Any dashcam to record front back and inside?

smithdean

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I am advised that A129 duo is a decent combo dashcam for front and use but what about something that will also record inside? The reason I ask this is if incase I drive occasionally as Uber driver, the inside recording feature will be helpful. I have a new Santa Fe car and I want to be right with the right cams. If there is a not too expensive compact discreet dashcam with WiFi capability that can record just front rear and inside as well, I will be happy. Thanks for your recommendation s.
 
The 129 duo IR version have IR aided light which you need in a dark car cabin at night, but it is not a full fledged IR so the cabin footage have a magenta hue, for true night mode the rear camera should have a active IR filter that disengage, and then it should change to B&W mode like CCTV cameras do.
But the cabin camera dont have a IR filter do daytime recording have a magenta hue, or maybe that was user error in the video below.

Need viofo owners to chime in on the day / night performance of the IR camera ?

The 2 in 1 camera B2W do have a active IR cur filter so it have proper color day footage and B&W night footage, but its design are not ideal.
I tested the B2W too when it first came out.
 
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So the camera you recommend that can record front inside and rear is called B2W? It is a two camera ? One for front and inside and one for the rear?
 
The 129 duo IR version have IR aided light which you need in a dark car cabin at night, but it is not a full fledged IR so the cabin footage have a magenta hue, for true night mode the rear camera should have a active IR filter that disengage, and then it should change to B&W mode like CCTV cameras do.
But the cabin camera dont have a IR filter do daytime recording have a magenta hue, or maybe that was user error in the video below.

Need viofo owners to chime in on the day / night performance of the IR camera ?

The 2 in 1 camera B2W do have a active IR cur filter so it have proper color day footage and B&W night footage, but its design are not ideal.
I tested the B2W too when it first came out.
The 129 duo IR has two cams, front and rear right ? Which camera records the inside? The rear camera? The rear camera has two lenses built in to record inside and outside ? The rear mounted camera records both inside and outside in the back? ? Or is there an option to turn off inside recording feature? Thanks
 
Yes the B2W are a 2 camera in one unit, but its design make it a bit problematic.
Blueskysea-B2W.jpg


As you can see in this picture the B2W are mounted quite a bit lower than what is optimal, in order for it to be able to see out into the cabin below the mirror.
ET1xXWjU4AA5LVy.jpg


If you locate it higher you run into this problem, and get good footage of the front of your mirror, and in that picture it is still mounted low, in that car i would have my camera all the way up on the tinted area.
So a few inches higher than that picture.
dashcam-jpg.351699


To have it in a ideal place for both the front and cabin camera it will have to be installed way up high on the windscreen, but in my car this meant my rear view camera was in the way, so for a few months i drove around testing it with no mirror in my car.
If you place it lower it get very un stealthy, and for the aim of the lenses it is also less optimal, you loose much of what go on in the rear seat at least.
The B2W also have modest bitrates on the cameras ( 16 and 8 mbit ) here the viofo A 129 duo IR are much better, and its rear camera are on a wire so you can still have the main camera ( front ) in the middle of the windscreen, but the cabin camera you can offset more or less to either side.
I much prefer the way viofo do it, better chance for a stealthy install of both the front and cabin camera.
 
Yes the B2W are a 2 camera in one unit, but its design make it a bit problematic.
Blueskysea-B2W.jpg


As you can see in this picture the B2W are mounted quite a bit lower than what is optimal, in order for it to be able to see out into the cabin below the mirror.
ET1xXWjU4AA5LVy.jpg


If you locate it higher you run into this problem, and get good footage of the front of your mirror, and in that picture it is still mounted low, in that car i would have my camera all the way up on the tinted area.
So a few inches higher than that picture.
dashcam-jpg.351699


To have it in a ideal place for both the front and cabin camera it will have to be installed way up high on the windscreen, but in my car this meant my rear view camera was in the way, so for a few months i drove around testing it with no mirror in my car.
If you place it lower it get very un stealthy, and for the aim of the lenses it is also less optimal, you loose much of what go on in the rear seat at least.
The B2W also have modest bitrates on the cameras ( 16 and 8 mbit ) here the viofo A 129 duo IR are much better, and its rear camera are on a wire so you can still have the main camera ( front ) in the middle of the windscreen, but the cabin camera you can offset more or less to either side.
I much prefer the way viofo do it, better chance for a stealthy install of both the front and cabin camera.
I I like the compact design of the 129 duo IR cam. If you can answer me the questions above on this I would appreciate i. Thanks
 
Yes the viofo A129 IR are just like the regular version, only difference is the rear camera are on a shorter wire as you would mount it on the windscreen or maybe mirror stalk ( my favorite place for a cabin camera )
This picture have my B1W camera mounted on the mirror stalk, a excellent place, just not the camera for it as it was only good in the daytime.

img_20180414_143857-jpg.37475


So with a camer like the viofo A129IR i would put the rear / cabin camera there too, or on the windscreen but offset towards the right hand side A pillar, where you see a couple of GPS antennas in the picture above.
 
