2ch Camera Choice

I appreciate when video footage is uploaded, the holding site tends to compress and degrade it.. but even then, my footage seemed to be higher quality.. (a friend bought a similar GoPro clone, which was shockingly bad, so maybe I was lucky to get a good one)
Dashcams normally use lower bitrates than action cameras so that they can fit many hours onto a memory card, for the cheaper cameras that is probably the main issue since they still tend to have a maximum memory card size of 32GB, although many also have low quality sensors, lenses, and don't forget the microphone.

Image quality on the Viofo MT1 is pretty good, same quality as an A129 car dashcam, still lower bitrate and resolution than a GoPro, but adequate and in low light or at high speed it has much better image quality than the GoPro, also because it is a dashcam, it will try to record detail in the shadows when a GoPro would not bother, instead preferring a high contrast colourful more impressive image even though there is little detail in parts.

The Blueskysea B1M will also be decent image quality, the lower price is probably more to do with general build quality. If you intend to use it daily in the rain then I would go for the Viofo, if it is only a good weather weekend bike and it is for accident recording rather than movies then the Blueskysea should be fine.
 
Motorcycle cams seem to be reaching a point of 'maturity' nowadays where you can get reliability and good vid performance at decent prices. It wasn't too long ago that all the motorcycle cams had problems of one kind or another :( I wouldn't worry about the build quality of the B1M; the manufacturer's other cams are consistently very good in that regard and I'd expect the same here. There's also customer support to be considered when buying a cam, and Viofo hasn't been as good with that as he once was but he seems to be getting back in order with it lately.

Same as with car cams when you have a second channel it becomes much harder to get good vid quality and reliability and even the best efforts are limited by the processors available to the manufacturers. Heat management becomes a bigger issue since you can't have openings for airflow like you can with car cams, and the same goes for sd card slots and cable ports which must be kept water-resistant. It's a much tougher job to build a good motorcycle cam but I'm glad to see that it's finally getting done :cool:

Phil
 
Motorcycle cams seem to be reaching a point of 'maturity' nowadays...
Still very few good ones, but I think with the need for waterproofing and lower sales than car dashcams, that is always going to be the case.

And I think maturity really requires 2K resolution. The motorcycle cameras are normally wider angle than car dashcams, so 1080 is struggling to read plates at a normal following distance, although when you pull up behind someone at the lights, the lens tends to be much closer than with a car dashcam so then plates are clearer than with a car dashcam.
 
Thanks for the replies... I appreciate it.
As for the B1M... I have seen some decent video, and also some shockingly bad video... much worse than the DV688. again, could be down to compression.

I have seen 2 other dashcams which seem interesting, have decent reviews, and technically decent specs. Wonvon MT1, and Wonvon A10.. very similar in spec, but I can't find much else about them.
I can't find a manufacturer website either.. and god knows how many fakes are out there.
 
As for the B1M... I have seen some decent video, and also some shockingly bad video...
The shockingly bad video I saw for the B1M was purely due to the mounting causing massive camera shake that badly blurred the image.
All motorcycle dashcams need a very solid mount to get a really good image quality. Mount them direct to the frame, not a plastic mudguard!
 
Dashcams normally use lower bitrates than action cameras so that they can fit many hours onto a memory card, for the cheaper cameras that is probably the main issue since they still tend to have a maximum memory card size of 32GB, although many also have low quality sensors, lenses, and don't forget the microphone.

Image quality on the Viofo MT1 is pretty good, same quality as an A129 car dashcam, still lower bitrate and resolution than a GoPro, but adequate and in low light or at high speed it has much better image quality than the GoPro, also because it is a dashcam, it will try to record detail in the shadows when a GoPro would not bother, instead preferring a high contrast colourful more impressive image even though there is little detail in parts.

That does make sense Nigel... I see the need for an action camera to give high quality footage, for a short time, like a skydive, bungee jump, downhill mountain bike etc etc. things that would last 15 - 20 minutes... A bike ride of say 2 hours, non stop would be an issue, and 2x camera is 2x data...

John
 
I have seen some decent video, and also some shockingly bad video...

It's important to see and compare only raw vid files. Every vid-sharing platform compresses uploaded vids, and with most the available resolution for viewing is based on the vid getting lots of views. On YT for the first few hours you're lucky to get 480p as the maximum resolution available; it's something you have to click on 'settings' to discover. Finding raw vid files isn't always easy, and you can't ever see more than your monitor is capable of giving, but there's not other way to know for sure whether the source is bad or whether it's just the vid platform.

Phil
 
It's important to see and compare only raw vid files. Every vid-sharing platform compresses uploaded vids, and with most the available resolution for viewing is based on the vid getting lots of views. On YT for the first few hours you're lucky to get 480p as the maximum resolution available; it's something you have to click on 'settings' to discover. Finding raw vid files isn't always easy, and you can't ever see more than your monitor is capable of giving, but there's not other way to know for sure whether the source is bad or whether it's just the vid platform.

Phil
Exactly... you have to compare apples with apples.. If you could find manfacturer websites, they would obviously show video in the highest quality to promote their product.
 
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