DVR 027; how many hrs HD-video on a 32 GB card?

[ArnsteinB]

I'm picking up a DVR 027 today (bought from "estore009" at EBay), and a Transcend SDHC Class 10 32Gb memorycard.

Anyone knows the bitrate ("datarate") for a HD-video with this dashcam? Circa 4 Mbit/s ?
With these settings : 720p (1280x720), 30FPS, H.264 and an estimated compression ratio of 1.78, it should be apprx. 2.3 GB/hr ? (ca 14 hrs with a 32 GB card)

Correct?

 

[rjgscotland]

I have the DVR-007 which is essentially the same camera but sans IR LEDs and slightly different design.

It's 2.835 GB/hour, so I get 5 hr 18 min on a 16 GB (15 GB real world usable) card. I'd guess a 32 GB card would be about 29.7 GB usable, so that would equate to roughly 10 hr 20 mins.

Working (camera set to 5 minute clips):

Clip: 242 MB
Card size: 29.7 GB

242 * 12 = 2904 MB
2904 / 1024 = 2.835 GB
29.7 / 2.835 = 10.476 hours

10.476 hours = 10 hr 18 min 33s

Edit: FWIW, the video files are reported as:

Video: MPEG4 Video (H264) 1280x720 29.97fps 6624kbps
Audio: MS ADPCM 44100Hz mono 177kbps

 

[CheckYourLights]

I'm not great with math and it looks like rjgscotland has that end covered, but just for reference i have a DVR-027 with a 32GB SanDisk card and recording in HD in 5 min clips.
My card with i usually let the camera's loop recording handle in terms of deleting files has 126 clips at an average of 248 MB a clip.

Also actual capacity is 29.7 GB so RJ was spot on

I'm not sure how much the SD card for you was, but Sony SD cards in 16 and 32GB were Amazon deal of the day a few days ago real cheap i think 16 was 10 dollars and 32 was 15 dollars

:EDIT:
You may also want to check out RJ's History of a new Scottish DVR-007 owner posting here for a great read and tips if your DVR-027 has the night time grain issue.

Lastly can you post the version of your camera when it arives? I doubt the version has changed since i bought mine around mid December (2012/June 05/Version 0) but just curious,

 

[ArnsteinB]

11.3 hours...

I've just tried the dashcam. The default value for recording time was 2 min. The files sizes was 97 MB. That equals ca 47.5 MB/minute, which is ca 2.9 GB/hr, which gives ca 11.2 hrs of video on a 32 GB card.

 

[ArnsteinB]

Thx "rjgscotland". Roughly the same numbers I got when I tried it this evening.
BTW; about motion sensor: I assume that is car motion, not object motion..?
If I get into an accident, or maybe want the camera running while I'm in a store for some chopping, is there a way I can do that...? I assume I have to mount a cigarett-lighter socket with constant power...?

 

[rjgscotland]

No problem. Just remember the usable formatted size of your 32 GB card won't be 32 GB, it'll likely be 29.7 GB or thereabouts.

 

[CheckYourLights]

about motion sensor: I assume that is car motion, not object motion..? If I get into an accident, or maybe want the camera running while I'm in a store for some chopping, is there a way I can do that...

Yes by turning motion decet to off in the menu.

The motion detection is not to great. It can sense some motion in front of the camera and will record for 1 min after motion is picked up by the lens, but it may not pick it up if it is to far away and i have noticed sometimes at a constant highway speed with little traffic the camera will not detect motion and not record as you go down the road. Most recommend turning motion detection off and letting the camera run continuously and then using a program like M4Cam2AVI recommended by user Mtz to cut and join clips on your computer after the fact.

I assume I have to mount a cigarett-lighter socket with constant power...?

Most but not all cars should have a constant power to there cigarett-lighter socket. I had a older japanese car at one time that they key had to be on for the cigarett-lighter socket to have power, but i have had many cars and that was the only one like that. It is not recomended to rely on the camera's battery for any serious recording. I accidentally left mine unplugged once and it turned off in maybe 30 mins or so and it is better to be safe then sorry.

Some people have cut the cigarette lead off the end and "hard wired" the cord into the cars electronic system to give it power all the time, but unless you buy a second camera or cord this would be a less portable solution and if you accidentally leave the camera on without a battery drain protection device that could cause problems.

 

[rjgscotland]

Now this isn't in all cars, but mine and some others I've come across let you change the position of a fuse in the fuse box to change between the cig socket being constant power or ignition switched. Ignition switched is good if you want the camera to automatically turn on/off when you start/stop the engine but isn't good if you want to continuously record while the engine is off. Depending on how long you want to record while you're parked, you could perhaps get away with the camera battery power if you're just popping into a shop or two, you'll just have to remember to turn the camera back on once it's turned itself off with the ignition. I have mine ignition switched because I prefer the convenience of auto on/off and rarely want to record while parked.

As CheckYourLights mentioned, if you're running the camera on constant power, be weary not to accidentally leave the camera going for days on end or it could flatten your car battery. There are devices to cut the power when the battery voltage gets below a certain threshold.

