Nice pictures - appalling interface

Jim in the Passat

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Dear nextbase Does any of your software work ? I’ve done reset after reset
When it occasionally starts the auto sync
It jams up at 57% and freezes the app
File transfers are slower than a 14.4 dial up
The MyNextbase player installed eventually - let’s just forget the file editor shall we ? It doesn’t edit.
alexa .... great idea .... I wonder what it’s like when it works ?
the phone app .... great advert for more of your products .... but can we have some functionality please ? Three or four minutes of video ..... 3/4 hour to sync one at a time to the phone .....
this stuff really lets down a camera with good quality recordings......
 
I just joined to say this, you beat me to it, i cant believe how bad this 522gw is next to the 412 i had before ( i gave it my daughter as my wife bought me the 522 as a present), the 30 second save is a joke ( the 412 saved the whole 2 minutes and the file before) the app is useless as once it crashes out its a nightmare to get it to see the dashcam again, the transfer speed for files is an absolute joke, Alexa when it works is useless, why would i ask Alexa to save a file when i can simply press a button?

Its not one i would recommend, but no doubt some die hard fan will now post saying if your not happy then you should have read the manual before buying etc, read my post, it was a present, had i been buying it I would have stayed far away from it..

As its still a current model maybe you Nextbase people should start listening to the complaints and sort it out.
 
Alexa when it works is useless, why would i ask Alexa to save a file when i can simply press a button?
Using voice commands to tell Alexa to protect a file is kind of useless because of the design of the file protect function, rather than saving the entirety of the 1 to 3 minute clip at hand, newer Nextbase cameras protects a 30 second clip, approximately 10 seconds prior to the protect button being pushed (or the g-sensor activating protect) and about 20 seconds after. Since it takes a little bit of time for Alexa to process voice commands, by the time a protect command through voice is processed, the pertinent footage is now out of the range of the 30 second protected clip. I guess Alexa is a mildly neat feature, but voice commands lag and all Alexa functions can be done more quickly by buttons or the touch screen interface.

The 30 second protect has been controversial for the current gen Nextbase cams, and I believe representatives from the company have said on this forum they have no plans to change this or even allow an option to protect the entirety of the optioned clip length (again, 1 to 3 minutes). I guess if used properly (i.e. all relevant footage falls within that 30 second range), the file is more compact with less filler (rather than having to search through say, 3 minutes of footage) and really I guess that is the only situational advantage the 30 second protect has. I remember some people trying to "defend" this by saying maybe the firmware couldn't be changed to allow a full clip protect, but it really came off more as making an excuse then a defense in my opinion.
 
I had an email convo with the support team who told me that the entire clip is saved if the G sensor is activated, pretty pointless if the accident occurs just as the dashcam has just started a new clip.
They also said that you could easily lock the file if needed using the menu.
On my old 412 I used to save all the files till weekend and then pull them off the card and any bad ones were put on Facebook
 
I had an email convo with the support team who told me that the entire clip is saved if the G sensor is activated, pretty pointless if the accident occurs just as the dashcam has just started a new clip.
They also said that you could easily lock the file if needed using the menu.
On my old 412 I used to save all the files till weekend and then pull them off the card and any bad ones were put on Facebook
That's not quite how the protect function works on new Nextbase cams, in that it doesn't "book end" off a section of the clip being recorded at hand, but creates an entirely new 30 second clip. For example, let's say you have the the camera options set so it records 1 minute clips, if the protect function is activated at 44 seconds into a 1 minute recording, it creates a new 30 second clip at that point. After the 30 second protected clip is recorded, it resumes recording 1 minute clips as normal again.

Yes, you can lock the regularly produced interval clips on the camera rather than using the protect function, but it is a little cumbersome. This requires you to stop recording and go into the playback menu and find the clip you want to save, not like most other dash cams where the protect function will save the entirety of the clip at hand (and usually the preceding or following clip also) with the push of one button or through a g-sensor.
 
Can I be controversial .......

I've never seen the point of protecting files, especially as the whole procedure seems to be flawed and often misunderstood with posts asking where the files have gone.

I just run the cam as a pseudo video camera with all files going to the same place in time sequence. If I need any footage then I can easily find it, and any before or after files as required.

I run a 128Gb card which is cut/paste to my PC as required and so far, after many years since my first 402, I've never had a problem.
 
Why do you need to protect a file? To prevent overwriting with dross? Then simply take the card out and put in your spare. You then have everything safe and sound and there is absolutely no chance of an overwrite.
 
The best approach is to use a large enough card so that you'll not be relying on a cam function to save wanted files. Things tend to go wrong when a process is interrupted, so it seems wise to just let a cam record normally and not interfere with it ;) This has always worked well for me with every cam.

As I see it, the only time an automatically-locked file might be necessary is in a crash where you're incapacitated, and such a heavy crash would almost be certain to kill a car's electric power, or for parking recordings where there's too many events from false activation causing overwriting of the locked file folder. Otherwise it just makes it easier to find those events. I'll beta-test parking modes but I won't use them- I want my cam to capture everything constantly so my primary cam runs 24/7 recording normally :cool:

It's tough on the hardware and voids warranties but any really good cam can handle it except in the worst of heats, and the worst that happens then is the cam 'locks up' and stops recording which it would have soon done anyway. A cam which can't handle this is IMHO not a really good cam so I wouldn't trust it to begin with :cautious:

Phil
 
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