I bet this video recorded sunrise or sunset time.
Backlighting are most dash cam's weakness.
Last but not least, DR380 is 720p.

Probably dashcamtalk? also rfd has a thread, so it might be good to get some Canadian (although mostly TO perspective)

dashcamera
 

hi guys,
i'm thinking of buying a dash camera. any suggestions? thanks

It depends on how much you want to spend.. for high end ones talk to asr. Korean made ones usually come with more sophisticated ICs and Sony sensors.

I would suggest if you are thinking about more than 1 channel go with seperate cameras instead.. all ARM processors that are used right now cannot do 1080p / channel.

I bought my blackvue dr380 780p last year from ASR. I think this model is discontinued now. It would shut off for no reason once in a while. My battery was good and I redid all the wiring and looked ok. But overall I was happy with it.


Drivers are getting crazier out there so I had to buy another Dashcam for my second car. There's so many out there but I decided to go with the otosaver Das3000hd 1080p full hd. Built in shock sensor and built in battery saver. I'll do further review after a month or so of using it. Just got it last week:fullofwin: but so far I'm loving it.

For some reason the quality of both videos goes down when I upload them to YouTube but the image of otosaver is far superior to my old blackvue. I'm going to put it in my daily and put my blackvue in my other car.

be my guinea pig before i buy a dash cam :ilied:

If you go to dashcamtalk's forum you can see Blackvue are not the greatest.

Basically it boils down to this: For 1080p h264 stream you need at least 8Mbps throughput.. nearly all Korean cameras uses TI DM36 chipset which has a bunk codec... well not unusable, but it is very inefficient. When it is set to that throughput, they get extremely hot. Since those cameras sits in the sun etc.. they don't last that long (which Blackvue found out)

At this stage, it is a trade off between reliability and resolution.. if you want reliability go with 720p ones. if you want resolution AND reliability, wait a bit 6 months or so when the manufacturerw start to adopt the DM640 family of chips.

Oh honestly these things are disposable. Since it is so dependent on processing power (we are not yet at a point that the output quality has plateaued vs chipset).. so be prepared to get a new one every year or so.. I think we will see 1080p/60 soon. It seems Korean companies like Finevu etc take more pride and care in the programming the client program than Chinese white box manufacturers. Which reminds me of CS students copying each other's homework.

Hi guys,
Thanks for the info! Yes, I find Korean blackboxes more superior in terms of quality and features. I just got me a DAS-3000HD OTOsaver. It's really nice since it has an internal battery and can be used as a digital camcorder/camera for up to 10 minutes without using the car's battery. It also has an internal shut-off power, which turns the device off when battery voltage is low. With the push of a button, the SD memory can be self-formatted.
I will continue to update you guys re: dashcam. Thanks.

Here is a quick sample video I made:

The DAS3000HD looks good. Where is everyone buying it from and how much?

I got from CL

DASH CAMS IN CAR VIDEO

It is a lil blurry, you might need clean the cmos and lens because of the dust. It seems a lot glare on each vehicle and it is blurry on the top of the vehicle. That is not lighting reflection. If it is a brand new camera, you should go back talk to the dealer you got it from because it looks not right.

other choices
 

My research also led me to dashcamtalk also

I do like the few the do recommend. the 720P one for about $100 looks real good

I've got a MateGo MG188 that I use for daily recording.

Got the camera 3 and a half months ago. Recently, I've started hearing a lot of static noise when my car moves, or when my music is too loud.

Don't know if it's been answered before, but anyone know why this is happening? Is it time to retire my camera?

I think the built in battery will not last very long reliability wise. Honestly I think having a LiIon battery pack in a potentially high heat location is a bad design decision.

I prefer this solution instead T-Power C, Mobile Stations, Car UPS, Uninterrupted Power Supply,Battery Pack - BLACK VUE Singapore

are you using a suction cup or 3M tape short mounting bracket?
Posted via RS Mobile

I'm using a suction cup at the moment, but I have both.

^try the short bracket
Posted via RS Mobile

Vosonic/Flexmedia V747W vs Vicovation TF2/TF2+
Enjoy the music.

Here are my picks: I prefer cameras with no LCD or other BS things like wifi etc. Because I really don't like to be distracted on the road and I only use the cameras to capture situations, I rarely track where I drive etc. These models are often discussed on dashcamtalk. the website is pretty good on the gotchas and wehre best to buy etc. RFD also have a long on-going thread.

One note: Don't expect things to improve significantly with firmware updates, especially the Chinese ones (so firmware upgrades should not be a selling point or an excuse if the seller tells you to wait for an update). If the video breaks up or the camera overheats often, usually it is a design flaw. If you want the camera to last, choose wisely and get only the cameras that have been out for a while and with enough feedback that you are comfortable with.

Cheap ($<100): Get a camera with a Amberella chip (same brand of chipset used in GoPro Heros).. they are usually in Chinese cameras with prefix GS eg GS6000. The downside is the CMOS sensors are not the greatest in low light.

Mid Price ($100-$250): Livue LB100, IRoad

High End (>$250): Finvue CR500, Lukas LK7900, Itronics.

Placement of the cameras matters a great deal. If your purpose is to capture license plate vs space debris, you want ideally most of the picture be the same lighting level as the license plate, so take care where you aim! You see more flaws / blocking etc if the contrast of the surrounding is too high eg the post of the Camry in post #1147

Do you guys usually leave your cameras mounted and recording while parked?

I want to record while parked, but end up always removing my camera and putting it away, fearing that someone will see it and smash my window for it.

Is it safe to leave the camera?

I've kept mine in my car for almost a year now and I've had no problems with it. Never take it off

I leave mine all recording and looping. The more you move your camera, the weaker the mount become. Since we live in places that have relatively high UV, plastics get weak really quickly.

Honestly "is it safe" also depends on how smart you are with how and where you park. How as in the orientation of the car in relations to pedestrian, I hate to say it backing in with camera facing front so it captures foot traffic seems to deter people who are casing cars.. I had that happen a few times in downtown Easy Park lots.

Also it depends on how discrete your camera is (size and placement).. I don't understand why people want LCD on their cameras.. also mount as high as possible so that the tint bar can give your camera some protection.

:rukidding:

The only thing that I like about having a small LCD is being able to aim it easily if I took it off. I usually leave it in the car though, most of them are fairly hard to see from outside the car.

doublepost. sorry

I said Mariofan's DAS3000 HD lens is lil blurry. My last thread got fail by a member, I just want to convince myself that if I am wrong or not.

I do the comparison objectivly without any bias. I am not saying which one is good or bad.

These 5 images are non-photoshoped.

Time is almost similar with Mariofan's video time.

Click for large images.
DAS-3000HD OTOsaver (from Mariofan's 1080P video capture)
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8400/8...6836aea1_h.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8113/8...ddc3485b_h.jpg

Vicovation TF2
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8266/8...0d1be1aa_h.jpg

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8536/8...fda1e6c1_h.jpg

Vicovation TF2+
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8405/8...1497eb43_h.jpg