Nextbase 512GW with Rear Camera - recording quality

[Drogobroadband]

looks like they rushed it out before being properly assessed. In my opinion Halfords should be made aware of the problem and probably even withdraw the rear camera from sale till it is resolved...which sounds unlikely.

 

[Mike J]

So why does my rear cam have the same picture quality as the front?
With the rear I can certainly read a car number plate at 30m as I have done so recently.
1st - when a driver nearly rear-ended me at the lights then managed to stall the car as I moved away.
2nd - Police where hunting the embankment for a run-away and I thought the car that followed me into the M'way might be involved.

Drogo,
Looking at the Halford instore advertising they do not sell a car cam higher than 1080fps so I would be interested to know what alternative to the 512GWR you intend to spend your hard-earned on?

.

 

[M8TJT]

BlackVue DR900 does 1440, but the night vision is not as good as the DR750 at 1080

 

[danlat1415]

Halfords sell the 612GW which is 4K, but is a single camera. No option for rear add-on

 

[Drogobroadband]

The rear one is fine, it’s the front that has poor image quality. I’ll probably fit 2 separate 1440p cameras to be honest.

 

[Mike J]

Mmmmm
I can see why you want to get it right, it would also annoy me if the recording quality was less than Im getting (at present).
Two cams recording at 1440p would be the ideal set-up though.

 

[Drogobroadband]

Here's a few stills from the front and rear to see if this looks like yours, front is def fuzzy to me. Each pair front and rear taken from the same point in time so lighting conditions are the same

 

[Mike J]

The rear is like mine, the front is not, you have a problem for sure.
I would take it up with the company, when they compare the stills they will surely agree with you that something is defiantly wrong with that front cam.

Over to you Tiffany.

 

[Drogobroadband]

Glad you agree with me, and just as further confirmation of the problem here is a still from a 1080p video without the rear cam running. It is sharper but still has big patches of soft fuzziness where i have ringed them in red. 1440 is a little better but still fuzzy in places especially when it is cloudy or overcast and the light levels drop

 

[Nextbase Support]

If that is your images without the rear cam attachment please get in touch with us @Drogobroadband, we can arrange a repair/replacement.

 

[Drogobroadband]

Tiffany the camera is fine at 1440p without the rear attached. I have already had a replacement from Halfords and it too does not have as good image quality as the rear at 1080p. Someone at your support told me this would be the case as it is a known problem and you are working on a firmware fix?

 

[Drogobroadband]

Here are front and rear stills from the replacement camera You can see how soft and fuzzy the front is, the lower the light the worse it is too....exactly the same as the previous one. Even though the car in the front camera is nearer, and i am moving very slowly, it is difficult to read that plate compared to the car further away in the rear camera

 

[Skynet5]

I have this exact same problem. Not tried without the rear attached.
I wonder if it is memory card related.
Try a format and test, that is one thing I want to do as well.

Dissappointment.

 

[Drogobroadband]

Tried several cards, same problem. To me it looks like the compression on the video is way too high but the file size for front and rear are the same ...I would expect it to be less at higher compression. Yes it is very disappointing. On its own at 1440p it is great, but plug in the rear camera and it goes to pot.

 

[Drogobroadband]

Tiffany it seems the lower the light the worse the fuzzyness/blurring gets. Here are three shots from the front at 1080p with the rear camera attached. First is a sunny day, the second cloudy, and the last is an hour and a half later when the light was lower. I thought maybe it was dirt on the windscreen but you can see on the images an hour and a half apart that even the dash and wiper blades have gone fuzzy. The rear window is filthy yet the video is alway clear and sharp too, even in low light. How are you going to rectify this problem?

 

[Nextbase Support]

@Drogobroadband pop me a private message with your email on it and I will send you a new firmware, not tested on App and so on.

It improves the image quality of the front.

 

[pricecheaper]

Hi Tiffany,

I have just purchased these front and rear dash cams 512GW. Will this new firmware go through proper QA phase in your company before release? Also any news on why the front cannot do 1440@30fps or 1080p@60fps with the rear cam plugged in?

Thank you for your hard work and taking time to reply to us all.

Await your reply.

 

[Nextbase Support]

Hello @pricecheaper

Yes of course, nothing drastic will happen if its not fit for general distribution and you've got it loaded on your Dash Cam. You can just load on the next one.

Yes - its a hardware limitation, this means no software update can be created to allow for better resolution as the processor inside just wouldn't be able to cope.

 

[pricecheaper]

@NextBase Tiffany, thank you for taking time out to reply to me on Saturday! If it's a hardware limitation, then 1080p@30fps should be the same for front AND back. Based on this thread it appears that you are putting alot of compression on the files. Resulting in a difference in quality with front and back camera. Is the hardware limitation confirmed now?

Sorry to come across negative but people have purchased the 512GW for 1440p@30fps or 1080p@60fps. To plug in your camera that results in a reduction of spec is going to upset people. If you look at your website, you can clearly see 1440p for the 512gw. It needs to have a "*" detailing that if you use it in conjunction with the 512GWRC it results in a max of 1080p@30fps. Most people reading this will just opt to get a "better" Chinese dashcam because the spec you provide for £140-£170 (front and rear) is not worth it. Maybe you should have released the 512GW with a better CPU so that it could cope with 1440p@30fps / 1080p@60fps WITH the rear camera plugged in?

To your credit, I have looked at footage of the rear cam, and its very good compared to the cheaper Chinese devices. You just need to fix the quality issues with the front camera.

Please can you provide an ETA on the firmware release? I am happy to be a beta tester.

Thanks

 

[Nextbase Support]

@NextBase Tiffany, thank you for taking time out to reply to me on Saturday! If it's a hardware limitation, then 1080p@30fps should be the same for front AND back. Based on this thread it appears that you are putting alot of compression on the files. Resulting in a difference in quality with front and back camera. Is the hardware limitation confirmed now?

Yes - we mustn't get confused here though.

The reduction in resolution from 1440p to 1080p is always going to happen with Rear Cam connected, that is a hardware limitation. I will get your feedback about the * because I agree that would be a very good idea @pricecheaper , the more information we can provide customers with the better.

The fact that some customers are experiencing a reduction in quality of the 1080p when the Rear Cam is connected is not a hardware limitation, that we're working on. R23 does improve it, I can send it to you if you like? Private message me your email address or send an email to support@nextbase.co.uk referencing this forum.