Blackvue DR550GW Full English Review!

B20RRL

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Hey guys!

As some of you know we sell a lot of cameras over in the UK and we were lucky enough to be sent the newest camera from Pittasoft to be reviewed. Well here it is, in Full HD! :D

In the review I go over:

  • Un-boxing
  • Brief going over the cameras
  • Connecting up the cameras
  • Connecting to the App with Live Footage
  • Installed In a Vehicle

Hope you enjoy!


Comes just in time after the BBC Posted up the below articles:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23722573
&
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23713732

-

I will shortly be putting up some example footage. Please watch it and check it out over on YouTube.

The footage you will see is my personal opinions on the camera with some of its features.
 
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im not sold on it, my next one will be jokiins cam
 
thanhvan229 said:
I'm waiting for dr550 fw1.010E

I think you will have to wait a while for this...
They haven't even launched the international (ENG) version of the DR550 yet.
 
Hi everyone.

I have being waiting for this camera for few months and there is still only Korean version available. I am tired of waiting and considering buying Korean version of DR550GW. Can someone please, enlighten me on the subject of the difference between English version and Korean version of DR550GW? Is it firmware difference only or something more? Is it possible to update Korean version of DR550GW with English firmware to turn it into English version when English firmware became available? Thanks.
 
I have no need for a rear cam at the moment. But the rear cam looks sweet. Now, if they can make the next front facing cam that small, and record HD video, that would be sweet.
 
vbx said:
I have no need for a rear cam at the moment. But the rear cam looks sweet. Now, if they can make the next front facing cam that small, and record HD video, that would be sweet.

The rear cam is pretty awesome... It's a lot smaller than what I originally thought it would be. It's also pretty good when installed. I have had it in my car for a few days and it' doesn't get in the way or anything. I also have factory privacy glass installed and it doesn't affect the image either which is a bonus! :)
 
Here is a quick output from both of the cameras!

FampR-Output_zps4fe44692.png
 
I'd like to see the full res screenshots to be sure but it looks to be doing a better job than the 500 was, have they dropped back on the ultra wide viewing angle?

hard to be sure when the images have been manipulated, resized, edited etc
 
B20RRL said:
Here is a quick output from both of the cameras!

FampR-Output_zps4fe44692.png
are these from pittasoft taken with a nixon slr high quality camera and said they are out of the 550 or are they images you got direct from the 550 yourself? im not trusting anything from pittasoft.
 
Great review! I'm looking forward to the example footage. I've been reading up on Blackvue all summer. The custom firmware "almost" got me excited enough to buy the 500. I held off when I heard about the 550 on the way. I soon gave up when I heard the bitrate was cranked way down AGAIN. Hopefully they have something >10MBps (12 is the sweet spot) with a last minute firmware update. (as mentioned in the video)

Like a lot of others, I'm holding off for Jokiin's "wow factor" of a camera in several weeks. (since he really listen's to what we want, and knows his stuff)

I couldn't wait since I'm ripping apart my car next week for a new Pioneer AppRadio 3 (full 6" iOS multitouch intergration if you jailbreak your iPHone!)
So for now, I went ahead and ordered the Smallest Ambarella Car DVR (newest model with OV2710 CMOS sensor & built in 1" screen now)
viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1001 (video demos on page 17 & 19)
For $100 it has Above average 1080P Video (day and night) + GPS, wow for such a tiny stealthy DVR camera. ($80 model with no GPS)

I love the WiFi & "App for that" innovation BlackVue has. (I'm a big iPhone fan as you can see with AppRadio on the way) Pittasoft really needs to have spot on Auto Exposure Correction, Excellent low light & High Bit rate if we are going to pay premium prices. The form factor is just about right too.

So maybe the example videos coming soon will wow us, we'll see!
 
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@Jokiin - No problem dude, will see If I can get some sorted for you and pop them up! Yes they have dropped the Wide angle down to 136 degrees. Think it was a wise decision... Heard a few things about your new camera as well dude. Perhaps we can do something similar when you have a fully working model? Could you send me some more info if you get a few mins?

@wozzzzza I can 100% guarantee that these pictures are from the camera that Pittasoft sent me. I was sat at a junction waiting for the lights to turn. Thought it was quite a good shot. I have noticed that the picture quality does go down slightly when the car is in movement however.
 
B20RRL said:
@Jokiin - No problem dude, will see If I can get some sorted for you and pop them up! Yes they have dropped the Wide angle down to 136 degrees. Think it was a wise decision...
.

yeah I think it would be useful to people that are considering this camera to get some screenshots or better yet some raw footage, Pittasoft copped some flack with the 500 (rightfully so I feel) for releasing footage that was recorded at a higher bitrate than what they actually shipped the camera with, coming back to a more realistic viewing angle is good too, sounds like they maybe took notice of the end user feedback, I'm sure what they wanted to achieve with such a wide viewing angle was a good idea on paper, it just didn't translate into real world results unfortunately, good to see the change



B20RRL said:
I have noticed that the picture quality does go down slightly when the car is in movement however.

honest opinion is always appreciated, no camera can do everything perfectly or to everyone's expectation and satisfaction, being transparent like this can only be a good thing


B20RRL said:
Perhaps we can do something similar when you have a fully working model? Could you send me some more info if you get a few mins?

