A short written B4K review

SawMaster

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Bluesktsea sent me a B4K cam for test and review free of charge. It's their latest true 4K offering with wifi and at a very attractive price. It's still being developed and I'll add any new updates here as they occur. This cam comes with a GPS sticky mount only and is capable of supporting a rear cam but I have only the front cam so everything here will be with it used solo. It also has an optional hardwire kit available which I also did not test but is shipped with only a cigarette-lighter type power supply which I used for these tests.

The B4K comes in a glossy multi-color 'sleeve' type box and is well packed. With the cam you'll get the cam in a thin foam protective sleeve, a GPS mount, the plug-in PS, and an owner's manual. The manual is in larger easy-to-read print in English language only. The line drawings and charts in it are clear and easy to understand.

This cam has a large LCD screen with large icons for the menu selections. There are small LED's to indicate cam function when the screen is off. Each menu tem's choices are denoted by a blue 'box' around them; rather different than most cams but easy to see, understand, and use. The menu is a single list with 3 'pages' which I like as this makes it easy to find the menu item you're looking for. It also has an app for use with it's wifi offering similar functionality, and it's both easy-to-use and works with most Android phones. IOS is also supported but I haven't tested it.

This is a true 4K cam with a maximum resolution of 3840*2160 @30FPS using the 8MP Sony IMX415 sensor and the Novatek 96670 processor. It records in HEVC H.265 using the .ts file format. This file format does not require the file be closed on end of powering like .MPEG and other formats do to avoid corrupted files; instead as it's native processor language everything is written to the sd card in real time and is saved on the card immediately so the files don't need to be closed as such. The downside of the .ts format is that many of the common and popular vid player platforms do not yet support .ts and some which do struggle with h.265 a bit, especially on older slower computers such as mine. This can cause the viewed vids to 'stutter' some when viewed directly but nothing is lost except smoothness. With a better PC and the right viewer you won't have this problem.

The B4K supports up to 256GB cards and mine works flawlessly with Samsung EVO select cards in sizes ranging from 32GB to 128GB. I've tried a Sandisk Extreme A1 64GB card and it had to be formatted in-cam on 2 occasions during start-up as warned by the message on the cam screen and beeps, after that it too has worked perfectly for over 20 cycles. Others have used a few different cards with equal performance to good effect so it can be said that this cam isn't picky about cards the way some are but being 4K it will need a card with good write speeds. At maximum resolution file sizes are about 198280kb in size with the 1 minute file time setting and the bitrate is about 27Mbps which is pretty high for a dashcam. Both card and cam get quite warm at this level but I don't think it will be an issue in any but the hottest climates.

The audio quality of the B4K is good and linear, but slightly limited at the highest and lowest frequencies. The mic's sensitivity is average; you'll get voices in and very near the car clearly at a good level and louder sounds, but it's not among the more sensitive mics. Video quality is also good but not exceptional; you do get 4K details but not as sharply as with high-end 4K dashcams. Night-time vid quality is acceptable and on par with other 4K dashcams, few of which do notably well at night. The video advantages of 4K recording are in the daytime with all 4K dashcams. Considering the price of the B4K you do get your money's worth in both these things and I know of no other true 4K cams which do this well at this price level. Given the good build quality which should indicate a good service life, I feel that the B4K is well worth considering for those wanting a 4K cam's advantages at a budget price.

Blueskysea has focused it's market aim on providing consumers with budget-friendly dashcams offering solid reliable performance, good build quality and long service life, and vid quality above that of their direct competition along with very good customer service, after-sales support, and firmware updates. The B4K follows along with this. I am very comfortable in recommending this cam to anyone seeking those virtues in a dashcam, and I'm sure those who buy it will be satisfied with it for years to come.
 
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but the cam has supercaps to do that anyway.
I thought it didn't have supercaps, it uses .ts files so that it doesn't need them, keeps the cost and size down.

It is the B2K that does have supercaps, and some of the test samples seem to have a problem with them not working.

Image quality is still being worked on, some more improvements to come. The low cost doesn't result in the highest bitrates, but it is real 4K at a low price, with significantly more detail than the fake 4K cameras.

This can cause the viewed vids to 'stutter' some when viewed directly but nothing is lost except smoothness.
I think this is due to using H265, not due to use of .ts. Some older PCs can struggle with H265, but it is a good choice for 4K video given the fairly low bitrates used.
 
I thought it didn't have supercaps, it uses .ts files so that it doesn't need them, keeps the cost and size down.
you still lose the last second or so of a TS file, just not the whole file, would still be better with caps to not have that happen
 
Yes, it is nice to end a second after impact rather than a second before, but it is much better than losing the last 2 minutes which can easily happen with .mpg unless you have capacitors.

Hopefully you don't lose power on impact anyway, but if you do then I don't think it is a disaster, and it is a budget 4K camera.
 
