Dash cams. What are you using?

Discussion in 'Trucking Electronics, Gadgets and Software Forum' started by Colorato, Feb 28, 2013.

  1. Colorato

    Colorato Road Train Member

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    I seen that blue tiger black box at MATS on Friday.... The picture quality is the worst I've seen yet. Extremely grainy even on a class 10 card. Everything had halos and the screen pixelated when there was lots of movement going on. I tried asking the rep about it. He had no clue about the chipset or camera other than to say "it's the Ferrari of chips"

    we walked away after that.
     
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  3. Hanadarko

    Hanadarko Independent Owner/Operator

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  4. Tricky Rick

    Tricky Rick Light Load Member

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    Get some clear 2 sided tape and tape a piece of plexiglas to the roof area. Use the suction cup mount to the plexiglas. Cheapest way, and easy to remove.
     
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  5. Hanadarko

    Hanadarko Independent Owner/Operator

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    Actually thats not a bad idea! - I need to see about the diameter of the suction cup though.
    I actually prefer to mount things. I have had several windshield things loosen up and fall off.
    Usually scare the hell out of me when they drop too..

    What causes that? - Sun? Dryness? Moisture...it's annoying.

    :biggrin_25523:
     
  6. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    Just to clarify something here as far as cards.

    The card does NOTHING to the quality of the video in these things. If it was grainy then that is the chipset and/or lens technology.

    What the card does is two things:

    1. How much video is recorded before it fills the card. Once the card is full you can have it automatically overwrite from the beginning and keep going on most of them.

    2. Whether it is going to "glitch" the recording. This the the "CLASS" little circled number on the front of every card. For video you want this to be Class 6 or higher and for 1080p high def recording you want to really go for the Class 10 cards.

    So - SIZE (in Gigabytes) and CLASS (2, 4, 6, 10, etc)

    Final note on cards:

    They wear out eventually. Every card ever made only has a finite number of "read/write" cycles before it starts to drop data. You can sometimes recover a glitching card one or more times by doing a "format" of the card with either the camera itself or with a computer. But eventually it will wear out and need to be replaced. Going with a name-brand (Transcend, Crucial, Kingston, Toshiba, Sandisk, etc) at Class 6 or higher is the best way to go. The difference in price between a cheap Class 2 or 4 card and one that will record video speeds properly is only a couple of bucks.
     
  7. Colorato

    Colorato Road Train Member

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    It was a recording I was looking at. The actual real time footage was much worse.
     
  8. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    So you are wanting to record inside the cab (i.e. you) AND thru the windshield then?

    The camera in your link has nice extra features (gps position recording, parking, and, g-shock.)

    The pitfalls of it are the 640 x 480 recording resolution and the 15 fps if you have both cameras enabled. I have tested one like this one too.

    Here is a video demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMr577-IzBI&feature=share&list=PLA3118A65A3BE6B09
    I am recording on both cameras so you will see the slight jerkiness of the video because they are at 15 fps. It isn't a huge deal, but just letting you know what that looks like. The GPS map feature and dual cameras only exists this way that I know of, but those are cool features. I never found the g-shock feature to be useful and had turn turn it way down because trucks are much bumpier and the sensor trips incessantly on many roads.

    If you are only going to record from the front cam, then it will record at 30 fps, but still only be 640 x 480 resolution. That isn't a huge deal either, but you won't be reading any license plates with it. Just trying to keep you educated on what all those specs mean man!
     
  9. Hanadarko

    Hanadarko Independent Owner/Operator

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    Thanks!
    No, I dont wish to record internally (me) just the front. 15fps would be too slow for me - based on your example.
    I just need a device that can attach to that area above the window. I just dont like the suction cup things.
    I did not get any reply (so far) from the spycam people...
     
  10. Dieselboss

    Dieselboss Technology Contributor

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    Then that cam you are looking at will record at 30 fps at 640 x 480 resolution if you disable the inside cam. It's an expensive way to go though unless the GPS map function is a requirement too.
     
  11. Hanadarko

    Hanadarko Independent Owner/Operator

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    NO KIDDING! - Its very spendy.

    So do you think the camera you offer can mount?
    Does it have a flat mount bracket?
     
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