Dash Cameras

Author
Discussion

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 24th August 2017
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Had a Blackvue fitted to the 3 series at Halfords this afternoon. Had to trail all the way to the boot for power so I could use the parking mode. And the bd switches off with the ignition!!

In their credit, they did a neat job with the trim.

Birdster

2,529 posts

142 months

Friday 25th August 2017
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gmaz said:
a said:
I've got a Mobius cam stuck behind my rear-view mirror, mainly because I like how discrete it is. Cable runs through headlining, down A-pillar, under dashboard and into USB socket. Very happy with it overall.

I've got it set to motion-detection mode when power is cut. But the battery doesn't last long enough, barely 10 minutes of filming. I'd like to record for as long as possible once the car is switched off, without wearing down the car's battery.

I've thought of adding a small USB power bank (like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00MWU1GGI), so the power bank charges and powers the camera while the ignition is on, and discharges while powering the camera with ignition off. Even a small one will give me plenty of recording time.

But all the ones I know of require you to press a button to start supplying power. Does anyone know of one that just works on its own with no need for user input?
This is a "proper" backup battery supply but at £170 it is not cheap

http://www.techmoan.com/blog/2016/5/27/dashcam-bat...

I've just tried my Anker battery pack and that does not require a button push to start charging, but it will not pass through the power to the load (in my case a mobile phone) while it is charging
I'm probably being daft, but would taping the button down work? Or when the battery runs flat it needs another press?

gmaz

4,382 posts

209 months

Monday 28th August 2017
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Birdster said:
I'm probably being daft, but would taping the button down work? Or when the battery runs flat it needs another press?
I doubt it but you can try it by charging your phone from it while charging the battery.

Usually they have a circuit which prevents charging and discharging at the same time

tek_architect

5 posts

79 months

Monday 28th August 2017
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Hi Folks,


I'm pretty much set on the idea of buying a Blackvue dr650s-2ch dashcam for my 2016 BMW X5 3.0D M Sport. I'm also looking to get the Blackvue external battery pack or the Cellink B external battery pack too.

Thought I had nothing better to do than ask my local dealer to install. Nope. They will only install the BMW Advanced Eye unit. In my opinion this is not discrete enough and does not have key features that the Blackvue has. Anyway, BMW Kirkcaldy could not install and BMW Perth could not intstall. They were polite enough but would only install BMW approved. So my question is, can anyone recommend a dashcam installer in Fife? I know BMW and Audi are sensitive to battery drain and that the cable used for the rear camera needs to be appropriately shielded to prevent interference to the DAB radio, hence the reason for the battery pack and wanting a professional installation.

Thanks very much in advance for any assistance.

hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Monday 28th August 2017
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If you don't get any joy here, post on a BMW marque forum.

Many brand focused forums have a guy or two who specialises in doing electrics installs and will have reviews of his work by other members.

tek_architect

5 posts

79 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017
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Cheers Hyphen. Have posted on a UK BMW forum too. No luck yet. Will give it a few days.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017
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Having run the Blackvue 650s (1ch version) for a week or so, I'm going to try and get my money back. Despite being advertised as 'HD', the picture quality is awful. You can't read number plates even when a car's a few feet away (on the highest resolution setting).

Example from the commute this morning.


tek_architect

5 posts

79 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017
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Thanks for the post of the pic Janesmith1950. That's made me think. The only other dashcam in the frame would be the Thinkware F800 or 750. They get a good rep for their cameras. Cheers.

anonymous-user

53 months

Wednesday 30th August 2017
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janesmith1950 said:
Having run the Blackvue 650s (1ch version) for a week or so, I'm going to try and get my money back. Despite being advertised as 'HD', the picture quality is awful. You can't read number plates even when a car's a few feet away (on the highest resolution setting).

Example from the commute this morning.

Their purpose is to record the details if you have a smash. I'm sure perfectly up to the task !

ashleyman

6,962 posts

98 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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I have the DR650-2CH and if I were buying now I'd be going for the Thinkware F770. Far superior in every way. BlackVue is missing a ton of features like write protected event files and a 1080P rear cam. I think the new 750 might do the job but even so. That's not available yet.

tek_architect

5 posts

79 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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Cheers Ashleyman. A few folk on another BMW forum are suggesting the Thinkware too.

anonymous-user

53 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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Jimboka said:
Their purpose is to record the details if you have a smash. I'm sure perfectly up to the task !
And let's say that white car is the only witness to what went on out of view. My £250 HD camera can't even read number plates from 30 feet. Useless!

