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Dash Cam

Nimz77

By Nimz77
in General Automotive

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Dushyantha Newbie

Dushyantha

Posted
Posted (edited)

There were some good quality dash cams discussed earlier on the forum

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/11997-cool-ebay-gadgets-for-cars/page-11

Other than that . i have used that same dashcam you have mentioned . only problem i faced was the suction cup not holding the weight of the dash cam and there were many instances where i got into the car and saw the dashcam hanging by its wires . the camera quality wasnt like Full HD but still had a decent ammount of quality . One drawback i saw in that dashcam was that the videos were saved in the memory card as another format and a software which came with the camera was needed to view a recorded videos. the saved videos could only be viewed through the dashcam or through a laptop wich had that software installed . so u wouldnt be able to just remove the memorycard from the dashcam plug it into you smartphone and play it . Other than that . pretty decent cam considering that it had 2 cameras, recorded the gps location and was able to withstand the burning sun for about 2 years.

edit : it probably kept on working after 2 years but have no idea what happened since i sold the car with it :)

Edited by Dushyantha
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Vengeance Newbie

Vengeance

Posted
Posted (edited)
There were some good quality dash cams discussed earlier on the forum

http://forum.autolanka.com/topic/11997-cool-ebay-gadgets-for-cars/page-11

Other than that . i have used that same dashcam you have mentioned . only problem i faced was the suction cup not holding the weight of the dash cam and there were many instances where i got into the car and saw the dashcam hanging by its wires . the camera quality wasnt like Full HD but still had a decent ammount of quality . One drawback i saw in that dashcam was that the videos were saved in the memory card as another format and a software which came with the camera was needed to view a recorded videos. the saved videos could only be viewed through the dashcam or through a laptop wich had that software installed . so u wouldnt be able to just remove the memorycard from the dashcam plug it into you smartphone and play it . Other than that . pretty decent cam considering that it had 2 cameras, recorded the gps location and was able to withstand the burning sun for about 2 years.

edit : it probably kept on working after 2 years but have no idea what happened since i sold the car with it :)

+1. I second that. You shouldn't have given it away with the car bung, aparade.

One more thing you should note is that most of the chinese cameras advertised on ebay which have Full HD, 1080p, HDMI etc mentioned provide decent quality, but aren't actually HD. For a camera to be HD, it should have at least 720 or 1080 horizontal resolution, so make sure you look at the actual resolution if you want a high quality camera.

The camera you have linked has a recording resolution of 1280x480 which is standard definition (SD) video.

Say for example you buy a low end and a high end camera which can record in 1080p HD, both will capture the video in HD, but what matters is the compression applied by the camera on the recorded video. The low end camera will have a higher compression, hence more discarded video data which results in a lower quality video, whereas the high end camera will have a lower compression, hence less discarded video data which results in a higher quality video.

So ultimately even though the resolution is the same for both the low end and the high end camera, you don't get the same video quality.

If you're on a budget, a basic chinese SD camera is fine, but if you want full HD quality, try to go for a slightly higher end camera with a recognized brand. I saw several Transcend dashcams advertised on sites like *ow.lk and m*store.lk for around 20k.

Edited by Vengeance
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Magnum Newbie

Magnum

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+1. I can second that. You shouldn't have given it away with the car bung, aparade.

One more thing you should note is that most of the chinese cameras advertised on ebay which have Full HD, 1080p, HDMI etc mentioned provide decent quality, but aren't actually HD. For a camera to be HD, it should have at least 720 or 1080 horizontal resolution, so make sure you look at the actual resolution if you want a high quality camera.

The camera you have linked has a recording resolution of 1280x480 which is standard definition (SD) video.

Say for example you buy a low end and a high end camera which can record in 1080p HD, both will capture the video in HD, but what matters is the compression applied by the camera on the recorded video. The low end camera will have a higher compression, hence more discarded video data which results in a lower quality video, whereas the high end camera will have a lower compression, hence less discarded video data which results in a higher quality video.

So ultimately even though the resolution is the same for both the low end and the high end camera, you don't get the same video quality.

If you're on a budget, a basic chinese SD camera is fine, but if you want full HD quality, try to go for a slightly higher end camera with a recognized brand. I saw several Transcend dashcams advertised on sites like *ow.lk and m*store.lk for around 20k.

the lens plays an important role too, a cheap lens would give a washed out video

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Vengeance Newbie

Vengeance

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Posted
the lens plays an important role too, a cheap lens would give a washed out video

Yap, a high end camera will come in handy if you had to zoom in on a number or plate or someting in case of an emergency.

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Vengeance Newbie

Vengeance

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Thanks for posting the video, now we know where you live :P

The video quality (@720p HD resolution) seems good for the price, do you have a video you recorded at night?

Edited by Vengeance
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NRX Newbie

NRX

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Thanks for posting the video, now we know where you live :P

The video quality (@720p HD resolution) seems good for the price, do you have a video you recorded at night?

I thought the quality was bad.

BTW I suggest jayanathkarunarathna to take this video down :)

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abiman Newbie

abiman

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How safe is it to keep this unit inside a car?

I measured the inside temperature of my car to exceed 50C. So when parked under direct sunlight lithium battery must be heating up. What about repeated exposure? Is there any fire risk due to operating environment temperature?

Usual commercial devices are rated up to 70C operation. But can we really trust Chinese to keep this in mind?

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Vengeance Newbie

Vengeance

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I thought the quality was bad.

