Dash cam saves your ass (no Roundabout stuff please :)

Pkiernan

CiniO wrote: »

I liked the review so much, that I just purchased this camera.
I'll let you all know how it works whenever I get it.

Cinio,

can you check please if the screen needs to be flipped down in order for the camera to record?

It seems to me that it would be more discreet if it could be in the closed position and still record.

Thanks!

Tallon

It can record with the screen up! It would make no sense to have it down all the time

CiniO

Pkiernan wrote: »

Cinio,

can you check please if the screen needs to be flipped down in order for the camera to record?

It seems to me that it would be more discreet if it could be in the closed position and still record.

Thanks!

Oh yes, no problem with recording when screen is closed.
However mount is not 100% great, as it goes quite low, obstructs a view a small bit, especially when screen is folded down. It's also quite close to passenger face, so passenger might bump it with his/her head. If you put mount lower down the window it would be further from passenger, but would obstruct a drivers view even more.
Only what I can think of to fold the camera forward, and then adjust the lens on camera as they are adjustable, but then you can't see the screen the screen then even if you open it.

Jimdagym

That's a Shane about the stand CiniO. It really looks in the way.
Which did you go for, VGA or 720p?
Any clips?

CiniO

Jimdagym wrote: »

That's a Shane about the stand CiniO. It really looks in the way.
Which did you go for, VGA or 720p?
Any clips?

I went for 720p.
Picture quality is quite good I must say. Great on sunny day, and even during the night where street lighting is present quality is good.
On dark roads, when you have headlights on, you can see some distance in front of the car on the video, but it's less than you really see while driving.
There is only this one mount.
But except from it overall I'm very happy with the camera.
I just thought you could turn the camera 90 degrees, and then it wouldn't obstruct a view neither was close to passenger, but then you would need to use software to rotate movies by 90 degrees if you wanted to watch them on computer or tv.
Or maybe there is some other way to mount it which I haven't thought about yet. Also every car is different so it might obstruct more or less.

Here's sample video quality during the sunny day. Switch it to 720p to get full view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFRY-ZW5KhY

tuborg_man

nothing wrong with that, how much was it delivered to your door, if you don't mind saying, cheers.

cormie

Did you take that video Cinio? Where is it, looks nice

CiniO

tuborg_man wrote: »

nothing wrong with that, how much was it delivered to your door, if you don't mind saying, cheers.

€62.22

CiniO

cormie wrote: »

Did you take that video Cinio? Where is it, looks nice

It was actually my wife driving today.
I won't disclose where it is. Leave it for yous guys to guess

Jimdagym

Thats very helpful. Thanks Cinio. I'd pick that up if we can find a better mount!

Nissan doctor

CiniO wrote: »

It was actually my wife driving today.
I won't disclose where it is. Leave it for yous guys to guess

Looks like the road coming down the side of Furnace lough?

CiniO

Nissan doctor wrote: »

Looks like the road coming down the side of Furnace lough?

Nope, but close as place in question is also in Mayo.

Cocoon

CiniO wrote: »

Nope, but close as place in question is also in Mayo.

Looks like Doo Lough heading towards Deplhi Co Mayo?

CiniO

Cocoon wrote: »

Looks like Doo Lough heading towards Deplhi Co Mayo?

So it wasn't too difficult I see

LK_Dave

CiniO wrote: »

I went for 720p.

How did you change to the 720? Mine appears to revert back to VGA after I restart!

CiniO

LK_Dave wrote: »

How did you change to the 720? Mine appears to revert back to VGA after I restart!

Hmm. I didn't have that problem. Mine was factory set-up to 720p. I actually didn't try to change it. I might check today if it works to save the settings

Gumbo

Pkiernan wrote: »

Cinio,

can you check please if the screen needs to be flipped down in order for the camera to record?

It seems to me that it would be more discreet if it could be in the closed position and still record.

Thanks!

