Anyone using a 360 dashcam?

dirkzelf

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
1,787
Reaction score
869
Country
Netherlands
I found several dashcams with a 360 degree lens, just look for them on Ebay, Ali's Express, Banggood etc.

The thing is, the idea is GREAT, and I love new technology, and now you can prove the driver is at no faultt in case of incident (hopefully....), but how good is the readability of the license plates???

I've been reading some on that in the other thread where action cams as dashcams are being debated, but standard action cams also have less readability of license plates as opposed to the dedicated dash cams.

So, how's that for these dedicated dashcams?
 
I doubt you will see the number plate, certainly not what is written on it.
You might see the car!
 
Second one looks like a @estore009 (blueskysea) rebrand. I'd suggest they send you one...
 
Second one looks like a @estore009 (blueskysea) rebrand. I'd suggest they send you one...
That one is not much different to a standard dual dashcam with the front camera angled down enough to capture the driver operating the controls, minus his head. There is very little visibility out the side of the car. I guess the front is a bit wider angle than a standard dual camera, but not much.
 
That one is not much different to a standard dual dashcam with the front camera angled down enough to capture the driver operating the controls, minus his head. There is very little visibility out the side of the car. I guess the front is a bit wider angle than a standard dual camera, but not much.

It has the 360° panorama feature but yes, from the pictures it does look like there's not much coverage out the side windows.

The 360° camera by Rylo looks quite interesting.

Skip to 3:30 for relevant footage

 
360º video is entertaining and fun and as the technology improves, more interesting and watchable. I think when it comes to dash cams however, people here on DCT often seem to forget that we are attempting to capture legally actionable evidence that will potentially be submitted to insurance companies, law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, attorneys, judges and courts of law.

The media you submit to third parties has to be accessible and easy for any individual in the chain of custody to view, comprehend and analyze in ways they are already familiar with and with equipment they already have access to. Third party specialized viewing software or special viewing instructions will be out of the question. You "may" be able to submit some form of edited video in court or to insurance companies but at some point you might be required to submit RAW unedited clips which could be very problematic with any of these 360º cameras in question. In addition, in many cases the people you hand off the videos to will have minimal skills and will be using out-of-date computers and software. Assuming they can even view your video, they may find 360º video to be confusing and disorienting. A jury in a court of law may especially have difficulty parsing 360º video shot from a single camera perspective shown in one clip and a skilled defense attorney would probably have a field day finding ways to dispose of your 360º video evidence.

As far as I am concerned, at this point in time, 360º video is a gimmick for dash cam use and of little practical value. I will stick with my current four camera 360º set-up.
 
Last edited:
If interest,we can send you raw video clip from this camera!

You could send me a camera to test? I'm a professional truck driver, and could do extended testing. If it's any good you might like my thoughts.....
 
It has the 360° panorama feature but yes, from the pictures it does look like there's not much coverage out the side windows.

The 360° camera by Rylo looks quite interesting.

Skip to 3:30 for relevant footage


Point taken, no letters readable on the plates. But I wonder if it has something to do with rules and regulations, or just a difficult problem, technically I mean.

Even on the 4K resolution I still could not read the licenseplates.
 
I have a 360 camera (XiaoMi Sphere), but I do not think in general 360 camera might be used as dashcamera.
Superwide angle lens not that much suited for plate reading and IMHO best position would be on a small pole on top of car's roof, thus you'd have also sides covered.
Makes not much sense though, might be more useful on top of an helmet of a bike rider than on a vehicle.

If any of you is interested on the 360 camera tests, news, howtos, I'd recommend this website.
http://360rumors.com

Here too
http://www.benclaremont.com
 
Try reading the license plate in front of the car, you won't be able to.

Another issue is that the extreme fisheye distortion makes the make and model of cars unrecognizable.

Also, having cars, people or objects oriented in odd ways will only make it more confusing and difficult to convey what happened during a car accident.
vertical.png
 
uploaded to utube


how do we get to see it as 360 video that we can turn with our mouse??
 
Back
Top