With the viofo A129IR you loose the option of having the rear camera on the rear window looking out back, cuz in the IR version it is that camera that are fitted with IR light and you then most likely place on the windscren looking out back.
It is not like the rear camera are both one looking out the back window and back into the car, that would make it a 3 channel system ( which are also on the way BTW )
So the Viofo A129 IR are still just 2 cameras, but the rear / cabin camera film back into the car and you only get a little you can see out of side windows and back window ( if passengers dont obscure the view )

Size wise the A 129 Duo / duo IR are the same size as the camera in the middle of my windscreen picture above, it just dont have the wires out of the side like my SG9663DC have in the picture, the A129duo i belive have its in/outouts on the top like the camera on the Left in the picture above, it just have 3 wires ( one for power - one for the GPS antenna and one for the rear / cabin camera )

As you can see from this video, low mounted cabin cameras give no good footage of people in the back of the car.

On / from my mirror stalk the view are much better. ( B1W camera )

Some times i am not alone in my car,,,,,, but if that happen it is either my little sister or as in this video my niece that take advantage of their nice big brother / uncle.
 
The reason I ask this is if incase I drive occasionally as Uber driver,
Need viofo owners to chime in on the day / night performance of the IR camera ?
For Uber use, an IR internal camera is necessary, otherwise you can't see the inside properly at night.
The A129 IR has a little better image quality than the B2W, but the main difference is the mounting, and they both have good but very different mountings.

For the rear, both the A129 IR and B2W internal cameras can see something through the rear and side windows, so a third camera view is not absolutely essential, but they are unlikely to catch number plates at the rear. You can add an extra camera such as the Viofo A119 or Blueskysea B1W on the rear window. Currently we don't have 3 channel cameras available, but they will be coming before long, I actually have a prototype in my car with front+rear+internal IR which is working well.
 
I do hope pending 3 channel systems will be like the 129duo IR, if its a 2 in 1 like the B2W for the front and cabin camera, and then a rear camera on a wire i can not use it, i would have to put such a camera so low on the windscreen it would be in a illegal spot, though those laws dont seem to get enforced and so i find them silly, but its a law so i will not break it ( i have done that enough when i was young )
So a good 3 channel system will have 2 of the cameras on a wire, or if i get to test one, i will again have to take out the mirror of my car for a few months.

I do practice civil disobedience on a few other things, and i also encourage the poor socialist enslaved Danes to do the same, but breaking the law on my windscreen i cant be bothered with, even if its a risk less crime.
 
Yes the viofo A129 IR are just like the regular version, only difference is the rear camera are on a shorter wire as you would mount it on the windscreen or maybe mirror stalk ( my favorite place for a cabin camera )
This picture have my B1W camera mounted on the mirror stalk, a excellent place, just not the camera for it as it was only good in the daytime.

img_20180414_143857-jpg.37475


So with a camer like the viofo A129IR i would put the rear / cabin camera there too, or on the windscreen but offset towards the right hand side A pillar, where you see a couple of GPS antennas in the picture above.
The rear part of 129 DUO IR cam is installed right above the rear view mirror? It will be very visible to anyone sitting in the back right? That rear cam will not be able to record if another driver slams me in the back right? Looks like the A128 DUO IR is a strict uber/lyft driver use camera and not as multiple use cam for front inside and rear? If I want front rear and inside, I should purchase a separate cam for the review view installation? I even wonder that many wires hardwiring in the car will be a problem for the car. Maybe not and it won't look ugly since all the wires/cables can be be tucked inside the edges and hidden?
 
The rear part of 129 DUO IR cam is installed right above the rear view mirror?
There are several places you can put it, possibly on the windscreen looking back, possibly on the bottom of the rear view mirror, I put mine on the cabin light cluster on the roof. Wherever you put it, it must be visible to the customer, otherwise the customer will not be visible to the camera! However it is not big, easy to misjudge the size from the images, most customers will not notice it unless you intentionally make it obvious. The B2W is fairly obvious, in fact it is designed to be seen so that the customers behave, some drivers will run it with the screen on to make sure the customers know it is there.

