Hi All I realise the security risk of this, but I want to use the Mi camera app in the background so I can use the UW lens as a dashboard cam. In the foreground will be my satnav program and also in the background will be VLC playing my favourite music.
The problem I have is that the Mi Camera app won't run in the background. If I start it and switch away, when I switch back, it's stopped recording. There are plenty of 3rd party dashcam apps, but camera2 API only reports 2 cameras and typically 3rd party apps haven't caught on to the multiple camera configs of phones these days.
I did find a setting in Settings/Privacy/Protection/Network Interception/Restrict Using camera in the background which I thought might be a clue, but the setting doesn't work and has blue text "Protected" next to it. Am I asking for the impossible? All workarounds gratefully received.... Cheers Steve
ps I'm running Chinese MIUI 12.5.4 Stable
If you can figure out some way to do this, the phone is going to get hot and you will probably need to keep it plugged in... This phone eats battery life using the cameras
Hi @speedtripler thanks for your reply. After much googling and playing with privacy protection settings, I found an app, cunningly called Background Video Recorder here:
Background Video Recorder Pro - Apps on Google Play
motion detection / recording videos / baby monitor / burst image capturing
play.google.com
After a quick play, it seems to work, so I'll go for the 'full monty' later and try it out with Navmii navigating and VLC playing my music. I do use a power supply in the car and I'll take a bucket of water too, in case it catches fire!
My attempts with Mi camera and GCAM 8.1 failed, as both pause video recording as soon as they go into the background.
What I really wanted was the UW lens, as this will cover the most ground, but I may have to stick with plain old Wide as not many apps support multiple lenses.
I'll update later after putting the fire out
Cheers Steve
Ok so I did a quick test last night and ran my satnav (Navmii) in the foreground, VLC playing music in the background and Background Video Recorder in the background and it all worked just dandy.
The only slight issue is the file size was large, 700MB after 15 mins. Now I have 500GB of storage, but that's a little high. There doesn't seem to be an option to set the save location, otherwise I could save it to an SD card so I've emailed the developer with the suggestion and see what he says. Also I've asked if he can support multiple lenses, as UW would be just great.
It does offer various framerates, though and 5fps is probably OK for a dashcam so I'll give that a try and report back.
After a 15 minute drive I didn't notice any overheating problems, but I have 4 hour drive on Wednesday so see how that goes.
Cheers Steve
The nice man at Arbel Solutions replied very quickly and pointed out it is possible to save to other locations in Settings. This was greyed out so I didn't see it, but you have to pay for the software to enable it as it's a premium feature which is fair enough.
On switching lenses, this is also supported, but it just offers Main and Selfie, which ties up with the Camera2 API checkers. I guess I need to root my phone and enable Camera2 API.
That's all for now....
Steve
Just a quick update on this. I ran Background Video Recorder on my trip to see my daughetr and grandkids. It's a 200 mile trek and all worked fine. I used Navmii, VLC and BVR all at once and didn't notice any over heating problems.
However, on the way back, I did the same but this time with BVR recording 8K video. Gosh, that quality is good . Now I want to buy a 4K TV!
After a couple of hours, the phone overheated, popped up a message saying just that, so I switched it off and let it cool down. The phone is working fine again now it's cool phew! I guess @speedtripler was right lol.
The 2 issues with heat are
1) The sun was shining on the phone
2) I'm using a hard plastic backing cover on the phone to mount it on the holder
2) must frustrate heat dissipation quite a bit.
So next up is to buy some gauze on eBay, cut an opening in the backing cover and fit the gauze. If that doesn't work, I'll probably have to make a piped cooling system with a fan.
Oh well, back to reality!
Cheers
Steve
Oh, I forgot there's another workaround for this. If the camera doesn't work in the background, you can run it in the foreground with other apps.
Sound simple? Well it's a bit fiddly, but Android 11 offers split screen, so you can have two apps running in the foreground. The only gotcha is that both apps need to support split screen.
Surprisingly, the stock camera doesn't so that's out. Neither does GCAM 8.1. Good 'ole OpenCamera does and it works well.
I'm still getting the hang of split screen but here's a basic guide:
1) start both apps
2) Go to Task Manager (hamburger icon)
3) long press on the first app and choose split screen ( like 2 oblong boxes, 1 on top of the other)
4) In Task Manager, click on the other app
Now the 1st app will appear in the top of the screen and the second at the bottom.
