Vantrue S1 Pro - Improvement Wish List

[Panzer Platform]

1.) H.264 Codec
2.) Revised Hardwire Kit with selection to disable Low Voltage Battery Protection for use with Dash Cam Battery Pack.
3.) Built in mechanical CPL Filter that can be enabled / disabled using the App, or camera settings.
This should work just like the IR Filter for interior IR cameras that operate with IR emitters for "night vision".
4.) Built in solar powered fan to prevent overheating during parking mode.
5.) Replace included CLA Power Cable with Hardwire Kit so the consumer has access to parking mode without any additional cost.
Almost every household in America has a USB Type-C cable & CLA adapter in the kitchen drawer. lol
6.) Include 32GB SD Card for initial set up, testing, malfunction diagnosis, and performing firmware updates.
7.) Superimposed horizon line on live view in App to align the camera with 50% road 50% sky.
8.) Voice Notifications for events during parking mode upon return to normal recording mode.
I stole this one from @Vortex Radar lol
How about it @Jeff_Vantrue can you make it happen?
-Chuck

 

[kamkar]

1: i would personally prefer to see AV1 codec, even if my computer do not currently support that in hardware. i have no care for the hardware capabilities of various other possibilities.
2: dont think it is needed just use the very lowest cut off value, dedicated power pack will have its own low voltage protection.
3: i am not sure a CPL filter behind the lens would work, but if it could it would be a cool feature for front / rear camera.
4: i do not agree will take up too much space, better to make remote cameras and big main unit with proper cooling, possible even active cooling to deal with heat during parking guard.
This would also allow for other means of storage like M2 drive, you can get 2 TB of plenty fast enough M2 storage for very cheap at the moment.
5: i do not need more USB cables.
6: maybe even smaller, i dont know why but i have never been able to use a large memory card to update firmware, the cameras just start recording, hence why i use 32 - 16 - 8 GB cards to update firmware.
7: those lines are actually nice.
8: you should know / be told immediately is something have happened while parked, not least if you dont get that VIA a notification on the phone.
The 70mai omni i test it say there have been events and you should connect to camera to see them, even if this are most often just me leaving the car as it change to parking guard with no delay.
You dont really need to get the exact number of events, you will see that if there are more when you connect..

 

[Panzer Platform]

1: i would personally prefer to see AV1 codec, even if my computer do not currently support that in hardware. i have no care for the hardware capabilities of various other possibilities.

The reason I wish for H.264 is because I strongly dislike Vantrue’s current codec H.265.

2: dont think it is needed just use the very lowest cut off value, dedicated power pack will have its own low voltage protection.

The reason for disabling Low Voltage Cut Off in the hardwire kit will increase parking mode operation by 2-3 hours when used with a dedicated dash cam battery pack like the BBMC PowerCell 8.

4: i do not agree will take up too much space,

Let’s just see if they can do it. Lol

6: maybe even smaller, i dont know why but i have never been able to use a large memory card to update firmware, the cameras just start recording, hence why i use 32 - 16 - 8 GB cards to update firmware.

I did an experiment with the Viofo 256GB;

 

[Dashmellow]

3.) Built in mechanical CPL Filter that can be enabled / disabled using the App, or camera settings.

This technology exists in most CCTV cameras except that it removes the IR-cut filter at night using a mechanical solenoid and a photo-diode sensor. It has been tried in a dash cam but proved to be impractical.

To do this with a CPL would require a rather a large custom built solenoid unit to accommodate the size of the filter instead of one of the off the shelf M12 IR-cut filter solutions that exist in the industry. It would be expensive to produce, difficult to adjust, even at the factory and large enough to make the camera/lens housing much bigger than it would ordinarily need to be.

Most importantly, a CPL needs to be placed in front of the optical path of a lens, not behind it, so the whole idea wouldn't work anyway. The solenoid unit holding the filter would need to be placed in front of the lens instead of inside the housing where these kind of units are otherwise installed which would make the thing ungainly and easily prone to damage.


A typical M12 IR-cut filter mechanical solenoid. To accommodate a full sized CPL it would need to be 3 or 4 times the size and need to be on the front of the lens.

4.) Built in solar powered fan to prevent overheating during parking mode.

This idea has been attempted numerous times over the years by individuals on this forum and it has never proven to be even remotely successful. No matter how small or quiet the fan that is used, it will sound like a jet engine in your videos if you have any notion of recording audio. Even a small fan will be rather power hungry and if you want to power the fan via your battery it will drain it much faster than the camera alone. If you wanted to power the fan via a solar panel you will need a rather large one for it to consistently provide enough juice. It would be unsightly, attract attention and add significantly to the price of the camera.


It is always amusing to see some of the wishful thinking that always seems to accompany these fantasy feature lists that appear on the forum from time to time, usually by people who don't quite understand how cameras are built or how lens optics function.

 

[kamkar]

in front of the optical path of a lens, not behind it

Yeah that was what i figured / feared.
Okay you could design a camera so you could have a CPL filter slide in front of the lens, but it would be pretty wide i think, and i doubt it would be appealing to me.
So ill carry on as usual, slap on CPL filter and forget about it.

