useless as an accident dashcam ( only 30 seconds protected on button push )

Hi Christopher. Welcome to the forum.

It is normal for dashcams to record smaller clips, the nextbase i think ( no personal experience with the brand ) are locked to 1 minute ones, personally i use 3 minute segments, but some cameras can do 5 too or even 10 minutes.
If you have a choice in segment size they are usually 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 - 10 minutes.
The reasoning is if something go wrong, but not catastrophic wrong, you only loose a little footage VS if dashcams recorded one long file you would loose it all.

But there should not be duplicate's, that sound strange to me.
If you have G sensor on while driving, a pothole or something might trigger a event file being made, typically they go in a RO ( Read Only ) folder, but i think some cameras do some kind of suffix to the file name.
I dont use G sensor while driving myself as unwanted event files would annoy the hell out of me, so my camera just record all the time and if i encounter something small i use the event button to either save the actual event in the RO folder, or in the case the camera are the buffer style to save,,,,,, "something at least" in the event folder i can use as a beacon to find the actual event if it are not in the actual event file.

Some cameras dont even allow you to turn off G sensor, in that case it is a must to have sensitivity set to low, personally i think that is stupid way, but it can actually work okay but it must be dialed in well.

So my advise is to turn off everything G - sensor and motion detect in the camera settings

Are your camera hardwired / used for parking mode ?

It is quite easy to drop XX number of files into a video editing software, and then output them as one long video instead, i think most software's are even able to sort the files according to their name so getting them in order are no big deal.
I think some dedicated dashcam players are able to bundle up a bunch of files and export them as one big file, not sure how any nextbase PC software are on this, but i think the dashcam viewer software support it, you can try and DL it, it is fully functional but will just load a couple of files in the free version, but if you can stitch together and export 2 files with DV you can probably also do it with XX files
 
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While I agree this is the most fool proof method to prevent loss of data, in all honesty I have never heard of anyone carrying around a spare memory card for their dash cam for that purpose, and I know a few cammers. I do feel it is mildly cumbersome and not quite as convenient as either pressing a save button or letting the g-sensor do it for you - which if the camera is properly designed the data should not be overwritten. Plus, using a write protect function means you don't have to go and spend money on another memory card, which Nextbase cams seem to be finicky with regards to the card quality.*

*As an aside, I see a few people swear by Nextbase's own memory cards and feel they give the least problems especially if using a second camera like the rear or interior cam modules. Here in Canada though, the sole Nextbase retailer, Best Buy, does not carry any of Nextbase's memory cards, with the exception of the 32GB one that comes with the carrying case accessory. Heck, there does not appear to be any retailer in North America, even online ones, that carries Nextbase's larger card sizes such as the 128GB version. Halford's doesn't ship outside of the UK, let alone across the Atlantic ocean so they are ruled out. The best I can do is order from Amazon UK, but for some reason they can't ship the card to Canada, so I have to get it sent to an address in the US where a local courier business can retrieve it. This costs additional fees on top of getting it shipped from the UK, and makes it more expensive then it really should be had there been regional retailers that carried those cards.

Afterbrnr,

At the risk of pigpiling a bit, you definitely want to carry extra SD cards, already formatted and ready to use, as well as check your footage from time to time to make sure that the cam is working so that you can be confident that your video will be there when you need it. Not trying to poke you in the eye, but that's pretty much dashcam 101. I carry several in a case designed for that specific purpose in the car all the time:

1.jpg 2.jpg

Also, I wouldn't worry about the particular brand of SD card you use so much as making sure that it meets the manufacturer's required specs, and that it's designed to hold up to the environment the dashcam has to operate in.

Every manufacturer will strongly suggest that you use their proprietary cards, well, because they're always ridiculously overpriced and they make a lot of money that way. They're also often behind the latest SD card tech because they have a stockpile they're trying to get rid of, and they're not going to toss them when/if something better becomes available. No reputable company will even insinuate that they'll void your warranty for not using their branded card, that would be the equivalent of your car manufacturer trying to void your car warranty for not using the brand of gasoline that they recommend, or for not using the exact same OEM tire or battery manufacturer and model when you replace those consumable items. Any company that would try is a company no one should ever do business with again.

Likewise, I wouldn't focus on card size too awful much. The only real reason to use a very large SD card is if you drive constantly/professionally (taxi, Uber, trucker, etc.) and you're on the road all the time, of if you use unbuffered parking mode a lot. Personally, I don't drive for a living, but I do use unbuffered parking mode for 12 hours a day, six days a week, 4K UHD front and 1080p back. I download 3 days of video at a time and have never come close to maxing out or overwriting something I wanted to keep with a 128GB SD card.