For my example, I now have OpenCamera recording video and Navmii giving me directions.
Brill!
Below is a screenshot. See the small white horizontal bar in the middle of the pic? You use this to change the size of the window. What's not to like? (sorry about getting my big finger in front of the lens)
The grids arrived yesterday to ventilate my hard plastic case so I set about cutting holes in it to fit them. The case is very hard and difficult to scratch, but was no match for my Dremel.
Hopefully this will promote air flow and cooling when the phone is crying while it's pushed hard.
The grids were stuck on with Gasket Goo which is good up to 230° C at which point I think the phone would be spitting flames!
This needs testing on a long journey on a hot day. If it still overheats, I'll clip on a mini 5V fan which I'm sure will sort it.
A phone with a cooling fan? Lol
Cheers
Steve
Related
Hi all.
I've been using the Revolution HD ROM now for a few days and i love it. The only thing im having an issue with is getting the Zoe camera to do a sequence shot, or object removal. I have watched some tutorial videos on you tube and tried it myself but i simply don't get the options when i click edit/retouch. I have shot tons of Zoe's today which would be perfect for object removal but im still not getting it. After i have shot a Zoe i click on the edit option and the only option i get is to trim the video clip down. Am i doing something blatantly stupid or something?? Any help would be appreciated its driving me up the wall!!!
Adam
You are probably recording movies not zoe shots. It only works with zoe shots.
For this, press the camera on the left side (landscape mode), so that it gets blue. Then take a picture. It will record three seconds, which you can later retouch.
What I do do is turn on the Zoe feature so that it turns blue then press camera. I must have 30 3 second clips on my phone, some of them perfect for object removal, cars driving past the camera and such but I still don't get the option. It's proper starting to do my head in now.
All you need to do is hit the edit icon and its there
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk HD
I don't get that option I get a page allowing me to trim the video and the buttons cancel and save.
It's right there under retouch when your on a Zoe
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
adamlayzell69 said:
What I do do is turn on the Zoe feature so that it turns blue then press camera. I must have 30 3 second clips on my phone, some of them perfect for object removal, cars driving past the camera and such but I still don't get the option. It's proper starting to do my head in now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again, you need to turn zoe on (blue) and then take a photo, not a movie.
The edit options you get are only for movies, so you probably recorded a movie. Take a still instead.
Well I flashed my Rom again this morning without wipe and all my options suddenly came up. Must have been a dodgy flash or something. Thanks for all your replys.
Good. Must have been a strange flash
So, I really want to be able to attend a seminar with a whiteboard or projected powerpoint... record the video and audio and text on the whiteboard - WHILE using Note to take handwritten and/or typed notes.
My solution - thought I'd share this accessory structure for recording:
1 piece double sided clear 3M stickies;
1 right angle prism (about 5-8mm) with an aluminized hypotenuse (about $5 on ebay).
Then I just apply the prism to the sticky and on to the front facing camera.
Works GREAT for taking pictures/video while the note stays flat on the desk. Also great for traffic black box video with note 2 on the dash for heads up display hud.
Problems to solve:
1) background video/audio recording THAT ALLOWS S-memo or Polaris Office or similar to be on (still looking - advice greatly appreciated).
2) self-portrait camera shows orientation on screen correctly, but it transposes or mirror flips the image when saving such that text on powerpoint is mirror reversed.
3) FFC has no way to zoom in stock app.
willfck4beer said:
Problems to solve:
1) background video/audio recording THAT ALLOWS S-memo or Polaris Office or similar to be on (still looking - advice greatly appreciated).
2) self-portrait camera shows orientation on screen correctly, but it transposes or mirror flips the image when saving such that text on powerpoint is mirror reversed.
3) FFC has no way to zoom in stock app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats pretty creative.
1) You could setup Multi windows to have camera and S-memo running at the same time, then just minimise( drag the divider bar) the window with the camera. (not sure if that would work)
2) Use any video editing program you have (i.e Windows Movie Maker) and use that to flip the video to how it should be
3) stick the prism to the main rear facing camera, and use that to record and be able to zoom. If the video appears mirrored, then use the video editing program to un-mirror it.
