U3000 Initial Impressions and Sample Footage

[Vortex Radar]

Thinkware sent me a copy of the U3000 recently and I've been running it for the past week or so. You can check out some sample footage I put together here:

It's the successor to the U1000. Some of the key things things I'm noticing so far:

• Updated case design
• New 4K Starvis 2 IMX678 for the front cam
• Same 2K IMX335 Starvis 1 sensor for the rear
• Lens angle adjustment no longer has click stops so you can aim the lenses more precisely now
• Radar is now integrated and works both front and rear
• Radar can now track people, not just cars, and its sensitivity is adjustable
• Max bitrate is 30 Mb/s front and 10 Mb/s rear, lower than the A139 Pro. I still need to do some head-to-head comparison, but the A139 Pro looks better overall
• HDR is unavailable so plates tend to get blown out at night if your headlights shine directly on them
• Front/rear cable switches from MicroUSB to MiniUSB, and it's still reasonably thick
• Cables now run up the top instead of from the side
• Compatible with the iVolt Xtra battery and can provide spoken notifications regarding battery status
• Still has a somewhat all or nothing approach with the spoken notifications at startup
• Bluetooth makes it much easier to get connected to the app
• Adds some extra high heat protection to parking recording like the Q1000

I can share some photos and whatnot later, but so far it looks like a nice improvement over the U1000.

 

[kamkar]

30 mbit seem small.
I assume this is still H.264 ?

The driving footage with the music, the foliage on the trees / bushes along the road looks strange ( me watching 1440, on 1440p screen )
Granted thats also a very tough scene for any dashcam, and it also show.
Back in the day i got sort of the same with a 1080p camera at 18 mbit, but cranking it up to 28 mibit pretty much made the footage perfect, at least going to 36 mbit dident make much change aside for file size which was,,,,, monumental.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I’m really excited for Thinkware with this new U3000 model.
Based on the specs it looks like an actual step forward.
Maybe not “2000” worth of steps, but I guess U2500 sounds kind of lame. Lol
I’m glad to see the Radar Module integrated, and not separate like before.
I’m excited to see how the U3000 will give the BAB-95 battery pack “a voice” to let you know what’s going on with it.
Like for instance;
Announce the battery percentage level when you start the car, and set off on your trip, along with an estimated time to reach 100% fully charged.
Announce when the battery is fully 100% charged.
Announce the charging Amperage (4.5A Standard & 8.5A Fast).
Announce Voltage when discharging in Parking Mode every 15 minutes during the last hour of operation, (this would be nice to hear on your recorded parking mode footage to confirm you’re getting the full capacity of the battery pack).

I would be chomping at the bit to test one of these but it has two things I'm not a huge fan of for my application.
Proprietary 12 Volt power connection, (I prefer 5V USB Type-C).
I understand the 5, or 6 advantages of the 12 Volt power connection, but I just like the flexibility of USB Type-C.
Also, I'm not a fan of the H.265 ONLY codec, (not compatible with my "computer").
It would be nice if they offered both codecs, (H.264 & H.265) but I guess that would increase cost.
Also 256GB max SD Card sounds a little small, maybe this is on purpose to encourage their cloud use.

 

[j_o_e]

30 mbit seem small.
I assume this is still H.264 ?

The driving footage with the music, the foliage on the trees / bushes along the road looks strange ( me watching 1440, on 1440p screen )
Granted thats also a very tough scene for any dashcam, and it also show.
Back in the day i got sort of the same with a 1080p camera at 18 mbit, but cranking it up to 28 mibit pretty much made the footage perfect, at least going to 36 mbit dident make much change aside for file size which was,,,,, monumental.

The spec sheet states h.265 so it should - in theory - provide for a much better quality than h.264.

I wonder though why HDR is not available. @Vortex Radar - have you heard anything from Thinkware about future HDR implementation?

 

[Mtz]

Not easy at all to implement HDR on the Starvis 2 sensors. If the U3000 PCB was not created with HDR support, it will never have HDR because it can not be added just by software. Or if they will create another version of the PCB.
I don't expect Thinkware to focus on this HDR thing, for them are more important the extra features like cloud and radar and those must to work great because those will be the main selling points.

 

[kamkar]

I am also thinking do Sonys clear HDR or what ever its called, well do it need some special feature in the SOC to be used.
CUZ it seem to me others that have tried HDR on SOny sensors, well it is the old way of stitching together 2 consecutive pictures and not 2 same time pictures, making me think they can not tap into this Sony sensor feature.

 

[Vortex Radar]

The spec sheet states h.265 so it should - in theory - provide for a much better quality than h.264.

I wonder though why HDR is not available. @Vortex Radar - have you heard anything from Thinkware about future HDR implementation?

I asked about that and they said that HDR functionality is not compatible with the Ambarella CPU the U3000 is using and so they have no plans of adding it.

 

[j_o_e]

Thanks!

