Dashcams Going High-Def, High-Tech 93
An anonymous reader writes "The next time a bear hits a car on a Russian highway, the video might be in high definition. A new wave of dashcams, on show at this week's Computex expo in Taipei, feature multiple enhancements on first-generation models that will probably be welcomed by law enforcement, insurance companies and the millions of people who browse YouTube looking at some of the amazing scenes captured from the front of a car. One of the current popular videos is of a May 2013 collision between a bear and a car (video). The accident, reportedly in Russia, sees the bear hit the front of the car and bounce off the car's windscreen before rolling several times to the side of the road. The video, and thousands of others like it, are typically shot in 480-line 'standard resolution,' but most of the new dashcams on show in Taipei this week offer 720 and 1080-line high definition."
It's also becoming more common to repurpose old smartphones as dashcams using software like DailyRoads Voyager. If you've done so, what's your setup?
Will it be required? (Score:5, Informative)
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So until the insurance companies start requiring HD dashcams, we might not see them since the demand for them nearly anywhere else is naturally going to be weak.
Or, the respective companies will simply stop making or selling the old models and you won't have any choice anyway.
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"We might not see them since the demand for them nearly anywhere else is naturally going to be weak."
I'd be inclined to imagine that the dashcam market, except to the extent that parts of it are still hanging on to hardware built around old analog video standards(and, to be fair, NTSC/PAL are crap; but composite video cabling is cheap and fairly idiot proof, so it has its charms for things like DIY rear-view cam installs, just as VGA seems likely to endure for ages in in-wall and long-run projector wiring,
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On the other hand, its a matter of volume. Much of the market for small camera sensors is being driven towards HD by other applications. The day will come when you'll have to pay a premium to buy 480p sensors. NTSC/PAL can be generated by downconverting an HD image and software is cheap.
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So until the insurance companies start requiring HD dashcams, we might not see them since the demand for them nearly anywhere else is naturally going to be weak.
My insurance company doesn't require a dashcam; nor it even offers a discount. I doubt that they even know about such cutting edge technology.
But I purchased one and use it daily. It's an HD dashcam [amazon.com], made in China (of course.) It records for 8 hours of HD onto a 32 GB SD card. I have it permanently plugged in, and it operates automatically.
I
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https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/force-all-law-enforcement-officers-wear-uniform-embedded-cameras/Mx2KDCtl [whitehouse.gov]
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The reason why we see so many dash-cam videos of Russia isn't because the Russians like recording their drives because they are so eventful, but rather insurance fraud is such a rampant problem that most insurance companies require them. So until the insurance companies start requiring HD dashcams, we might not see them since the demand for them nearly anywhere else is naturally going to be weak.
Everyone should get a dash cam because it cuts down on those he said/she said insurance fights. This has the effect of reducing your insurance premiums.
Of course it's a double edged sword, it will show if an accident is your fault but if you're a good driver you dont need to worry about this. If you're a bad driver, get one anyway because no doubt you've convinced yourself your a good driver and the Dunning-Kruger effect has kicked in (unskilled and unaware of it).
1080p Camera's have been around for a
Raspberry Pi with camera (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Raspberry Pi with camera (Score:5, Informative)
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A little bit of circuitry could be made to power the Pi off a supercap for a couple of seconds.
That means you can detect the loss of 12v and save the files automatically.
No you didn't (Score:2)
The camera board is a pre-order and not available yet.
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Indeed. I have had a 1080p 30fps dash cam with wide-angle lens, sound, GPS, accelerometers, etc. with sophisticated recording management for nearly 18 months.
In the last 12 months, cameras with wifi, android/ios apps, to view and manage video/records/configuration while the camera is still operating (e.g. following a collision, the video of teh incident can be shown to an attending police officer, without the need to switch off the camera and install the memory card in a reader) are now standard fayre - ava
Re:WOW! (Score:4, Interesting)
The most important feature is "parking mode". The camera goes into low power mode when the car is stopped and turned off, but starts recording again if there is any motion. That way if anyone hits your parked car and drives off the event is captured. Battery life only needs to be a few hours while you are shopping, and you can have CCTV at home.