Optimistic Pessimist said:
Thats pretty creative.
1) You could setup Multi windows to have camera and S-memo running at the same time, then just minimise( drag the divider bar) the window with the camera. (not sure if that would work)
2) Use any video editing program you have (i.e Windows Movie Maker) and use that to flip the video to how it should be
3) stick the prism to the main rear facing camera, and use that to record and be able to zoom. If the video appears mirrored, then use the video editing program to un-mirror it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I'm on stock because this is a work phone - waiting for the warranty to expire before rooting so can't add camera app to multiwindow yet. This was a great idea though!
The rear camera was a great idea too but it wouldn't let me keep the liveview comfortably on the desk for writing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuKlVKZgQc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This background configurable Secret Video Recorder SVR seems almost perfect;
Seems to lack orientation setting in exif metadata though. Would be tits if I could control horizontal and vertical (maybe with orientation lock?) mirroring flipping transpose live on android itself rather than reencoding on desktop pc in post processing.
willfck4beer said:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVuKlVKZgQc&feature=youtube_gdata_player
This background configurable Secret Video Recorder SVR seems almost perfect;
Seems to lack orientation setting in exif metadata though. Would be tits if I could control horizontal and vertical (maybe with orientation lock?) mirroring flipping transpose live on android itself rather than reencoding on desktop pc in post processing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like a cool app. Might come in handy
willfck4beer said:
Thanks for your help! I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, I'm on stock because this is a work phone - waiting for the warranty to expire before rooting so can't add camera app to multiwindow yet. This was a great idea though!
The rear camera was a great idea too but it wouldn't let me keep the liveview comfortably on the desk for writing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't sweat it man, no one at your work will even know that your phone is rooted. Well, that is unless they're into rooting phones themselves and really dig into your phones information.
1-You shouldn't let your coworkers dig into your phone like that.
2-If they're into rooting phones, then they won't care anyways.
Go ahead and take the plunge man, you'll be glad that you did!!!
SwiftKey'ed from my White Sprint Note 2 using XDA Premium
Look at an app called Arcnote. Does exactly what your want and more
This is a good point. Just haven't had the need yet. And I'm concerned about a hardware failure... warranty not being honored due to root... and having to pay our have firm pay. Maybe this is obviated by insurance though?
Arcnote is awesome but seems to require focus and manual capture of pictures of slides.
Secret video recorder svr from zero noise dev team is exactly what I was looking for for background video and audio recording. This thing is sweet! Five stars. Arc note would be badass if it could post process video... detecting each slide transition, capturing a photo and then doing its auto zoom, keystone magic. Thank you for the recommendation nonetheless!
willfck4beer said:
This is a good point. Just haven't had the need yet. And I'm concerned about a hardware failure... warranty not being honored due to root... and having to pay our have firm pay. Maybe this is obviated by insurance though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Solutions for your warranty problem :
1. Use a a one click root & unroot program called framaroot v 1.4.1 : See this link for tutorials - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1mQz4n-Z-M
download : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2130276
3. When ever your sending this phone for any repair just one click unroot.
2. Use Trainagle away app from play store to reset your binary ( this is what your warranty guys check) - Now you are back to factory Cheers !
Thanks good call
Hey guys, I am going insane. Yesterday morning I took a picture in snapchat and suddenly noticed it did a HDR enhancement after I took the picture, the picture actually looked great and comparable to shot made on Snapchat on iOS. Normally Snapchat has zero dynamic range whatsoever, let's say you take a picture inside a house: either the sky outside will by overexposed and just be white blob, or your sky will be exposed but the inside is absolutely dark.
After I took a picture it took half a sec and the overblown sky would look properly exposed, it looked the same as the pictures you get in the Instagram mode in the camera app. So I thought great they used Samsung's SDK they talked about for enhancing the camera in 3rd party apps. The beta version of the app also was updated on the 25th so I thought it was included in the update.
After I got back from work the pictures looked like before again, zero dynamic range. Like the update completely reversed or something. I was wondering why this might be, could it be server side testing or something? Can this be explained?
I have a Exynos S10e.
Somthing I noticed a few times on my Note 9 was that some times my media files would play very dark. Now this would only happen with 10 bit Hevc files.
