Product Review: Topdon TC004 Thermal Imaging Camera
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- Опубліковано 16 жов 2023
- This is a product review of the Topdon TC004 thermal imaging camera. Please expand the video description for extra notes.
Want to buy one? www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRK4SGD2 (link goes to Amazon US, and is not an affiliate or tracking link of any sort...)
As a standalone thermal imaging camera, this seems to work well. I believe the occasional pauses have to do with sensor calibration.
Unfortunately, software bugs hinder the ability to use this with your computer. The provided software for Windows computers struck me as opaque and incomprehensible, beyond working with locally stored images you've taken previously. It claims to let you perform further analysis on images. I didn't have the patience to study it in any detail. Maybe if you do, it is more useful than it looks.
Videos recorded with the camera are stretched and very distorted from the native 256x192 (HxW) to fit in a 1280x720 frame, in PAL format only at 25 frames per second. There's no point to this -- the sensor hasn't got anywhere that much resolution and is oriented differently (look at the screen!), which only makes it worse. Still pictures turn out fine. To get the videos into my editing software (Serif MoviePlus X5) took some massaging beforehand with VideoLAN's VLC. I can only guess that MoviePlus couldn't handle whatever container was used by the camera. It can certainly handle h.264 encoded video.
The camera operates in two modes: as a USB mass storage device or a USB video class camera (think "webcam"). Neither one works quite correctly, although the mass storage mode is at least usable for its intended purpose on any major computing platform.
Internally, it is a Linux based device and appears to be built around a Huawei system-on-chip. Depending upon its mode of operation, the camera presents as several different USB devices. Those are:
in mass storage mode: "Linux File-Stor Gadget Device", VID 0525, PID A4A5, serial number SN7890 (dubious)
in USB video class ("camera") mode, there are two devices enumerated:
1. USB Composite Device, VID 12D1, PID 0000 (!)
2. USB Video Device, VID 12D1, PID 0000 (!)
and the name "Iray MCamera" is also seen, with a reported serial number of 12345678 (obviously dubious).
in firmware update mode, two devices are enumerated
1. RNDIS, "Multifunction Composite Gadget", VID 1D6B, PID 0104
2. USB Serial Device, "Multifunction Composite Gadget", VID 1D6B, PID 0104
Two uploads in an HOUR?!? Uxwbill, you’re spoiling us!
Great to see you making videos again, right b4 cold start season! Hope all is well with you and the family we really enjoy your cooking videos around the holidays!
Glad to see new video and sharing product review.....hope things are going well with your family
Well glad to see another video from you. We all have the same amount of time per day, and we use it for whats most important to each of us. Glad to see your reviews.
Thank you for the quality content Bill 👍
These devices can be extremely useful when diagnosing and repairing electronics. The video out capabilities are just icing on the cake. Being able to see the exact location of a component that is overheating is invaluable.
The USB video output capability that exists doesn't quite work properly. I've only gotten it to work halfway reliably on Linux systems.
Come to think of it, a composite video output and/or HDMI would have been a handy feature.
Indeed. Also is extremely useful for finding a shorted component on a circuit as those tend to get really hot.
Thanks for another great product review.
no matter what it's about, a new uxwbill video is always a good day. been loving this channel for over 8 years
Excellent video Bill.
Initial commentary that is likely to cause heightened thermal imaging positives
Happy birthday William!!
can't believe I've been watching this channel for most of my life haha
Glad to see some new videos!
Quick question, do you plan on making any computer-related videos soon? They're some of my favorites. And what OS do you prefer to use in this day and age?
...center spot, hot spot, cold spot... and for those who remember the old SNES, Cool Spot.
I noticed you're wearing an Apple Watch. I was wondering your thoughts about it and iOS. (I always imagined you being an Android fan)
I don't agree with everything Apple does -- some of their decisions needlessly limit the capabilities of iOS -- but I can't hardly stand Android.
The watch is a first-gen SE model that I've had for a little over a year now. I use it mainly to keep tabs on how much walking I'm doing.
A lot of products from these manufacturers that offer free products for review need work to actually finish them off, but they rarely do give them that polishing up...
Yes, and I really don't expect that to happen here. I doubt Topdon will ever see the video. As long as it has taken me to get this done, they probably think I took the camera and ran. (Oddly enough, they never pestered me about it, despite what I said in the video.)
I was pretty surprised to find there was a category for firmware updates on their web site. I don't believe they are complying with the GPL, as I did not find a source code download anywhere.
I'm an original packaging keeper, for storage of infrequently used tools, equipment and appliances and their original manuals and receipts. I'll chuck (recycle) internal packaging and liners, but I always like to see a sturdy outer box.
I tend to do the same thing, just so there might be some hope I can keep track of all the accessories.
I got almost the same camera except it cant record video.
For AC lines you must put black electrical tape on it for more accurate reading
Oddly enough, I just went out and picked up a thermal cam. Wanted to check some of the insulation in my house
I have some insulation I intend to inspect as well.
I might actually get this to use as a standalone camera (or, really just an overpriced thermometer, see below).
