Blackvue 550 rear camera recording distorted or black

[Shirlz33]

Hi,

I am wondering if any other 550 users have a problem with the recordings from their rear camera. I have just discovered an intermittent issue; a majority of the rear camera recordings are heavily distorted with bright pinks and greens. Several of the daytime recordings are just black screen with a hint of red taillights. A few clips have recorded normally. The normal recordings have a good image quality.

This video clip is recorded in daytime yesterday at 16.38 hrs, the front camera records normal footage, but this is the rear camera footage:

A few minutes later at 16.42 hrs, the footage is heavily distorted like this:

I paid for the SmartPower hardware kit, and to have the camera system professionally fitted. The recording setting is one minute loops, and set to the highest fps. I don't have a dab radio, and the sat nav was not in use at the time.

Has anyone seen anything like this before, or know what to suggest?

Many thanks.

 

[B20RRL]

I would say that the AV Cable hasn't been connected correctly.

Disconnect it and re-insert into the holes (Making sure that the internal pin isn't bent or damaged). Some people with DR550s do get these weird neon colours when the cable dislodges from the rear unit. If you have a habit of slamming your boot hard then this can cause the cable to move. Softly Softly catchy monkey approach is needed now you have this cam fitted.

Failing that, get in touch with the company who sold it to you.

 

[Shirlz33]

Thanks for the advice. Checked the cable, and it is totally secure. I haven't used the boot for ages, so I have sat through a pile of video to see how intermittent this is, and if there is a pattern.

On the 23rd, on a 20 minute journey, the image was normal quality all the way through, but when it went into parking mode, the image quality became distorted.

On the 24th, Right from starting the car, the image was heavily distorted for the whole 10 minute journey. On the return journey, the image was only mildly distorted around the sky area. Later that night the image was normal quality on a 10 minute journey, and all of the parking mode was normal quality.

On the 27th, as soon as starting the journey, the image was a completely black screen with occasional green flickering, during a daytime recording. and continued to be like this during parking mode.

The return journey on 27th, image returned half way through, with only mild distortion to the sky, but parking mode was very distorted.

Having pulled the cable out and putting back in, I am going to take the car out for a spin now, and see what the recording is like. Half way through, if the image is ok, I will slam the boot and see if that interfere, but I am not hopeful on that, as the boot has not been used in a while.

Will update when I have tried more things, I'm thinking of trying a different sd card, to see if that makes a difference. Any other tips very welcome!

Thanks.

 

[Peter Wilson]

The cable is pants It seems solid but it sends power and data through a cable like your TV aerial cable. or satellite dish wire a 1 core stranded wire with a outer casing. the connector is tiny and flimsy. and the camera is not very good.

I have had and many other people have had the same problem. to fix switch the blackvue off move the connectors slightly and turn back on it should work until the bad communication happens again. you won't know when it will happen but you can guarantee it will be when you have had a rear end or someone over took you and slammed the brakes on.

This is the worst one to happen

 

[Shirlz33]

Hi Peter, thanks for letting me know. That's really frustrating to find out. I went for a drive earlier, and the rear camera worked perfectly there and return journey. This issue is intermittent and looks completely random. The seller wants me to return both cameras and cable, which I am not happy about, I only got a replacement front camera a couple of weeks ago, and don't want to be left driving about without the camera protection. Will need to keep a close eye on it over the next few days and see how it goes. Gutted though.

 

[B20RRL]

It is normal practice for sellers to request the faulty goods back before they ship out replacements. Even though we would want to trust all of our customers there will be some who try to take advantage of a situation... I assume your seller is just covering their back.

I feel your pain though especially if the camera has been hard wired in.

 

[Peter Wilson]

I understand the need for the returns first, however there are some firms like citylink who do a courier returns service, they deliver the new item and collect the old one at the time of delivery. and the best bit is its actually not that much more to have that done then to have them drop the new one off.

 

[B20RRL]

I understand the need for the returns first, however there are some firms like citylink who do a courier returns service, they deliver the new item and collect the old one at the time of delivery. and the best bit is its actually not that much more to have that done then to have them drop the new one off.

That is very true but a service like that is quite costly.

Remember any time a product goes wrong or not work how it should, is a fault of the manufacturer that the reseller has to deal with (Ie it's not their fault the product has gone wrong). To arrange a pick-up and a delivery is eating out of any profit that the original sale made for that reseller or shop. Most Warranty T&Cs state that all products have a RTB (Return to Base) warranty, not all but most. If you then return that product to the manufacturer under warranty the seller has to pay for shipping and won't get any of those costs back. It sucks!

But I do honestly believe that you can judge a seller or company based on how good the after-sales is and how good they deal with problems. This is why sometimes purchasing from a genuine company who may have a slightly higher cost is preferential over getting something dirt cheap from eBay, Amazon or a Bedroom Seller.

I'm in no way taking sides but think it's always fair to show both sides of the fence.