So I did some trouble shooting and found that whenever I start and exit the camera in "Photo" mode this would happen.
I have put a pic for a 10 bit hevc video paused on the phone, in both instances all settings are the same, the pic titled "No Black Crush" is before using the camera and the other after using the camera and exiting in Photo mode. From the pic we can see that one pic is significantly darker and details are lost (eg. White spots on the sign and some background stuff).
The only way to fix the black crush is to restart the device.
Would really appreciate if some one out there that is using an Exynos version and plays 10bit hevc videos on the phone would help in testing some stuff out.
Edit - Ok so I guess some more info is in order.
Device info - Note 9 Exynos (Model SM-N960F) on latest official build and NON ROOTED
To replicate issue download the video in the link (https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QR-5JEWNOFI3nbvbLR_80Z7BgA37Dil_)
1. Restart phone
2. Play the video using stock video player (keeping Video Enhancer on makes noticing the bug easier as screen is brighter, Video Enhancer off should also work)
3. Open stock camera and make sure "Photo" mode is selected and then exit staying in "Photo" mode (switching camera modes wont let the bug show up.)
4. Play the clip again. BOOM everything is a dark mess.
5. Restart phone and play the clip again and everything looks clear again
AshDroidG said:
Somthing I noticed a few times on my Note 9 was that some times my media files would play very dark. Now this would only happen with 10 bit Hevc files.
So I did some trouble shooting and found that whenever I start and exit the camera in "Photo" mode this would happen.
I have put a pic for a 10 bit hevc video paused on the phone, in both instances all settings are the same, the pic titled "No Black Crush" is before using the camera and the other after using the camera and exiting in Photo mode. From the pic we can see that one pic is significantly darker and details are lost (eg. White spots on the sign and some background stuff).
The only way to fix the black crush is to restart the device.
Would really appreciate if some one out there that is using an Exynos version and plays 10bit hevc videos on the phone would help in testing some stuff out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
does changing the the screen mode from adaptive display to amoled cinema or even basic help at all?
if you get inconsistent results then it would seem that is would have something to do with the "auto" nature of the display mode. moreover the ambient lighting in the room you are watching might also be a cause. adaptive brightness might produce different results and might be tied the the screen mode as described above.
so remove auto brightness and put screen mode to Amoled cinema or even basic if you really want to compare apples with apples.
bober10113 said:
does changing the the screen mode from adaptive display to amoled cinema or even basic help at all?
if you get inconsistent results then it would seem that is would have something to do with the "auto" nature of the display mode. moreover the ambient lighting in the room you are watching might also be a cause. adaptive brightness might produce different results and might be tied the the screen mode as described above.
so remove auto brightness and put screen mode to Amoled cinema or even basic if you really want to compare apples with apples.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since I have been seeing this behaviour for some time now I have actually checked to see what was triggering it. Changing the screen mode does not help. Also in the pic I attached the brightness level is the same since adaptive brightness is off.
Now I understand where you are coming from but this is not a screen illumination issue. If I play a H264 file everything works fine no black crush even HEVC files which are not 10bit play correctly, the issue is only with 10bit HEVC files.
Oh and am not sure if you are aware as to what "black crush" is, it basically is the tendency of amoled panels to make dark areas so dark that u loose details in the video. In the pic I uploaded u can clearly see that one pic is significantly darker than the other even though all settings are kept exactly the same even the brightness levels are the same but dark areas appear much too dark when the bug is triggered.
AshDroidG said:
Since I have been seeing this behaviour for some time now I have actually checked to see what was triggering it. Changing the screen mode does not help. Also in the pic I attached the brightness level is the same since adaptive brightness is off.
Now I understand where you are coming from but this is not a screen illumination issue. If I play a H264 file everything works fine no black crush even HEVC files which are not 10bit play correctly, the issue is only with 10bit HEVC files.