Here's the best primer on SD card selection and use in dashcams that I've been able to find, I think it'll be worth your time: Car Cam Central.
 
Hello Christopher,

Regarding the recording lengths, the camera will record continuously in small segments (1,2, or 3 minutes). It will record these segments consecutively until the SD card is full. Then the oldest piece of footage will be deleted and the newest will be saved in it's place. This will continue looping and is called Continuous Overwriting. The Dash Cam does this automatically to allow for more footage to be recorded and the old, unnecessary footage to be deleted without manual intervention.

If the SD card is non-compatible or damaged, the card could corrupt which would cause a failure of data writing.
Symptoms of SD card failure are: an audible 'alarm' tone, non-functional buttons, freezing, corrupted files on playback, image missing from files, lack of file recording etc.

Your frequent, short clips are symptomatic of a non-compatible SD card. What brand, model, size and class of SD card are you using please?

Please also check your firmware is up to date on R19.1:
1) Turn the Dash Cam on
2) Stop it recording (by pressing the red circle)
3) Go into Settings (the button in the top left)
4) Go into Setup settings
5) Scroll across to ‘System Info’
6) Look at the Firmware number RXX.XX.

You may have 'Dual Files' turned on in the Camera's settings. This means that for every recorded time period, two files will be produced; one HF and one LF- High Resolution Front and Low Resolution Front. If you also have a Rear Camera attached, then four recordings will be made; HF, LF, HR, and LR: High Resolution Rear and Low Resolution Rear. The smaller file size of the low quality video means it is quicker to transfer and edit within the app. Please note: Recording both high and low resolution versions will take up more space on the memory card. If you turn off Dual Files, then only the High Resolution footage will record.

You can disable Dual Files by:

1) Turn the Dash Cam on
2) Stop it recording (by pressing the red circle)
3) Go into Settings (the button in the top left)
4) Go into Video settings
5) Scroll across to ‘Dual Files'
6) Enable or Disable Dual files here.

Regards,
Millie- Nextbase Support
 
I've just fitted a 622GW in the past two weeks (November 2021) and I'm having the same problem with this ridiculous 30 second thing but even worse it sometimes doesn't keep any prior footage and the rear camera never keeps prior footage.
The 30second window means that when I want to save footage of somebody driving like a moron for an extended period of time it's absolutely useless.
Back in February I had a run in with a driver who was driving very poorly, ran off the road, drove poorly some more before colliding with a wall, I stopped to help then they drove into the back of my car and my 412 saved all the footage over the 8minute period with two button clicks yet this new saving method missed a van running a red light over a 1.5second window.
Having a spare card is all well and good but when I like to save near misses and interesting observations for youtube compilation videos I don't want to be stopping all the time to swap cards instead of retrieving all the footage, to my PC, once a week or so.
Why has the much newer and more expensive 622 lost a huge lump of it's practicality compared to my previous cameras 212, 312 & 412?
This is something that really needs sorting so they save like the older models.
 
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If you have a large enough card then I don't see the importance of trying to move footage to a protected card area.

A 128Gb card for example will give you somewhere in the region of 10 hours so once connected to a PC you will have the active file and the before and after all in chronological sequence ready for saving.
 
If you want to better this substantially, then all i can think off is street guardian.
SG do not have a small buffer, the camera deal in the segments you have chosen ( 1 - 2 - 3 - 5 minute duration ) if you like me like 3 minutes a press of the event button will save 2 of of those, the current one being made + either the previous one or the following one depending where you are in the current segment when you press the button.
And that is for each camera so if it is a dual system like mine and you use 3 minutes then 12 minutes in total get locked down ( 2 X 3 minutes X 2 )
So with a SG camera you can have a event, pull over, and take a breath and light a ciggy and then press the button and you should have the event itself locked down.
Logic being. ( assuming 3 minute is used ) if current segment is < than 1.5 minute save current + previous segment. If current segment are >1.5 minute save current segment + following segment.

As Kremmen say with a adequate sized memory card it is not really a problem, unless you are on a really long drive, then again if you have a serious event you will not be driving more, if you have a minor event you will be driving but as long as your memory card do not fill up and start to recycle and get to where your event was, you are still fine, but you will of course have to recover the footage you might need ASAP.
On systems like the nextbase ones i would not consider their event routine much more than time stamps indicating where something of interest is.