I thought it didn't have supercaps, it uses .ts files so that it doesn't need them, keeps the cost and size down.
I think this is due to using H265, not due to use of .ts. Some older PCs can struggle with H265, but it is a good choice for 4K video given the fairly low bitrates used.
Indeed you are correct- my thanks for keeping things accurate and my post is duly amended. I've opened mine up to verify that and on so doing was pleased to note there is a lot of EMI shielding in place with the B4K :)

Phil
 
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you still lose the last second or so of a TS file, just not the whole file, would still be better with caps to not have that happen
There is room for those inside and more, but I don't know if the circuit is designed to accommodate them and revising it would be a large undertaking. All things considered I think it OK for the price, and given how many people we see fighting corrupted files after a crash it seems to be worth having even in less-than-perfect form.

Phil
 
Bluesktsea sent me a B4K cam for test and review free of charge. It's their latest true 4K offering with wifi and at a very attractive price. It's still being developed and I'll add any new updates here as they occur. This cam comes with a GPS sticky mount only and is capable of supporting a rear cam but I have only the front cam so everything here will be with it used solo. It also has an optional hardwire kit available which I also did not test but is shipped with only a cigarette-lighter type power supply which I used for these tests.

The B4K comes in a glossy multi-color 'sleeve' type box and is well packed. With the cam you'll get the cam in a thin foam protective sleeve, a GPS mount, the plug-in PS, and an owner's manual. The manual is in larger easy-to-read print in English language only. The line drawings and charts in it are clear and easy to understand.

This cam has a large LCD screen with large icons for the menu selections. There are small LED's to indicate cam function when the screen is off. Each menu tem's choices are denoted by a blue 'box' around them; rather different than most cams but easy to see, understand, and use. The menu is a single list with 3 'pages' which I like as this makes it easy to find the menu item you're looking for. It also has an app for use with it's wifi offering similar functionality, and it's both easy-to-use and works with most Android phones. IOS is also supported but I haven't tested it.

This is a true 4K cam with a maximum resolution of 3840*2160 @30FPS using the 8MP Sony IMX415 sensor and the Novatek 96670 processor. It records in HEVC H.265 using the .ts file format. This file format does not require the file be closed on end of powering like .MPEG and other formats do to avoid corrupted files; instead as it's native processor language everything is written to the sd card in real time and is saved on the card immediately so the files don't need to be closed as such. The downside of the .ts format is that many of the common and popular vid player platforms do not yet support .ts and some which do struggle with h.265 a bit, especially on older slower computers such as mine. This can cause the viewed vids to 'stutter' some when viewed directly but nothing is lost except smoothness. With a better PC and the right viewer you won't have this problem.

The B4K supports up to 256GB cards and mine works flawlessly with Samsung EVO select cards in sizes ranging from 32GB to 128GB. I've tried a Sandisk Extreme A1 64GB card and it had to be formatted in-cam on 2 occasions during start-up as warned by the message on the cam screen and beeps, after that it too has worked perfectly for over 20 cycles. Others have used a few different cards with equal performance to good effect so it can be said that this cam isn't picky about cards the way some are but being 4K it will need a card with good write speeds. At maximum resolution file sizes are about 198280kb in size with the 1 minute file time setting and the bitrate is about 27Mbps which is pretty high for a dashcam. Both card and cam get quite warm at this level but I don't think it will be an issue in any but the hottest climates.

The audio quality of the B4K is good and linear, but slightly limited at the highest and lowest frequencies. The mic's sensitivity is average; you'll get voices in and very near the car clearly at a good level and louder sounds, but it's not among the more sensitive mics. Video quality is also good but not exceptional; you do get 4K details but not as sharply as with high-end 4K dashcams. Night-time vid quality is acceptable and on par with other 4K dashcams, few of which do notably well at night. The video advantages of 4K recording are in the daytime with all 4K dashcams. Considering the price of the B4K you do get your money's worth in both these things and I know of no other true 4K cams which do this well at this price level. Given the good build quality which should indicate a good service life, I feel that the B4K is well worth considering for those wanting a 4K cam's advantages at a budget price.

Blueskysea has focused it's market aim on providing consumers with budget-friendly dashcams offering solid reliable performance, good build quality and long service life, and vid quality above that of their direct competition along with very good customer service, after-sales support, and firmware updates. The B4K follows along with this. I am very comfortable in recommending this cam to anyone seeking those virtues in a dashcam, and I'm sure those who buy it will be satisfied with it for years to come.
does it support 4k resolution in parking mode?
 
@Arium
I haven't tried parking mode which requires a HWK to function, however I would expect that it will do 4K then as most other cams allow their full resolution with parking mode use, although that isn't always a good choice nor always necessary.

I will see if the B2W HWK works with the B4K in the next day or two as I have no other compatible HWK's to try.

Phil
 
I will see if the B2W HWK works with the B4K in the next day or two as I have no other compatible HWK's to try.
No, wrong type of connector! It does work with the B2K though...
 
No, wrong type of connector! It does work with the B2K though...
Rats- foiled again! :( Well at least you saved me the effort- thanks Nigel :)

No promises as money is a bit tight here, but I do want to try one of the rear cams with mine (if they are available yet) and if I can swing that I'll have enough to get the proper HWK with it.

Phil
 
Video resolution is 1080p in buffered parking mode.
Will help to keep the processor cool- heat is a problem for parking modes in all 4K cams for folks living in hotter climates.

Phil
 
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