It records with the screen up. i havent touched mine since i fitted it and it records once power hits it
Also, i didnt actually use the mount that came with it, i had a lower one i bought on ebay for €3 or something that fits more discretely.

CiniO

LK_Dave wrote: »

How did you change to the 720? Mine appears to revert back to VGA after I restart!

kceire wrote: »

It records with the screen up. i havent touched mine since i fitted it and it records once power hits it
Also, i didnt actually use the mount that came with it, i had a lower one i bought on ebay for €3 or something that fits more discretely.

That's probably best thing to do - get smaller mount.

LK_Dave I just checked mine, and there isn't any problem with settings saving. Whatever resolution I set camera is using even after powering down and up.

Few words about available resolutions as I just checked all them.

VIDEO

HD:
1280x720, 30fps.
bitrate about 16000 kbit/s :eek:

D1:
720x480, 30fps.
bitrate about 6000 kbit/s

QVGA:
320x240, 30fps.
bitrate about 4000 kbit/s

VGA:
640x480, 30fps.
bitrate about 6000 kbit/s

All video modes use MJPEG codec.

AUDIO:
In all modes audio is recorded 44100Hz, 16bit mono, with bitrate of 705 kbit/s :eek::eek: without any compression (uncompressed PCM).


CONCLUSION:

General storage options are very bad in my opinion.
Quality in all video modes except HD is unacceptable. HD mode quality is good, but it costs nearly 16000 kbit/s bitrate + 705 kbit/s audio, so every minute of recording is over 100megabytes of data. My 4GB microSD card allows for approx 40 minutes of recording.

If someone is planning to keep some of the recordings, it would be way worth converting them to for example x264 codec, which could lower amount of disk space over 5 times while keeping the same quality.

Generally though I'm still happy with the camera, as you get really descent quality in HD mode especially in dark, while camera price is fairly low. And that's all I needed.

robbie_998

Im still trying to shift my dash cam away,

using my iphone in the windscreen to save etc,

do you guys think its a good price to throw it away for ?

i literally only used it about 4 times !

cormie

I've a few DRS1100's (the original Road Hawk), one bought for $260 shipped from the states, another for £125 shipped from the UK and another £115 shipped from the UK, all 2nd hand via eBay. I know yours is another model, but I think it's probably a bit overpriced over what can be found elsewhere. I remember the Roadhawk DRS1100 was quite a bit more expensive than what I paid.

Access

kceire wrote: »

Also, i didnt actually use the mount that came with it, i had a lower one i bought on ebay for €3 or something that fits more discretely.

Would you have a linky for the smaller mount on ebay please kceire?

Gumbo

Access wrote: »

Would you have a linky for the smaller mount on ebay please kceire?

Cant access my ebay account from work but going by the eBay app, it was from a seller called 1st.foto

Heres the one i bought, albeit from a different seller : http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Camera-Suction-Mount-Tripod-Car-Wind-screen-Window-/320717615495

CiniO

CiniO wrote: »

I liked the review so much, that I just purchased this camera.
I'll let you all know how it works whenever I get it.

I just looked up this thread again and after seeing that review, bought the 720p one too. Should be delivered in a few days

vibe666

even as someone who was previously arguing the case for phone based dash cams only a few pages back, it's hard to argue with a proper dedicated 720p dash cam at that price. i'd be buying one too if it wasn't for my current lack of funds.

i might eve get one for the back too as i have a cig lighter socket in the boot too and if i ever get rear ended by someone it would be worth having it just to see the expression on their face!

gurramok

CiniO wrote: »

I went for 720p.
Picture quality is quite good I must say. Great on sunny day, and even during the night where street lighting is present quality is good.

Its not quite discreet is it? From watching the video, its quite obvious with the way it hangs down from the windscreen it reveals itself to anyone who looks at the windscreen!

Tallon

You don't notice it unless you know it's there tbh

The Black Oil

CiniO wrote: »

€62.22

Is it this one?

