I do NOT want 'loop' recording! Also...

[Rajagra]

I bought a GoPro-like action cam and it does have "cyclic" recording mode (3 or 5 minute sections etc.) Not sure exactly how it behaves after 4GB if that's disabled though.

 

[player1]

I have GoPro HD without "loop". With FAT32 formatted SD card it makes 4GB files (size limit in FAT32).

 

[vaughan905]

Sorry for bringing an old topic up, but this was the most relevant to my question: I too want to disable loop recording on my TO Guard camera, but the moment I do that, or increase from 3 to 5 min recording , it stops recording.

Basically, while I do want the camera there for insurance, I mainly want to use it for scenic drive recordings.

Which brings me to the next question: how do people record those YouTube ‘driving On this street’ clips that are sometimes up to half an hour. They can’t all be using a mounted phone?

 

[kamkar]

you just drop the xx number of "3 minute" files into any editor, as they are named by time date most editing software will also put them in the right order when you drop them into the time line.

The only problem here is if there is a overlap in between segments, there use to be that in the old days and for some reason some still do that, but with no overlap its pretty easy.

1: import XX files into editing software
2: drop on timeline
3: select export parameters, and export ( as one big hours long file if you want )

Mind you no one are going to sit on youtube watching you driving for hours on end, i have split my drive videos ( recorded with action camera ) up into 1 hour segments, and then speed them up in post too so a clip are just 10 minutes or so.
So these 1 hour clips ( 10 minute actual viewing ) are made up of 4-5 files as i recall, as i did not use segment size on the Sj6 legend action camera i used for that recording of a 9 hour trip around Denmark.
It will also be good if you can put some esasy listening on top of the video.
In post i have also upscaled the 1080p footage to 4K as youtube tend to ruin that resolution less.

windows 10 have a build in video editor that sould be suitable to stitch together XX smaller clips into one large file.

The user American roads on youtube make some nice Drive videos, but as you can see by his narrower field of view recordings he use a ordinary camcorder,,,,, which to be hones i feel are better for movies like that.
Dashboard and A pillars in the footage are annoying in a movie, but okay in a dashcam clip.

Be advised many of the new 4K action cameras, they can often overheat doing prolonged recordings at least in 4K or 4K/60 FPS, these little action cameras are mostly meant for recording little moments of action not recording for hours on end.
Many of the cameras also supoort hyperlapse, using that you dont need to speed up in post, maybe dont even need to stitch more segments together.
I have done a couple of hyper lapse recordings using a Osmo action camera.
This is a 32 Km drive in 15X hyperlapse.

Here is another longer drive also around 30 Km i think, this time recorded in 2.7K and 10X hyperlapse.

And one from downtown, but i can not recall the hyperlapse setting, but with the confines of a town and traffic there it do get hectic to watch.

All action cameras can record with a external power source, probably even without the battery inside, some even support dashcam mode so start to record as power are applied.
Main concern are still overheat, but i don't think that is a issue if you record hyperlapse ( not to be mistaken with time lapse )

PS: A action camera should not be used as a dashcam, they are too expensive and draw attention, a discreete installed dashcam you can leave in the car all the time, and if anyone spot it, they will think its a factory sensor, or maybe know it is one of those dash thingies recorders.

 

[Jay Brown]

I don't even know it will overwrite earlier recordings.............. I always wonder what that means.

 

[kamkar]

@Jay Brown
When a memory card fill up recording normally stop with a regular video camera, this will not work in dashcams as you can not swap memory cards while driving, so what they do when the memory card is full is to delete the oldest recordings on the memory card.
Remember a dashcam are a accident recorder, not meant for recording and saving every second you drive, so you will only have the past X hours of driving recorded ( depending on memory card size )
Me i drive so little that with only a 128 GB memory card for 2 cameras in my system i have recordings on my memory card dating back a week if not more.
But i also only average about 30 minutes of driving daily, most drive more than that.

How many hours of recording you can store on a memory card depend on a few factors.
1: resolution of the camera
2: number of cameras
3: the bitrate of the recordings, the higher bitrate the "better" image quality but also the bigger files generated, a higher bitrate also mean a camera generate more heat in the process, so there are limits both in the hardware but also thermal how high bitrate can be pushed.

In general all 1080p cameras are about 15 - 20 mbit, you can also make due with that for a 4K resolution, but then as the bitrate are spread out over a higher resolution the effect on image quality will be less.

For instance modern action cameras like a gopro 8 they record 4K footage around 100 mbit.

A 1080p cctv camera might only be using a bitrate of 4 mbit, and this is also just fine if what it is aimed at are just a room or people walking, aim the same camera at a road where cars drive by all the time at speed and the recordings will not look so good.

So getting a dashcam, don't buy a cheap memory card from a cheap seller far away on the internet, buy a known brand from a local store or your local Amazon ( fulfilled / sold by amazon )
The camera itself are also a good idea to buy local or at least in your own country, warranty and support from a far way country are often close to not existing.

In general you just need the past 10 minutes or so leading up to the accident you just had, but you should not buy a small memory card, you must at least have 64GB for a camera ( 128 GB if you buy a 2 camera system )
With a 1080p camera and a 64GB memory card this will mean you have about 8 hours of recording, the same if you have a dual camera model but a 128 GB memory card.
Also memory cards have a finite number of times you can write to them, so with a larger memory card it will of course be longer before you hit that limit and the memory card fail.

 

[Jay Brown]

@kamkar1 Oh my dear god, thank you so much for explaining all these for me. Thank you so much, I really appreciate it.

 

[kamkar]

You are welcome Jay, just ask away if you have something you can not figure out by using the search function on the forum.
Lots of knowledge and nice people in here, and we do not have stupid questions, at worst questions that have been asked before.

 

[Jay Brown]

Awesome! This was like University all over again.