 

[CheckYourLights]

Depending on how long you want to record while you're parked, you could perhaps get away with the camera battery power if you're just popping into a shop or two, you'll just have to remember to turn the camera back on once it's turned itself off with the ignition. I have mine ignition switched because I prefer the convenience of auto on/off and rarely want to record while parked.

Just to throw out the opposite side. I prefer to record as much as possible. I leave mine plugged in and on at all times that the car is not outside my residence over night. Just in case my car gets hit by someone backing out of a parking spot or at a gas station while my car is off and parked or i am putting fuel in.

I've seen people go the wrong way down one ways. park and block roads or even stop at stop signs and pull their phone out and call or text. you never know what you might happen to catch someone else doing all while parked with the car off.

I have an OEM battery and do not run a BDPD and have not had an issue, but if you were to leave it in over night for days i would defiantly instal one.

 

[rjgscotland]

Yup I definitely see the reasoning for leaving it on overnight. My current set-up doesn't let me do this because I'm not using the original cig lighter lead but have a 5v voltage regulator tucked away behind the dashboard. I've thought about installing a switch somewhere to move it over to constant power in case I find myself in the situation of wanting to leave the camera on. I guess I can always use the original lead in that instance too.

On a side note, I wonder how long you can typically leave a dash cam recording before the SD card starts to get trashed. Given the fact that it would only be re-writing the same block once every 5 to 10 hours or so, probably well long enough not to worry about!

 

[CheckYourLights]

Yea i understand that leaving it on is not some everyone wants to or is able to do. I just wanted to make others aware of it from a safety stand point.

 

[javr]

(feb. '13)
Hello, is there a way with this camera (or any other) to record at least 24 hours ?
Can the quality of video or frames-per-second be lowered to the point, that 24 hours of video would fit to a 32GB SD-card (for this camera, it looks like SD Card up to 64GB can be used) ?

Basically, I don't really need video. Something, called "time lapse photography" would do just fine. One photo every few seconds. I know, that this is not good enough in traffic, because a lot can happen in one second, but I'm planning to use the camera as a security cam, not as a dashboard one.

A very rough calculation (I'm no good with numbers) shows, that 43200 photos would be taken in 24 hours, if camera would take one photo every 2 seconds.
If you wanna squeeze 43200 photos on a 32GB card, they shouldn't be bigger as 776kb each.

I didn't find the User's manual online to see, what adjustments are possible with this camera. From some technical details, I see:
- Write speed (FPS / Frames per second): 10/20/30
- Recording Resolution: 640×480 / 848×480 / 1280×720 p
- Still Image: Image File Format:JPEG .

So it can be set up for 640x480, 10fps ? How many hours of video can be recorded with such setting ?

What does "Still Image" mean ? Do you have to push the button every time you wanna make a photo, or can you set "one photo every 5 seconds", for example ?
________________

 

[rjgscotland]

If you put the size down to WVGA or VGA and the frame rate down to 10fps then you could easily record 24 hours onto a 32GB card. I would have to check to get the actual bitrate to give you a real time but it should be fine.

The photo mode is just for taking still images when you press a button. It doesn't have a timelapse mode.

 

[Mtz]

If you want many pictures for a timelapse with a very small camera you can use the 808 #16. Some people, mine included, are using this camera as Car DVR. It doesn't have the autostart feature when engine start but keeping it in Motion Detect mode will work in the same way like the daschams in parking mode and normal driving mode.
In the screenshots you can see the timelapse timing and it can record at 5fps which means smaller file sizes but the recording will be played back at 30fps.
If you want to see videos about this just search on youtube about 808 #16.


enjoy,
Mtz

 

[javr]

thanks for the 808-cam info, but it looks like it has no night vision, no infrared LED ?
rjgscotland, yes, pls check if 24 hours recording is possible with 10fps. Thanks.

 

[Mtz]

Night vision recording with any dashcam is nothing. Zero, nada. The IR LEDs are just for fancy, to cheat some new buyers which will hope will record during completly dark.
If you want night recording you must to build your own setup. You can start by searching in this forum.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[rjgscotland]

Mtz is right, those IR LEDs are a total joke. Do not even consider them when looking to buy a dash cam!

I'll check recording bitrate as soon as I can.

 

[javr]

I'll check recording bitrate as soon as I can.

ok, please do so, thanks

 

[RSole]

Thx "rjgscotland". Roughly the same numbers I got when I tried it this evening.
BTW; about motion sensor: I assume that is car motion, not object motion..?
If I get into an accident, or maybe want the camera running while I'm in a store for some chopping, is there a way I can do that...? I assume I have to mount a cigarett-lighter socket with constant power...?

Car motion, object motion...

You have to look at it from the camera's perspective. Cameras have image sensors that detect light based on color and brightness (luminance). Motion detection is a predetermined change in luminance levels across a predetermined set of physical pixel elements on the image sensor. It matters not what causes that change in luminance.

Also, put down that ax while you're "in a store for some chopping". Folks are slippin' and trippin' on all those bone chips and blood!