Action Cam Hacking

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
I have a couple of these "GoPro-alike" Shenzhen-originated action cams - the first branded SJCAM, and now Morrisons have a Black Friday stock of 4K units (unusually, complete with a 8GB microSD card) branded Bresser/Discovery Adventures for £40 (so I bought one out of interest).

Note the Morrisons offering is not identical to this link, but very similar. It does not include all the adapters.

Externally they are almost identical (except the 4K has a larger LCD on the back). Apart from the SJCAM being only HD, they operate practically identically (with a few minor differences in the menus). One of the more interesting things about them is that they have a WiFi interface, which (when turned on) devolves the camera user interface to an Android/iOS app (including live view of camera output). The WiFi is an access point or ad-hoc connection, so the tablet has to disconnect from another WiFi network to access the camera.

One downside of this Bresser-badged unit is that its WiFi network can't be renamed (unlike the menus on the SJCAM), so there will be a problem if more than one are operating in the vicinity.

But at least the "XDV" iPhone app (for the Bresser unit) works. The SJCAM app used to work great, but they updated it to focus on social media and now it's crap. Flakey, wants to log on (how, when the WiFi has been monopolised?)... Maybe, just maybe, the XDV app would operate the SJCAM - but with the WiFi network name to access the camera fixed, I need to change the network name of the SJCAM to match (thinking out loud... now there's an idea).

However, in parallel with that line of investigation, I was wondering if there's anything I can do to peek what's what from my PC. What are the chances there's a standard video stream there somewhere? OK, I can connect my PC WiFi to the camera's WiFi, but what do I do then?
 
Maybe, just maybe, the XDV app would operate the SJCAM - but with the WiFi network name to access the camera fixed, I need to change the network name of the SJCAM to match (thinking out loud... now there's an idea).
Nada. On the presumption that the app doesn't use the SSID to identify the camera, it wouldn't connect. I tried to match the SSIDs, but the 4K uses "Sports DV"... and there's no way to enter a space in the SSID using the SJCAM's menus! (And I couldn't get the SJCAM app to connect at all.)
 
Nobody got any ideas? I presume I need a port scanner or something.

Meanwhile, I have discovered that although recorded videos play perfectly well on the camera or through its app, if I read the memory card directly and try playing an .MP4 (Splash Lite), the video is corrupted. Serif VideoPlus marks them as broken. VLC plays them though, and VideoReDo is happy. Odd.
 
Nobody got any ideas?
Not really. I have recently bought an endoscope that uses ad hoc Wi-Fi, but I've only had a play once, just before your OP, and according to the instructions you can change the ssid and password.

If there is something you'd like me to try on it then I'll have a go, as long as it's not likely to break it :)
 
Do these video parameters look strange to anyone? These are breaking Splash Lite and my video editor.

Code:
===================== General =====================
Complete name               : F:\Video\20171128_204104A.mp4
Format                      : MPEG-4
Format profile              : Base Media
Codec Id                    : isom
File size                   : 1.80 GB
Duration (ms)               : 12mn 18s
OverallBitRate_Mode/String  : Variable
Total bitrate               : 21.0 Mbps

===================== Video =====================
Id                          : 1
Format                      : AVC
Format info                 : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile              : High@L5.1
Use of CABAC                : Yes
RefFrames                   : 1 frame
Format settings - GOP       : M=1, N=30
Codec Id                    : avc1
Codec info                  : Advanced Video Coding
Duration (ms)               : 12mn 18s
Source_Duration/String      : 12mn 18s
Bitrate                     : 21.0 Mbps
Width                       : 1 920 pixels
Height                      : 1 080 pixels
Aspect ratio                : 16:9
Framerate                   : 30.000 fps
Colorimetry                 : YUV
Colos space                 : 4:2:0
Bit depth                   : 8 bits
Scan type                   : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame)          : 0.337
Stream size                 : 1.80 GB (100%)
Source_StreamSize/String    : 1.80 GB (100%)
Language                    : English
mdhd_Duration               : 738075

===================== Audio =====================
Id                          : 2
Format                      : AAC
Format info                 : Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile              : LC
Codec Id                    : 40
Duration (ms)               : 12mn 18s
Source_Duration/String      : 12mn 17s
Bitrate mode                : Variable
Channel(s)                  : 1 channel
ChannelPositions            : Front: C
Sampling rate               : 8 000 Hz
Compression_Mode/String     : Lossy
Source_StreamSize/String    : 1.45 MB (0%)
Language                    : English
mdhd_Duration               : 738075
 
Not really. I have recently bought an endoscope that uses ad hoc Wi-Fi, but I've only had a play once, just before your OP, and according to the instructions you can change the ssid and password.

If there is something you'd like me to try on it then I'll have a go, as long as it's not likely to break it :)
Can't see why it would. I take it there's an app to access it? No doubt it uses similar mechanisms. Whatever I try, you could try too.
 
Can't see why it would. I take it there's an app to access it?
I often can't see why something would break ... but that's never been a good predictor of continued functionality :)
Yes, it uses the "Wi-Fi View" app for Android.
 
Do these video parameters look strange to anyone? These are breaking Splash Lite and my video editor.
The video parameters look reasonable to me. Maybe not relevant but, the one channel audio has triggered a memory. I remember having a problem when I have re-coded a broadcast video that should have been in mono but was in some weird processed stereo with crackly noise. I changed it to 1 channel mono (obvious!) and the resulting video broke one player or another (or maybe it didn't play on the Humax :confused: ). Are you sure it is a video problem?
 
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