Any dash cams with the features I am looking for?

[JimmyPie]

The comparison tool on this website is fantastic but outdated as it does not have a lot of newer cameras. I mainly want to use the camera to record the sights I see on road trips.

Features I am looking for:

GPS (must have)
128 GB+ card storage
Speed and red light camera notifications
Wide Angle
Resolution higher than 1080p would be great
Wi-Fi

I guess there is a possibility I could use parking surveillance but I was not something I even knew existed when I started looking at dash cams.

Ideally, I would like to be able to upload the video files to Google Drive without having to remove the SD card.

I noticed the Blackvue Dr900. Should I wait for that? Are there any other cameras coming out soon that I should look out for?

Also, do dash cams generally have a way of updating speed and red light camera locations?

Thank you for any help.

 

[jokiin]

if you're wanting something to capture sights and upload to google drive then I'd forget about wifi for that, the file sizes are way too big for that to be a practical option, the wifi is far too slow and you're looking at around 100mb per one minute of video for most models, some are even bigger than that, particularly if you're considering higher resolutions

 

[JimmyPie]

Okay thanks. I also would be open to downloading the video and then later uploading it to Google Drive. I also wonder if there are any Bluetooth options.

if you're wanting something to capture sights and upload to google drive then I'd forget about wifi for that, the file sizes are way too big for that to be a practical option, the wifi is far too slow and you're looking at around 100mb per one minute of video for most models, some are even bigger than that, particularly if you're considering higher resolutions

 

[jokiin]

Okay thanks. I also would be open to downloading the video and then later uploading it to Google Drive

that would be the better option

I also wonder if there are any Bluetooth options.

still not suitable for large file transfer purposes

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum JimmyPie.

For speed and other roadside cameras i think you are better off running a app like waze on the phone, the users of pretty much all the dashcams with this kind of feature seem to moan about it not being as expected.

It do look like some 4K sensors will be usable for dashcams, but they will never be performing like the 1080p siblings with much larger pixels that can trap more light, but then again both are still only at a level where you only get the big picture under low light, and details in that situation will only be there if you are parked and aimed at something slower moving than walking.
Still the better performing 1080p sensors do make for more relaxed viewing of low light footage, cuz you do think you are seeing much more in the footage and you are, but hit pause or go to frame by frame and you will see the more you see, well its pretty blurred and you will only get the big picture.

I dont think 1440p cameras are much of a resolution upgrade over 1080p, 4K are and in daytime that gotta be pretty darn sweet if things are working right, only minus being the bitrate, cuz you will need a pretty high one for the 4K to keep up, so the output files will be massive and something like 1 Gb for every 3 minutes of recording at least ( assuming H.264 compression )

Personally i will make the transition to 4K when i get the chance, and a few other things like storage change to something larger and cheaper ( SSD ) i am not going to be running a 4K camera with a SD card for storage, at least not unless someone give me a 256 Gb card for free.

So i figure it will be a couple of years before i get the chance to go 4K on a dashcam

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Welcome @JimmyPie

 

[JimmyPie]

Thank you.

Welcome @JimmyPie

 

[JimmyPie]

Thanks!

So are you thinking the new 4K Blackvue that is supposed come out will not have a high enough bitrate to be worth it?

Welcome to the forum JimmyPie.

For speed and other roadside cameras i think you are better off running a app like waze on the phone, the users of pretty much all the dashcams with this kind of feature seem to moan about it not being as expected.

It do look like some 4K sensors will be usable for dashcams, but they will never be performing like the 1080p siblings with much larger pixels that can trap more light, but then again both are still only at a level where you only get the big picture under low light, and details in that situation will only be there if you are parked and aimed at something slower moving than walking.
Still the better performing 1080p sensors do make for more relaxed viewing of low light footage, cuz you do think you are seeing much more in the footage and you are, but hit pause or go to frame by frame and you will see the more you see, well its pretty blurred and you will only get the big picture.

I dont think 1440p cameras are much of a resolution upgrade over 1080p, 4K are and in daytime that gotta be pretty darn sweet if things are working right, only minus being the bitrate, cuz you will need a pretty high one for the 4K to keep up, so the output files will be massive and something like 1 Gb for every 3 minutes of recording at least ( assuming H.264 compression )

Personally i will make the transition to 4K when i get the chance, and a few other things like storage change to something larger and cheaper ( SSD ) i am not going to be running a 4K camera with a SD card for storage, at least not unless someone give me a 256 Gb card for free.

