Am I the only guy with a Blackvue DR650GW-2CH that works perfectly ?

Andy Moore

Andy Moore

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Running V1009...........apart from its over-sensitive motion detection
 
No mine works fine on 1.009 as well .... very happy with it.
 
Nope mine works fine. Colder weather has reduced my recording time in parking mode, but that's separate from the BV. I'm on V2.001 and have used the cloud feature fairly successfully as well. Will be downgrading when I get a chance though.
 
How's the video quality?

I have horrendous pixelation. Apparently this is a big problem based on my Google search. Running side by side with my old G1W, this cheapo dashcam have far better quality than my BlackVue.

I REALLY, REALLY like the BlackVue and hope can get this fixed.
 
Absolutely (well mostly) satisfied with the form factor. Picture quality.. so..so; GPS.. spotty; WiFi.. a disappointment; Software.. absolutely the worst but there are easy alternatives available. Do I regret my purchase.. no, there is no better form factor out there.. and I live in hope of firmware fixing some of the negatives.
 
"I live in hope of firmware fixing some of the negatives"

So do most of us !!
 
My old DR400G had higher quality video recording at night and day. GPS always worked.
DR650G night time quality is kaka and GPS stopped working the second I upgraded the firmware.
Only advantage is the wifi feature.
 
I have somewhat mixed feelings towards the DR650GW-2CH.

My first dashcam was the DR500GW-HD which was great. The picture quality was great in the daytime and good at night. Sound was a bit crackly but I think that was due to my loud music. I was involved in an accident in 2014 and the vehicle involved in the accident parked behind me when we stopped. They attempted to drive off (I managed to stop them). It was then I realised how good it would have been that have a rear camera to show that (if it ever goes to court). I need a recording solution that have both front and rear options. I had a little look around and decided to go with the DR650GW-2CH as I was happy with my first BlackVue model and having one system with 2 channels seemed like a great idea (less fuss).

The form factor of the camera is great. Looks very concealed behind rear view mirror. Easy to set up and does everything I need it to. Having said that it does have its drawbacks. The standard firmware quality is very poor. When I first got this camera I did notice a considerable difference from the 500GW version. it seemed to be more blocky and pixilated. I was very surprised at this as BlackVue looked like they went a step back in quality from previous models. I was very unhappy with my purchase as it was about £300 at the time and felt worse than my one channel solution.

Done some research and discovered the custom firmware option. After about 2 hours of trying to install the custom fw it was on my camera and all configured for a higher bitrate and better WDR at night. If it wasn't for this custom FW I would have changed my 650 for something else.

A few things to note its that I have not just had issues with the picture quality but the build quality of the actual camera. Such as the coaxial connection on the front camera (https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/rear-camera-dead.14925/) or the freezing (https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/all-lights-on-cant-do-anything.13450/)

I guess I am happy with my camera now but for the cost of the device I was expecting better quality than I received.

tl;dr: Not perfect but a lot better with custom FW
 
Anno655321 said:
tl;dr: Not perfect but a lot better with custom FW
Click to expand...

Which custom firmware you use and where did you get it? My initial research show that custom firmware does give better video quality, but the rear camera may or may not work.
 
Chuck13 said:
Which custom firmware you use and where did you get it?
Click to expand...
I did a post here https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...er-picture-seems-below-par.16962/#post-220722 and here https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/blackvue-dr650gw-2ch-_-custom-firmware.9423/page-7#post-220848https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threa...er-picture-seems-below-par.16962/#post-220722

Chuck13 said:
...but the rear camera may or may not work.
Click to expand...
Yes, If the camera was made in April 2015 or later it will not work with the custom firmware.

I would love to know if the developers (calling @alexsoll) will take a look at supporting the later model version.
 
Mine is working fine. Need to just the position of the cam as showing too much road and sky seems to have an adverse effect when we are lucky enough to have the sun with no clouds (especially the low lying winter sun).
But having it too low means the whole sky is just over exposed (bright white) and my dash area has a fine raised detail which seems to decrease the overall picture quality of the road (probably trying to encode the fine detail and using to much of the bit rate up on that).

