Poor quality - unable to read number plates?

[APK]

I have recently fitted a Blackvue system, it seems very nicely made, and discrete, but the quality is appalling, being unable to read car plates, surely that is the main point of a dashcam?

My son has a cheap A118 and the quality is far superior.

How can it be described as FHD when there is no detail in the video's?

 

[vbx]

I can read the plates on mine just as long as the car isn't moving.

And China makes good stuff. They're just have a bad rep for making stuff to McDonalds for 4 cents each.

 

[BastardSheep]

The cause of your problem is the bitrate at which videos are recorded. Being a new device I'll guess you're running the v2.X firmware, which has the front camera operate at 6Mbps. This is way too low. The 1.X firmware has an 8Mbps ceiling, which is still lower than it should be for reliable number plate recognition. Most other front-only dashcams operate at 12-20Mbps.

Going from information in another thread in these forums, new v2.X firmware with 8Mbps recording is due end of June or early July, but people have been pushing in these forums and other locations online for them to increase the front camera to 10-15Mbps. Blackvue claim bitrates above 8Mbps causes stability issues, although from what I've read around the place third party firmware only seems to have issues once above 15Mbps (and only when coupled with VERY high temperatures).

Anyway, keep an eye out on this thread for an update, and once it comes out give it a try and see how it goes.

 

[APK]

Thanks for your replies, just a bit annoying that the finer detail is just not there, if I was involved in an accident and the other car drove off, I would not be able to identify them, surely that is a basic requirement for a dashcam?

 

[Yooshaw]

Something else you can do, as long as you are recording sound, is to yell out the license plate number so it is recorded. Also good practice even with high detail - you never know if you got the license plate until after the incident.

 

[Teedee]

Something else you can do, as long as you are recording sound, is to yell out the license plate number so it is recorded. Also good practice even with high detail - you never know if you got the license plate until after the incident.

A good tip, however if the camera catches the plate it should be readable, especially with a £250 camera!

 

[APK]

A good tip, however if the camera catches the plate it should be readable, especially with a £250 camera!

That was my thought as well, I also thought I could carry a pen and pad in the car to write any numbers down................

 

[Teedee]

That was my thought as well, I also thought I could carry a pen and pad in the car to write any numbers down................

Not ideal though is it?
I installed custom firmware yesterday, am still tweaking it but it shows a decent improvement in quality.
Not really something that I should have to do but easier and quicker than changing cameras.
Mine is currently set to record with a bitrate of 12Mbps.
This makes a 1 minute clip about 93mb

 

[APK]

Teedee I have seen your other post, it does seem an improvement, memory usage is not too much of an issue, I am using a 128mb card, is the custom firmware reversible? where did you find it?

 

[Teedee]

I am not sure if it is reversable, i expect so but am not sure how
The memory usage doesn't really bother me either, I am not interested in having days of driving on the card, just the last few hours is enough.
There are a couple of known issues with the custom firmware, the main one being if your 650 was made after April 2015 the rear camera does not work with it.

 

[dhavie]

The cause of your problem is the bitrate at which videos are recorded. Being a new device I'll guess you're running the v2.X firmware, which has the front camera operate at 6Mbps. This is way too low.

Going from information in another thread in these forums, new v2.X firmware with 8Mbps recording is due end of June or early July, but people have been pushing in these forums and other locations online for them to increase the front camera to 10-15Mbps.

They just release Ver2.005 yesterday and it claim goes up to 10MBPS. Not tried it our yet. In other thread, someone has problem after updating it, cannot connect to wifi.

 

[APK]

Have updated, still not perfect, but is now acceptable for number plates.

 

[Sugar Silva]

Here is a video I took on the "Highest" setting. I still have a hard time making out plate numbers. Anyone know why I can only select 720p and not 1080p when viewing on youtube? The front cam should record in 1080p so I'm not sure why it isn't an option

 

[samsara]

I don't have that level of problem at all. However, the BV often seems over exposed, so maybe here in the dull UK it's not such a problem. One thing you can do it to angle the camera down, so that number plates are more in the sweet spot. No need to capture all that sky!