Oh and am not sure if you are aware as to what "black crush" is, it basically is the tendency of amoled panels to make dark areas so dark that u loose details in the video. In the pic I uploaded u can clearly see that one pic is significantly darker than the other even though all settings are kept exactly the same even the brightness levels are the same but dark areas appear much too dark when the bug is triggered.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok well if basic mode dosent change this then how about video enhancer? that's an other peice of trash i disable.
btw its hard to help or replicate when you provide 0 info on your testing enviroment....
like what player are you using?
bober10113 said:
ok well if basic mode dosent change this then how about video enhancer? that's an other peice of trash i disable.
btw its hard to help or replicate when you provide 0 info on your testing enviroment....
like what player are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so you are right. More info definitely needed so I have updated the original post with details on how to replicate the issue and have shared a clip as well that you can download and play using the stock video player.
AshDroidG said:
Ok, so you are right. More info definitely needed so I have updated the original post with details on how to replicate the issue and have shared a clip as well that you can download and play using the stock video player.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ill test it tonight under full obscurity.
bober10113 said:
ill test it tonight under full obscurity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Below mentioned steps should work to replicate the bug.
Testing to be done on Exynos version.
To replicate issue download the video from the link in the very first post
1. Restart phone
2. Play the video using stock video player (keeping Video Enhancer on makes noticing the bug easier as screen is brighter, Video Enhancer off should also work)
3. Open stock camera and make sure "Photo" mode is selected and then exit staying in "Photo" mode (switching camera modes wont let the bug show up.)
4. Play the clip again. BOOM everything is a dark mess.
5. Restart phone and play the clip again and everything looks clear again
If you need any more info let me know and thanks for helping out man.
AshDroidG said:
Below mentioned steps should work to replicate the bug.
Testing to be done on Exynos version.
To replicate issue download the video from the link in the very first post
1. Restart phone
2. Play the video using stock video player (keeping Video Enhancer on makes noticing the bug easier as screen is brighter, Video Enhancer off should also work)
3. Open stock camera and make sure "Photo" mode is selected and then exit staying in "Photo" mode (switching camera modes wont let the bug show up.)
4. Play the clip again. BOOM everything is a dark mess.
5. Restart phone and play the clip again and everything looks clear again
If you need any more info let me know and thanks for helping out man.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so i forgot before leaving for home to do the test while having access to an other phone taking a picture of both scenarios so that i could analyze both pictures. but by testing it right now doesn't seem to make any difference.( picture seems ok.) but i am using a custom rom and kernel and system is heavily modded so who knows that might have had an impact. also when you do switch from camera to video, do you remove the camera app from memory( remove it from recents? i left it and no change)
for what's it worth im on a july build...
ill try again tomorrow this time taking before and after pictures
bober10113 said:
so i forgot before leaving for home to do the test while having access to an other phone taking a picture of both scenarios so that i could analyze both pictures. but by testing it right now doesn't seem to make any difference.( picture seems ok.) but i am using a custom rom and kernel and system is heavily modded so who knows that might have had an impact. also when you do switch from camera to video, do you remove the camera app from memory( remove it from recents? i left it and no change)
for what's it worth im on a july build...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ahh so I should have mentioned. Am on July official build, non rooted (still have 2 months on the warranty). I guess rooting and a modified system would have an impact on the issue but thanks for testing out. Out of curiosity what is your setup? Which custom rom and kernel are u using and what extra addons if any.
AshDroidG said:
Ahh so I should have mentioned. Am on July official build, non rooted (still have 2 months on the warranty). I guess rooting and a modified system would have an impact on the issue but thanks for testing out. Out of curiosity what is your setup? Which custom rom and kernel are u using and what extra addons if any.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dr.ketan p13
beast mode v69
but ill re test tonite
I recently switched from the Z Flip 4 to the Pixel 7 256gb because I wanted the pure Google experience for a change. The one thing that I really miss from Samsung, is the ability to record a video with both the front and rear camera at the same time. I see that there is an app I can sideload to record from both, but Samsung took it a step further in that it took the front camera(selfie) and overlayed it on whatever the back camera was pointing at, and make a single picture in picture video output for you.
That way I don't have to take two different video files and edit them into a separate PiP video in post and have to synch the audio if I edit stuff out or add things in... Saves me time if I am recording an interview or doing a product review and want my face in the corner talking, while the larger main video portion is whomever I am talking to or whatever object I am reviewing or working on, etc...
Can this be done on a Pixel 7 without having to root it or jump through hoops? Samsung has been doing it in their stock camera app for years, and when I switched it never occurred to me that Google wouldn't already have that feature baked in as well.