Preparing my "Best Dashcams" video

I have never used auto dimming on phone APPs and so on.
but hearing IR cut filters engage / disengage CUZ you drive into the shade of something do not bother me, i assume i am visually challenged.
It would be nice if the super low light modes was instant, but i am OK with it as it is i must say.

If i get underwhelmed with a dashcam, i just hurry up and remember where i come from over a decade ago, and then it is are not so bad after all.

Today i also noticed the S1pm from vantrue, if i wake it up remotely via LTE, everything come on, screen ASO, that is unfortunate i would prefer if the camera just looked "dead"
 
GPak said:
Come on, @lufa6977 , don't be so picky πŸ™‚
Usually auto-headlights don't react to shadows, the backs of buildings, semi-trucks, etc.
It has to be dark enough for them to turn on, and auto-HDR should work in a similar way.
Click to expand...

πŸ™‚ OK, try not to, but I like to be the Devil's Advocate.

One would think auto-HDR would react the same as auto-headlights, but that is not always the case. I suppose that most anything a manufacturer develops will have some aspect of it complained about somewhere along the line. Currently, users can select On, Off, or Select-A-Time-Frame. The onus is on the user to decide what works best for them, and, other than providing the options, manufacturers are out of the equation.

A manufacturer can use the effects of Rayleigh Scattering to determine the colour of IR and visible light and enable HDR accordingly, but what happens on cloudy days, in rain, during storms, etc.? So, a manufacturer will need to determine what level of light intensity they enable HDR on, if not testing for dusk or dawn light colours. Simple enough to do, can work well...but we know from testing that light and shadow affect image quality, especially when imaging a license plate. Eventually, users, being the way they are, will complain that an auto-HDR caused them to miss capturing a license plate or another event where there was an image issue. Manufacturers are 'damned if they do - damned if they don't' in this auto-HDR scenario.

I am not opposed to auto-HDR; however, if a user has a dashcam to protect against others, I expect they need to learn how to use it. Initial setup only requires the user to select their HDR option and never touch it again, even if the option is to choose auto-HDR. If auto-HDR is not an option, some users will complain that they cannot turn auto-HDR off. So, in the end, the user still needs to make a choice. If users still expect to make a choice, is it worth the manufacturers' effort and expense to add an auto-HDR feature?

I believe there are features that we need to ask ourselves just how important they are to the dashcam's basic function. BT on an auxiliary battery pack is such a feature. People clamor for it, and bugged the dashcam manufacturers to put it on the battery packs. OK, so now someone knows some aspect of the pack's power... how many users are capable of applying that knowledge to repair the pack themselves if there is an issue? Not many, I expect.
 
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