The wires can normally be hidden, it is only one wire per camera, although the B2W has the advantage of only one wire for the 2 cameras, but there is still one wire to install and hide, once you are installing wires it is not such a big job to do a couple more.
 
Yes, and i am afraid that is a place passengers do look, but then seeing a camera should deter them from getting any smart ideas.

Yes the Duo IR are a strict taxi / uber camera, so you will have no rear camera footage if someone slam into you from behind, then again to prove that happened, and it was not your fault you should be able to prove with the footage of the front camera just fine.
The guy hitting you from behind might claim:
1: you served into his lane ( front camera say no you was in your lane for minutes and right up untill the impact )
2: you changed lane without indicating ( front camera will record you changing nice and easy and you can hear your indicator blink )
3: you slammed on the brakes for no reason ( front camera will have recording of you just driving along in your lane not changing speed )

In general you can claim and prove a lot of things you did or did not do with just a front camera, the guy hitting you can do the same but have no proof what so ever, so in a insurance or court dispute you should be good with just the 1 front camera.

Dont get me wrong 2 cameras are nice, and also what we all recommend in general if money are no major problem.

As Nigel said you can always put a #2 camera on your back window, it is only a inconvenience in that then you have 2 memory cards to deal with, but trust me as one that have had 4+ single cameras in my car for many years and so at least 4 places to go for footage it is not that big of a problem, unless you drive a bumper car.
All the years i have had more than one camera and uploaded video to youtube it is very rare i use footage from the rear camera, and if i do it is mainly as "B" roll leading up to whatever the idiot do that get captured on my front camera.
And regarding the side cameras it is even more rare i go to those for footage.

Regarding stealth in dashcams, i want that personally but not so much out of fear of getting my cameras stolen, more for being able to document what happened, and not saying anything about them to give the other part a chance to lie to police officers and insurance ( fraud )
And then i whip out my footage and nail him to the wall, or rather my insurance company do on my behalf.

So i would never talk about my cameras at the scene of a event, not even to police officers (rare they turn up in Danish car crashes )
I just full out my form and send the video to my insurance, the rest is their job and what i pay them for.

If i was a uber driver and some suspect customer start to talk about my camera he spotted, i would lie my ass of and say "O its terrible smart, as soon as people get in my car a image are uploaded to a encrypted cloud service, and that repeat at intervals thru out the trip / day"
That should deter all but the most cracked heads from trying anything smart, thinking i also just steal his camera then.
 
I do hope pending 3 channel systems will be like the 129duo IR, if its a 2 in 1 like the B2W for the front and cabin camera, and then a rear camera on a wire i can not use it,...
All the designs I know of are 2+1, but not the same as the B2W, I think you might be OK with them.
 
yeah we will see, for the most my mailbox are always open.
 
Yes, and i am afraid that is a place passengers do look, but then seeing a camera should deter them from getting any smart ideas.

Yes the Duo IR are a strict taxi / uber camera, so you will have no rear camera footage if someone slam into you from behind, then again to prove that happened, and it was not your fault you should be able to prove with the footage of the front camera just fine.
The guy hitting you from behind might claim:
1: you served into his lane ( front camera say no you was in your lane for minutes and right up untill the impact )
2: you changed lane without indicating ( front camera will record you changing nice and easy and you can hear your indicator blink )
3: you slammed on the brakes for no reason ( front camera will have recording of you just driving along in your lane not changing speed )

In general you can claim and prove a lot of things you did or did not do with just a front camera, the guy hitting you can do the same but have no proof what so ever, so in a insurance or court dispute you should be good with just the 1 front camera.

Dont get me wrong 2 cameras are nice, and also what we all recommend in general if money are no major problem.

As Nigel said you can always put a #2 camera on your back window, it is only a inconvenience in that then you have 2 memory cards to deal with, but trust me as one that have had 4+ single cameras in my car for many years and so at least 4 places to go for footage it is not that big of a problem, unless you drive a bumper car.
All the years i have had more than one camera and uploaded video to youtube it is very rare i use footage from the rear camera, and if i do it is mainly as "B" roll leading up to whatever the idiot do that get captured on my front camera.
And regarding the side cameras it is even more rare i go to those for footage.

Regarding stealth in dashcams, i want that personally but not so much out of fear of getting my cameras stolen, more for being able to document what happened, and not saying anything about them to give the other part a chance to lie to police officers and insurance ( fraud )
And then i whip out my footage and nail him to the wall, or rather my insurance company do on my behalf.