So i figure it will be a couple of years before i get the chance to go 4K on a dashcam

 

[kamkar]

Well i dont know much about it yet, not least what chipset it have and what it can allocate to the sensor / s

If it just use the 18 / 20 mbit current 1080p dashcams use but for a wopping 4K image then that will be no good, but if it use 40+ mbit then it start to look like something that might work
And from what i know about the chipsets then the single cam model should do fine as you can focus on that one sensor, on the other hand the 4K + 1080p dual channel that i am not so sure about.
But nothing to do but keep a eye out for it and hope more info from maker or testers will be at hand to make a more informed buying decision.

The brand do have its challenges too it seem among users, people might start out with one but they seem to move away from them again.
Myself i have never tried the brand, so its just what i have picked up in here over the years.

 

[JimmyPie]

Thanks again. I appreciate all of the tips.

The cams I am looking at that seem to suit me best currently are:

Thinkware F800Pro
Garmin Dash Cam 65W or 55 (I believe these only support 64GB)
DDPai X2 Pro

Maybe the Transcend DrivePro 520?

If you or anyone else has any insight on those or any other recommendations, please let me know.

Well i dont know much about it yet, not least what chipset it have and what it can allocate to the sensor / s

If it just use the 18 / 20 mbit current 1080p dashcams use but for a wopping 4K image then that will be no good, but if it use 40+ mbit then it start to look like something that might work
And from what i know about the chipsets then the single cam model should do fine as you can focus on that one sensor, on the other hand the 4K + 1080p dual channel that i am not so sure about.
But nothing to do but keep a eye out for it and hope more info from maker or testers will be at hand to make a more informed buying decision.

The brand do have its challenges too it seem among users, people might start out with one but they seem to move away from them again.
Myself i have never tried the brand, so its just what i have picked up in here over the years.

 

[jokiin]

Well i dont know much about it yet, not least what chipset it have and what it can allocate to the sensor / s

If it just use the 18 / 20 mbit current 1080p dashcams use but for a wopping 4K image then that will be no good, but if it use 40+ mbit then it start to look like something that might work

from the info I've seen so far it is said to be using H.265 @ 10mbit

 

[kamkar]

I was suspecting they would bring in H.265, so we will probably see a increase in playback and editing questions from the people spending money on dashcams and other gadgets and not computer processing power.

Not sure what 10 mbit is using that, i have only tried that with the inferior 1080p resolution.

 

[jokiin]

Not sure what 10 mbit is using that, i have only tried that with the inferior 1080p resolution.

from the way H.265 is promoted it should give similar results to what H.264 would @ 20mbit

 

[Nigel]

from the way H.265 is promoted it should give similar results to what H.264 would @ 20mbit

For good quality 4K you want 100mbps H264, remember that it has 4x the number of pixels as 1080 so 100mbps gives the same image quality as 25mbps at 1080 which is not a particularly high bitrate.

H265 may need less but for dashcam footage it is not 50%, maybe 75%.

 

[kamkar]

I would say using H.265 it should at least be 20 mbit at least for 4K footage.
Using the M2 i was able to run H.265 at extremely low bitrates and still get pretty good 1080p footage, but that's 1080p and i think 4K is a whole other ballgame.

I dont know it its worth it recording some demo footage with the SJ7, or maybe use it to record a base line file at highest possible bitrate, and then use my pinnnacle studio to load that up and export it in a range of lesser bitrates for comparing.
H.264 off course as pinnacle studio 20 dont even support H.265 which was kinda a surprise to me when i found out.

 

[kamkar]

Video processing now,,, hang in there

 

[jokiin]

For good quality 4K you want 100mbps H264, remember that it has 4x the number of pixels as 1080 so 100mbps gives the same image quality as 25mbps at 1080 which is not a particularly high bitrate.

H265 may need less but for dashcam footage it is not 50%, maybe 75%.

as I said, at the way it's promoted, I haven't seen it work as well as what is claimed but that may improve, I still suspect the bitrate offered by the Blackvue will be well short of ideal but that's how they do things anyway, they've never done great video