I need a dual camera for extensive driving...

[Des3]

I drive for a living and need a camera that will record for long periods of time (so either better compression or average video quality). I usually work between 8-12 hours a day. The older cameras could go for weeks at a time before you had to re-format the SD card, but everything I look at today is based on higher video quality so will last about the length of one day of work (if I'm lucky). I've seen the dual SD card cameras (which would be an improvement), but is there anything out there that would use less storage so I could at least get 4 or 5 days before reformatting? I can't erase the data before the trip is complete in case there is a question or problem that isn't brought up until the end.

I prefer the dual camera, but would consider two singles if they didn't take up too much window space. I don't need ANY extras....it just has to run without stopping until I turn it off.

Thanks

 

[albertson]

Joklin and Niko are probably the best to guide you. They have extensive experience in reviewing wide range of Dash Cams.
Data rate is also a significant factor in storage space consumed. Some cams have menu or FW version option to slow the rate. They could advise.
I think you mean how many days can be stored before over-writing oldest file. Reformating is only needed rarely as preventative maintenance for SD card.
128GB cards are supported on some cams. Could be larger capacity as this is changing quickly.

 

[Des3]

Joklin and Niko are probably the best to guide you. They have extensive experience in reviewing wide range of Dash Cams.
Data rate is also a significant factor in storage space consumed. Some cams have menu or FW version option to slow the rate. They could advise.
I think you mean how many days can be stored before over-writing oldest file. Reformating is only needed rarely as preventative maintenance for SD card.
128GB cards are supported on some cams. Could be larger capacity as this is changing quickly.

Yeah, I have a crappy old one (Chinese) that's supposed to over-write but doesn't, so I always have to reformat to over-write. Even if I put it in my computer and erase the files it does something weird to the card so it doesn't work right in the camera until it's formatted.

I have to remember that the prices have come down so far that the next one I buy will probably work the way it's supposed to, even if it's cheap.

Thanks.

 

[niko]

As @albertson mentioned, bit-rate also is the factor which determines files size. You have to look for dashcams which has selectable bit-rate. Also I would recommend looking dashcams which using full size SD card because they are much cheaper when comes to high capacity ( 256, 512 GB etc ).

For example 256GB card can record about 48h of recording at 12Mbps bit-rate ( 1080p 30Fps ), 512Gb can record about 97h before it starts overwriting.

 

[russ331]

I usually work between 8-12 hours a day ... is there anything out there that would use less storage so I could at least get 4 or 5 days before reformatting? I can't erase the data before the trip is complete in case there is a question or problem that isn't brought up until the end.

Welcome to DCT. To calculate how many hours of recording you can expect from memory cards, see ...

https://dashcamtalk.com/recording-time-calculator/

In practical terms, you will probably need multiple 64GB cards, & swap them daily, as each card fills up.

 

[dash riposki]

If you are using the cams 8-12 hours a day, you want to format the cards often, anyway.

It's going to extend the life of a decent card in heavy use.

My cams usually run 24/7 in my truck. I only attempt to save stuff that may be a problem later, like some near miss with a vehicle. I don't run big cards, but will write down the time, stop within a few hours, and save that file to my laptop.
The last thing I want to do is go through hours of files looking for 'something'.

 

[kamkar]

Hi Des3 and welcome to the forum.

If the plan is to save the full dataset from each day that will ammount to a whole lot of data with a recording time of 8 - 10 houres every day, that sould be somthing like 64 Gb every day and if you want all that to last for a whole week then you need a allmighty large SD card, not even a 128 Gb card will cut it.
It will take a while to transefr all that data to a NAS or harddrive when you get home, lucky the files are tagged with date/time otherwise it would allso take a while to locate a given event.

So there is pressious little chooice for you, one of them beeing dual cameras and with full size SD card ( 1 full + 1 micro SD ) is the lukas dashcams
There are allso some of the Street Guardian and panorama single channel cameras that use a regular SD card.

As i undestand the Luaks cameras the ful size sd card take the footage of both cameras, the little micro sd cameras just get the event recordings if thats enabled.

This will be massive expensive. 2 x single channel camera + 2 X 256 Gb SD cards or 1 X dual channel camera and 1 X 512 Gb card or less if you are willing to swap cards once in a while.

 

[Deleted member 46308]

Welcome to DCT @Des3