AJB88

12,263 posts

170 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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Whats the best "cheap" one these days, I have a G1WH off Amazon had it about 3 years it was working fine but have noticed recently that even though its recording constantly it only saves some of the files.

its hardwired in so simply want to swap it with another one that uses the same USB connection.

ashleyman

6,962 posts

98 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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janesmith1950 said:
Jimboka said:
Their purpose is to record the details if you have a smash. I'm sure perfectly up to the task !
And let's say that white car is the only witness to what went on out of view. My £250 HD camera can't even read number plates from 30 feet. Useless!
The camera is your witness though. You wouldn't need the details of the white car for evidence.

I do agree though that the BlackVue footage isn't the best. However it's on par with the rest of the expensive cameras as they're all using the same sensor or, they were when I purchased last year.

Mr Happy

5,694 posts

219 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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ashleyman said:
janesmith1950 said:
Jimboka said:
Their purpose is to record the details if you have a smash. I'm sure perfectly up to the task !
And let's say that white car is the only witness to what went on out of view. My £250 HD camera can't even read number plates from 30 feet. Useless!
The camera is your witness though. You wouldn't need the details of the white car for evidence.

I do agree though that the BlackVue footage isn't the best. However it's on par with the rest of the expensive cameras as they're all using the same sensor or, they were when I purchased last year.
Its nothing to do with the sensor, more to do with the poor bitrate on BlackVue cameras.

You could have a 4K sensor hooked up, but if the bitrate of the video encoder is low, then although the frame size will be large - there'll be no detail in the video as the encoder will have made it blocky to reduce the filesize and not turn the video into a slideshow.

Higher bitrate = higher quality = larger files. My K1S front cam will do 180MB/3min and the rear will do 120MB/3min - both the same length and frame size (1080p) but the rear cam is of a lower bitrate than the front (approx 9Mbps vs 13Mbps of the front cam) which leads to a loss of quality in the image.

The DR650 is between 6-8Mbps depending on firmware version, the problem you have is that it's a small camera so even flashing a firmware which increases the bitrate of the encoder might cause issues, as the more work the encoder does - the hotter the chip gets, causing localised overheating in smaller cameras. There are higher bitrate firmwares out there, but it depends on if your retailer will accept a return once it has been flashed (technically using a non-BlackVue firmware may void the warranty).

Edited by Mr Happy on Thursday 31st August 17:43

liner33

10,640 posts

201 months

Thursday 31st August 2017
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janesmith1950 said:
Having run the Blackvue 650s (1ch version) for a week or so, I'm going to try and get my money back. Despite being advertised as 'HD', the picture quality is awful. You can't read number plates even when a car's a few feet away (on the highest resolution setting).

Example from the commute this morning.

Is the footage no better when viewed through the Blackvue software? I have had no problem reading plates on my Blackvue stuff

R7

170 posts

93 months

Tuesday 12th September 2017
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I'm looking for a smaller option from my currently installed Transcend DrivePro 200. It is a great camera, however it takes up a fair bit of room with a screen I actually do not need. What is the standard at the moment? I am also looking to install a rear facing camera also...

R7

170 posts

93 months

Thursday 14th September 2017
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Just further to this, I had a play around with a spare Transcend mount I have, and the position I have it in at the moment is the only practical one that isn't obstructed by the sensor housing. This is how it looks:





I cannot fault the camera at all, I just wish I'd opted for one without a display.

_dobbo_

14,319 posts

247 months

Friday 15th September 2017
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R7 said:
Just further to this, I had a play around with a spare Transcend mount I have, and the position I have it in at the moment is the only practical one that isn't obstructed by the sensor housing. This is how it looks:


I cannot fault the camera at all, I just wish I'd opted for one without a display.
I have mine positioned slightly to the left of my wiper/lights sensor housing. It means from the driver's seat it's entirely obscured by the rear view mirror and so isn't distracting. Possibly this would be better for you?


Podie

46,630 posts

274 months

Saturday 16th September 2017
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R7 said:
I'm looking for a smaller option from my currently installed Transcend DrivePro 200. It is a great camera, however it takes up a fair bit of room with a screen I actually do not need. What is the standard at the moment? I am also looking to install a rear facing camera also...
We picked up a DrivePro cheaply in an Amazon sale a while back - great dashcam, but just so unwieldy.

For this reason we replaced it with a Viofo A119 V2, due to the wedge shape - which makes mounting it a much more discreet affair.