DR750X-2CH - 64GB Front Camera Not Working

[Ctowng]

Hello to whomever come to my rescue.

I have owned this system for about 4 years now and haven't had any issues until recently, I noticed one day that the camera would boot up and as soon as it started recording it would reboot and get stuck in a continuous loop. I have since been in contact with BlackVue customer support and helped but ultimately they have resorted to wanting to charge me $100-$150 for RMA.

After re-formatting the provided microSD card and upgrading firmware the reboot loop has stopped but my front camera is showing a green/purple pixelated mess while the rear camera is working great. I have attached a photo of what the front camera is showing.

Also, this camera is powered by their Power Magic Battery Pack B-112 but the issue persist when plugged directly into the cigarette lighter as well.

Thank you advance to any help or ideas!

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum Ctowng
I believe what you have there is a dying image sensor, if you are lucky it could also be a bad connection on the ribbon cable that connect the sensor PCB with the main board in there

A memory card do not last forever, and 64 Gb is a small one so it would burn thru its life cycle faster than a larger card.
These days 256 GB is about the norm, for sure the smallest i would recommend getting even if a system are not blistering 4K

Your attached image seen to be from a phone / App, but you probably have checked that the files on the memory card look the same, a degrading memory card should not make footage like that

 

[Ctowng]

Welcome to the forum Ctowng
I believe what you have there is a dying image sensor, if you are lucky it could also be a bad connection on the ribbon cable that connect the sensor PCB with the main board in there

A memory card do not last forever, and 64 Gb is a small one so it would burn thru its life cycle faster than a larger card.
These days 256 GB is about the norm, for sure the smallest i would recommend getting even if a system are not blistering 4K

Your attached image seen to be from a phone / App, but you probably have checked that the files on the memory card look the same, a degrading memory card should not make footage like that

Thank you for the hospitality,

This is my first time dealing with something like this, would you recommend me just bite the bullet and pay the RMA fee? I’m not sure if this is something I’ll be able to fix myself.

The image sensor theory makes sense because the rear camera is working perfect. In my head they would both be screwing up if it were the microSD.

You are correct, when I connected the microSD card to my computer the files on there showed the same. Front camera nasty green screen and the rear looked amazing.

Thank you again.

 

[kamkar]

As i see it, your options are you could take it apart and look at the ribbon cable, but many are not that brave or for that matter have the tools for it, i have fought for a few decades to get relatives ( little sister and her now adult kids to have a little basic tools of their own )
Paying that amount to get the old system serviced i would not do, a few 100 buks will buy you a decent new system, tech wise things have also moved forward quite nicely since then, not least low light performance have been bumped up.
New systems generally use the Sony starvis 2 sensors named IMX 675 for the 1440p resolution cameras and IMX678 for the 4K models.

Blackvue though seem to lag a bit in adoption of these sensors.
As a American i assume often encountering cars with just a plate on the back of the car, i feel having as good a rear camera as possible would be a must have, in this day and age that have grown to 1440p resolution on many systems
HDR which is also a factor in new models ability to capture the illusive plate in low light is also a thing now, and even coming to the rear cameras too.
Rear camera being your only chance to identify a oncoming offender with plate in the rear cars, but even over here in EUville i do like the #2 chance that rear cameras give, even if our larger more easy to read plates in both ends are often captured on the front camera, then it is always nice to have a overhead, i also have like 80 GB of data on my phone plan but at most i use 3.

 

[kamkar]

This is a video about the ribbon cables, here on something else though, but the video do demonstrate what they are / look like and how their attachment work.
The locking mechanism can be a little different though, but is always some little lever that lock the ribbon cable in place in the socket

If you bite the bullet and decide to get a new system, you should try to pick the old one apart and have a look, it should not take more than a Phillips head screwdriver to get it apart.
And if you fix it you can postpone getting the new system, and feel the little WIN it is to have fixed something, and if you break it, well you are ready to order a new system, and you have tried, and trying is all i would ever ask of anyone.

A guy fixing broken ribbon cable on a viofo system.

 

[kamkar]

you probably do not need a new cable, what happen some times is they come loose in one side, i cant say i ever heard of one breaking in a dashcam.

