Can I have some tips on improving the view please?

ThingInTheAttic

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Dash Cam
SG9663DC
Ok, so this is the first chance I've had to have a look at a night-time recording since I've had the DC installed. Front recording looks ok to me apart from I think the camera might need tilting up a bit as I can see that curve and reflection of the bonnet. But the street lights are all haloed and practically look like the Star of David, can that be improved or is that normal?
I'm not happy with the view from the back-angle is ok I think, but what's all that misty blurryness, is that dirt/grease on the inside of the window? Rear window has factory installed privacy glass, does this cut down the amount of light getting into the rear camera?

That's it really, I'd just like any advice on any improvements you guys can suggest. Thanks! oh, and this is my first attempt at uploading videos onto youtube, and there may be tuneless singing in some of it because I forgot the mic was on on the DC. Sorry bout that. Can't sing to save my life :)


 
In general with the new sensors you can make do with a 50/50 split at the horizon, so by the looks of it both of the cameras could need to be turned a little down.
Halos are normal to some degree, to me it seem to have to do with the cleanness of the windscreen ( inside and out ) - the time after you set off / cold car ( especially this time of the year )
So a strict routine of cleaning windows not least the inside that do get pretty dirty even if you don't smoke or have smokers in the car.

Your blurry rear camera footage might be the result of the protective plastic still being on the lens, or dirty fingers from the install.
A lot of dirt accumulate back there, i am vary happy for my rear washer / wiper to help with the outside of the glass, personally i disconnect my cameras both front ( 4 cameras ) and rear, so i don't have to be careful when cleaning the car window.
I am experimenting with different car window cleaners, but so far none of the ones i have tested are derectely bad, but some of these can actually leave some residue on the glass when you clean it.

You can compensate for your tinted glass in the rear by changing the EV values for the rear camera, i have no personal experience with this so i cant recommend a specific setting to you, but just experiment.

I don't know what i did when i was younger and a smoker, i can only assume the view out my car windows must have been significantly lowered cuz back then i did little window cleaning.

My dear old mother just called and i have to go visit her to help her with something, i will have some footage to share with you from my DC camera then.
 
The halos are from dirt, or probably grease on the glass or on the lens, clean the glass with a little detergent (fairy liquid).

The starburst is from scratches in the glass left by the wiper blades, you have 2 lines on the front view so probably the dashcam is in a place that both wiper blades reach. If you give the glass a good polish then you might reduce those a bit, but you probably wont remove them completely unless it is an almost new windscreen.

Privacy glass doesn't help, but it also looks dirty, does the wiper blade reach the area the camera looks through? And do you use the wiper?
 
Okay my footage dident really underline what i wanted to say so i have not uploaded anything, it is clear my windscreen are also scratched up real good, and dirty too ( must be outside cuz i cleaned the inside a week ago )

Daytime footage look okay but at night it really shine thru if there are optical "issues"

My excuse are in a boy and really boys are mostly pigs if they have no one to kick their ass once in a while, on rare occasions it is not so, but then there are something wrong with the guy.
It is what it is ( the truth ) some ignore it some are not aware of it.
Dont get me wrong with a few things i am anal about keeping order in things, but generally i am a pig as i have never hand anyone to motivate me to do something about it.
 
Front recording looks ok to me apart from I think the camera might need tilting up a bit as I can see that curve and reflection of the bonnet

In general with the new sensors you can make do with a 50/50 split at the horizon, so by the looks of it both of the cameras could need to be turned a little down.
+1.

If you look around videos on DCT you will see that most owners have a fair amount of bonnet and indeed part of the dashboard in the dashcam view. This is the view from my A129 (similar to your DC). I also have halos at night, even though I cleaned the windscreen inside and out before testing new firmware.
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Regarding the halos I've determined that in my last 2 new vehicles (a Toyota and an Acura) some, if not all, of that effect is caused by the lamination in the glass. I've actually gone out with a flashlight and can see it with the naked eye. I've not noticed it in older vehicles so it's possible it's something new in either the material or manufacturing process.