23 quid for postage from the UK? :eek:

eqwjewoiujqorj

The Black Oil wrote: »

Is it this one?

28 € (23 quid) for postage from the UK? :eek:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SmartCam-HD-Car-DVR-720P-Dashcam-Driving-Recorder-HDMI-2-0-LCD-UK-SELLER-/200745123135?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2ebd577d3f

About 9 euro postage to Ireland; about 65 in total.

eqwjewoiujqorj

CiniO wrote: »

I went for 720p.
Picture quality is quite good I must say. Great on sunny day, and even during the night where street lighting is present quality is good.
On dark roads, when you have headlights on, you can see some distance in front of the car on the video, but it's less than you really see while driving.
There is only this one mount.
But except from it overall I'm very happy with the camera.
I just thought you could turn the camera 90 degrees, and then it wouldn't obstruct a view neither was close to passenger, but then you would need to use software to rotate movies by 90 degrees if you wanted to watch them on computer or tv.
Or maybe there is some other way to mount it which I haven't thought about yet. Also every car is different so it might obstruct more or less.

Here's sample video quality during the sunny day. Switch it to 720p to get full view.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFRY-ZW5KhY

The seller is using your footage !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SmartCam-HD-Car-DVR-720P-Dashcam-Driving-Recorder-HDMI-2-0-LCD-UK-SELLER-/200745123135?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2ebd577d3f

CiniO

eqwjewoiujqorj wrote: »

The seller is using your footage !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SmartCam-HD-Car-DVR-720P-Dashcam-Driving-Recorder-HDMI-2-0-LCD-UK-SELLER-/200745123135?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item2ebd577d3f

I know that.
He contacted me and I agreed.

PS. That reminds me of a case I've seen last month where some guy selling some car fault readers on auction service like ebay, used someone's picture (linking it directly from someone's website) without owners permission. Picture owner realized what happened, and he exchanged a picture into different JPG containing printed text: "Today special promotion - buy one get two fault readers"...
As picture was linked from website, it changes as well on auction, and seller was in big trouble.

vibe666

i had a problem with the indo stealing some footage i shot of the snow earlier in the year.

they contacted me and asked to use it but i said no because it was filmed at my work looking out over their car park so it wasn't mine to use as it was filmed on private property, but the feckers used it anyway on the website and i had to contact them and get them to take it down.

Sterling Archer

Here's a question has anyone thought about fitting IR lights to there car to improve night time recording?

robbie_998

Just dropped the price of the RH2 on my advert to 250

really need it gone but that is the absolute lowest i can take sadly.

hope it works

cormie

Have any of you successfully got an SD card bigger than 4gb working on your device? I see in some places it says 16GB max, but others says 4GB max... One of my SD cards packed in so I wouldn't mind getting a 16gb, but not if it won't work

Harcrid

I bought one of the HD smart cams after reading the good reviews from here. Video quality is very good indeed. I struggled to find a good place to locate it and when I used the included windscreen mount it just looked awkward and clumsy. So I ended up velcroing it to the bottom of the dash. Very happy with it here and the field of view is good.

CiniO

Celtxx wrote: »

I bought one of the HD smart cams after reading the good reviews from here. Video quality is very good indeed. I struggled to find a good place to locate it and when I used the included windscreen mount it just looked awkward and clumsy. So I ended up velcroing it to the bottom of the dash. Very happy with it here and the field of view is good.

Hmm interesting idea...
Only what I'm wondering is won't it block your demister and cause windows too fog up??

Harcrid

Because of where the power cable is run? I didnt think of that to be honest. I'll see how it goes!

Tallon

CiniO wrote: »

Hmm interesting idea...
Only what I'm wondering is won't it block your demister and cause windows too fog up??

I've never seen a car with only one 10cm demister right in the centre of the windscreen

CiniO

Tallon wrote: »

I've never seen a car with only one 10cm demister right in the centre of the windscreen

Yes.
That's why only middle 10cm part of windscreen might fog up.
It's still more than one would want.

