Blackvue DR500GW-HD : New official firmware?

[defbear]

Glad to see a representative from BlackVue has joined the forum (email and IP address are legit for anyone interested). Welcome and we look forward to your input.

If anyone wants a direct link to the "Beta v1.007E firmware", I've hosted it here. I scanned it for viruses and it appears to be clean.

Although i saw the Setup screenshot, I haven't seen it said in plain language. Is 1.007e in English? (Yes I see the 'e'.) How many have tried it? Is there a backwards path back to 1.005? My DR500 came with 1.005 and works well. I think most would benefit from tilting their cameras lower towards the road. The resulting video may seem to have too much Dash in it but it does not have to deal with as much Sky. My nighttime videos improved greatly after turning Brightness all the way down. With the brightness up, everything looked like brown fog.

 

[micahfy]

could anyone tell me what should I do if I want change the custom FW to the beta 1.007E ?

 

[Hillbilly]

could anyone tell me what should I do if I want change the custom FW to the beta 1.007E ?

I thnk Mio said you have to revert back to the 1.005 first

 

[thostr]

What are the improvements in the 1.007-firmware? Better video quality/improved plate recognition?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[vbx]

What are the improvements in the 1.007-firmware? Better video quality/improved plate recognition?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

If you cam has trouble focusing on plates, you should send a video to pittasoft and let them look at it.

They will determine if it's normal or not.

 

[Hillbilly]

I have found that if I have the sun behind me the camera can read the plates quite well.

It looks OK in the viewer and even better as a screen grab

However if the sun is to the front or off to the front quarter the camera has trouble with the plate being in the darker part of the picture.

This seems to be what is causing the problem with the plates.

I have looked at video taken with all of my 3 cameras and they all show the same problem A 350, 400 and 500

 

[jokiin]

I think that's consistent with the contrast issues some people complain of when driving through areas with lots of trees

 

[Hillbilly]

I think that's consistent with the contrast issues some people complain of when driving through areas with lots of trees

Probably

 

[defbear]

So is 1.007 really in German?

 

[Hillbilly]

So is 1.007 really in German?

E is for English


[firmware]
version = 1.007
model = 500GW
language = English
[software]
version = 2.033
model = 500GW
language = English
[config]
version = 1.040
model = 500GW

 

[defbear]

What are the improvements in the 1.007-firmware? Better video quality/improved plate recognition?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

Could someone who is using 1.007e expand on what improvements have been made over 1.005e? My Blackvue 500 works good so I'm not trying to improve much. Any new settings, menu's? Thanks!

 

[Hillbilly]

What are the improvements in the 1.007-firmware? Better video quality/improved plate recognition?

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk 2

Could someone who is using 1.007e expand on what improvements have been made over 1.005e? My Blackvue 500 works good so I'm not trying to improve much. Any new settings, menu's? Thanks!

Havent loaded it but all I can see thats different is that it also has a custom config in it I decided not to bother ATM

 

[thostr]

I've upgraded to the beta version of 1.007e floating around. It now has four video quality settings. I've tried the next highest setting 'high'. Video files seem to be approx. twice the size compared to 'low' compression settings in 1.005e. I've not noticed huge differences in plate recognition abilities yet, but I've not had time to study closely yet. May be a figment of my imagination, but the camera seems to run cooler as well.

To me it seems that the video quality in itself is good, also with 1.005e. The main issue with this camera seems to be caused by the somewhat extreme wide angle lense, making objects appear further away than with more normal lenses. I think plate recognition for cars more than say 10 meters away from the camera lens is improbable irrespective of codec and bitrate. Probably good enough for parking incidents and 'close encounters', but generally not for identifying vehicles involved in dangerous overtakes in traffic.

 

[jokiin]

I think plate recognition for cars more than say 10 meters away from the camera lens is improbable irrespective of codec and bitrate. Probably good enough for parking incidents and 'close encounters', but generally not for identifying vehicles involved in dangerous overtakes in traffic.

I would think that if the car was 10 meters away from you that it's not such an issue anyway, if it's close enough for contact then it will be close enough to get the details

 

[defbear]

I've upgraded to the beta version of 1.007e floating around. It now has four video quality settings. I've tried the next highest setting 'high'. Video files seem to be approx. twice the size compared to 'low' compression settings in 1.005e. I've not noticed huge differences in plate recognition abilities yet, but I've not had time to study closely yet. May be a figment of my imagination, but the camera seems to run cooler as well.

To me it seems that the video quality in itself is good, also with 1.005e. The main issue with this camera seems to be caused by the somewhat extreme wide angle lense, making objects appear further away than with more normal lenses. I think plate recognition for cars more than say 10 meters away from the camera lens is improbable irrespective of codec and bitrate. Probably good enough for parking incidents and 'close encounters', but generally not for identifying vehicles involved in dangerous overtakes in traffic.