 

[Ctowng]

As i see it, your options are you could take it apart and look at the ribbon cable, but many are not that brave or for that matter have the tools for it, i have fought for a few decades to get relatives ( little sister and her now adult kids to have a little basic tools of their own )
Paying that amount to get the old system serviced i would not do, a few 100 buks will buy you a decent new system, tech wise things have also moved forward quite nicely since then, not least low light performance have been bumped up.
New systems generally use the Sony starvis 2 sensors named IMX 675 for the 1440p resolution cameras and IMX678 for the 4K models.

Blackvue though seem to lag a bit in adoption of these sensors.
As a American i assume often encountering cars with just a plate on the back of the car, i feel having as good a rear camera as possible would be a must have, in this day and age that have grown to 1440p resolution on many systems
HDR which is also a factor in new models ability to capture the illusive plate in low light is also a thing now, and even coming to the rear cameras too.
Rear camera being your only chance to identify a oncoming offender with plate in the rear cars, but even over here in EUville i do like the #2 chance that rear cameras give, even if our larger more easy to read plates in both ends are often captured on the front camera, then it is always nice to have a overhead, i also have like 80 GB of data on my phone plan but at most i use 3.

This is a video about the ribbon cables, here on something else though, but the video do demonstrate what they are / look like and how their attachment work.
The locking mechanism can be a little different though, but is always some little lever that lock the ribbon cable in place in the socket

If you bite the bullet and decide to get a new system, you should try to pick the old one apart and have a look, it should not take more than a Phillips head screwdriver to get it apart.
And if you fix it you can postpone getting the new system, and feel the little WIN it is to have fixed something, and if you break it, well you are ready to order a new system, and you have tried, and trying is all i would ever ask of anyone.

A guy fixing broken ribbon cable on a viofo system.

you probably do not need a new cable, what happen some times is they come loose in one side, i cant say i ever heard of one breaking in a dashcam.

Thank you very much for your advice!

After what you’ve said I’ll probably just end up trying to get lucky and take it apart to mess with the Ribbon cable and see if there are any broken solder joins anywhere.

With all that being said, as I am so far behind in the dash camera world. What system would you recommend? I’d like to stick with a front and rear camera just for my piece of mind. I’m not sure the going rate for systems these days but I’d like to get a new one for my car and my wife’s car without absolutely breaking the bank if possible! HA

Thank you again for your great response! Making me feel a lot better about this issue.

 

[kamkar]

Yeah today you also get 3 channel systems, even 4 channels like the Vantrue N5 i have been testing in the past year, but those extra cabin / interior cameras only really needed for the people that do ride share.
Front and rear is just fine with me too, okay someone might claim " i saw him on the phone " but that is a unsupported claim and should have no merit.
And if they claim talking on the phone, well your microphone will be able to prove that if you where it was a voice free call CUZ it will hear no conversation.

Viofo are about to release a new system in the A 329, but it is a brand new ( preorder right now ) camera doing 4K in 60 fps in the front/ or 30 fps HDR both front and rear and so on, and it is of course going to be a premium price.
You would probably be better off looking at last years model the A 229 Duo or the newer A 229 Plus or pro ( 2 X 2K camera or 4K + 2K rear camera ) those i recon will see further price drops real soon now that a new model is about to drop, and probably significant reductions in price for the X-mas sale.

The A229 are all on the starvis 2 sensors too, and dialed in real good by now, i did not get to test the A229 plus or pro but as i recall they also support HDR on the front camera.
I did test the old / first A229 and it was a breeze, just worked as it should and only gave a little grief if i had put in a memory card not suited. https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/viofo-a229-duo-received.46981/

They also support BIG memory cards if that is a must, but i would at least go with a 256GB memory card, i have 12 of those in my test suite, and when i test cameras i usually find a few that are not suited to a particular model, but compared to blackvue and Thinkware Viofo cameras are not at all memory card fussy.
Viofo also have a list of recommended memory cards.

 

[imoan2]

Whilst I'm in the UK I have just had mine repaired for this fault by BlackVue.
The cost was was only 50GBP inc return postage to me.
I can't see why there would be this big diffference in what you have been quoted.