Expensive dashcams worth it?

[beaumont]

I can't believe the MB ,but if it should be Mb it would mean the bit rate is ridiculously low for the resolution of the sensor

 

[RLS]

I can't believe the MB ,but if it should be Mb it would mean the bit rate is ridiculously low for the resolution of the sensor

Haha yes it’s hard to believe for sure.

That was taken from:

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[Blink982]

Well I installed my (cheap) Blueskysea B1W today, which took longer than it should have as I had a lot of issues hiding the cables behind the A pillar. I took the car out for a test and turned my DAB radio on and the dashcam is obviously interfering with the radio reception.

I assume that an expensive camera would cause the same issue? I installed it in exactly the same place as others have to 981/718 Caymans.

 

[kamkar]

Yes many seem to complain about DAP interference, on a range of cars / dashcams, clearly a good idea to keep cameras and wires far away from anything DAB related.

 

[Nigel]

Yes many seem to complain about DAP interference, on a range of cars / dashcams, clearly a good idea to keep cameras and wires far away from anything DAB related.

Strangely, most of the reports of radio interference issues seem to be on the most expensive cars!

I still think that fitting a proper roof mounted DAB antenna is the best solution.

I've not noticed any issues with my B1W though, so first check that you are not running the power cable alongside the DAB antenna cable, it should go the other side of the car.

 

[kamkar]

I dont have DAB, hell my cheap car dident even come with a FM radio, thats how cheap i am or should we say how expensive cars are in the socialist democratic monarchy of Denmark.

 

[Nigel]

...hell my cheap car dident even come with a FM radio...

Why would you want FM? It's due to be switched off soon, the future is DAB only. Except that the switch off keeps being postponed because of reception issues, probably due to the car manufacturers fitting rubbish antennas!

 

[kamkar]

I dont want either of them at this time, i got plenty in my ripped CD's
Working on getting out of my cable TV bundle that have been forced down ny throat for years, then my TV will go into its box and remain there.
And then you guys are screwed cuz all i have by then are my computer, and then i can spend all my time here,,,,,,, wait a moment

 

[Blink982]

Yes many seem to complain about DAP interference, on a range of cars / dashcams, clearly a good idea to keep cameras and wires far away from anything DAB related.

Strangely, most of the reports of radio interference issues seem to be on the most expensive cars!

I still think that fitting a proper roof mounted DAB antenna is the best solution.

I've not noticed any issues with my B1W though, so first check that you are not running the power cable alongside the DAB antenna cable, it should go the other side of the car.

I ran the cable down the passengers side to the 12 v socket. I have no idea if the DAB cable is there.

I assume that a different dashcam would give the same results?

 

[Nigel]

I ran the cable down the passengers side to the 12 v socket. I have no idea if the DAB cable is there.

I assume that a different dashcam would give the same results?

All digital electronic equipment produces some radio noise, if you already have poor reception then it is easy to take it from the point where DAB error correction manages to produce a perfect result to a point where it produces nothing. A good DAB antenna with good antenna cable should not suffer from the interference. I would expect the B1W to be one of the better cameras since it uses the least power, it's not always the case, but we have not seen many posts here about B1W radio issues and there have been some posts for most cameras.

My guess is that you have the power cable running very close to the antenna cable and if you move it to the other side of the car then the problem will be sorted. If you live in an area with weak DAB reception then maybe look at installing a good roof mount DAB antenna.

I think it is correct to say than most people have no problems with the B1W so if it is not caused by the cable routing then it is probably not the camera's fault, just the camera making an existing issue more noticeable.

 

[kamkar]

My new headset,,,, well a year old by now, clearly the reason it was so cheap was at the expense of RF insulation, no matter how i try to route it on my computer table i have noise.
Seem like my HDD dock make noise - my LG monitor do - my Kingston card reader - my computer, even my cheap mouse do as i can hear on the noise when i use the mouse wheel.

At this time i am pretty sure every one are cutting corners, at least in the lower 2 segments.

 

[SawMaster]

I assume that a different dashcam would give the same results?

Maybe. I do recall hearing it helped at least somewhat with a few people who have reported trying it, but I've seen as many reports of times when it didn't help. Most often the person simply gives up one or the other function. It really shouldn't happen but because of how electronics are currently regulated the door is wide open to problems of every sort and nobody can be made to address them.

Here in the US which is probably the largest 'car radio' market in the world we are being told that we too are going to lose AM and FM broadcasts for digital. We're also probably the largest market for aftermarket car electronics too. So when the switch is made to digital here I expect there to be so many problems and such an uproar (complete with lawsuits flying in every direction) that digital broadcasting and receiving equipment will be forced to become better and eliminate the problems. When that happens here the rest of the world will benefit from the improved technology. There will be a cost to get the improvements and it may be so high that people will finally come to their senses and understand that radio reception in a moving vehicle has never been perfect and never will be.

Phil

 

[Blink982]

The DAB reception in my car is perfectly fine and I am not about to stick an ugly aerial on the roof. I experimented by running the cable behind the passenger sun visor and then down the door seal, which unfortunately means that the cables are visible. It still interferes but not as much.

 

[Nigel]

... When that happens here the rest of the world will benefit from the improved technology...