I'm not hung up on 'plate recognition'. Did nighttime video improve? Is it worth upgrading for better daytime video? Did wifi improve or get worse?

 

[defbear]

I would advise against anyone upgrading to 1.008. It's is not a stable Firmware Release in my opinion. There are various issues if you read the threads. 1.005 seems a stable and reliable platform that the Blackvue performs well with. 1.008 has caused time and date issues for myself and others. Stick to 1.005 for a reliable Blackview. At this time once upgraded there seems no way back from 1.008 to 1.005.

 

[Hillbilly]

I would advise against anyone upgrading to 1.008. It's is a buggy mess that cannot even display the proper time and dare. The focus has gotten worse. There is no way back to 1.005. After updating to 1.008 my date is stuck on 7-25-13 and the time starts at 10:15. Others have the same issue. There is no response from Blackvue Co. My Blackvue Dg500 can no longer be used as a witness in court. The Blackvue Dg500 is now useless as a dashcam. With no company support for this problem I'm beginning too think everyone should avoid Blackvue products in general.

You probably have got the point across that you dont like Blackue by posting the same thing in 7 different threads.

Good of you to do it at the weekend when the company is probably not working and cant respond.


Question How is it you are having so much trouble and so many others arent.

I have installed 1.008 on 3 different SD cards and the camera works fine with all of them.

The video on mine is much clearer than before due to the higher bitrate and I can now read plates much easier.

Maybe you got a dud camera so send it back and get another. No need to flood the forum with multiple posts We got the message iin the first one.

 

[defbear]

I would advise against anyone upgrading to 1.008. It's is a buggy mess that cannot even display the proper time and dare. The focus has gotten worse. There is no way back to 1.005. After updating to 1.008 my date is stuck on 7-25-13 and the time starts at 10:15. Others have the same issue. There is no response from Blackvue Co. My Blackvue Dg500 can no longer be used as a witness in court. The Blackvue Dg500 is now useless as a dashcam. With no company support for this problem I'm beginning too think everyone should avoid Blackvue products in general.

You probably have got the point across that you dont like Blackue by posting the same thing in 7 different threads.

Good of you to do it at the weekend when the company is probably not working and cant respond.


Question How is it you are having so much trouble and so many others arent.

I have installed 1.008 on 3 different SD cards and the camera works fine with all of them.


The video on mine is much clearer than before due to the higher bitrate and I can now read plates much easier.

Maybe you got a dud camera so send it back and get another. No need to flood the forum with multiple posts We got the message iin the first one.

You post quite a little bit yourself Hillbilly! I have only posted in the threads concerning: Firmware Upgrades, 1.008, SD Card issues. I have stayed on point and posted so that others, that have the same concerns that I do, will have another opinion.
It's Monday in Korea and yes I want to get,their attention having tried alternative means. I have PM Blackvue twice and even given a home email No response. Thus I am going to hammer them on the forums, for everybody's benefit, until they respond.

A product being sold to the general public, should use regular high speed cards without all these issues. If the camera cannot use a card that has been successfully formatted in the camera, what does that tell you? Or do you disagree the the camera should not be able to use it's own formatted cards? Hmmm. Why bother having format routines in the camera. When you put a formatted card card in the camera, it formats it again and put the files on it. Even during the upgrade the first thins it does is run DOS 'chkdsk on the card. Blackvue is both relying on normal PC format routines and recommending sdformatter. '
The 1.008 update has been crippling for many. My date is stuck on 7-25-13 and the time restarts at 10:15 every time i have tried 1.008. The GPS syncs in under two minutes.
The Blackvue DG500 is now useless as a witness in court as it has the wrong date and time.

I have read every thread on the subject and tried ever formatting blah blah trick in the book. I am technical and have 30 years programming and system integration in UNix, Windows and u name it.
I am not whining that 'This thing doesn't work like it is supposed to'. But if this thing is all that finicky about cards and then they release buggy updates that cripple the usefulness of the camera, then perhaps they should just sell product in the in the back of Popular Mechanics magazines for the Boffins.
Blackvue Please Respond!

 

[defbear]

Oh, and no my camera was not a dud. It worked great out of the box. I was not having the problems that others reported. My videos looked good and wifi worked great. I installed 1.008 and the camera went to hell. Yes you got it. But has Blackvue,gotten 'it'? I'll stop when Blackvue addresses their issues with 1.008 and announces they are working on a patch.

 

[Hillbilly]

[/quote]

You post quite a little bit yourself Hillbilly.![/quote]

Hopefully positve and helpful as well Its still only 7 am Monday in Seoul ATM