So i would never talk about my cameras at the scene of a event, not even to police officers (rare they turn up in Danish car crashes )
I just full out my form and send the video to my insurance, the rest is their job and what i pay them for.

If i was a uber driver and some suspect customer start to talk about my camera he spotted, i would lie my ass of and say "O its terrible smart, as soon as people get in my car a image are uploaded to a encrypted cloud service, and that repeat at intervals thru out the trip / day"
That should deter all but the most cracked heads from trying anything smart, thinking i also just steal his camera then.
Can the 129 duo IR rear cam be used to record in the back when I am driving for personal reasons and then mount it somewhere inside such as on top of rear view mirror if I am driving as uber driver?

I saw this video where it is recording the rear https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07PTNY5SG
 
Well yes sort off, in the daytime with the rear / cabin camera on the rear window you will be fine, but at night if the IR come on, then it will bounce off the glass and blind itself.
But if there are a way to keep it in color mode i assume it can be done, then you just have to change the mode to auto when you move the camera to the front for uber duty at least during nighttime.
In the review video of the duo IR i posted i think he say there are a option to change those modes, so it might be possible to pull off.

Here is a video granted of a nest CCTV camera put in front of a window, so you can see the problem if the IR light come on.
 
In order to use the smaller cam to use as rear camera to record from the back When I am not driving as Uber driver , I will have to hardwire a cable with 3m tape on the rear windshield glass? If I can use the smaller camera for both inside cabin when driving for Uber and on the rear when I am driving for personal matters or with family that will be nice .
 
The Vantrue N4 3-channel cam has front, rear, and cabin IR. DCT member @Sunny has reviewed it HERE. It's designed specifically for Uber/Lyft/Yandex/Taxi use.
I'm not a big fan of Vantrue but they do build a quality cam. Good to remember that the more cams you have recording to one card the less their performance can be, so with 3 cams high-res 2K or 4K is out of the question. Still, a good 1080P cam is enough for most people to be happy with.

I'll put in another vote for the B2W here as long as you can mount it where it works for you. My install is very non-typical which makes it great for me, but in some cars it's form-factor makes it a poor choice. Good vids day and night, very reliable even in summer heat, and the cabin-cam can be easily rotated through a wide range to capture events on either side. The IR works very well inside the car with better image detail than most; only the A129 IR does this part better and not by a huge amount.

We're knocking against a 'wall' with multi-channel cams at best resolutions, as the current processors and sd cards are running at their limits given the operating conditions. There are industrial-grade cards.with more capability but one of those in a large size can cost more than the cam. Better processors and file formats are coming which will help, but don't hold your breath waiting on any great improvements versus today's cams. They will happen but not in the next year or two. Dashcams develop more slowly than most electronics so being a bit behind just goes with the game. You can still get a pretty darn good cam right now so there's no point in waiting- find one you like and it will serve you well for the several years it takes for it to become obsolete when the newer better stuff finally arrives.

Phil
 
The Vantrue N4 3-channel cam has front, rear, and cabin IR. DCT member @Sunny has reviewed it HERE. It's designed specifically for Uber/Lyft/Yandex/Taxi use.
I'm not a big fan of Vantrue but they do build a quality cam. Good to remember that the more cams you have recording to one card the less their performance can be, so with 3 cams high-res 2K or 4K is out of the question. Still, a good 1080P cam is enough for most people to be happy with.

I'll put in another vote for the B2W here as long as you can mount it where it works for you. My install is very non-typical which makes it great for me, but in some cars it's form-factor makes it a poor choice. Good vids day and night, very reliable even in summer heat, and the cabin-cam can be easily rotated through a wide range to capture events on either side. The IR works very well inside the car with better image detail than most; only the A129 IR does this part better and not by a huge amount.

We're knocking against a 'wall' with multi-channel cams at best resolutions, as the current processors and sd cards are running at their limits given the operating conditions. There are industrial-grade cards.with more capability but one of those in a large size can cost more than the cam. Better processors and file formats are coming which will help, but don't hold your breath waiting on any great improvements versus today's cams. They will happen but not in the next year or two. Dashcams develop more slowly than most electronics so being a bit behind just goes with the game. You can still get a pretty darn good cam right now so there's no point in waiting- find one you like and it will serve you well for the several years it takes for it to become obsolete when the newer better stuff finally arrives.

Phil
The vantrue doesn't seem to have wifi and phone app according to reviews. Very bad! But this one does and it is a 3 channel dashcams I found on amazon. Any onw knows this https://www.amazon.com/gp/B081Q1B2FQ
 
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