Terminology debate: dual cam // dual channel cam

bigx

New Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2019
Messages
10
Reaction score
1
Location
Canada
Country
Canada
i find that the terminology for dash cams is very inconsistent, i want to know what y'all think.

Dual cams are interchangeably referred to front facing camera + rearview cam OR front facing + in cabin (uber cams).

Is there more specific terminology that is used? confusing as hell
 
Dual channel means that it records two video streams from different sensors, may be a dual lens or a dual camera system.

Dual lens means that it is a single unit with two lens/sensor modules, normally mounted on the windscreen with one lens facing forward and one facing the cabin for taxi use.

Dual camera means that it has two separate units, master+slave, with one lens/sensor in each unit, normally used for front+rear dashcam use, although the Viofo A129 now has a front+cabin option with infrared sensor and illumination for the cabin.

Other combinations will be coming soon, a sensible system for a taxi would have front+cabin IR+rear, either as a 2+1 or a 1+1+1.
 
I don't think there is a terminology standard regards this further than it indicating more than one single cam. I've seen these terms used many different ways by many different people, and I've done that myself. There are many variations on this from dual-remote to dual forward facing cams to single-unit cams with a rearward facing cam meant to record outside the rear of the car to ones similar but meant to record the cabin of the car. The only nearly universal terminology seems to be "motorcycle cams" (dual remotes) and "Taxi or Uber" cams meant to record inside the cabin of the car with a forward-facing cam integrated into one unit. Usually whatever other term is used it usual indicates a front main unit and a rear separate cam module connected to it.

It's Oxford's versus Webster's and nobody is wrong :rolleyes:

Phil
 
Dual channel means that it records two video streams from different sensors, may be a dual lens or a dual camera system.

Dual lens means that it is a single unit with two lens/sensor modules, normally mounted on the windscreen with one lens facing forward and one facing the cabin for taxi use.

Dual camera means that it has two separate units, master+slave, with one lens/sensor in each unit, normally used for front+rear dashcam use, although the Viofo A129 now has a front+cabin option with infrared sensor and illumination for the cabin.

Other combinations will be coming soon, a sensible system for a taxi would have front+cabin IR+rear, either as a 2+1 or a 1+1+1.

This is exactly what I wanted to know, thanks a lot Nigel!
 
This is exactly what I wanted to know, thanks a lot Nigel!
I was expecting a bit of debate on if I was correct or not! It is probably a good guide but remember that not everyone will use the correct terms as specified by me!
 
I was expecting a bit of debate on if I was correct or not! It is probably a good guide but remember that not everyone will use the correct terms as specified by me!

From my research on dash cam retailers, blogs and forums, dual camera and dual-channel are used interchangeably to refer to a front and rear dash cam.

While dual lens dash cams are mostly referred to as taxi/uber/lyft dash cams (sometimes 360 cams), and are the ones that record the front and inside the vehicle.

One can argue that a dual-channel camera is a dual camera and a taxi dash cam but i think its just confuses everyone lol

I'm putting together a guide that will hopefully solidify these definitions for people
 
While dual lens dash cams are mostly referred to as taxi/uber/lyft dash cams (sometimes 360 cams), and are the ones that record the front and inside the vehicle.
An Uber cam is a dual lens unit with 1 front facing lens and 1 cabin infrared lens and infrared illumination, all in one unit.

Maybe an uber cam could be considered a type of taxi cam in the same way that an uber car can be considered to be a taxi, however I think a taxi cam should have some sort of security for the recordings, often the memory card is in a sealed locked box in the boot so that if the passengers attack the driver the evidence is safe. For an uber cam to be considered a taxi cam, it should probably have internet upload of events so that if there is an incident the driver can press a panic button and the recording is sent to the cloud for safety.

A taxi cam will normally have dual/multiple camera units, normally with a secure DVR unit containing the memory card, a more professional setup than an Uber cam in the same way that a taxi is a more professional vehicle than an Uber.

Again, not everyone will follow those rules, but maybe your guide should make a similar distinction.

I've not met a lyft cam, I think that is correctly called an uber cam.
 
dual cam, dual channel cam, either way they get called dashcams yet nobody is sticking them on the dash, go figure
They are dashcams, not dashboard cameras!

Presumably "dash" means the same as in the original dashboard, which was fitted to horse drawn vehicles to stop water/mud splashing up over the people/carriage when the horses where moving quickly - a dashcam is a camera for recording your journey.

