Number plates

[peterx666]

I am new to the dash cam stuff but having said that I have been looking on Youtube at videos for a couple of months now, and along with discussions with people have come up with a couple of issues that may be contentious but seem to to me to be the main problem areas

Most of the dash cams I have seen are useless - None of the Dash cams I have seen seem to be able to produce what I can see out of my car window - this is what is needed to prove who is at fault in a situation!

1) Most dash cams have one or more problems at night - either to bright, too dull, or washed out - accidents do occur at night so good pictures are needed!

2) You cant see the number plates in focus either in the day or night unless the car is 6 inches from your bumper! To me any footage where I cant see the number plate is useless, what about swipe and run accidents and these insurance scams? To me this is a minimum. I dont want to be in a situation say it was "a little red car" sould be anybody

3) the focal distance on most dash cams is not far enough out - lots of them, even the so called HD models dont work unless the car in front is inside your engine compartment! :lol:

4) To my mind the thing should be a "fit it and forget" job so it needs to be small and hidden otherwise it will get stolen - some of the mountings are huge and stick out like a sore thumb - not so good

5) The price must be cheap unless you are going to use it as a camcorder as well - also it will be obsolete in a couple of weeks so a swap will be needed to keep up with the best technology

6) why would anyone want a dual camera - who wants to see their ugly mug - surly you are just looking at the road?

7) GPS from what I can see GPS is only of use to show the speed of the vehicle and I am not sure if this would be recorded so that a DVD copy could be given to the police - a lot seem to reply on extra software which is not a lot of use? Is GPS worth extra money :?:

8) Its a mess, there are chinese dash cams with no model number, 5 cameras very similar at all sorts of prices, no real valid local suppliers, so you are forced to take a risk in china on Ebay etc. If you arrive at a model number there seems to be many different qualities of the same model, from rubbish to good - you just dont know what you are getting.

9) Do theses things come with any sort of warrantee? :?:

Overall I am not sure that the dash cam has come of age yet - much like mobile phones were in the early stages they need a lot of work before they can be of any real use use :?: But perhaps you dont agree?

Realise people may come back with adverse or silly comments, but I would like to, in all seriousness, raise these issues to see what the people who really know this industry have to say. :ugeek: Are the dash cams of today just "better than having nothing"

I look forward to any constructive comment or personal experience you may have in the various areas

pete

 

[DashCamMan]

Most of the dash cams I have seen are useless

I wonder if these owners think their dash cams were useless.

Usually it is not necessary to capture license plates. For hit and runs (like above) it is necessary or to report a bad driver. Most of the time, the offending driver will get close enough to your car that the license plate will be captured with a decent camera. If the offending car is in the video for 20 seconds, as long as 1 frame has the license plate in focus, that is sufficient.

4. Small and discrete cameras exist. Buy one of those.

5. There is a wide range of prices...you get what you pay for up to a certain point. Not sure why you think it will become obsolete so fast? The most popular cameras were released YEARS ago

6. Dual camera - perhaps taxi drivers want to record what is going on inside the car.

7. GPS - shows speed and location. Can quickly see where your car has been driven if you loan your car out (i.e. teens)

8. Buy a Korean camera from an authorized dealer.

9. Yes...buy a Korean camera from an authorized dealer.

 

[Chad]

Youtube is a horrible judge of quality. Most of the quality gets destroyed during the upload and compression process. Especially if you are looking at Russian compilations, most of the time, these videos are copies of copies of copies of copies, and so on.

When playing back directly from the memory card onto your computer, you can see plates clearly on most models of "real" cameras. If you look at the FAQ page or the vendors section on here it will tell you very clearly which sellers to stay away from and which to buy from.

Nothing is going to be as good as the naked eye, however the naked eye does not have a rewind button and a play button that you can playback in a court of law. I wouldn't do anything different in a case of hit and run. Do everything just as you would with no dash cam. I would still write down the plate number, get a description of the car and driver, and direction of travel. The dash cam can only prove you are telling the truth as to what happened.

We all have huge expectations but don't want to pay. We can not expect Swarovski or Carl Zeiss lens quality in a 200 camera. I'm sure if we would shell out several thousand dollars we could have great dash cams, however the market is just not there and I don't think it will ever be. We just need to remember how much we are paying. I don't think it's bad at all for what we get.

