Rear view mirror - this may work well.
Discussion
Am fitting a drive recorder to the Chim so I have some evidence if the worst should happen due to the lunatic drivers here, and also as a side benefit get to always have the chance to save a video from a good drive without having to mount a go-pro every time.
Don't want to have some intrusive box on the windshield all the time so have taken a look at the rear view mirror type. Could not find one that is a straight swap, all seem to be of the clip on variety to go straight over the existing mirror and rather big. I have eventually found one that does not increase the mirror size so much and is a pretty good fit.
A little off to one side so the camera clears the original mirror at the moment, but eventually will just completely do away with the original mirror so will be perfectly centered. Switched off it just looks like a normal mirror. Switch on and there are a couple of subtle status lamps, and a 2.7" display - can and will be turned off.
When properly installed the power cable will also be hidden similar to the one for the toll road system currently installed, so all will be neat and tidy and come on with the ignition.
Hope to give it a try this weekend to test the video quality before working on it further. Is supposed to be full 1080p so hope will be decent.
Don't want to have some intrusive box on the windshield all the time so have taken a look at the rear view mirror type. Could not find one that is a straight swap, all seem to be of the clip on variety to go straight over the existing mirror and rather big. I have eventually found one that does not increase the mirror size so much and is a pretty good fit.
A little off to one side so the camera clears the original mirror at the moment, but eventually will just completely do away with the original mirror so will be perfectly centered. Switched off it just looks like a normal mirror. Switch on and there are a couple of subtle status lamps, and a 2.7" display - can and will be turned off.
When properly installed the power cable will also be hidden similar to the one for the toll road system currently installed, so all will be neat and tidy and come on with the ignition.
Hope to give it a try this weekend to test the video quality before working on it further. Is supposed to be full 1080p so hope will be decent.
The one I have is by Look East and has the catchy name SL-RM1080DR09. I think it is a cheap generic brand and think you have pretty much the same on UK Amazon from Onair.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Definition-Recorde...
About 30 quid here and a smidge under 40 in the UK. I'll get a quick test drive with it in about 30 minutes time to test the quality. It's not GPS so is basic video recorder, but does have a G sensor that will protect the current recording if it is tripped.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Quality-Definition-Recorde...
About 30 quid here and a smidge under 40 in the UK. I'll get a quick test drive with it in about 30 minutes time to test the quality. It's not GPS so is basic video recorder, but does have a G sensor that will protect the current recording if it is tripped.
Only records front.
I did a test in the FJ - sorry but my wife reminded me I had to pick up some supplies for the garden for this weekend so the tvr was out of the question. Camera has some movement available for left/right/up/down and rotation, so can still get a level picture regardless of the tilt you normally have your mirror at. I did record some at 1080p and then at 720. The 1080 was not smooth, although I think this may be due to the quality of media I put in it - takes a microsd card. Will get a better quality card in it to see if it improves. At 720 it was clear and smooth - sample here but downscaled a lot for the net. http://www.dazee.net/tempfiles/mirrorcam-720.mp4
Says it is a 5MP sensor but obviously on the price is not the best quality but still decent enough. I've still got some to play with on it, there are settings for exposure compensation etc that will need to try. Also when I had it on my desk testing I did have it recording with the display switched off automatically after 2 minutes. In the car it just stayed on all the time. In daylight not really a problem, even where the screen is you can plainly see behind you and there is just a hint of a ghost image there. The ghost gets clearer as it gets darker. I did not find it distracting and could still see clearly behind me in the FJ, but in the TVR with it being closer to you it could be distracting. Should be able to get the setting though to switch off automatically, manual is not great, multiple languages and English was not the native one used to write it.
Loop recording so you never need to worry about deleting files, just setup and leave it running all the time. GPS would have been nice, but I figure in the TVR that could just be used against me :P
I did a test in the FJ - sorry but my wife reminded me I had to pick up some supplies for the garden for this weekend so the tvr was out of the question. Camera has some movement available for left/right/up/down and rotation, so can still get a level picture regardless of the tilt you normally have your mirror at. I did record some at 1080p and then at 720. The 1080 was not smooth, although I think this may be due to the quality of media I put in it - takes a microsd card. Will get a better quality card in it to see if it improves. At 720 it was clear and smooth - sample here but downscaled a lot for the net. http://www.dazee.net/tempfiles/mirrorcam-720.mp4
Says it is a 5MP sensor but obviously on the price is not the best quality but still decent enough. I've still got some to play with on it, there are settings for exposure compensation etc that will need to try. Also when I had it on my desk testing I did have it recording with the display switched off automatically after 2 minutes. In the car it just stayed on all the time. In daylight not really a problem, even where the screen is you can plainly see behind you and there is just a hint of a ghost image there. The ghost gets clearer as it gets darker. I did not find it distracting and could still see clearly behind me in the FJ, but in the TVR with it being closer to you it could be distracting. Should be able to get the setting though to switch off automatically, manual is not great, multiple languages and English was not the native one used to write it.
Loop recording so you never need to worry about deleting files, just setup and leave it running all the time. GPS would have been nice, but I figure in the TVR that could just be used against me :P
Now got it set correctly, screen turns off automatically after a minute - enough time to see it is actively recording. Your only indication then that it is even on is a very subtle blue light - hard to see at all in daylight. Now set to record in 1 minute chunk video files - you can set this to a larger size, but a minute at 720P is a 68MB file size so I think a good enough file to work with if you need to.
Sound pickup is ok. Here is an unedited file at 720P on a test drive today.
http://www.dazee.net/tempfiles/14070050.AVI
Now just have to fully replace the normal mirror with this and then work out the power source. Damn thing uses USB 5V power adapter so will not just be able to hook into the car power for it, need to somehow keep the cigarette lighter adapter for it and get power.
Side note...... is the cigarette lighter always meant to have power to it, even with the ignition off?
Sound pickup is ok. Here is an unedited file at 720P on a test drive today.
http://www.dazee.net/tempfiles/14070050.AVI
Now just have to fully replace the normal mirror with this and then work out the power source. Damn thing uses USB 5V power adapter so will not just be able to hook into the car power for it, need to somehow keep the cigarette lighter adapter for it and get power.
Side note...... is the cigarette lighter always meant to have power to it, even with the ignition off?
Not seriously looked at the wiring yet, just been testing it out to make sure I want to go to the trouble of wiring it up and replacing the current mirror. Any recommendations for USB car adapter?
There is a motion detection option in the menu's but little in the manual to detail exactly what it does. Not sure if it records if it detects movement in the field of view, or if it means only records while vehicle is moving. WIll test this to be sure.
There is a motion detection option in the menu's but little in the manual to detail exactly what it does. Not sure if it records if it detects movement in the field of view, or if it means only records while vehicle is moving. WIll test this to be sure.
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