New SGGCX2PRO+ - Blurry Video?

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Hi Everyone, after browsing the forums I finally picked up a new SGGCX2PRO+ off of amazon. I wired it up with the SG hardwire kit, cleaned my windshield and updated the firmware to the latest 20191101 version. I mainly wanted to see if my night performance was lacking as I'm having trouble reading any license plate numbers and there looks like some glare/blurriness from street and brake lights. Prior to going on this drive I reset everything to the default settings.

Are my expectations too high or is there something additional I can try to clean up some of the nighttime quality? Have not yet tested during the day but here's a quick drive I did a short while ago:


Thank you very much!
 

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can't really tell if there's any focus issue from a night video, YouTube is no good for judging either as they compress the video

you do need to lower the lens though, it's adjusted up too high, if you reset to defaults it may be at the lowest bitrate also, depends which firmware is installed, if bought from Amazon they don't always rotate the stock so you can get one with an older version on it, V1.29 is the current version, if it's not on that already you should update it, available from the downloads section of our website
 
Focus you can only judge from footage recorded while stationary, with car aimed at a scenery where you are able to look at things at different distances and angles in the footage.
That way you have no motion blur to deal with too, which you will have plenty off in night time footage.

In general a lens can be out of focus all around the edge, which then are most likely a faulty lens, it can also me out of focus to just one side which are most likely a faulty installed lens mount so the lens are at a angle compared to the image sensor.
As i see it that's the most common out of focus issues ( both can also happen as a result if heat related focus shift, where focus can shift back to normal when cooled down or not )

As seen in your night time recording above, where you would expect to be able to read the plate on the car right in front of you, you cant as it is all blown out as the camera have adjusted itself to the general dark parts of the image.
I think its one of those things we just have to live with until we get proper HDR capabilities in our cameras.

And as jokiin say you need to lower your lens, otherwise in the daytime you will have much bright sky in the footage, and chance are the camera will set its light metering according to that.
Lowering your aim mean that you will have more of your car hood in frame and even dashboard, and sure nothing happen there just like up in the sky, but you are then more geared towards capturing what go on at road level, which are the part we are interested in capturing as good as possible.

As a Dane ( Canada norht on the globe ) this time of the year i don't expect to capture many plates, the past 2 days have been sunny and so it have been possible, but otherwise its grey / overcast and rainy here in winter, with too little light to ensure plate captures on a regular basis.
 
In addition to what's already been said did you clean the inside of the windshield? Looks to me there's some glare/hazing and that could be the cause. Other than that your video is pretty much what I get with my X2Pro+. In general night videos have a lot more contrast (totally dark areas versus bright light sources) which is difficult for all cameras not just dash cams.
 
An observation about the footage and a follow up question: it seems the Center console display shows on the footage. What’s the fix here? Typically it’s a polariser I imagine? Turn it around until the reflection disappears?

My X2Pro+ is in the mail on its way to me. Looking forward to many years of hassle free service.
 
...it seems the Center console display shows on the footage. What’s the fix here? Typically it’s a polariser I imagine? Turn it around until the reflection disappears?
A CPL will do as much as anything to reduce that reflection. It should be properly oriented as it comes with the camera so no adjustments should be necessary.
 
cleaned my windshield
Looks like there is still something on the inside, use water with a tiny amount of detergent, then no polish or anything that could leave a residue.
it seems the Center console display shows on the footage.
Point the camera down a bit so that the horizon is above half way up the image and the reflection will be off the top so not visible.
If that is not quite enough then you could move the camera down the windshield a bit.
A CPL would help but they don't do a perfect job for reflections near the edge of the image, they work best for the centre of the image.
No camera reads plates at night if either you or the plate is moving, looks perfectly normal.
 
Reflections from NAV units and phones docked in the windscreen the CPL filter cant do much about, i get this myself when i on rare occasions use my 7" tablet as NAV unit, and i have it wedged in under the lid of the compartment on the top of my dashboard.
And then it is especially easy to see on night time recordings.
But my 2DIN radio on the center console are not to be seen in the footage.

I assume this have a lot to do with the windscreen design / angles ASO.
 
Thanks for the tips everyone, I'll point the camera down a bit and give the inside another clean. On second viewing this morning it does look better than I had previously given it credit for, so maybe my expectations were a little high. I did confirm that my default settings were at the lower quality setting so I'm going to bump those up and give it another go
 
It is not uncommon that some people have too high expectations for what a dashcam are able to do for them.
You can also get a plate capture at night, but sadly the MAX difference in speed between the camera car and target plate cant be much more than crawl speed.
In the daytime you stand a much better chance, though on a cloudy day or you driving into shade of a building or trees this little dip in brightness can prompt the camera to use less favorable settings in regard to plate capture.
In general i say a plate capture are nice, and hopefully we will get that the day we really need it, but in most cases nobody do a runner, and so we just need to prove what we did with our car, and what the other part did with his car, before the crash.
And this large picture a dashcam can do fine both day and night.
And overall if you do nothing wrong according to your local traffic code, then surely you can not be to blame for whatever have transpired, so you will always be able to prove what you did with a dashcam, and thats a good thing.
 
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