We have had DAB since 1995, UK, Sweden and Norway were first. I think the technology is already well developed, and in my experience does better than FM, so much so that it has enabled the car manufactures to fit poor quality antennas stuck to the glass instead of the proper roof antennas that everyone used to have.

 

[kamkar]

First DAB broadcast here was in 1995 too, and we have since moved to DAB+ now ( oct 1 - 2017 )
Running 2 mulitplex here with 20 channels, just 18 channels appear to be in use on a national level, if all are in use now some will be vacant soon as Danish national TV & radio have just been hit with severe cuts so they are closing a few TV and radio channels.
Dedicated radio listeners say DAB / DAB+ are still garbage compared to FM, i assume based on not enough Tx masts being put up and the DAB frequencies are more susceptible to being muffled by buildings ASO.
Most channels are 88 or 56 kbit/s with only a couple being 128 kbit/s Vs the agreed upon 192 kbit/s minimum for DAB+ for DAB radio to be on par with the quality of the old FM signal.

Pretty sure we got the most expensive and less functional solution, that seem to be what we Danes always end up with,,,,, and seem happy about.

 

[SawMaster]

DAB as a system is well developed in itself, but it needs to go further to be compatible with everything else we use. And everything else we use needs similar development to assist in that compatibility. it's simply a question of everyone doing better than they do now. The real problem is that the regulations which control these things are not adequate for our times. Our governments seem hesitant to fix them and we as consumers have little we can do about that.

For decades we lived with less-than-perfect mobile radio reception because there was nothing better. It didn't harm anyone even if it was frustrating at times. What has happened is that we've been sold a system which is still less-than-perfect, but we were told it would not be this way. Our options are limited by the fact that there is a limited amount of usable radio spectrum available and we're tryinmg to cram more and more into it. Filtering, shielding, and digital error correction exist as means to address these issues but nobody is going to willingly increase their costs and reduce their profits in comparison to others until the regulations mandate that for everyone. There will be a cost to do that, so it really comes down to what we are willing to pay to get what we want. And in the 'want' lies the problem of unrealistic expectations of perfection where it simply can never be achieved. And that has to be leveled across the masses democratically with the few wanting something different living with those results.

I'm personally happy and quite satisfied with the current US AM/FM broadcasting even with it's imperfections. If I want maximum fidelity I pop in a CD and go on my merry way. None of my dashcams have affected that nor does it affect my VHF/UHF FM-based Ham radios but it would probably wreak havoc with AM/SSB/CW HF operation. Many of today's cars do that anyway without dashcams so we Hams understand that the car is necessary while our hobby really isn't even though we would like to use both simultaneously. It's a compromise we make because we have to and it really does us no great harm. But lacking a dashcam can do us harm so as far as they go I'd like to see a better solution even if it cost more, provided those costs were reasonable.

Perhaps the best solution would be to go back to our old broadcasting systems and cars with antennas designed to work well instead of just look good. At least we'd know what we've got and know it would work reliably within it's limits, and it would be affordable. I think it's better to have lower expectations met than to have higher expectations which cannot be met. Mobile radio has never been perfect and never will be by it's very nature so we need to stop expecting that.

Phil

 

[Nigel]

I don't think DAB was ever intended to be more than a system for mobile/portable audio. It was supposed to match FM Stereo on the high bitrate channels and match AM Mono on the lower bitrate channels.

At home, if I want hifi quality I can listen to the radio on DTT (Digital Terrestrial TV) where the BBC broadcast all their radio channels, including local radio at 192kbit/s. On DAB most of them are half that, only their classical music channel being at 192kbit/s. There is also satellite which has 192kbit/s, and internet radio where the BBC use 320kbit/s and have been known to use lossless encoding of the 1.5mbit/s source for some of their bigger music events. I think most people are happy with 320kbit/s stereo audio quality.

The commercial stations tend to use lower bitrates on all broadcast systems, presumably because they cost less and they can do so without loosing their audience.

 

[jokiin]

DAB may be fine for the UK, small country, different landscape, it's a big challenge for us in Australia and doesn't work that well in cars

 

[viofo]

And, since I just so happen to have a new, extra SG9663DC:

- red circle: mic unit on PCB




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This type of MIC is first introduced in our GitUp action camera 2 years ago. We also did try this before on A129 and have some audio issue due to different hardware design.
So finally we use the Wired version. Some audio issue may relate with MIC location, just send your feedback to engineer to check, thanks for your feedback.

 

[RLS]

Well I installed my (cheap) Blueskysea B1W today, which took longer than it should have as I had a lot of issues hiding the cables behind the A pillar. I took the car out for a test and turned my DAB radio on and the dashcam is obviously interfering with the radio reception.

I assume that an expensive camera would cause the same issue? I installed it in exactly the same place as others have to 981/718 Caymans.

Try a ferrite core on the charger end of the power cable. It looks like a 12V to 5V, so that could be the issue.

I had a whole lot of RF interference, reducing my key fob range on my GTR and Macan. I added ferrite cores, and some fancy 3M EMI, and it helped a lot.

Which side A pillar? Maybe try the other side? [emoji23] (I’m serious haha).


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