BTW I suggest jayanathkarunarathna to take this video down :)

Looks okay for a low end camera to me, considering that it costs about 1/4th the price of a branded dash cam. Did you change the video quality to 720p from settings?

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Vengeance Newbie

Vengeance

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Posted
How safe is it to keep this unit inside a car?

I measured the inside temperature of my car to exceed 50C. So when parked under direct sunlight lithium battery must be heating up. What about repeated exposure? Is there any fire risk due to operating environment temperature?

Usual commercial devices are rated up to 70C operation. But can we really trust Chinese to keep this in mind?

It probably won't start a fire due to the sun while driving, but if you leave your car parked under the direct sun for several hours then you have a problem. How about using windscreen shades? You can protect the interior from fading as well.

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abiman Newbie

abiman

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It probably won't start a fire due to the sun while driving, but if you leave your car parked under the direct sun for several hours then you have a problem. How about using windscreen shades? You can protect the interior from fading as well.

I measured over 50C inside the car when it was under direct sun for about 2hrs, while windscreen shades are in use. While driving, average temp inside will not exceed 25C. But unit might feel little more due to direct sun exposure.

The problem is I have to park directly under the sun, almost every day, 9am to 5pm approx.

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sathyajithj99 Collaborator

sathyajithj99

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The problem is I have to park directly under the sun, almost every day, 9am to 5pm approx.

Damn! If I have to expose my car to direct sunlight for 8 hours every day, I'll keep the car in my garage and go to work by bus. But that might not be practical for some of us.
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NRX Newbie

NRX

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Looks okay for a low end camera to me, considering that it costs about 1/4th the price of a branded dash cam. Did you change the video quality to 720p from settings?

It was already playing at 720p. Yup, considering the cost its not bad. But at the start of the video the colors look horrendous to me, just like a cheap camera phone in mid 2000 would do videos.

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Dushyantha Newbie

Dushyantha

Posted
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Things i have experienced with dash cams

  • Usually if its some china brand almost all the cams in the same price range have the same quality although the description states FHD, 720p,1080p, hi def or whatever and some cheaper cameras have a much poorer quality like in china phones.
  • The cheap china dashcams video quality is enough to read the number plate of the car in front , if a higher quality than this is required , then its better to purchase a well known branded cam which would guarantee a superior quality .
  • Have not faced any problem with heat . my car usually gets superheated due to the sun 5 days a week and if the dash cam is switched on at some time like this when its boiling inside the car it either doesnt turn on or turns on , but the display is whitish . my dash cam survived for more than 2 years like this . so heat wouldnt be much of a problem . but cannot guarantee on the super cheap china cameras which are of extreme poor built quality. Most decent cams would survive the heat without much of a problem.
  • After being in that intense heat there was no noticeable change in video quality , therefore there was minimal or no damage to the lens or sensors in the camera.
  • the suction cup that most dashcams come with would loose its suction and fall at least once a week . maybe due to the intense heat.
  • most china cams do not support higher capacity memory cards .
  • A higher read.write speed memory card would probably be better and reliable than a cheap class 4 memory card coz you dont wanna find out that your memory card has gone bust when you need to playback some recorded thing.
  • if its a chinese dash cam , then buying from ebay is cheaper coz u wouldnt get any additional benefits or warranties if bought from here and those china cams found here also probably came from the same plant in china .
  • The cheap cigarette lighter power adapter that comes with the chinese dashcams arent gauranteed to last for decades.
  • dashcams with large displays arent very useful . better to buy something with a smaller display or no display . there are some dashcams which are wifi enabled and the display can be mirrored or displayed on your phone . that would be very useful.
  • Some cameras have those infrared night vision lights . No use of them at all unless ur gonna drive around with no light at night .
  • Most online sellers mention the type of camera sensor used in the dashcam . this is what you should check for when buying a cam coz there are simmilar looking chinese dashcams with different circuits inside them.

Hope it helps anyone buying a dashcam :D

Edited by Dushyantha
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Dushyantha Newbie

Dushyantha

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Machn the description on that ebay link says Pixels:1200mega and 30FPS thats probably 1.2MP and 30FPS . cant expect much of a quality from that .and as i said earlier there are china cams with the same outer look but the chips/lenses and circuits they use differ i think .

check the descriptions of these and see . but then china ebay sellers are no different from our pettah sellers who sell microsd readers saying they are pendrives :sport-smiley-004: So the description of those things cannot be guaranteed . Anyways here are some other links i found . they seem to look similar to that dash cam , but the descriptions are different . like different battery capacity , viewing angle and info about the lens and stuff. either they are really different , hence the difference in price or all of them are same and the sellers arent good with their product descriptions.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Full-HD-1080P-2-4-LCD-Car-DVR-Video-Camera-Recorder-Dash-Cam-G-Sensor-GT300-/191849004160?hash=item2cab177c80:g:Q3sAAOSwLmVXEITM

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-True-HD-1080P-Car-Camera-Dashboard-DVR-Video-Recorder-Dash-Cam-G-sensor-B-LN-/231673916661?hash=item35f0d76cf5:g:OqEAAOSwsB9WEMtO

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1080P-HD-2-4-Lcd-Night-Vision-CCTV-Car-DVR-Accident-Camera-Video-Recorder-B-TL-/351500308388?hash=item51d70d0fa4:g:IlQAAOSwd0BV5r

Edited by Dushyantha
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