This idea has been attempted numerous times over the years

Indeed, the ONLY way to win the thermal battle, in regard to parking guard duty or hefty internal heat generation I hope we will see sooner or later in high end "race" dashcams is to not have the camera in the sun on the windscreen.

Somewhere else in the car in the shade, with a proper cooling solution ( not a simple heat sink ) and possible a active cooling from a larger diameter fan, that i think is something that is possible without breaking the bank.
Now i dont know about 80 or 92 mm fans as i have long ago forsaken those in computer builds, but 120 mm fans that still move some air you can get pretty low noise.
Most 120 mm fans if you keep them under 800 or so RPM they do not make much noise.

I am thinking, design your dashcam PCB to fit in some generic NUC computer case, tailor your back plate to accommodate the plugs you need, maybe drill a hole in the top or other side cover a heat sink can pass thru.
Hell you could probably use some laptop coolers, though these do have fans that can ramp pretty high and so be easy to hear.
You could maybe use a GFX cooler or another 2 pipe cooler like we PC addicts used to put on out overclocked North bridge chipsets to keep them cool, or NOT have to listen to the insane 40 mm fan that resided such places in the old days.

I am fairly sure you can find something that would work, and so not having to tool for everything.

Granted a car still get insane hot sitting in the sun, and there are thermal laws that kick in, in regard to heat exchanging, but i am pretty sure a proper designed remote system would last a whole lot longer than a on windscreen system with the same properties.

 

[Dashmellow]

I've had this crazy idea that it might be possible to cool a dash cam electronically using thermoelectric cooling using the Peltier effect. The chips are inexpensive and operate on 5V. They can quickly get down to freezing temperatures on the cold side but they do get hot on the other.

Unfortunately, I think it would be very difficult to engineer a working solution for dash cams using these things since they need adequate heat sinking and condensation would be a problem on the cold side.

 

[kamkar]

I looked hard and long at TEC and Vapor cooling for CPU many years ago, but i decided it was too complicated and just went with what i could do using water cooling.
And mind you back then water cooling for PC, well it was largely DIY and a aquarium pump for circulation.

As i understand the TEC elements, if you do not cool the hot side, then you dont really get much action on the cold side.
And as you say they introduce a whole host of other problems / challenges.

The extreme overclocking like also using liquid gasses, while cool and all it never rocked my boat so i even contemplated going there.

 

[Julian23]

Unfortunately, I think it would be very difficult to engineer a working solution for dash cams using these things since they need adequate heat sinking and condensation would be a problem on the cold side

The required power would also be an issue.

 

[Dashmellow]

The required power would also be an issue.

They run off 5 volts which could work for a dash cam. How much amperage do they need?

 

[kamkar]

Back in the day when i looked at TEC elements, they was listed in watts, and 12 Volts, but that was also decades ago, and i assume larger ones.

TBH i dont know / can not remember if you would need say a 80 Watt TEC to cool say a 55 watt CPU, but i dont think it compare like that as both are probably the MAX use of the CPU / TEC and not really indicative of the heat / cold output.

Never given much for the TEC equipped cold boxes you can get, but the modern power bank / compressor cooler and hell even ice cube maker all rolled into one, those i wish one could procure cheaper CUZ i want one of those.
Ecoflow Glacier.

 

[rcg530]

7.) Superimposed horizon line on live view in App to align the camera with 50% road 50% sky.

The Vantrue Android app v1.0.25 does have the alignment lines as an option on the live preview screen.

 

[Dashmellow]

Now i dont know about 80 or 92 mm fans as i have long ago forsaken those in computer builds, but 120 mm fans that still move some air you can get pretty low noise.
Most 120 mm fans if you keep them under 800 or so RPM they do not make much noise.

These days you can get tiny 20mm x 20mm fans that move s surprising amount of air but even they can be quite noisy. What happens is that the noise is just a higher pitch than with a bigger fan. The "cool" thing (sorry for the pun ) is that you can use several of them in a project facing in different directions and placed around what you want to cool. For example, you can have one blowing air into a small device and have another pulling air out.

 

[Dashmellow]

The Vantrue Android app v1.0.25 does have the alignment lines as an option on the live preview screen.

View attachment 66267

All dash cams should have that! Front facing cameras can be more forgiving but I find that trying to align a rear camera so that it is level with the tailgate of my truck can be extremely frustrating at times. You think you've got it perfect but when you check the footage it's off.

 

[Dashmellow]

Never given much for the TEC equipped cold boxes you can get, but the modern power bank / compressor cooler and hell even ice cube maker all rolled into one, those i wish one could procure cheaper CUZ i want one of those.
Ecoflow Glacier.

I have a small TEC equipped dehumidifier that I use in a part of my house that gets too humid in the winter and I use it to keep ice from forming on the windows. It is fairly quiet, efficient and works really well.

 

[kamkar]

My friend have to run one of those in his crappy house, sadly electrical power are not cheap here, actually i think we are most often in the top 3 most expensive places for power.
Even if on some days, you almost get paid to use power, then the next day BAM and you pay thru the nose again

 

[Panzer Platform]

The Vantrue Android app v1.0.25 does have the alignment lines as an option on the live preview screen.

View attachment 66267

I hope @viofo sees this. lol

 

[Turbine]

I really won’t like extra fan noises that have the probability to make even more noise when they go bad eventually.