Hopefully prices and sizes will come down to the point where you can have front, rear and side cameras to cover all impacts. Some bint hit my parked car a few months ago from the side but luckily I was in it at the time and took some photos. Her insurance is refusing to pay because she didn't own the car and thus wasn't insured on it, so mine is now suing her... If I hadn't been there video evidence would be all I had.
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What the dashcam world needs is this:
I envision a dash cam system that has two modes:
Normal operation is "record to disk" and then you can recover the video later off the disk.
Panic operation is "Dump recorded data to an 'offsite' server over high speed cellular data as well as start streaming current video to same server".
That means you've got your day to day stuff recorded, but in the event you get pulled over by an asshole cop who decided to swipe the memory card out of your dash cam after he pulls you o
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I think that DailyRoads app has the ability to do so. Besides, it's a smartphone mounted on a windscreen mount with recording going on in the background and a navigation app in the foreground. Few will suspect ongoing recording.
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Or, was there a flurry of honking that was ignored? Sound does contain a lot of useful information.
What about a GPS Nav system with a dashcam? (Score:4, Interesting)
Are there any good GPS Nav systems with dashcam functionality? I think Garmin used to make one but can't find it.
It's such an obvious idea, not sure why we aren't seeing more of such models.
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unfortunately, the Contour has very, very crappy low-light performance. Oh, and it does not work when charging, which means that you have to rely on its battery. Not a dashcam by any means.
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A smartphone. Pick a GPS navigation app you like most and start DailyRoads Voyager in the background. I've automated both apps to start when I put my handy in the windscreen mount (via NFC tag in my case, but there are other ways of automation).
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"Where do these guys get their licenses"
I would guess Russia. Home of vodka, the AK-47, the Crazy Ivan and, if EA is to be believed, parachuting attack bears.
Crypto? (Score:3, Interesting)
One of the big problems with these devices is no encryption. I don't want to be compelled to bury myself depending on what legal situation one may become involved with.
I've been looking at homebrewing my own solution for awhile but haven't gotten around to it yet.
Has anyone solved this problem ?
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..I'm Canadian. ;)
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Or not be ordered to hand over the camera after filming Rodney King Jr. getting worked over by the LAPD.
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Not necessarily. Sometimes it can make you look at fault even if you are not, and so it is in your interest to control access to it. You have a right not to testify against yourself.
Re:Crypto? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I've been looking for something like that too and was hoping that one of the Android based head units on the market might have a camera input so I could write/download an app. No such luck unfortunately.
Some kind of low power ARM board like a Raspberry Pi seems like the best option.
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If you keep a phone on your dashboard someone will eventually decide to steal it.
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Encryption would be nice so would a "panic" sequence that would allow you to wipe the flash (or wipe the keys for the encrypted store).
Since dash cams are uncommon in the US on civilian vehicles, I wonder if a stealth system would be a better idea. I know it's security through obscurity, but they won't ask for data they don't think you have.
I'm thinking some kind of camera mounted either externally or unobtrusively with remote electronics/storage.
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I use my smartphone with DailyRoads warrior app on a windshield mount as a dashcam. If I don't want to tell anyone that a recording was ongoing, I simply won't.
Welcomed by Law Enforcement (Score:1)
Will there be a "Lose this video" mode?
In Russia even the bears are bad-ass (Score:5, Funny)
get hit by a car, destroy its radiator, walk away like a boss.
If it was a EU bear it would be flopping on the ground like a soccer player.
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You don't know if the bear died later. Probably injured. I had a coyote run in front of a car like that... broke its neck, and initially the car looked damaged, but the (plastic) fender popped out and I thought ...well thats not quite so bad... and then (there is a big shock behind the bumper) and it popped out. The signal light was behind the bumper and it was no longer solid, but it couldn't move anywhere, and it still worked. With a different car I hit a Moose. Hood and headlights were OK, but grill
Re:In Russia even the bears are bad-ass (Score:5, Funny)
If it was a EU bear it would be flopping on the ground like a soccer player.
Well, if it were an EU bear, it would qualify for healthcare and a generous period of sick leave, so that behavior would be totally adaptive. It's all about evolving to suit your ecological niche!
