Rove response on fake 4k..
Thank you for your email and I completely understand what you mean by when you say not real 4K.
This is a great question and a handful of our customers ask us this.
So OV4689 is a 4MP sensor, which is made to record 1080P full HD videos at 30 fps @ 16:9 aspect ratio. (based on the manufacturer's guidelines)
Now, our engineers made custom changes and we made the same 4MP sensor record native 2880x2160P @ 24FPS @ 4:3 aspect ratio.
Notice here that the video frame rate is dropped to 24fps (instead of 30), and aspect ratio dropped to 4:3 (This was standard aspect ratio back in a day when we all had almost square TVs, remember?) (instead of 16:9 cinematic wide angle - current aspect ratio with all the widescreen flat panels)
Now testing our high bit rate firmware at 2880 x 2160p @ 24fps and 4:3 aspect ratio we were able to compact pixels more closely together to create a 4K image at 4:3 aspect ratio.
4K Image that has a 2160P (Out is 2880 x 2160P) [Wide Tv's are 16:9 which is 3840 x 2160P] -- However both are Native 4K. Just the aspect ratio is different.
The video quality at this bitrate, compression of H264 at 4MP CMOS OV 4689 Sensor, it was mindblowing and much better than those cameras using brand name CMOS 4MP sensors and even better than 1080P cameras.
Our customer then reached out to us asking why the video size is only 4:3 on their widescreen, so we even took the step further to add our zero fill interpolation technique to extend the video size from 4:3 to 16:9 cinematic widescreen.
But the video recording is natively captured at 4K - 2880 x 2160 @ 24fps 4:3, which is then bumped to the final image of 3880x2160p @ 24fps 16:9 aspect ratio.
Some customers will call it that this is NOT a true 4K dash cam, which we won't argue with them.
Because they only know the power of Google search, but they don't understand the technicality behind the processor, light capture, compression, and many other smaller scale factor which is most important in capturing the smaller details.
When they google up they think 4K means, it has to be 3840x2160p @ 30fps and nothing else. But in our eyes and 4k is measure in vertical length which is 2160P. So 2880 x 2160P @ 24fps is really the 4K recorded resolution, but then the final image is interpolated as per our customer's requests.
Currently, there is NO true 4K 3880 x 2160P @ 30fps dash cam our there in the market with the 8MP sensor. Especially, at this price. When we do come out with one, the price will be significantly higher because the cost of the 8MP sensor will be higher too (For example Stealth 4K - TRUE 4K Camera). In the matter of the fact, we are currently working on 8MP 16:9 TRUE 4K camera which will be released in the next months. However, you will not be getting it for $99.99. The price will be significantly higher.
So, for now, this is the best resolution dash camera that we have available in the market today with packed features such as built-in wifi and GPS and many other.
So another real question is do you want to pay $100 and stick to ROVE R2-4K which is better than 1080P or would you rather pay $400 for real 4K dash cam?
I personally have tested the ROVE R2-4K (4:3 2880P) vs. REAL 8MP (3840 x 2160P) side by side and honestly, the difference was about 30% in picture quality. It wasn't even then much difference. So now you can decide which one would you rather stick with.
Hope this was helpful.