:unsure:
:coffee:
 
I've seen the terminology used in many different ways, so unless someone points to a standard which is agreed on by most of the industry, there is no standard. Inventing one yourself won't solve that until you get the industry to go along with it. If someone claims that there is a standard then let them show it to us- where can I see it pray tell? :rolleyes:

It would be nice if there was a standard, but even then confusion could be easy; such as Viofo's A129 Duo rear IR cam option which isn't intended to be a rear-facing cam to see cars behind you, but is intended to record inside the car instead. Does that now change the A129 Duo into a taxi cam? A dual channel cam? A 2-channel cam? Which one is it? All you can really say is that it's an A129 Duo with the rear IR option, and that doesn't re-classify the cam even though you may no longer have any coverage of the rear of your car. And the A129 Duo with the standard rear cam could also be used to record inside the car, but again that doesn't make it a 2-channel, dual channel, or taxi cam either. Or of the N2 Pro, where the "interior" cam can be rotated to face forward- is is still a "taxi" cam? If not, then was it ever a taxi cam?

This isn't about what Nigel, me, or anyone else thinks is proper- this is about having a known and published standard which at least most of the industry follows. And AFAIK such a standard does not exist, so there should be no false claims made that there is such a thing o_O

Phil
 
I was expecting a bit of debate on if I was correct or not! It is probably a good guide but remember that not everyone will use the correct terms as specified by me!

I hope I have not disappointed your expectations ;) You cannot expect others to follow your concepts nor have any claim that they are correct without proof. Otherwise you're only espousing your opinion, same as me.

Phil
 
I hope I have not disappointed your expectations ;) You cannot expect others to follow your concepts nor have any claim that they are correct without proof. Otherwise you're only espousing your opinion, same as me.

Phil

there's every chance that Nigel is correct and whoever decided on the term dashcam was thinking of the horse and carriage and what the term dash implies ;)
 
While I tend to agree with much of his terminology (and especially how a better use would lead to far less confusion) it is improper to claim that it's a "standard" or that it is correct when even a casual look at various manufacturer and sales websites will show very different. I would put my full weight behind developing and implementing such a standard, but even all the members here working together can't pull that off. And as my A129 and N2 Pro examples show, there are too many exceptions involved to easily make hard and fast rules or decision regarding terminology.

Phil
 
there's every chance that Nigel is correct and whoever decided on the term dashcam was thinking of the horse and carriage and what the term dash implies ;)
I think it is more likely that the original dashcam was a camera for providing video for display on a dashboard monitor, so the use of "dash" was the same as in a digital dashboard. Reversing cameras would fit that description, as would all the wheel monitoring (terrain) cameras on a Range Rover. Our security cameras would not count since they do not display video on our dashboards.
 
While I tend to agree with much of his terminology (and especially how a better use would lead to far less confusion) it is improper to claim that it's a "standard" or that it is correct when even a casual look at various manufacturer and sales websites will show very different. I would put my full weight behind developing and implementing such a standard, but even all the members here working together can't pull that off. And as my A129 and N2 Pro examples show, there are too many exceptions involved to easily make hard and fast rules or decision regarding terminology.

Phil
Not sure why not, if there is no current standard that people are using then publishing one here and maybe on the Wikipedia "dashcam" page is more likely to see use than most other places that one could be published. I suspect that most dashcam manufacturers and retailers wouldn't read an ISO standard even if it existed...
 
yeah there's no sarcasm font unfortunately :p

seriously though all the dictionary's have dashcam listed and some reference it as may also be attached to the windscreen, first recorded use was 1999 according to Merriam-Webster but they don't actually state where it was used to know the origin, suspect it is not anything to do with the horse and carriage though
 
There are a range of fonts to use, but none of them are sarcasm ( which do appear to have gotten its own font )
Problem is if it was available on this forum would people bother to use it.
In general i would think a lettering change ( bold / italic or font type ) would signal something additional to the written word just like the presence of a smiley, one could also just assume everything on the internet are sarcastic,,,,,,, while not 100% true it could still save you from some grief.
 
Last edited:
I suspect that most dashcam manufacturers and retailers wouldn't read an ISO standard even if it existed...

Between that and the sellers lies most of the problem. Even as wdespread as DashCamTalk is, we're realy only a small portion of the dashcam users of the world, and many of the others won't see Wikipedia either.

Like I said, I'd like to see a standard here, but I'm not sure one can be established well enough to be generally accepted. What might push that far enough is to get concurrance from all the other dashcam forums and in non-English languages too; with that going for it there is a much better possibility. But even then, it's hard to clearly define some cams and not everyone will ever be on the same page with this.

Phil
 
Back
Top