Mycroft H

CiniO wrote: »

Yes.
That's why only middle 10cm part of windscreen might fog up.
It's still more than one would want.

FYI - I've had my phone used as a dashcam since november last and I cannot ever remember thinking that the demister was slowing down the demisting. On 3 separate cars.

Tallon

CiniO wrote: »

Yes.
That's why only middle 10cm part of windscreen might fog up.
It's still more than one would want.

I'd say even if that happened, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world

Voodoomelon

Anyone recommend a video capture program for recording the Roadhawk software on-screen? Free or paid for, thanks!

Tallon

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Anyone recommend a video capture program for recording the Roadhawk software on-screen? Free or paid for, thanks!

Do you mean from the PC?

My first option would be FRAPS, use it everyday!
Second would be Microsoft Essentials Recorder
And third Camtasia

Voodoomelon

Cheers!

Nissan doctor

Another driver paying attention to the road:rolleyes::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOXd7UgWtec&list=UUf2FXl96khtO_Jl43BrAzuA&index=1&feature=plcp

Excuse the ramblings....was on the phone to the wife:o

CiniO

Most likely it won't be any help to most of you here, but I'll put it here just in case someone needs it.
Over last year I collected few most interesting recordings from my dashcams on my harddrive (interesting road situation, places i've been to, etc). I just realised it's nearly 100GB data, which is quite a lot.
It's so much mostly due to cheap dashcams don't use any advanced compression methods - they just use most basic and very little hardware demanding codecs and unfortunately their result files are big. I've been writing some time ago, that Smartcam which I bought uses about 16kbit/s bitrate for it's 720p video which is unneceserily way too much. My other older camera is not much better.
So generally I decided I'll convert them all to H264 codec with 3600 kbit/s bitrate which after few tries I tested that it's enough without really any quality loss.
Unfortunately it was over 300 files spread in nice tidy way into directory tree, so it would be hell lot's of work to convert each separately.
That's why I wrote a little bash script for linux which using mencoder did all the job for me. It took long (nearly 2 days for all files) but was full automatic.
This script finds all files in all subdirectories of directory it was run, and converts all files with AVI extension, writing result file with additional S on begining of filename, with option to erase original file.
It can be very easily adjusted with few options in script file on top.
If anyone wants to make use of it, I attached it below, but I don't take any responsibility if it's going to work correctly for everyone.
It's just something I wrote anyway to solve my own problem, so I decided maybe someone here might need the same.

As a result I shrinked size of those recording from about 100GB to less than 25GB so I could fit all of them into single BD-R.

carbon nanotube

might get the road hawk

DC -1

like the size and quality of it, but a bit pricey.

http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-dc-1-car-black-box-camera/prod_18.html

Sterling Archer

carbon nanotube wrote: »

might get the road hawk

DC -1

like the size and quality of it, but a bit pricey.

http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/roadhawk-dc-1-car-black-box-camera/prod_18.html

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Roadhawk-DC-1-Car-Black-Box-GPS-CCTV-System-/170835667003?pt=UK_In_Car_Technology&hash=item27c699683b

Tallon

A man lays down in front of an oncoming car to commit suicide, however he completely misjudges the driver’s speed and gives him plenty of time to brake. After stopping, the driver responds with a vengeance that most people would only carry out in our minds…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKRpdN6ZOMU

franksm

Driving very slowly through the car park at Tesco, Maynooth (14kph), this tool in a BMW lunges out in front of me. He has the cheek to give me the "slow down" wave despite being completely in the wrong by not stopping at the Yield sign and making me emergency-stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtwuC3ABdP0

BTW I am selling one of my Roadhawk RH-1s having downsized my car collection. Open to offers around EUR120. I'll be placing it on Adverts.ie, Ebay etc for EUR140 later this week. http://www.adverts.ie/1627291