As as already been mentioned the radial lines are due to either debris from the wipers or microscopic scratches in the glass. The first can be rectified with a good cleaning but scratches there's not much that can be done short of replacement.
 
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The windscreen on my 2012 car are unbelievable scratched up, to a degree i think it is cheaper softer glass.
But i think it is just me focusing more on the glass than i have ever done before, cuz on no other car have i noticed so many scratches in the windscreen.
So new glass are high on my wish list, but even if i share the cost with my insurance i still have to fork over 1700 Dkkr / 260 USD, so this are a little on the back burner,,,, but on my mind..

I was hoping to show footage with start up with a cold and damp car Vs the same car a little later after it have warmed up, and that's all well but really only visible for heavier moisture on the inside windscreen.
I have started with when i return home this part of the year, i roll down both my windows for the last mile or so before i get home so i park a car with a fairly cool cabin Vs the otherwise blistering hot cabin as i like it hot, i am assuming this mean less condensation on the inside glass as the car should not pass thru a dew point where cabin temperature and outside temperature would cause dew to form on the glass.
Desperately trying something as this time of the year having to remove snow or just wait for car to defrost are a real pain for a heat lover like me, you don not want to hear my dashcam recordings from before i set off from home, cuz it is just me sitting in the car waiting for it to heat up and the glass to clear, and during that i curse and swear + whine like a little schoolgirl about my misfortune and the weather / season.

So far i have not had the need to remove ice from my windows, but soon i fear i will have to bring 1 L of scolding hot water cuz i am not scraping it off and scratch my windscreen even more.
 
Thanks everyone for your input, I really appreciate it!
The starburst is from scratches in the glass left by the wiper blades, you have 2 lines on the front view so probably the dashcam is in a place that both wiper blades reach. If you give the glass a good polish then you might reduce those a bit, but you probably wont remove them completely unless it is an almost new windscreen.
The dashcam is in that stupidly low position that we talked about yesterday, so yes, both wipers go across that area. The windscreen doesn't look scratched to me during the daylight, but I got the car when it was two years old so I assume it now has three years worth of 'wear and tear' and there are small scratches here and there. I got new wiper blades recently.

Privacy glass doesn't help, but it also looks dirty, does the wiper blade reach the area the camera looks through? And do you use the wiper?
I do use the back wiper, but I know it isn't wiping as well as the front ones, it does need replacing. Ex-husband has just stood behind the car watching the rear wiper go back & forth and declared that he agrees with you, its dirt and/or water droplets. the wiper is leaving two properly wiped strips, and areas where the water pools into little smudgy droplets-and that's right where the camera is. New wiper for the back window, then.
Possibly also a bit greasy/dirty as well- I don't smoke but I didn't clean the insides of the windows before the installation- I can't reach and for some reason I thought the installers would make sure the area the camera is looking through is clean. I guess I should take the cameras out and try to give the windows a good polish, if only just where the cameras are. Oh, and I hadn't been driving all that long at that point- it was dry and cold, I don't remember the rear window being misty or wet but I probably would have had the de-mister on for long enough to clear it by then.
 
So far i have not had the need to remove ice from my windows, but soon i fear i will have to bring 1 L of scolding hot water cuz i am not scraping it off and scratch my windscreen even more.
Warm water, not boiling, otherwise the glass can shatter, and you end up with new glass with no scratches!

The dashcam is in that stupidly low position that we talked about yesterday, so yes, both wipers go across that area. The windscreen doesn't look scratched to me during the daylight, but I got the car when it was two years old so I assume it now has three years worth of 'wear and tear' and there are small scratches here and there. I got new wiper blades recently.
If you look for those starbursts at night with your eyes then you will see them, normally you don't focus your eyes on the glass so you don't notice them even though they are obvious!
 
You could polish or have the window polished with a fine grain sandpaper (wet type) @Dashmellow can advise on the grit size to get, it seems to have helped his old window quite a bit.
 
If you look for those starbursts at night with your eyes then you will see them, normally you don't focus your eyes on the glass so you don't notice them even though they are obvious!

Really? I've never ever noticed that! Going to have to go out and look at streetlights this evening'with my eyes' now to check :D
(Yes, my friday nights really are that wild and crazy...)
 