Re:In Russia even the bears are bad-ass (Score:5, Funny)
If it was a EU bear it would be flopping on the ground like a soccer player.
If it was a bear from the USA it would wear plastic armor because it can't take contact, use steroids like all pro "athletes" in the country, have fake degrees, organize illegal dog fighting and be too pussy to play a mans' sport like rugby. They'd also need 2 hours of advert breaks in a 60 minute game because they have zero staminal, and have to change players every change of direction of the ball due to them being too stupid to be able to play a flowing game.
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If it was a EU bear it would be flopping on the ground like a soccer player.
If it was a bear from Canada, it would stop, spit out a few teeth, then get up, walk over to the car, pull the driver out the drivers side window and then, while holding the drivers shirt with one paw, he'd start beating the driver about the head with his other paw.
The bear did quite the breakdance on that hood (Score:2)
I think the car got the worst of it.
New, or just 'more affordable'? (Score:2)
I was under the impression that HD dashcams are actually nothing new, they just tend to cost a bit more (the cheap ones tend to be 640x480 that upscale to 720p and crop the edges off). The really nice ones also include GPS and G-force data (which you can replay in proprietary software), and the really really nice ones either have 2 cameras or a slave camera port so you can film e.g. the inside (think taxis) or the rear view (typically mounted near the license plate).
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HD dashcams? Nothing new. 60fps HD dashcams? New. Very, very new.
The cameras have been around for years, but up until ~18 months ago, low-cost ASICs capable of realtime h.264/mpeg-4 encoding at 720p60 just didn't exist... and flash was so expensive, nobody (AFAIK) even *bothered* to try making MPEG-2 realtime-encoder ASICs capable of 720p60, because you would have ended up with a $200 device capable of recording 10-20 minutes of video.
That said... if you look up the datasheets for the image sensors for sub-
Nothing new (Score:1)
Small 1080p dash cameras have been in use for years... one of the more popular models with some of performance car community:
BlackVue [blackvue.com]
Already on market for a while (Score:2)
HUH? (Score:2)
720p dashcams that cost $40.00 have been all over ebay for well over a year now. News for Nerds, from 2 years ago....
big deal (Score:2)
Wake me up when they have 4k ones.
Nice dash cam camera review site (Score:3)
This website has nicely laid out specs and reviews of a wide range of dash cams
http://dashcamtalk.com/dash-cam-comparison/ [dashcamtalk.com]
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Hmmm, I'm not seeing that
$70 high def, doog quality (Score:2)
I use this 720p Dash Cam [ebay.com] id $70. I prefer dedicated hardware because there isn't much of a secondary market for them like there is for [stolen] cellphones. I've used other, cheaper versions of "high def" cams and they aren't or they frequently require resetting. This one only needed 1 reset in weeks of 24/7 use.
huge time pit these Russian dash cams (Score:2)
sometimes I can watch this stuff for (a very long time).
hey, where's the "In Soviet Russia..." jokes?
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
Odd.. (Score:2)
I have a 1080p 30 fps dashcam with good low light (not great) that records to SD card. It even has an hdmi out (and came with the mini-hdmi to hdmi cable, which surprised me. And the cable for composite out). It can even be switched to still picture w/flash or video with (somewhat weak) light. It's not an instrumented cam (meaning gps, speed, light indicators) but it was 100$
Why not just use your smartphone? (Score:2)
If you are already using your smartphone as a dash-mounted GPS navigator, why not get a cheap wide-angle lens kit and use its rear-facing camera as a dashcam?
There must be apps for that.
Or am I missing something here?
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The app in question is DailyRoads Voyager and it's pretty good. It even records your speed as a subtitle. The wide-angle lens kit is a nice idea, but it will make a smartphone bulkier and give others the idea that a recording might be ongoing which is not always a good thing.
In my opinion, you can use a smartphone as a dashcam as it is, many youtube videos have no wider angle. It is a very cheap solution for someone who already uses a smartphone as a navigation tool, you might only need a new mount that do
Reviews of cheap dashcams (Score:2)