I use the event button to lock little things, and i go to the RO folder for those events every 1 - 2 months for material for a YT upload, and things + a lot of old stuff are in there as i do not get any false recordings using say G - sensor while driving, it is only me pressing button and if my car get hit while parked that would generate a event, and my car never get hit.
 
If an event happened I want to keep, I upload to PC as soon as possible, same day ideally, to prevent loss of that recording
 
You can not have too much due diligence as a dashcam operator.
Make sure you have what you need.
Make sure your gear function as intended.
 
Hi guys,

Looking at the 422 / 522 with front / rear, but this thread is completely confusing me about it's functionality. Could this guy just not have gone home and took out the recorded footage, which should be there, rather than specifically just the protected file? My understanding is that the protect function saves a specific segment, but you would still have access to the rest of the day's recordings (and let's face it, who's driving for hours after getting t-boned). Am I getting this right? I don't get where the drama has come from
 
Welcome to the forum Orb98472.

indeed, i always say have ample of memory card space, and if you have a event retrieve footage ASAP, some of us even carry spare memory cards in the car, and not just CUZ we are testers with a unhealthy amount of dashcams installed in the car.

With the amount i drive and me using 256GB cards in general in none test cameras, well i get well over a week of old footage, probably more like 2 weeks of old footage.
BUT ! i probably also drive less than the average working / family guy / girl would do
I am not byuing under 128 GB memory cards, not even test cards for my suite of cards just used in test cameras.

These little / amputated event files, can always be used as beacons, and what is more before / after should always be there in and among the regular files,,,,,, if it have not been overwritten, which a large memory card should make sure do not happen.

So yes BIG event and you are not driving more, let camera roll a while after just to try and catch some incriminating behavior or maybe outright lies, and then retrieve your memory card.
Smaller stuff, like i do use the event button to save stuff, well i have not ran into problems here either, but i have no automatic event generating stuff on, or i do G - sensor when parked, but my car do not get rammed while parked, so my event folder host manual saved events going back months or last in camera format of the memory card.

you do not want to go cheap on memory card size, or price buying fron a distant mybe not too good seller, always buy memory cards local, and if possible a model that have warranty for in dashcam use,,,,, and are compatible with your model.
Nextbase being one of the brands that are not "eating" anything you stuff down ins throat.
 
...My understanding is that the protect function saves a specific segment, but you would still have access to the rest of the day's recordings (and let's face it, who's driving for hours after getting t-boned). Am I getting this right?...
Welcome to DCT.

You understand perfectly. (y)
 
New here, about to buy a 522 and thankfully found this beforehand. I was using a pair of garmin minis, and whilst they have more than their fair share of problems, saving files was not one of them, as I found out after recording a fairly serious RTA
 
I'm not impressed by @NextBase Support response and the blaming of the user by both Nextbase and other users of this forum.
I bought the 522GW from Halfords, had it hardwired and all that because from my research Nextbase seemed like the biggest brand (in the UK at least) and therefor appeared to be reputable.

I'd agree with the OP that this camera is pretty useless, unless you want to jump through many, many hoops.
It's not user friendly at all, and to say that it's the user's fault, as a software engineer myself, is not a good look.
I've seen somebody here say "you should have checked the manual before you bought it", which is frankly just stupid, let's be honest. Do you read the finer points of every manual before you buy something? If you do, you're in the 0.1% and acting holier than though, as a reason to defend this product, is frankly absurd.

Buffering the 10 seconds before the button was pressed and the 20 seconds after to RAM and then protecting that is a very questionable way of saving a recording, not only because there is a far better way of doing it - protecting the file before and after the button was pressed- but also because it disrupts the files that are there.

If you've ever used a Nextbase 522GW, if you hit the Protect button it stops the file that's recording to the SD card for 30 seconds then starts it again. You can piece together the 3 files (the one before, the protected file and the file after) but there's a significant jolt in video and audio because it misses a few frames after you've hit the button, and, crucially, this is NOT user friendly.

To say that you should carry around a peli case full of SD cards is just flabbergasting, for non-professional drivers who just want to catch the moment they're cut off, or someone is speeding and want to send it to the police later, this is just silly.
The 522GW is a personal use camera, it's not pro in any way, so to have to be connecting it to your computer to get files off, stitching videos together to see what you want and having to carry around 4 SD cards is just idiotic.

