Dash cams and Macs (1 Viewer)

Allanm

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My Jaws Dash cam arrived a few days ago, got it set up and recording fine. ( great service Jaws, thanks)
In the instruction book, it says it works with Macs, however, my Macbook won't recognise the SD card ( I have 3 Macs and have tried in all 3)
Has anyone successfully been able to review the video on a Mac?
( I know it records because I have been able to view the video on a friends Windows 8 tablet)
Allan
 

4matt

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I'm a newbie in my second year.
What OS are you on? I have had trouble with stuff on mavericks and not having flash now is a real pain sometimes. I have an old mac that is still on lion and that normally get me out of trouble....

What OS does the instruction book recommend? sometimes you see they stop at mac OS9.
 
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Allanm

Allanm

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I am using Mavericks. I also tried Win 7 on Bootcamp. The card will not mount on any machine although the card is shown in disc utility.
I can format the card in my Roadhawk HD and it will mount and playback as normal. I can also format the card as Fat 32 and it will mount, however this isn't read on the dashcam and it insists on formatting it in the camera.
The instructions say it will work on OSX 10.3.6 and above!
I am borrowing a Macbook running Lion today to see if it works on that.
Allan
 

JeanLuc

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I suspect you may need to go back earlier than Lion. If the dashcam instructions refer to 10.3 and above, that is OSX Panther I believe - pre Tiger (which was 2006-8 if my memory serves). So they are referring to an OS from about 10 years ago - pretty ancient in computer terms!
The big underlying OS change came with the switch from 10.6 (Snow Leopard) to 10.7 (Lion), then Mavericks moved it on again so that OSX and iOS (for tablets and phones) work better together.
I am still running 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) because I bought my MacBook Pro just four months too soon to enable me to run Mavericks. :( However, having recently 'upgraded' my wife's white plastic MacBook to Mavericks, I have to say that mine runs a lot faster on Snow Leopard - it's just no longer updated unfortunately.

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grasscutter

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I had the same issues with the dash cam Andrew (Mr Motorhome) recommended on his Morrocco trip.
It stopped working so I managed to get a refund. I have been looking for a replacement so will follow this thread with interest.
 

johnp10

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Also received mine from Jaws, thanks John, great service, nice cam.
Put card in, charged, etc but not used yet as van is way from the house.
The only info I cant find in the destructions is how to use the GPS function.
Do we just plug the stick on dongle thing and leave it plugged in?
Anyone know?

Keep it simple, my grandkids call me "techno muppett".
 

OllieUK

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AllanM :- The instructions say it will work on OSx above 10.3.6

JohnP 10 :- Mine is plugged in and left, when you play back recording you can switch on GPS maps.

Excellent picture quality.

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Allanm

Allanm

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AllanM :- The instructions say it will work on OSx above 10.3.6
Unfortunately, it doesn't work with 10.9.5. I was just wondered if anybody else had got theirs to playback with a later version of OSX.
Allan
 

OllieUK

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I hope someone will put you in the right direction... I use windows...
 
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Allanm

Allanm

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Well, apparently my Macbook sd card slot should read most cards including Fat formatted cards. I just looked in the System Report for the card reader and although the card size shows up, the format shows as unknown.
Does anybody know what format these cards are formatted with in the dash cam and what type of files the video and audio files are?
Allan
 

JeanLuc

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I looked at a YouTube video posted somewhere else on Fun demonstrating the dashcam that Jaws has been ordering. It said the video files needed JPlayer in order to see them. The YouTube video says that needs a Windows PC but according to the JPlayer website, it is simply a JavaScript player and can be downloaded for a Mac.
 
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Allanm

Allanm

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I can download the player ok, but the problem is, I can't mount the sd card on the desktop so wouldn't be able to play the files.
Allan

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Allanm

Allanm

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I went through that a while ago, but thanks for the link.
I'm still trying to figure out what the dash cam formats the card as. My TV and DVD player can't read the card either, they just say it's an unsupported file system and they can both read all my cards including Apple and Fat formats.
 

OllieUK

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How far have you got with reading the micro disk? did you install the video player onto your computer?
<x2 player>

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Allanm

Allanm

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I can't find a Mac compatible X2 player from Neptune, but I have VLC which handles the same formats and is classed as an X2 player.
Still can't get the drive to mount though.
 

haganap

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Mine doesn't work on windows 8..... Can't sort it but cam works fine cheers jaws.
 

OllieUK

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You have to format the micro card in the first instance in the dash cam.. it says that formatting the card in your computer is not supported.

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I have installed Parallels desktop and running Windows 7 in the virtual drive. This works fine as you can instruct paralells to use the SD card slot.

There are free virtual drive applications e.g. VirtualBox

Here's an example of what is needed (from Youtube)

The paid application Parallels can be found from the link

Let me know if you need any help

Colin

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JohnH

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There is an anomaly with the Mac and these video files. I have an E-Pranck 8001. The very small version. Anyway, if I try to read the card I either get "format unknown" message or, if I manage to be able to read the card contents the files which were produced are all zero bytes.
If I connect the camera to the Mac with the USB cable I can play the files or copy them without problems.
I have done this with all my dash cam files and used iMovie to collate them and chop out some of the boring bits. Just another memory to go with all of the others.
 
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There is an anomaly with the Mac and these video files. I have an E-Pranck 8001. The very small version. Anyway, if I try to read the card I either get "format unknown" message or, if I manage to be able to read the card contents the files which were produced are all zero bytes.
If I connect the camera to the Mac with the USB cable I can play the files or copy them without problems.
I have done this with all my dash cam files and used iMovie to collate them and chop out some of the boring bits. Just another memory to go with all of the others.


This does not work IMHO with the dashcam I purchased from Jaws which I am very happy with

Colin
 
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Allanm

Allanm

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I gave up trying to get it to work on my Mac. The cam is fitted in Mrs A's car and if I need to review the files. I can use her Dell Tablet running windows.
I'm still running my Road hawk HD and a new Mio cam in the van. I can read the files on anything.
Allan

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Sep 4, 2013
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I can run X2player within windows which is installed on a virtual drive on my Mac. Please see my previous post. I do believe that this is a solution to the problem if you only have a Mac computer / Laptop

Colin
 
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Allanm

Allanm

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I can run X2player within windows which is installed on a virtual drive on my Mac. Please see my previous post. I do believe that this is a solution to the problem if you only have a Mac computer / Laptop

Colin
You still need to buy windows though. I'd rather just keep windows and all the associated software on Mrs A's tablet than let it get too close to my Macbook!
Allan

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