 

[peterx666]

Most of the dash cams I have seen are useless

I wonder if these owners think their dash cams were useless.

Take your point in these cases (if you leave the camera on all night - will your battery stand it on a new car?) but you can only read the licence plate because its on the end of your bonnet! As soon as it drives a couple of feet away you cant read it (normal use)

Usually it is not necessary to capture license plates. For hit and runs (like above) it is necessary or to report a bad driver. Most of the time, the offending driver will get close enough to your car that the license plate will be captured with a decent camera. If the offending car is in the video for 20 seconds, as long as 1 frame has the license plate in focus, that is sufficient.

Yes but from what I have seen the licence plate is not in focus even for 20 seconds - thats the point

4. Small and discrete cameras exist. Buy one of those.
OK but the quality of the video in these seems to be lacking

5. There is a wide range of prices...you get what you pay for up to a certain point. Not sure why you think it will become obsolete so fast? The most popular cameras were released YEARS ago

6. Dual camera - perhaps taxi drivers want to record what is going on inside the car.
Thats a good idea........ Taxi ---- had not thought of that. Handy if a taxi drive gets mugged too (if the quality is good)

7. GPS - shows speed and location. Can quickly see where your car has been driven if you loan your car out (i.e. teens)
Had forgotten about teens..... long time since I was there..... but you still need to pull it up on special software.... bit of a prat on --- unless they have damaged your car and you want the money off them (some hopes? - no chance!)

8. Buy a Korean camera from an authorized dealer.
Ah that interesting.... are Korean cameras better than the others? If I find one could ask if they have a dealer in the UK I suppose?
Last night was looking at the Ambareuanight F800 -- video seems a bit better on Youtube - are they Korean?

9. Yes...buy a Korean camera from an authorized dealer.

 

[peterx666]

Youtube is a horrible judge of quality. Most of the quality gets destroyed during the upload and compression process. Especially if you are looking at Russian compilations, most of the time, these videos are copies of copies of copies of copies, and so on.

When playing back directly from the memory card onto your computer, you can see plates clearly on most models of "real" cameras. If you look at the FAQ page or the vendors section on here it will tell you very clearly which sellers to stay away from and which to buy from.

Nothing is going to be as good as the naked eye, however the naked eye does not have a rewind button and a play button that you can playback in a court of law. I wouldn't do anything different in a case of hit and run. Do everything just as you would with no dash cam. I would still write down the plate number, get a description of the car and driver, and direction of travel. The dash cam can only prove you are telling the truth as to what happened.

We all have huge expectations but don't want to pay. We can not expect Swarovski or Carl Zeiss lens quality in a 200 camera. I'm sure if we would shell out several thousand dollars we could have great dash cams, however the market is just not there and I don't think it will ever be. We just need to remember how much we are paying. I don't think it's bad at all for what we get.

I take your point about Youtube ----- but its all I have got to judge the quality ---- so what you are saying that if the quality is near on Youtube it will be good in reality?

I am re-assured by you saying that you can read number plates on the replay! what a relief! - What camera do you have by the way?


will have a look on the vendors section .... thanks for that....

Good idea to not do anything different with a dash cam.... still write the number down etc ..... I suppose as there is sound instead of just screeming Ouch! #*****#### you could shout out the number plate (or the fact that you are stationary and the other car is reversing into you!

Is dash cam footage allowable in a UK court of law do you know?

Problem is dash cam always tells the truth! - saw a video saying if you were at fault go home and burn the SD card!

Thanks for your comment I found it most useful

pete

 

[jokiin]

I take your point about Youtube ----- but its all I have got to judge the quality ---- so what you are saying that if the quality is near on Youtube it will be good in reality?

I am re-assured by you saying that you can read number plates on the replay! what a relief! - What camera do you have by the way?