You could polish or have the window polished with a fine grain sandpaper (wet type) @Dashmellow can advise on the grit size to get, it seems to have helped his old window quite a bit.

OMG!, NOT sandpaper!! What's required is #0000 steel wool! Using very fine steel wool will help thoroughly clean your windscreen of stubborn water spots, squashed bugs and other grunge but will not remove scratches or pit marks in the glass.

There's a very popular (8,520,916 views and counting!) YouTube video called "How to Super Clean Your Windshield with Steel Wool" that will explain how to go about this.

 
Thanks Dashmellow, I almost turned this in to an exciting experiment! However I edited it to keep things at a normal pace.
 
Alcohol works for de-icing a windshield but it's not magic. Depends on how much ice you've got to deal with along with the ambient temperature.

Recently, I purchased some Rain-X Spray de-icer I came across for less than 3 bucks at a discount store and thought I'd give it a try. Here in Vermont we already have about eight inches of snow on the ground and this morning when I awoke it was 3º Fahrenheit (-16.11º C). There was a thick (perhaps 4mm) layer of ice across my entire windshield and the Rain-X helped but it takes a while to work and I needed to use my ice scraper anyway. Rain-X calls it a "treatment". In serious winter conditions like we experience here in New England alcohol based products can facilitate ice removal by helping to loosen it and make it much easier to scrape off but they don't magically make ice disappear like in the somewhat misleading video posted by @jokiin. That video was shot in Tennessee where conditions, even when below freezing are far milder than the northern regions of the country where we often experience arctic extremes.

Rain-X is a methyl alcohol based formulation that also repels water compared with the home brew isopropyl alcohol used in the video.

rainX.jpg
 
So far i have not had the need to remove ice from my windows, but soon i fear i will have to bring 1 L of scolding hot water cuz i am not scraping it off and scratch my windscreen even more.
brings back memories from when i was a kid in Adelaide, i remember my parents having to go out in the early morning before taking me to school in winter and pour boiling water over the windows to remove the ice that had accumulated over night.
be a few decades since i have ever seen that in Adelaide any more. so obviously the world is getting warmer all the time as the scientists say. i also remember when i was in school there used to be hail regularly and we had hail fights at lunch and recess, not any more, cant remember the last time it hailed.
 
The hot water you do have to get the wipers going on pretty fast, and even then it is not the end all solution at least not on the very cold days.
But it let me get inside the car fast and get the hemorrhoid grill going ( heated seats ) bitch and moan while i dream of a heated steering wheel as i always forget gloves.
Some say hot water will crack your windscreen, but i have been doing this for the past 2 years and i already have a crack in the windscreen from a stone, so maybe if it is super cold but i have only seen -10 deg C in the past years.
The hot water i use are from the tab, and it is plenty hot that you do not want to hold your hands under it for more than a second, longer and you will probably get burns,,, i know my little sister did so in the washroom when she was a kid a few years old- ( just lighter burns and red skin )
We Danes get our hot tab water and heating by circulating super heated steam that in turn heat a tank of cold water in apartment blocks / homes, i have never seen one of these pipes blow but i think the same are figuring in several internet videos.
 
Here's some daylight footage from this morning, I'm still very happy with the front view- still need to give the windscreen and rear window proper clean inside & out- I was actually popping to the local Halfords to get new rear wiper and some Auto Glym Fast Glass in this trip.

Not very exciting, but that little white VW that joins the roundabout nearly drove into my passenger side as I left the roundabout- she was trying to drive around to another exit and literally just drove at me. Luckily she braked and then had to turn down my exit otherwise I'd be posting my video of my first bump.
Not entirely sure if she or I was in the wrong there, I assume her as I'm in the correct lane all the way round. I think! ;) Doubting myself now, even though I drive that way practically every day and I rarely have people trying to drive across me.

I have the front exposure set at +1, it's a dreary day but everything is still easy to see. I didn't know how to chop the end of the video off in the Windows video editor thingy, hence the length. And I just missed breakfast time at MacDonalds :cry:

 
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