.

will put together some info for you and a bit of an overview of what we are working on
 
wozzzzza said:
B20RRL said:
Here is a quick output from both of the cameras!

FampR-Output_zps4fe44692.png
are these from pittasoft taken with a nixon slr high quality camera and said they are out of the 550 or are they images you got direct from the 550 yourself? im not trusting anything from pittasoft.


sadly I'm also of the mind that if blackvue come out with images of what this new DR550 can capture on their website, I'll be taking it with a bit (a lot) of salt, after what they showed the DR500 would capture only to find out when i had spent good money the quality from the DR500 was no better than the £40 no name DVR cameras from eBay so maybe those images might have been taken with a dslr, a big thank you to Mio and his firmware upgrade as if it wasn't for him, my DR500 would of been sent back ages ago
 
I fully agree... I believe that Mio's Firmware is leagues ahead of what Blackvue have at the moment. My current DR500 is running the custom firmware because I believe the image quality is better.

The images, posted up are "MY" images. They are stills captured via "Print Screen" of the footage when my Audi was stationary at traffic lights. I have slightly reduced them in size to fit them into a reasonable shape for my website and my corporate Facebook Pages. I have only posted these on two forums so far.

Like I mentioned before, the image quality does drop when the car starts to move. I am talking with Pittasoft about this at the moment to hopefully get it improved. I am also asking for a higher bitrate like the latest release for the DR500.

The whole point of my review was to give an English version about what the camera is and what it can do. I asked for the camera from Pittasoft and because our last review had 17k views they knew it would be a good idea. Any problems experienced whilst it is "testing" in my car are directly fed back to them to resolve before general release.
 
Kosinar said:
I have being waiting for this camera for few months and there is still only Korean version available. I am tired of waiting and considering buying Korean version of DR550GW. Can someone please, enlighten me on the subject of the difference between English version and Korean version of DR550GW? Is it firmware difference only or something more?

Features are same in Korean and English firmware, but Voice Guide and Preferences (accessed via BlackVue Viewer) are entirely in Korean.
 
Hey guys...

Have uploaded the example footage that shows where the picture stills were taken.

As we have been sent this camera by Pittasoft to review I feel that I have to be really honest and tell my true thoughts on the camera and its footage quality.

As it stands now, the build of the cameras that make this package is excellent and Pittasoft have really taken some public demand ideas such as a smaller viewing angle etc on board.

I believe though that this camera has a few issues with quality. When you watch the footage below you will notice some blocking and the definition just isn't there. I think that there is an issue somewhere and I am in talks with Pittasoft about this. It is probably down to the front camera recording at 6mbps and the rear at 2mbps. Hopefully there is enough time between now and the start of international sales to get this fixed and sorted (Hopefully Mio & the guys at CAR-DVR can have a play and sort something in the mean time).

I also spoke to Pittasoft about the AV Cable as there was sometimes a drop out of footage from the rear camera which would only start again if you powered the camera down and restarted it (This is one of the reasons why i don't have uber amounts of footage). They have taken this and created a new cable that will resolve the issue. They will be sending me this once it's ready to test out. They have also changed the design slightly to make the AV cable a right angle connection instead of a long straight one. I mentioned that from an installers point of view it would have been a ball ache to make it look good when hardwired behind the scenes.

Now I don't want the above and the video to be a massive hate campaign towards me as a reviewer or the footage or Pittasoft. I have given my honest opinion rather than blow smoke around and Pittasoft seem committed to resolving the issues.

Any questions or anything then just shout!

Enjoy :D

 
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Thanks for the udpate. Unfortunately I'm also suffering from sever image quality issues on my DR550GW as well. It's troublesome as my footage seems to be a lot worse than yours...I'm getting a lot of pixelation and blockiness. I've only been able to film under some weird conditions...foggy with lots of trees, so I'm not sure if that is the cause of it. I'm going to film for a few more days to compare under different driving conditions but if it still looks as bad as it currently does, I'm going to have to send it in to see if there's a problem with it. I'll try to post some of my videos tonight and I'd really like to get your take on them compared to any other footage you might have. Thanks!
 
B20RRL said:

The picture in picture video gets me excited to want to upgrade to a Dual-DashCam system by 2014. I'd totally get the DR550GW for the form factor and features if not for the poor quality video. (12MBps minimum for me thanks, especially at the premium prices) I'm still watching what happens though so thanks for posting.
 
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JazJon, if it weren't for the quality issues, this is by far the best functioning camera I've had so far. The front/rear camera sync is awesome and super handy.
BTW, if you want to check it out in person, I live in SF as well.
 
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