Not so positive review

I agree it's big, but not with the rest of the review. The build quality is good, quality is good and the menus are good.
 
Signed up here today to share with the crowd and join in. I'll just copy/paste my response to a pretty good dash cam review here:
Ultimate Dashcam Comparison 2023: License Plate Reading is HERE!
"I got my Vantrue N4 Pro yesterday and tested it last night after a firmware update. I do like the app, screen, build quality, package contents, and mounting hardware. The night time license plate detection enhancement really depends on the lighting. I think the sensor needs enough light to capture the plate well before the enhancement can happen. I don't the have the new obnoxiously bright leds so nearly all plates are muddy/blurry at night but when it works it works well. Daytime was better but still disappointing for a $400 kit with "4k". 32Mbps bitrate is awfully low and combined with 30fps it's a blur fest for any signs or plates not in perfect view and lighting. Disappointing overall that this is among the best of the best right now. I'll continue tinkering with settings to see if I can get any improvements. If not I may send it back. Are there any better units on the horizon? 4k, 60fps, 60Mbps, with plate enhancement would probably do the trick."
 
anaveragehuman said:
The night time license plate detection enhancement really depends on the lighting. I think the sensor needs enough light to capture the plate well before the enhancement can happen. I don't the have the new obnoxiously bright leds so nearly all plates are muddy/blurry at night but when it works it works well.
Click to expand...
I agree with that, and I think it can also be affected by positioning, which may be why the N4 did well against the A139 Pro at night in that test, It would be interesting to swap them over and retest since there shouldn't be much difference.

anaveragehuman said:
. Are there any better units on the horizon? 4k, 60fps, 60Mbps, with plate enhancement would probably do the trick."
Click to expand...
Viofo A229 Pro, not here yet, but wont be too long.
The Viofo A139 Pro does currently do 60fps in single channel mode, but only 30fps.
 
anaveragehuman said:
32Mbps bitrate is awfully low and combined with 30fps it's a blur fest for any signs or plates not in perfect view and lighting.
Click to expand...
Now you are complaining about the low bitrate, and when the manufacturer increases the bitrate by 1.5-2 times,
you will complain about memory cards, because they will not be able to cope with three recording streams and a high bitrate.
 
Karagandinez said:
Now you are complaining about the low bitrate, and when the manufacturer increases the bitrate by 1.5-2 times,
you will complain about memory cards, because they will not be able to cope with three recording streams and a high bitrate.
Click to expand...
Viofo A139 Pro adjusts bitrate based on number of streams and resolution settings:

A139 Pro Test & Review PP

When I gathered my power consumption data, I also gathered the Mbps bitrate for the various recording modes and I placed that in the "Notes" section of my power consumption spreadsheets that I posted in my A139 Pro review thread. I've consolidated the four camera configurations 3-Channels...
dashcamtalk.com dashcamtalk.com
Doesn't seem like a far leap for Vantrue to do the same. Or maybe it is for some reason?
Would this Samsung 512MB microsd not be enough at 180MB/s?
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0C1PRYPYX
 
anaveragehuman said:
Would this Samsung 512MB microsd not be enough at 180MB/s?
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That is far faster than required, the problem is getting it to keep up when writing continuously, a short burst of 180MB/s isn't much use for dashcam video!
There seem to be some other problems with using fast cards too, such as them wanting to take a break occasionally to physically delete the blocks in the delete pool so that they can be reused.
anaveragehuman said:
32Mbps bitrate is awfully low and combined with 30fps it's a blur fest for any signs or plates not in perfect view and lighting.
Click to expand...
30fps doesn't cause any blurring of plates, however 32Mbps is a good rate for 2K footage, it is a bit questionable if a 4K camera should be described as 4K if it is only doing 32Mbps, since after compression by the codec, there isn't really 4K resolution left! It's a bit like giving my 60Mb/s A139 Pro footage to Youtube when there is lots of trees and grass in the image!:

Original:

Road to the Phone Box_original.mp4

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
This is my video testing the N4 PRO at night. The license plates came out great:

 
Nigel said:
That is far faster than required, the problem is getting it to keep up when writing continuously, a short burst of 180MB/s isn't much use for dashcam video!
There seem to be some other problems with using fast cards too, such as them wanting to take a break occasionally to physically delete the blocks in the delete pool so that they can be reused.

30fps doesn't cause any blurring of plates, however 32Mbps is a good rate for 2K footage, it is a bit questionable if a 4K camera should be described as 4K if it is only doing 32Mbps, since after compression by the codec, there isn't really 4K resolution left!
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing that about memory cards. So, C10 A2 U3 as recommended by Vantrue doesn't necessarily mean a non-Vantrue microSD will suffice? I haven't tested the read/write performance of my microsd yet.
Yes! This exactly! The bitrate compression doesn't help at all.

mentadent said:
This is my video testing the N4 PRO at night. The license plates came out great:
Click to expand...
This is a great comparison, thank you. It's interesting to see where the plates are visible and where they aren't. It seems like there is an optimal spot in the cameras viewing field where plates are most clearly defined.

This guy talks about a bunch of factors impacting image clarity like fps, shutter speed, sensors, software, lenses, etc. I think I just came into this dashcam world expecting too much. There's only so much a low fps 8mp cam is going to do so I guess I'll live with it. It's certainly better than nothing.
 
anaveragehuman said:
I think I just came into this dashcam world expecting too much
Click to expand...

