Dual Channel or 2 Single Channel?

[demosethell]

Hello, im living in Portugal and i wanted a dashcam for my new Opel Insignia GS.

This is the specs im looking for:

- Parkmode
- Colision and Movment sensor
- Wifi and GPS not a must but if it has it, better
- Stealthy, so it doesnt call for much attention, avoiding get my window broken and the cam stolen. (something like blackvu or better)
- Running on Battery would be cool, as i dont really want to put an external baterry on my car.


My main goal is to be able to get a good information in case something happens, like a face or a lisence plate. The car will be parked for 2/3 days in a row, so power draw will be something to consider.
My problem with dual channel cams, is that they record only at 30FPS and the quality goes down, and im afraid with the motion at night, im not be able to get a license plate shot. So i thing 60FPS would help with that.
My main problem with 2 single channel is that they are more expensive and probably more power drawing. On the other hand, i would have full quality at 60FPS either on the front or back.

So, what cam would you recomend to get? im not looking for the best one but im not holding to the cheapest ones either. As long as it fills the above criteria, im good.

 

[Harsh]

Been using a dual-channel for two weeks. Very convenient not having to pull out another Micro-SD from the rear and the files being in sync.

Only disadvantage I can think of is that if for any reason the camera malfunctions and stops recording, front and rear both get affected.

30fps is actually sufficient and works better for night-time capture, even 60fps won't capture license plates all of the time.

 

[Nigel]

60FPS does not help at night, instead you want a more sensitive sensor.
60FPS requires about 33% extra card space and about 5% extra power, if you are recording 60FPS for 3 days then you are going to run out of card space and power.
2x single channel will use about 33% extra power compared to 1x dual channel.

 

[demosethell]

so what model would you recomend me to get? My thing with the 60FPS is just if i need to stop a motion picture, i would get a sharper image

Do you think the car battery can hold the cam for 3 days without problems?

 

[Nigel]

so what model would you recomend me to get? My thing with the 60FPS is just if i need to stop a motion picture, i would get a sharper image

Do you think the car battery can hold the cam for 3 days without problems?

If there is enough light to use a shutter speed of 1/60th second then a dashcam should use 1/60th second shutter speed even if set to 5FPS frame rate so that it can record for a week of parking mode. In daylight it is more likely to use 1/600th or even 1/6000th.

A large car battery should last 3 days, but by then it will be empty and getting damaged and will require a 6 hour drive to get it fully charged again.

Take a look at the Viofo A129 Duo for a mid price dual dashcam, there are more expensive and less expensive brands/models depending on your budget, but remember to budget for a large card if you actually want to record at high framerate for days and you will need to look into extra battery power.

 

[demosethell]

thanks, just to make sure, the motion sensor are for both front and rear, right?

 

[Nigel]

thanks, just to make sure, the motion sensor are for both front and rear, right?

The parking mode for the A129 is still being worked on, but the favoured method is for a low frame rate, or low bitrate parking mode with continuous recording so that it doesn't miss anything by failing to trigger or triggering too late when using motion detection or vibration detection.

 

[Wiz33]

Hello, im living in Portugal and i wanted a dashcam for my new Opel Insignia GS.

My main goal is to be able to get a good information in case something happens, like a face or a lisence plate. The car will be parked for 2/3 days in a row, so power draw will be something to consider.
My problem with dual channel cams, is that they record only at 30FPS and the quality goes down, and im afraid with the motion at night, im not be able to get a license plate shot. So i thing 60FPS would help with that.
My main problem with 2 single channel is that they are more expensive and probably more power drawing. On the other hand, i would have full quality at 60FPS either on the front or back.

So, what cam would you recomend to get? im not looking for the best one but im not holding to the cheapest ones either. As long as it fills the above criteria, im good.

Getting a license plate while you're on the move is a myth. It depends on so many outside factors that's just not something you can count on even with 4K or 60fps. (Yes, I've seen all those youtube vids that compares license capture by varies brands). You do have a better chance capturing a plate while parked, at least on cars that's trying to park in front or behind you since they will probably be moving slow but is still not guaranteed especially at night even with the best low light sensor currently available.

You'll definitely need a backup battery or 2. Most 2 ch system won't run more than 12-18 hours off the car's battery before safety cut off from most direct wiring kit and you would need to drive the car at least an hour just to charge it back up. To last 2-3 days, you'll need enough power to last at least 50 hours. which means at least 2 additional batteries like the Blackvue b124 and B124E. While you can probably charge your car battery back up in an hour. It'll take much longer to charge both the B124 so you'll probably want to take it in the house and charge them up while you're using your car.

I went through pretty much everything you listed when considering which Dash cam to get (except the long parked duration) and I put my thoughts in this thread.

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/dashcam-101.34591/

P.S. The Blackvue is not that stealthy. I got in the the new DR-900S 4K but I was lucky to see an actual DR-750 at my installer before I open my package and I promptly returned it.