Here's what I do now to make sure I get what I need:

Stop the recording.
Open the Nextbase app or press the Play button the camera screen
Find files before and after the incident.
Select and protect them.

That's 4 steps for what is 1 step on previous Nextbase cameras and other manufacturer cams.

Can someone tell me, other than "this is the way it works, you should have known before you bought, and you should know how get what you want", that getting 10 seconds before pressing the button and 20 seconds after, is a good thing?
You talk about "in case of catastrophic failure", it doesn't keep it in RAM, it puts it on the SD card with all the other recordings, so if it fails, this protected recording goes with it.

Nextbase need to do better, with both their support and their products, even if that just means labelling them as an "advanced user" product.

Also, the MyNextbase app is trash. Save the videos to the gallery please. The best way I can find to get the video from my phone to the gallery, where it's actually usable to upload to somewhere on the internet or send in an email, is to save it to OneDrive or Google Drive and download it to my phone from there. Again, 2 or 3 steps instead of 1.

I see that Nextbase are hiring for software engineers and app developers in my local area, maybe I should apply and sort this out for everyone?
 
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Hello,

Welcome to DCT and thank you for your Protected File feedback.
When the 'Protect' function is activated a file containing 10 seconds prior to the incident and 20 seconds after is written to the 'PROTECTED' folder. I'm very sorry to hear that this design is not to your liking and I have passed your feedback onto our development team. The footage around this is also recorded to the 'VIDEO' folder on the SD card, and there should not be a gap in the footage. If you are having footage gaps, I'd recommend checking that you're using a compatible SD card and that it's formatted regularly.

If you would prefer a longer protected file duration, the Nextbase 622GW has a 45 second duration of 15 seconds prior to the incident and 30 seconds after.

If you would like to save footage and are worried that you have many hours of driving to go and the footage may be overwritten within that time, we recommend pulling into a safe parking space, switching off the vehicle and then downloading the clip directly to your MyNextbase Connect mobile app. This will then be saved in the app and you can continue your journey. A 128GB SD card can store around 8 hours of footage before overwriting, which should be ample time to save critical footage. If this is not enough time to safely pull over and download to your phone, or to finalise your journey and download to a computer, then we do recommend having another SD card that can be used to store new footage. For normal use case of a non-professional driver, 8 hours of recording duration provides more than enough time to save an incident clip.

The protected footage is clearly labelled on the app when you come to download it (a padlock icon is displayed), and if you have 'Incident Alert' enabled on your app then you will be notified of new protected footage. For more information about how to easily download incident footage, please see our website, FAQs, tutorials or YouTube tutorials.

Regards,
Millie
Nextbase Technical Support
 
Having read this thread from start to finish, I’m amazed at how complicated people can make this. In an accident whether it be front end, rear end or Tbone, I’m pretty sure the last thing on my mind would be “I must press the button”. With a 522 with rear camera, I know I have at least 8 hours recording on a 128mb sd card from point of impact. Enough time to drive from Edinburgh to Brighton at least. Should I want to drive half way back, just turn the camera off, what’s the chances of having your day ruined twice in one day? It’s not exactly rocket science. But unlike a previous contribution, yes do read the manual, you’ll find it pretty handy.
 
Having read this thread from start to finish, I’m amazed at how complicated people can make this. In an accident whether it be front end, rear end or Tbone, I’m pretty sure the last thing on my mind would be “I must press the button”. With a 522 with rear camera, I know I have at least 8 hours recording on a 128mb sd card from point of impact. Enough time to drive from Edinburgh to Brighton at least. Should I want to drive half way back, just turn the camera off, what’s the chances of having your day ruined twice in one day? It’s not exactly rocket science. But unlike a previous contribution, yes do read the manual, you’ll find it pretty handy.
When you've had other cameras before that do the logical thing, protecting the video before and after, when pressing the button it's easy to be in the mindset that all cameras are created with logic in mind. Unfortunately it's Nextbase that's made it complicated by creating a brand new protected file, cutting the previous and next files. If we're to disregard the "Emergency" button, then they should remove it.

I'd just like to know, as a user and a software engineer, why @NextBase Support made the decision to change the behaviour of the Emergency button to make it different to their previous cameras and every other camera with a similar button?
What was the decision making behind deciding that instead of protecting a file already being recorded to creating a brand new, very short file which most of the time misses the incident? (You have to hit the button within 5 seconds of the incident to really catch anything) And if, as the person above suggests, we shouldn't even be thinking of using the button, why does the button still exist?