If you did, you are far from the first one.
Some expect to get footage matching their high end action camera, but thats not how dashcams work, first of all you can not have a dashcam cranking 100 Mbit even if its just on a one channel system.
Second to the bitrate is that would also mean bigger files, and that go against dashcams that want files as small as possible to be able to fit more driving onto a memory card.
Not much fun if your 256 GB memory card in the dashcam fill up after 3 - 4 hours of driving.
 
If you just look at a dashcam as a accident recorder, recording what happened, they all do fine.
But if you expect capture of little details in low light, then any dashcam will be a let down for you.

What pretty much all dashcams do 100 % even the dirt cheap ones, it they record what you do in traffic in relation to other motorists - lane markings - road side - lights and to some degree signs, and that go a long way fending off any wild claims against you.
But of course if some fast & furry kid come tearing past you and you loose your mirror, and he dont stop, well yes then small detail capture would be great, but i would not bet any amount of money that it happen.
 
anaveragehuman said:
Thanks for sharing that about memory cards. So, C10 A2 U3 as recommended by Vantrue doesn't necessarily mean a non-Vantrue microSD will suffice? I haven't tested the read/write performance of my microsd yet.
Click to expand...
I don't know the real requirements for a Vantrue N4, but 60Mbps really only needs an old class 10 card, no need for a newer UHS specification card, in fact I ran an old class 6 card in my Viofo A139 Pro recording 60Mb/s for a while, it worked fine, and the specifications for class 6 actually guarantee a continuous throughput of 6MB/s = 48mb/s, whereas the newer classes don't guarantee any continuous throughput, you have to provide a lot of buffering space on your processor, which is where I think things go wrong on many dashcams, the performance required from the card depends more on the processor used than on the card itself, and card speed is definitely not the main factor, all modern cards are fast enough, but that doesn't mean that they will work with a specific camera.
 
anaveragehuman said:
Signed up here today to share with the crowd and join in. I'll just copy/paste my response to a pretty good dash cam review here:
Ultimate Dashcam Comparison 2023: License Plate Reading is HERE!
"I got my Vantrue N4 Pro yesterday and tested it last night after a firmware update. I do like the app, screen, build quality, package contents, and mounting hardware. The night time license plate detection enhancement really depends on the lighting. I think the sensor needs enough light to capture the plate well before the enhancement can happen. I don't the have the new obnoxiously bright leds so nearly all plates are muddy/blurry at night but when it works it works well. Daytime was better but still disappointing for a $400 kit with "4k". 32Mbps bitrate is awfully low and combined with 30fps it's a blur fest for any signs or plates not in perfect view and lighting. Disappointing overall that this is among the best of the best right now. I'll continue tinkering with settings to see if I can get any improvements. If not I may send it back. Are there any better units on the horizon? 4k, 60fps, 60Mbps, with plate enhancement would probably do the trick."
Click to expand...
This is misleading info about the HDR.
No dashcam manufacturer implemented the CLEAR HDR.
Clear HDR can do well for daytime recording, but maybe worse for night-time recording.

If there is a dash cam manufacturer declaring they use CLEAR HDR, they may not know how the HDR works, or they don't tell the truth.
We do wish the CLEAR HDR could perform better, but we haven't seen positive results yet for reading the car licensee plate number.
 
I had high hopes for Clear HDR, but then again i try my best to be a optimistic person, even if it take precious little for me to tumble into a state of darkness and disbelief.
 
The CLEAR HDR is true as SONY declared it can solve artifact issues(we have done lots of comparisons between the clear hdr and dol hdr, and can confirm this.), but it will have more noise in the video and doesn't help to capture the license plate number for night time recording.
Novatek has removed the CLEAR HDR driver in the latest SDK for the chipset NT98529.
 
viofo said:
The CLEAR HDR is true as SONY declared it can solve artifact issues(we have done lots of comparisons between the clear hdr and dol hdr, and can confirm this.), but it will have more noise in the video and doesn't help to capture the license plate number for night time recording.
Novatek has removed the CLEAR HDR driver in the latest SDK for the chipset NT98529.
Click to expand...
So the Clear HDR that is built into the IMX585 image sensor (no need for the SoC to do any HDR processing) is no good for dashcams?
That would be disappointing!
 
Nigel said:
So the Clear HDR that is built into the IMX585 image sensor (no need for the SoC to do any HDR processing) is no good for dashcams?
That would be disappointing!
Click to expand...
It seems to be only for NT98529. :unsure:
 
Karagandinez said:
It seems to be only for NT98529. :unsure:
Click to expand...
At least Novatek is supporting HDR, and it is HDR targeted at dashcams, whereas the Ambarella processor in the Thinkware U3000 doesn't, so for Thinkware to add HDR they may need a sensor that supports it internally, like the IMX585, but that means Clear HDR only!
 
Nigel said:
At least Novatek is supporting HDR, and it is HDR targeted at dashcams, whereas the Ambarella processor in the Thinkware U3000 doesn't, so for Thinkware to add HDR they may need a sensor that supports it internally, like the IMX585, but that means Clear HDR only!
Click to expand...

I'm not sure which processor is in the U3000, but a brief review of Ambarella's automotive dash cam processors reveals than many do support HDR and WDR (in some cases both) depending on the model and application. They do offer multi-exposure HDR (line-interleaved sensors) in some models and perhaps other approaches. Needs further exploration as their line of automotive SoCs is quite extensive these days. Some are intended for consumer level drive recorders and others are far more sophisticated.

https://www.ambarella.com/applications/automotive/

https://www.ambarella.com/products/automotive/ - ( see Aftermarket & Dealer-Fit towards the bottom of the page) - (see product briefs)
 
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