external one was iinstalled. Managed to get through 32 pages of posts without anyone else posting about that (guess no one else is quite as ignorant as I am ).

Any particular things to look for when I go shopping for an external card?

Thanks,
Tim

Tim,

You want a fast read / write card. I have bought Kingston Class 4 cards (4GB and 8 GB) from Amazon.com. Some cards (class 2) or what's on sale no name micro cards are not very good capturing video with these camaeras. Their slowness results in video that hangs and stutters.

Bill

Just make sure you get one fast enough for the camera... The seller's say to get at least a class 4, but the "class" rating doesn't tell all. So far it seems these HD cameras are less picky about which cards they'll work with than the old cameras. Personally I've used a Patriot class 10, and a Sandisk class 4. Others say the Transcend cards are good. Cards are cheap though, and if you have another device that uses them like a phone, then even one too slow for the camera won't be a total loss... Look through the thread and see what others are using and try to find one cheap, and you're sure to come out good!

Originally Posted by KeithLuneau

Just make sure you get one fast enough for the camera... The seller's say to get at least a class 4, but the "class" rating doesn't tell all. So far it seems these HD cameras are less picky about which cards they'll work with than the old cameras. Personally I've used a Patriot class 10, and a Sandisk class 4. Others say the Transcend cards are good. Cards are cheap though, and if you have another device that uses them like a phone, then even one too slow for the camera won't be a total loss... Look through the thread and see what others are using and try to find one cheap, and you're sure to come out good!

The Kingston Class 4 works well but choosing it was luck.

Bill

Originally Posted by Tim Cullip

Thanks for the response.

Okay, I guess I am incredibly stupid No I didn't install an external memory card - thought the internal one would be used if no external one was iinstalled. Managed to get through 32 pages of posts without anyone else posting about that (guess no one else is quite as ignorant as I am ).

Any particular things to look for when I go shopping for an external card?

Thanks,
Tim

Hi Tim,
Did you get a small folded slip of instructions with your camera? If not, that is where your problems started. If you did get it and were so excited with the camera that you didn't take time to read the function description, then THAT would be where your problems started!

The instructions are written in broken English, admittedly, but the symptoms your camera showed is described in item No. 3 in the "Function description" paragraph.

Another person is consolidating camera instructions written in more correct English soon, and I will be adding the link to the FAQs in Post #3. Sorry you had so much trouble.

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

Hi Tim,
Did you get a small folded slip of instructions with your camera? If not, that is where your problems started. If you did get it and were so excited with the camera that you didn't take time to read the function description, then THAT would be where your problems started!

The instructions are written in broken English, admittedly, but the symptoms your camera showed is described in item No. 3 in the "Function description" paragraph.

Another person is consolidating camera instructions written in more correct English soon, and I will be adding the link to the FAQs in Post #3. Sorry you had so much trouble.

Yes I did get the instruction sheet and "broken english" is an understatement. But now that it has been explained that an external memory card is necessary I went back and reread those instructions more carefully and #3 does say:

"3. Turn on camera without card, machine turn off after light slow flash 30 seconds."

Had so much trouble trying to understand the other instructions, guess I skipped over #3. Fairly well describes my symptoms. Simple case of RT*M.

Thanks,
Tim

Originally Posted by Tim Cullip

Yes I did get the instruction sheet and "broken english" is an understatement. But now that it has been explained that an external memory card is necessary I went back and reread those instructions more carefully and #3 does say:

"3. Turn on camera without card, machine turn off after light slow flash 30 seconds."

Had so much trouble trying to understand the other instructions, guess I skipped over #3. Fairly well describes my symptoms. Simple case of RT*M.

Thanks,
Tim

Tim,

Don't feel bad. It is the male gene that inhibits studying instructions or asking for directions when driving.

Bill

Originally Posted by Tom Frank

I'll reply to myself to update this.

My Camera Guy said they WILL be doing a firmware mod to allow continuous recording. But it won't be done until sometime after the Chinese New Years holiday, which lasts about 2 weeks or so as I recall. So sit tight, and maybe well have a fix soon. I've requested that the date stamp removal be retained with this additional mod.

Also, they have decided to STOP selling the external "emergency charger" as a separate item on eBay... probably because it's going to be included as an accessory with the camera. But if you want one, My Camera Guy said you could email him directly and he could sell one separately off eBay. Also, now that we know how the car charger works by moving the USB +5V from pin #1 to pin #4, you could also buy one of the similar chargers for cell phones, and modify it for use with the camera.

The problem may be that in any existing charger, it's unlikely pin 4 of the mini-USB connector will be connected to anything, unless it is grounded inside the connector. So you would be looking at having to either cut into the connector to rearrange things, or buy a new connector.

Originally Posted by Tim Cullip

...
Any particular things to look for when I go shopping for an external card?

Thanks,
Tim

I forgot... I prefer Transcend Class 6 cards... fastest card over all for the money IMHO. And this place has the best prices I've found... $10.60 with free delivery in the US. You can sometimes also get good deals at Amazon.com and NewEgg.com for online shopping. A 4GB card will store a little under 80 minutes of video, but the camera battery only lasts about half that long on a charge.

Originally Posted by wayback

The problem may be that in any existing charger, it's unlikely pin 4 of the mini-USB connector will be connected to anything, unless it is grounded inside the connector. So you would be looking at having to either cut into the connector to rearrange things, or buy a new connector.

Yes... that's what I meant when I said you could modify a generic charger, like we were discussing back in this post.

Hey guys,
could anyone give me info about how much capturing time you get from 2gb, 4gb, 8gb memory cards?
Thank you :