 

[Dadi_T]

I asked about that and they said that HDR functionality is not compatible with the Ambarella CPU the U3000 is using and so they have no plans of adding it.

Wow, what a stupid waste of knew resources!!!
Well, in fact, i don't know who is stupid. Manufacturer who build what he know for sure the he will sell, or buyer who buy crap.
A dashcam can stay half a year in parking mode, but if can't read a license plate, it would still be a piece of crap. Especially at this price range.
Most people do not understand what is an evidence.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Wow, what a stupid waste of knew resources!!!
Well, in fact, i don't know who is stupid. Manufacturer who build what he know for sure the he will sell, or buyer who buy crap.
A dashcam can stay half a year in parking mode, but if can't read a license plate, it would still be a piece of crap. Especially at this price range.
Most people do not understand what an evidence is.

I noticed that Vantrue didn’t add HDR for the front cam of its N5 either. Instead they’re adding WDR which isn’t as good, but at least it’s something. Maybe adding HDR isn't as straightforward as we think? There might be other trade-offs we don’t know about when going a route that allows for HDR, for example. I’m not justifying any manufacturer’s choice, just trying to understand.

 

[Dadi_T]

I noticed that Vantrue didn’t add HDR for the front cam of its N5 either. Instead they’re adding WDR which isn’t as good, but at least it’s something. Maybe adding HDR isn't as straightforward as we think? There might be other trade-offs we don’t know about when going a route that allows for HDR, for example. I’m not justifying any manufacturer’s choice, just trying to understand.

Yes, but that is a 4 channel dashcam AND not 678, but 675 i think. And still, i think a lot cheaper. With 4 channel, we can understand the limitations, but with 2 channel?
Vantrue excuse can be wide coverage. What Thinkware excuse could be? Bad CPU choice? Something like that.

 

[Mtz]

I am also thinking do Sonys clear HDR or what ever its called, well do it need some special feature in the SOC to be used.
CUZ it seem to me others that have tried HDR on SOny sensors, well it is the old way of stitching together 2 consecutive pictures and not 2 same time pictures, making me think they can not tap into this Sony sensor feature.

Even DOL HDR needs PCB implementation for Novatek chipset dashcams. If it's on PCB then no problem to make available Clear HDR or DOL HDR.

 

[kamkar]

N5 as i recall will be selling for 350 USD.
And yes no mentioning of HDR on it

 

[Vortex Radar]

N5 as i recall will be selling for 350 USD.
And yes no mentioning of HDR on it

The N5 supports HDR on the interior and rear cams. WDR is supported on the front and interior cams.

Vantrue N5: 4 channel dashcam with industry-leading advanced features.

N5 VS N4 How About Resolution The N5 boasts a range of impressive features that make it the perfect device for capturing clear footage in even the most challenging environments. Equipped with a second-generation SONY STARVIS starlight night vision SONY IMX675 sensor, this device delivers...

dashcamtalk.com

 

[kamkar]

Yeah.
On the face of it, the N5 look to be a almost ideal Uber camera.
But its all so new to me, i mean first of all 4 cameras, and then 2 of them being interior cameras, and 2 in 1 cameras even.
It have made me wonder what SOC are in it, and if it is maxed out as it is, the page only saying " New generation of Novatek's high-level chipset "

I will see a guess, i think i will get one to run thru its paces.
The E2 i am also just about done with, not really anything bad to mention in regard to operation and it have been one of the most memory card tolerant systems i have ever tested, it will run on 3 cards my Viofo cameras struggle so much with that i call them no go in those cameras.

The barrel form factor i am not a fan of personally, but in a UBER environment where you actually want your cameras to be seen it might be a big +

 

[kamkar]

Okay i found out it is the novatek NT98529BG

But ????+ why the hell can i not go to Novateks home page, it absolutely do not work for me in any browser i have, searching for the name / model also dont give me much at least in any language i master.

 

[Vortex Radar]

I just got an email from Thinkware letting me know "that the samples that HQ sent are not representative of the mass production units that will be shipped out in a couple weeks. The tuning of the lens and overall image quality is not what it should be."

So I guess it turns out that the video quality is not representative of production quality after all. That's good to know. I'm going to hold off on my full review and further comparisons until they send over an updated copy.

 

[kamkar]

Well you can play around with functionality ASO, just have a chill pill in regard to the image quality.

 

[egonvdv]

How reliable is the radar (front and rear) - Does it capture all events ?

Also, i read somewhere that it will only store the clip in case an impact has been detected , is that correct ?
if that's the case, this would not be ideal for me, as i often need to see incidents that happened around my car

EDIT: see now in the manual that you can set to both impact and motion

 

[tchavei]

This morning, after a bitter experience, I'm thinking about other dashcams and the U3000 is on top of my list. Anyone knows when the planned release date is? I couldn't find it (still haven't drunk my morning coffee though)