Distorted Sound DR500GW-HD and DR550 2CH

[Reggie McElhone]

Hi guys,

I started off my dashcam journey by getting a DR500. One of the things I didn't like about that camera was that the engine noise in my car seemed really distorted - like the microphone was being totally maxed out by the engine noise and it sounded awful. Music, however, sounded OK. If I was talking in the car, that sounded fine too.

Decided to try the DR550 instead but I'm getting the exact same issue. I've tried the original firmware, the 2.0 firmware and the Custom firmware.

Judging by the lack of search results, it doesn't seem like this is an issue for anyone else.

One thing about my car - it's a BMW M135i and has a 'sound symposer', i.e. it plays engine/induction noise through the hifi speakers. It's not a particularly loud car generally though, especially compared to other cars I've owned. There are no speakers anywhere near the cam though. All very strange, and is a bit of a downer on a system that is otherwise fantastic.

Any thoughts?

Cheers

 

[Xybone]

Got any examples to show?

 

[Estoril Sport]

The engine noise recording that is captured on my DR500GW-HD is bad as well. Looking at the bit rate of the audio it is very low (just 24 kbps, the higher bitrate better reproduction) I bought a Roadhawk HD as this is marketed providing better audio re-production (320 kbps). The Roadhawk HD also has an external mic socket however. I have major problems with the Roadhawk HD in that I had lots of cracking when driving over uneven surfaces and manhole covers it just could not cope with the suspension on the Alpina, I had 4 replacements and all were just a bad, the reseller where very good and provided me a full refund. So I finished buying a GoPro Hero 3+ (audio 128 kbps) and video re-production is fantastic (35038 kbps as compared to 12000 kbps with the Roadhawk HD and 10000 kbps with the DR500DW-HD).

I power the GoPro with an external battery pack as the extended internal battery lasts about two hours.