Also, my comment about reading the manual was referring to the previous posted suggesting we read the manual very closely BEFORE purchasing the product. Come on, let's not be silly here, we shouldn't have to do that to understand what should be very basic functions, like, you know, being able to capture incidents on a dash cam.
 
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Only just noticed this thread and I see there are lots of arguments and alternatives.

I agree with the OP - I expect a sensibly designed dashcam and OS to protect a pertinent amount of footage both before and after the use of the emergency situation caused by a correctly calibrated and sensitivity adjusted G sensor or the manually activated button.

After all, the relevant authorities require a 2 minute before and after clip to validate the occurrence so surely any UK based manufacturer or distributor would include this in the specification or at least explain this in the marketing material rather than hiding it away in the small print?

To say that the user should carry a shed load of pre-formatted cards or use WiFi to transfer clips to your phone is, quite frankly, ridiculous! A dashcam is an automated, micro-processor controlled electronic device that, once set up via the menu to your requirements, should quietly sit in the background until an emergency occurs and then make sure that at some later time you can reliably access the particular time frame either side of that occurrence?

In any case, as a former user of a Nextbase WiFi enabled camera, I agree with the previous poster that this function is so slow and unreliable that your phone and possibly the car battery would run flat before you accomplished it!

If you have just been involved in an accident or suffered a road rage incident you hopefully might have the presence of mind to jab the button BUT you are unlikely to want to look for a "picnic spot" to play around with spare SD cards or painfully slow WiFi!
 
If you are using a 128GB U3 SD card and you will be driving for more than 8 hours after an incident, and you cannot download the footage to your phone, the best way forward is to manually protect the surrounding footage to the Protected File directly on the dashcam. You can do this by:
Pulling to a safe parking space, turning off your vehicle, stopping the dashcam recording, pressing the 'Play' icon in the top right of the screen, go to 'Videos', find the footage surrounding your incident footage, then click the 'protect' button in the bottom left. This will protect the footage and it will not be loop recorded with the normal footage. When you then arrive at your destination, you will be able to download the footage to your computer.

I fully understand all the view points provided above, however a 30 second protected file for 122-522GW dashcams and a 45 second protected file for 622GW is how the product is designed to function to ensure critical incident footage is saved in the Protected Files folder. Thank you all for your feedback, I have gathered all the details on this thread and passed them to our Development team for further consideration. I cannot promise that it will be implemented with Series 2 Dashcams, however I hope this will help with design of future products.

Kind regards,
Millie
Nextbase Technical Support
 
If you are using a 128GB U3 SD card and you will be driving for more than 8 hours after an incident, and you cannot download the footage to your phone, the best way forward is to manually protect the surrounding footage to the Protected File directly on the dashcam. You can do this by:
Pulling to a safe parking space, turning off your vehicle, stopping the dashcam recording, pressing the 'Play' icon in the top right of the screen, go to 'Videos', find the footage surrounding your incident footage, then click the 'protect' button in the bottom left. This will protect the footage and it will not be loop recorded with the normal footage. When you then arrive at your destination, you will be able to download the footage to your computer

Are you actually being serious?

Compare your convoluted, time consuming manual method with most other manufacturers simple automated method :-

"When incident occurs (G sensor OR button press) then mark current file + preceding and/or subsequent file as RO"

Job done, simples!

The user then has quick, easy and consistent access to the relevant files irrespective of how long they drive after the incident and do not have to search through loads of files. Maybe Next base users should also carry a notepad and pen so they can jot down the time of the incident (at 70 mph in the fast lane) for easier retrieval later?

The only user intervention then required is some occasional "housekeeping" of the RO files which can be done at their leisure.

The ludicrous algorithm they use for emergencies - to stop recording the current file, strip off 10 seconds to start a new 30 sec protected file then restart a new normal file 20 sec later does not protect enough footage, is liable to failures and unless the G sensor activates the routine it is totally reliant on the user pressing the button very, very quickly - ludicrous!

Maybe the NB response should be "Sorry, we realise we have ****ed up and the current OS could be more user friendly and reliable. We have fired the developer responsible. We will endeavour to improve usability of affected models via firmware updates where possible. New models will adopt standard industry practise and conform to UK requirements for evidential footage"
 
I do make a mental or physical note of the time of an incident I want to keep, then easily take dashcam to laptop later, find and download the clip(s) needed, and assemble, if necessary, using a free video editor, sufficient time before and after the incident to make a useful video.
 
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