Dashcams have a fixed focus lens so when objects are within the field of view where they are focused you'll easily be able to read number plates, that field of view might be larger on some than others, this is by no means a definitive answer but I'll provide a couple of examples for you to look at and some context for you to understand what I mean

first here's a shot in slow moving traffic http://www.jokiin.com/images/screenshot.jpg have a look at the items within the picture that are in focus and how for that extends, look at the shop signage, street signs etc and you'll see that as you go further up the street and outside of the focus area of the lens that you lose detail

the next two images are screen grabs from my laptop so are not at full resolution

now if you look at this image http://www.jokiin.com/images/same_direction.jpg you can see that I'm travelling along with the flow of traffic and the number plate of the car in front and to the left of me is within that same field of view and I can easily pick out the number plate

and again, this is an oncoming car http://jokiin.com/images/oncoming.jpg effectively double the speed as we are travelling in opposite directions but being in the same field of view can easily see the number plate

YouTube does make a mess of things, better to look at raw footage whenever possible, here's a link to a short clip you can have a look at, it's not ideal as I'm driving toward the afternoon sun but it will give you a general feel for what the files created look like http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?czc96j7tqkgangt

 

[peterx666]

I take your point about Youtube ----- but its all I have got to judge the quality ---- so what you are saying that if the quality is near on Youtube it will be good in reality?

I am re-assured by you saying that you can read number plates on the replay! what a relief! - What camera do you have by the way?

Dashcams have a fixed focus lens so when objects are within the field of view where they are focused you'll easily be able to read number plates, that field of view might be larger on some than others, this is by no means a definitive answer but I'll provide a couple of examples for you to look at and some context for you to understand what I mean

first here's a shot in slow moving traffic http://www.jokiin.com/images/screenshot.jpg have a look at the items within the picture that are in focus and how for that extends, look at the shop signage, street signs etc and you'll see that as you go further up the street and outside of the focus area of the lens that you lose detail

the next two images are screen grabs from my laptop so are not at full resolution

now if you look at this image http://www.jokiin.com/images/same_direction.jpg you can see that I'm travelling along with the flow of traffic and the number plate of the car in front and to the left of me is within that same field of view and I can easily pick out the number plate

and again, this is an oncoming car http://jokiin.com/images/oncoming.jpg effectively double the speed as we are travelling in opposite directions but being in the same field of view can easily see the number plate

YouTube does make a mess of things, better to look at raw footage whenever possible, here's a link to a short clip you can have a look at, it's not ideal as I'm driving toward the afternoon sun but it will give you a general feel for what the files created look like http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?czc96j7tqkgangt

I tell you what..... - you people on this site are truly amazing! Thank you for taking the time and trouble to provide such good footage had a look at them all and as you say the number plates are readable ---- thank god!

Had a look at the footage..... really good! As you say it is a shame that the cameras are fixed focus ----- buying a good one seems to be even more of a problem

What camera are you using? The best I can find is one from cg-electronics on ebay but they are in China? The model is Ambarella F8000 the footage (even on Youtube) seems good - will investigate further

Thanks again for your fantastic help!

pete

 

[Bluerose]

The meteorite explosion over Russia discovered that Russian mount in theirs car devices that provide verifiable evidence. At least they were able to prove an explosion in the sky.
Since then I’m looking to find the type and model of Dash Camera. It took me not to long to be confused realizing that there are thousands of models and types of Dash cameras on the market. Some of the cameras are Fake. And it is hard to find a camera that competes with our aye for a reasonable price. The DASHCAMTALK was a great help for me. Most of the peterx666 questions went through on my head, but a have screened them before putting on the table. Soon I have realized that the technology is there and only the price limits us to obtain it. I am sure that if we decide to spend about $4000 for a dash camera we may get it, but is it worth. Answering these questions is almost impossible, because we are talking for expertise in the lenses field, digital technology and more. Not able to answer I found a camera on sale. The seller provides same new information that I’m sharing with you @:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Police-Dash-Cam ... vi-content
If I am not wrong the lenses size from 2.8mm to 6mm, or 3.5mm to 8mm, or 5mm to 50mm makes the difference. Also the auto focusing it is important to. I decided to wait for 6 more months. I think, with this type of dash Camera manufactures and sellers are going to the right direction and this cost only $150, while I agree to spend no more than $250 to $300 for a Dash Cam that might fit my expectations. No fight, just smile please

 

[ydc]

@jokiin Please could I just ask what type of cam the screenshots were taken with?

 

[jokiin]

@jokiin Please could I just ask what type of cam the screenshots were taken with?

Those are from my own product, this particular model is GS1000 based

 

[ydc]

Those are from my own product, this particular model is GS1000 based

Ok - thanks! Looks good, just found your earlier posts referring to it.

 

[peterx666]

Still trying to find a supplier for the f8000 that is reliable

any ideas?

pete