In car cameras

[leaftye]

Let's do a thread to learn more about these.

We see lots of videos from vehicles with in car cameras. I've seen lots of in car cameras on sites like Dealextreme, but they seem to be cheap Chinese electronics with low resolution cameras, vague specs and often erroneous specs.

I'd love to find out more about what's needed, quality components, what to pay, how to install it, etc.

[emmettlodge]

I have one of those cheap Chinese cameras. It works fine for anything you would normally want an in-car camera for.

[Peloton25]

The thread title is misleading, but the content is a lot of what you are looking for:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...mer-got-caught

>8^)
ER

[VeeDubDriver]

I would like to get this one at some point



Here it is without GPS: http://www.ebay.com/itm/320774404358...84.m1423.l2649

[leaftye]

What do you guys think about dual cameras?

I've been working on my mom's car. The rear view mirror is wobbly, which might make something like this a prime candidate.
http://www.chinavasion.com/mirror-mo...ch-lcd-screen/

It is a rearview mirror that is a car dvr with built in lcd. My biggest concern is that the quality of the mirror will be piss poor. I'd also need to be able to record with the lcd off. The thing I hate about chinese sites is that they often fail to have very important information. The site above is better at most about providing specs, but it still falls short. I'll do some looking around.

The gps and g sensor models are intriguing. I'd like to see how a reviewer feels about those features.

I have one of those cheap Chinese cameras. It works fine for anything you would normally want an in-car camera for.

Do you know any of the specs or have a link?

I'm not sure all this high def recording is helpful, especially if it has a cheap lens that blurs everything anyway.

[MrRoboto]

You want HD because you want to be able to see the guy's license plate with a wide angle lens. Otherwise, it is pointless.

[emmettlodge]

You want HD because you want to be able to see the guy's license plate with a wide angle lens. Otherwise, it is pointless.

Hardly. That's only useful if you care about pressing charges, prosecuting, etc.

All I care about is covering my own butt. Meaning, I can prove I'm not at fault in a not-at-fault accident. I could care less if it's a hit and run and the guy gets caught or not.

[RacerrRex]

You want HD because you want to be able to see the guy's license plate with a wide angle lens. Otherwise, it is pointless.

Its 2012. Theres computer software where you can zooom in and enhance the quality, whether its HD or not lol..

10 (well maybe even 15, now) years ago HD didnt even exist, yet cops still used their footage to obtain liscence plate readings

[leaftye]

You want HD because you want to be able to see the guy's license plate with a wide angle lens. Otherwise, it is pointless.

As I said, all the pixels in the world don't matter if the lens is so crappy all you see is high def smudges.






What about car dvr using a smartphone? The lens is a known commodity and usually decent quality, and the software is more likely to be maintained or easily swapped out for something better. Google has nothing on page 1 for "car dvr smartphone app".

[emmettlodge]

Do you know any of the specs or have a link?

I couldn't tell you a darn'd thing about it. It was a $20 garage sale find. There's no name on it. It's a dual lens and records to a micro SD card.

[FiveAinOne]

Its 2012. Theres computer software where you can zooom in and enhance the quality, whether its HD or not lol..

10 (well maybe even 15, now) years ago HD didnt even exist, yet cops still used their footage to obtain liscence plate readings

Pixels are pixels, if the resolution is too low, there's no "enhance" to enhance anything.

[pho]

You want HD because you want to be able to see the guy's license plate with a wide angle lens. Otherwise, it is pointless.

Oh really.

[MrRoboto]

Hardly. That's only useful if you care about pressing charges, prosecuting, etc.

All I care about is covering my own butt. Meaning, I can prove I'm not at fault in a not-at-fault accident. I could care less if it's a hit and run and the guy gets caught or not.

Here where I'm at, the court will throw out any footage that you take on your own recognizance if the other party is not positively identified, and the footage must show clearly the frontal boundaries of your car (the shot must include your hood). If the footage shows neither, then it will be thrown out in court.

Whether your lens is crappy or not, that's another matter altogether, because that's very much a product issue. I'm on my third dash cam now, and it's a korean product. Takes good video with Google tracking. not cheap, but it looks good in the car too.

Anyway, I suggest you guys follow up with your local rules to see if your dash cam footage is admissible or not in your jurisdictions.


P.s. I suppose I should include that here in HK, we have a different system for insurance payouts than what you guys have probably. If the other party is deemed at fault, their insurance pays for your repair costs, and your own insurance does not get affected. But for most intents and purposes, either it gets settled privately via a filed police report, or through the courts.

[uniseriate]

What about car dvr using a smartphone? The lens is a known commodity and usually decent quality, and the software is more likely to be maintained or easily swapped out for something better. Google has nothing on page 1 for "car dvr smartphone app".

There's plenty. Here's a few for Android:

AutoGuard
DailyRoads Voyager
AutoBoy BlackBox

Smartphones are a bit conspicuous if you want something permanently mounted and you run into the issue of having to fiddle with it to start recording every time you start your car. I'd rather have a webcam running to a small device like a netbook in the glovebox. Most smartphones lack USB host capability so you can't just add an external camera. On the other hand, having GPS and accelerometer sensors built-in is a big plus.

[pho]

There's plenty. Here's a few for Android:

AutoGuard
DailyRoads Voyager
AutoBoy BlackBox

Cool, lemme do some homework regarding Android cameras.
Thanks!

[SLC_Punker]

I would like to get this one at some point



Here it is without GPS: http://www.ebay.com/itm/320774404358...84.m1423.l2649

Woah, that one with GPS looks like the best system i've seen. Not available yet in US? Why aren't big name electronics manufacturers making these? Why aren't there Canon or Nikon, or even Sony or Pioneer etc GPS-enabled dash cams?

[VeeDubDriver]

Woah, that one with GPS looks like the best system i've seen. Not available yet in US? Why aren't big name electronics manufacturers making these? Why aren't there Canon or Nikon, or even Sony or Pioneer etc GPS-enabled dash cams?

Here is the one with GPS: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=v1000gs

Here is another interesting option: http://www.aliexpress.com/store/prod...553546463.html

[leaftye]

Woah, that one with GPS looks like the best system i've seen. Not available yet in US? Why aren't big name electronics manufacturers making these? Why aren't there Canon or Nikon, or even Sony or Pioneer etc GPS-enabled dash cams?

Here's one you can buy that's also 1080p with gps and g sensor. It's much bigger though, and has a lcd.
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/270-hd-...cording-134849

This too
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/1-5-lcd...128514?item=26

There's more, but you'll probably see in the examples above that the specs are often incorrect, and leave out a lot of information that you'd really like to know. Sometimes it's really hard to find out the brand of the product so you can find reviews and the owner's manual.