Extreme mode SD card longevity

[Gramercy]

I like my dash cam, but this worries me a bit:
It's pretty hard to distinguish license plates when on the go, even with 60fps in sports mode.

I'm tempted to activate extreme mode on a regular daily basis, but I'm worried it'll trash SD cards a lot quicker due to the significant higher bitrate. I also use time lapse parking mode, which doesn't help things.

Does anyone have long term experience when it comes to extreme mode?

 

[M8TJT]

Does extreme mode actually help with number plate reading?

 

[jokiin]

bitrate is a lot higher which should help

 

[Triggerfish]

Personally, I'd activate the extreme mode and use the DR750 to it's full capabilities.. otherwise why did you get a high end dash cam in the first place? Memory cards are relatively cheap, and all in all I consider my dashcams to be like added insurance and protection for ME. And that means I need/want the best. The 128 GB Samsung (green) cards have been very reliable for me so far. With the DR750 you could also use any of the U1 endurance cards that are out there.

Recently I had an incident with a truck that was driving in front and then to the side of me that damaged my car (something flew off the truck), and my dashcam (it was not my current blackvue or Viofo) did not pick up the tag # and I couldn't even make out the writing on the truck (it was a business truck). It really made me realize that I needed to upgrade and just how important it was to be able to capture the fine details.. and to set myself up to give me the best shot at potentially capturing these details if needed again.

I have since been running my DR900's in extreme with the Samsung cards with no issues. Before that, I was running them in my other cameras (viofo, Transcend, Roav to name a few) pretty much all day with no failure issues of concern (I did have a memory card failure in 2 of my cameras but they had been run for well over a year and a half in my car).

 

[M8TJT]

Does extreme mode actually help with number plate reading?

bitrate is a lot higher which should help

Yes, I realise that it should, but does it?
Because unless it does actually improve number plate reading, there seems little point in using extreme mode. That is the angle I was coming from. Theory and 'should's are OK, but what actually happens is what counts.

 

[jokiin]

There doesn't appear to be a lot of difference between the two higher settings, the low settings are poor enough that they probably shouldn't even be there, image quality is not really their strong point so every little bit helps

 

[kamkar]

For me there are nothing but "High" image quality setting on any camera.
And yes bitrate have something to do with finer details like plate capture, but i must say that overall low light will be the one thing that get in the way of a plate capture most often.
Higher bitrate mean more will be written to the memory card and so the card will see more wear, but if you go from 250 MB video files to 350 MB i don't think will wear out the memory card noticeably faster.
And as we are talking cameras that automatic make room for new stuff when the memory card are full i see no reason to ever consider using a lower image quality / bitrate.

If anything dashcams should have 2 settings at most, high like it is now, and ultra high which i would like to see in dashcams.

 

[M8TJT]

Yes, I know all that techie stuff, but I was asking whether in practice with the 750 2CH, it actually makes any practical difference.
I suppose I could test this for myself as I have got two of them.

 

[jokiin]

Yes, I know all that techie stuff, but I was asking whether in practice with the 750 2CH, it actually makes any practical difference.
I suppose I could test this for myself as I have got two of them.

best to test it and see, I have seen footage posted from each setting and there was a small improvement in the highest setting although the files were of the same scene they weren't shot at the same time so it's hard to be 100% sure of the results

 

[Gramercy]

Well, I decided to activate it, and for now it does seem to make a bit of difference. If my SD card does decide to kick the bucket prematurely, I'll report back!

 

[EM1336]

Just found this thread and updated my resolution to Extreme FHD @ 60 + FHD @ 30. I'm hoping the 60 fps and 25 Mbps in front could make the difference in being able to read someone's plate. Time will tell. I also:

• Updated the firmware.
• Set Enhanced night vision to On (Always)... ...but not sure if this setting only effects the front camera, or both front and rear?
• Set the Proximity sensor to Manual recording as I think this will keep the microphone on at all times if I need to shout part or all of someone's license plate as they speed off.

I work night shift, often in Manhattan. I'd estimate about once per month, while I'm ascending Tuxedo Mountain heading towards Greenwood Lake in the early morning, someone in the oncoming direction will recklessly pass another driver, assuming that no one would ever be coming from the opposite direction. (Often, I'm the only one heading west this time of morning while dozens upon dozens of cars are heading east.) This doesn't happen often, but often enough that I felt compelled to buy a dashcam. Sure enough, about 5 days after installing my DR750S-2CH, some jerk was coming right at me as I rounded a sharp curve on the mountain. I abruptly came to a complete stop to avoid what could have been a head-on collision.

As soon as I came home, I checked the footage. I can clearly see the offender's car, and could identify the make and model with some effort, but could not clearly see their license plate, neither from the front nor the rear. He was moving too fast (he sped up to cut back into his lane and forced the other driver into the shoulder) and the rear view was too dark.

Here are two screenshots showing the quality at Sports resolution. As you can see, you can't even read a single letter in the person's license plate. I'll update this post if (no, when) it happens again now that I'm at Extreme resolution, for comparison.