Night quality is not the best.
Brightness 1 - too dark especially overlooking the pavement. (not good for parking mode if i want to catch vandals or attempt vehicle thieves)
Brightness 2 - still not bright enough
Brightness 3 - green tinge and lots of grain

overall for a near £300 i was expecting more but its the best looking and feature filled cam on the market.

Hopefully for an increase in bitrate (would it make a difference)
but seeing as V.1.0009 is non cloud and v.2.0000 is cloud, are we non cloud users going to ever see a firmware update again?
 
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Hmm.. so we get:

- Night video not good
- Daytime video have lots of pixelation (can only be solved with custom FW, but rear camera stopped working)
- Sensitivity is too sensitive, even with level 0 setting
- Brightness... per the above.

I just had the BlackVue installed yesterday, so haven't seen the night video. I know that day video is REALLY bad compared to my $60 G1W. Have not tried the Parking Mode yet, so haven't tried the sensitivity settings.
 
We have found a lot of customers using the 2.0 have not been happy with the picture quality. So, we have been recommending customers to use 1.009 as the higher bitrate can then be selected. Side by side tests with the DR500GW showed a better picture on the DR650GW-2CH on the 'Highest' video quality recording mode.

It sounds like a few users above are using 2.0 + 'Cloud firmware' which reduces the bitrate. Unless you are wanting to use the Cloud service - there is no need to upgrade from 1.009.

I will advise everyone here that we are not BlackVue Korea and are not able to push your messages onto them. So we strongly recommend emailing your feedback directly at sales@pittasoft.com or on their facebook page.

We have several customers using the Cloud service here in Australia and are relatively happy with it. They understood about the bitrate reduction for the Cloud service as it is in its early stages only.

We recommend informing your distributor of your feedback so it can be relayed back to Pittasoft.
 
Chuck13 said:
Hmm.. so we get:

- Night video not good
- Daytime video have lots of pixelation (can only be solved with custom FW, but rear camera stopped working)
- Sensitivity is too sensitive, even with level 0 setting
- Brightness... per the above.

I just had the BlackVue installed yesterday, so haven't seen the night video. I know that day video is REALLY bad compared to my $60 G1W. Have not tried the Parking Mode yet, so haven't tried the sensitivity settings.
Click to expand...
I would say video is good just not what i expected from a sub £300 dash cam (high expectations)
It does have some issues but these can be sorted with camera position and adjustment. Problem is you only get two sticky pads. Don't get it right 1st time and your stuck with your 2nd attempt.
The main issue for me is the night quality and as its already been said. Custom Firmware has improved this a lot so i'm sure with some tinkering it can be made better.
I'm just worried that non-cloud users might not see another firmware update unless we move over to the cloud and a lower bitrate.
Blackvue giving us the option to adjust bitrate would be a start.
 
SixNineFourSixSeven said:
It does have some issues but these can be sorted with camera position and adjustment. Problem is you only get two stick pads. Don't get it right 1st time and your stuck with your 2nd attempt.
Click to expand...

I found the best way is to connect it to your phone via WiFi and have the live preview on then offer the camera up to the window. When you are happy with the picture you can then take the sticky pad protection cover off and apply to the windscreen. Possibly one of the advantages of this camera :D
 
Anno655321 said:
I found the best way is to connect it to your phone via WiFi and have the live preview on then offer the camera up to the window. When you are happy with the picture you can then take the sticky pad protection cover off and apply to the windscreen. Possibly one of the advantages of this camera :D
Click to expand...
Yeah my 1st attempt i totally forgot about the window wipers and their reach. Put it too high (it was good because you couldn't see it from outside) but when it rained the droplets where not wiped away.
2nd attempt i didn't have it central enough and in my opinion had it too low. (it could be easily distinguishable from outside).

Order some new pads and have now just been outside spend more time readjusting.
It was like working at NASA.

Just waiting for the Power Magic Pro to be delivered now so i can use the parking mode.
 
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SixNineFourSixSeven said:
I would say video is good just not what i expected from a sub £300 dash cam (high expectations)
Click to expand...

My issue is with the pixelation. I compared this with my G1W video and the G1W have far better videos, night and day.

I just updated to 1.009 and will do test side-by-side with G1W (I have 100 miles commute).
 
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