BMW Advanced Car Eye 2.0 considerations and alternatives

maomig

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Hi to everybody. I've been ready your very comprehensive forum for a while and I learned a lot. Now I think is time to post my first message/thread and the occasion is to ask you for some clarification/suggestion/consideration. I have a BMW F45 (225xe) while my wife own a 2015 Toyota Yaris Hybrid. I intend to install on both cars a dual channel camera in order to have some evidences of events and avoid discussions with other drivers in case of problems, things that in Italy could get nasty.

therefore, I was looking for:

1) the best video quality possible, day and night, since is rather useless to have a camera that is not able to fix plate numbers in different situations;
2) buffered parking mode
3) GPS
4) look as discreet as possible, since I get annoyed by stuff hanging in the middle of my field of view.

That said, after lots of researches, videos, comparatives, forums, queries to manufacturers and so on, I was convinced to purchase a VIOFO A129 duo for both cars since I thought it was the better choice.

But, lately I am starting to like the BMW Advanced Eye 2.0 for my car. I got in touch with Noritel.de (which, if I understood it properly, is the supplier for this and other components for BMW) that clarified some issues I was struggling to understand, especially concerning the parking buffered mode which is present (10 second prior and after the event). I also like a lot the radar-based motion detection, maybe it ensure less false alarms in this mode. Yes, it is bulky but the front camera is smaller than VIOFO, the rear is bigger but given the nature of my back window every other rear camera, regardless of its size, is going to be in the rear field of view so not a huge issue here.

My only concern is about Video Quality and Night vision. I read this thread https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/bmw-announces-oem-dash-cam.38739/ in which someone mentioned:

SoC: iCatch SPCA6350/V35
Front CMOS sensor: Panasonic MN34229
Rear camera: AHD

They are meaning nothing to me so I was wondering how they compare with the high rated Sony Starvis and other chipset, if anyone knows that? Any user who actually install it and could provide his impression? Any other suggestion or consideration?

Thanks
 
I BMW wants to get into the Dash-Cam Game then why not use the cameras which are already in the car? If they engineered the thing to allow a "Dealer installed" (read, expensive) module that accesses the cameras and has the memory in it, etc, they would sell well I would think. I'd much rather have a 'factory' install look. I tried to hide my wires as much as possible but not ideal.
 
I saw many Chinese BMW driver choose the BMW dash cam.

For this car eye 2.0, I know they may change the hardware solution.
 
Here is the feed from the four cameras. It is via the Connected Drive app so I am not sure if that app sends full resolution images. Perhaps you spoke a bit prematurely? I know it's not 4K, but hell, for a built in camera it is more than adequate to get the kind of detail typically needed and you can get all four sides. This is just a matter of adding the proper piece of hardware and if you want higher resolution, 4k cameras are a dime a dozen, so I don't think the extra cost would make a big issue for a buyer.

Mike

sorround.jpg
front.jpgdrivers.jpgpassenger.jpgrear.jpg
 
Thanks to everybody, in the meanwhile I resolved to buy a VIOFO A129duo for my wife’s car and play with it, waiting to finally see a footage sample from the BMW dash cam since there’s non on the net. Another fact is that the VIOFO costs to me (through Amazon) 160 euros without SD card and before installation, BMW Advanced Car Eye would be at least 740 euros with 32gb card and including installation so in the end is about 400 euros difference which is quite a lot.
 
I think you would likely be disappointed to spend 400 Euro more only to get inferior video performance
 
I think you would likely be disappointed to spend 400 Euro more only to get inferior video performance

:) You don’t really like it don’t you? Obviously yours is a good point but the BMW camera interests me because, in my humble opinion, it has 4 major advantages over all other cameras:

1) having only one cable going out of the camera, the install is cleaner despite camera is quite bulky, especially the rear one

2) it has a more integrated and advanced power management (as far as I know)

3) the most important, has radar instead of motion detection while in parking mode. This activates the camera only when someone approaches the car while motion detection activates it when anything moves in the field of view of the camera regardless of how far it is from the car

4) reliability: everyone having it say that it always activate when it should, Which is something (very sad having an accident and discovering that camera has not recorded because it hasn't activated itself)

So, at the moment, my biggest concern is understanding (i.e. seeing) how the image quality is, how the field of view is considering that the lens will be quite far from the windshield while other cameras, such ad thinkware, VIOFO and Blackvue have it closer to it and how it looks in "real-life" installations because I haven't found almost anything on youtube or similar. So far, I wasn’t able to compare BMW image quality nor anyone really analyzed in depth this, so that’s why I am searching for some experiences on it
 
Changed either SOC or image sensor, or probably both, and thats a good idea if they want to slap the BMW brand on something thats as good as their cars and a lot better than many people that drive those cars.
 
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