I bought a Harbor Freight thermal camera (one of those Ames Instruments ones) to use when the FLIR E4 at work is in use (which only ever happens when I go to bubblegum some metal together with the TIG machine at work for practice reasons-I have something like 5 total hours on TIG welding at this point, I really need/want to get more practice in, but the FLIR is only available when I'm NOT welding at any given moment, might just be my luck, I dunno).
I was thoroughly disappointed by that Ames camera because, while it does produce an image on the screen, the compositing of the visible and thermal images is unusable and taping over the visible camera in order to just get a thermal image, well, that thing has a 32x32 thermal resolution so, good luck seeing what the hell you're looking at. That camera was only about $150 cheaper than this one before factoring in shipping, gouging, and taxes (or, just shipping and gouging if you prefer-I remember some version of that quote from one of your videos and it gets an endearing laugh of approval from the guys at work).
Actually, now that I think about it, I could probably also use something like this to check a heater core swap I did on my car (of which there might exist some videotaped evidence).
I was intrigued by that Ames camera when it first appeared. When their web site finally said one of the Harbor Freight stores in this area had one, I went and picked it up. They hadn't even put it out on the shelf yet.
I found a similar problem. The visible and IR images were not properly aligned. Eventually I returned it, and even though I told them it didn't seem to be working properly, they still dinged me the restocking fee.
From what it returned when connected via USB, their camera appeared to be based on a system-on-chip for some kind of a low cost smart watch. I suppose someone had a ton of those that weren't exactly selling like hotcakes in the smart watch world, so whoever made the Ames camera stitched it into that design with a very hot needle.
As much as I wanted one of these, I'd been waiting for higher resolution sensors and the price to go down. At least the latter finally seems to be happening. Even with "only" a 256x192 sensor, the Topdon camera seems to perform very well.
@@uxwbill If it's anything like FLIR's offerings, you'll have to adjust a slider to "calibrate" the distance as most of the "cheaper" offerings out there lack a distance sensor. I'm not sure if anything above the $1000 pricepoint does, but it wouldn't surprise me if they did
@@Vynncent To the best of my recollection, the HFT/Ames camera didn't have a distance adjustment. The Topdon camera has a distance adjustment, and I think it's got a sensor as well. I haven't needed to use its manual adjustment as yet.
can you make another windows xp related pc video. i enjoyed watching them when i was a kid. now im 20 now. life sucks. please
Not at this time. I am down to just a few computers still running Windows XP, and there isn't much I could say about them. If you are struggling with depression or related issues, please seek out help. Even if it doesn't seem that way now, the world needs you.
Looks like you got the old 60 amp service replaced.
No.
That was great Bill you know its not available for sale there sold out but to me it looks good with all those features thanks and reasonably priced to ohh well at least its reasonable to find a fault on a circuit board
Prior to releasing this and again just now, I checked the Amazon link. It's still available for purchase in the Amazon US store as best I can tell.
Just purchased this model after a long search of various popular manufacturers. The stand alone unit itself is good. I compared it to a customers Flir and this one is better. But I need to have a healthy connection to my computer for the reports I make for customers and this is where this system/product fails. It is a piece of computer software junk. I have installed/deleted/reinstalled/updated per their instructions (some in Chinese) and their factory software call VT something doesn't work. Even the factory instructions on line and supplied are worthless. I'm sending it back.
The software issues are mentioned in the video, near the end. I've heard that people have gotten it to work. I wasn't one of them, and lost interest in pursuing it any further. If you have need of the software, this isn't the thermal imager for you. As the video description says:
"Unfortunately, software bugs hinder the ability to use this with your computer. The provided software for Windows computers struck me as opaque and incomprehensible, beyond working with locally stored images you've taken previously. It claims to let you perform further analysis on images. I didn't have the patience to study it in any detail. Maybe if you do, it is more useful than it looks."
The USB capability as a whole is buggy to varying degrees. Its mass storage mode is at least functional. The camera mode I never got to work halfway reliably anywhere other than on a computer running Linux.
i am a few days late in viewing this video. i see you pulled no punches. but as you say it did what it was suppose to. just the bells and whistle were out of tune. so where does this fall in the price point. anyway, great to see you out and about. stay well and see you next time.
This typically sells for around $340. It's on sale right now for $307. (The link in the description isn't a tracking or affiliate link, because I don't have any interest in tracking anyone.) I'll leave it to you or any other viewers to shop the market if so inclined.
This channel has gone to the dogs.
It's worth exactly what you pay to watch it. 🙂
@@uxwbill I think Topdon missed an opportunity to name themselves Topdog instead.
I've always thought thermal cameras where really cool
2 videos in 1 month wow
This is your friendly reminder that UA-cam is something I have always done for fun. It's not my job and I have never wanted it to be. I am very busy with other things that have higher priorities.
not a flir
Just because there's a popular brand in a particular field doesn't mean their product is the best. As far as a simple camera is concerned, I'd say the TC004 is a better product.
Flir based in Oregon an American company@@uxwbill
@@tricogustrico I seriously doubt their products are made domestically. (I'd try to check, only the Teledyne Flir web site turns grey and won't let me navigate, probably because my content filtering is blocking some obnoxious popover or another.)
As previously stated, I'm not that impressed by what I've seen of their products.