U3000 Confusion

[woodturner]

I am new to dash cams, having never owned one in the past. I’m considering the purchase of a 2 channel U3000 once they become available. As most here probably already know, this dash cam has 4K resolution on the front camera and 2K on the rear.

My confusion is regarding the complaint that license plates are oftentimes unreadable in spite of the 4K resolution and there is disappointment (if I understand what I have been reading and watching) that the cam is not HD. The comments seem to indicate that if it were HD, the license plates would be clearer. But, by definition, isn’t 4K HD??? Doesn’t the resolution, almost by itself, dictate how readable a license plate will be? Where does the HD come in?

I thought I’d pull the trigger on the U3000 as soon as they hit the market, but this issue has left me somewhat confused and less eager to make the purchase. Hoping someone can clear the fog for me.

 

[kamkar]

Welcome to the forum woodturner.

Americans are extra challenged, first of all many states often just have 1 licence plate, and i think the norm are in the back, so with that a oncoming car your 4K front system will get nothing as there are no plate in the front, and your bet on a plate capture hinge on the rear camera.
topping that off is American plates are even smaller / have smaller letters, at least compared to EU plated, and adding to insult background graphics on the plate are often seen, where as over here as9ide for the fact we must have plated front & rear, well on the far Left of the plate you can have your national letters like DK for us Danes or EU if you are into that, or you can have nothing, but thats often very little and very hard to get a capture off, but again not needed for identification.

We Danes have 2 letters and then 5 numbers, as i recall other EU countries might have other combinations though i think we share the 7 digits on the plates.

Getting two U3000 systems, thats a substantial investment, something that will have you hunched over the lathe for a long time to pay off.

I have been apprehensive about the smart cameras for a long time, and it seem to me it just add another layer of complexity, so for instance with a new IOS update, and the owners of Apple phones run into trouble, same go for Android, though i think it might be a little less.
There are also the issue of the APP itself, ATM Blackvue see a lot of flack for their latest APP update.
Also in my case, well i have a hard time seeing the benefits for me with the smarts, even if i have quite a vivid imagination.

Anyways i will soon get my first smart camera, and then this old dog just have to learn new tricks like it or not, CUZ how else can i talk on the subject and be at least a little credible.
There is also the extra cost of a SIM card for the camera, while not really expensive for a SIM with say 30 - 50 GB data here, then in my case being on a meager pension it is a consideration.
the smart cameras, well you are not forced to use it of course, but i do think its a thing of the future and it seem like we will have more players in that market within the next 12 months.

If it dont suit me, well i just hope they still make nice "basic" dashcams, or the smarts in the dashcams do not add substantially to the cost of them in the future.

 

[woodturner]

Thanks very much for the welcome and for your comments.

My work at the lathe (primarily an ornamental lathe) is strictly an avocation. I sold my dental practice and retired 9 years ago.

For clarification, I’m not considering the purchase of 2 U3000’s, but rather (1) 2 channel U3000.

 

[Dadi_T]

I think you confuse HD with HDR. The resolution is not only HD, but ultra HD(ultra high definition) and without HDR(high dynamic range) wich can improve license capturing, especially during night time.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Sounds like some confusion about terminology?

HD: 720p
Full HD: 1080p
Quad HD: 1440p / 2K
Ultra HD: 2160p / 4K

 

[DoubleDawg]

The resolution is how many pixels in the frame. This mainly impacts the scale of the image. For instance, you can zoom in 200% on the 4k image and have the same pixels as HD in the frame.

But the detail within those pixels is reliant upon the bitrate. Bitrate is how much detail is stored in the file. This is similar to compression of a file. Lower bitrate will be more blocky and look like a lower resolution. This usually plays a big role in why a plate could be unreadable in spite of the 4k resolution, especially in fast moving scenes. I think this is where people's confusion between quality of HD and 4k comes in, as an HD camera with a relatively high bitrate will store more detail than a relatively lower bitrate 4k camera; you may not be able to get as detailed of a zoom on the HD file as you would with the 4k one, but if the 4k one didn't store the appropriate detail, then that zoom is pointless, as the details of the plate were compressed out when the file was written to the SD card by the camera.

HDR is also important to the license capture, particularly at night, as the car's headlights on the reflective plate will usually lead to a blown out bright white spot; HDR helps to capture this by taking a low exposure and high exposure and then combining the details resolved from both to provide more detail than the single exposure would.

 

[woodturner]

I think you confuse HD with HDR. The resolution is not only HD, but ultra HD(ultra high definition) and without HDR(high dynamic range) wich can improve license capturing, especially during night time.

I think this is EXACTLY where my confusion was. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[woodturner]

But the detail within those pixels is reliant upon the bitrate.

HDR is also important to the license capture, particularly at night, as the car's headlights on the reflective plate will usually lead to a blown out bright white spot; HDR helps to capture this by taking a low exposure and high exposure and then combining the details resolved from both to provide more detail than the single exposure would.

That explanation helps quite a bit. Thanks!