Vortex Radar's DR970X Plus Test & Review Notes

[GPak]

Sure, Mini 1 is the easiest to read.
In fact, it looks like zoom-in effect, i.e. objects are closer with narrower AOV.
We like 93° because we haven't seen 80° yet
I guess 80° or less AOV would be even better? so where do we stop?, there always should be some kind of balance/compromise.

In any case, I just hope for what you rightly pointed in your review, that manufacturers should honestly advertise actual dash cam AOV, and not a lens spec.
Until then, it would be nice if reviewers, along with the advertised AOV, could also include the actual AOV of different dash cams for a fair comparison.

 

[2na]

Will you be changing your every day cameras over to the 970X Plus from the 970X?

Can they add HDR support or is that a hardware thing?

 

[Vortex Radar]

Will you be changing your every day cameras over to the 970X Plus from the 970X?

Can they add HDR support or is that a hardware thing?

100%. I may do a giveaway or something clearing out old dashcams. I’ve been doing that recently with radar detectors and it’s been nice to make space on my shelves and put that equipment to good use.

As for HDR, the sensor supports it, but I’m not sure why Blackvue has chosen not to use it. Perhaps it’s a CPU limitation like Thinkware?

 

[2na]

As for HDR, the sensor supports it, but I’m not sure why Blackvue has chosen not to use it. Perhaps it’s a CPU limitation like Thinkware?

Any chance you could ask them and include it in the video? It's very odd some Starvis 2 dashcams have it and some don't.

 

[ImpliedConsent]

So I feel like we're still in a situation where it's Blackvue for cloud, Viofo for video quality, and Thinkware for long term parking recording. I was really hoping the DR970X Plus would give both cloud and awesome video quality in one package, but while the video quality is better than before, I wouldn't rank it as awesome.

Better VQ on a premium dashcam, just now using Starvis2. Way to play catchup BlackVue. I don't use my dashcam for anything other than VQ. I'm pretty sure I'm gonna bow out of the BlackVue infrastructure and move onto Viofo for my next dashcam.

I just saw the @BlackboxMyCar video. It definitely looks better.

 

[evad]

So I feel like we're still in a situation where it's Blackvue for cloud, Viofo for video quality, and Thinkware for long term parking recording. I was really hoping the DR970X Plus would give both cloud and awesome video quality in one package, but while the video quality is better than before, I wouldn't rank it as awesome.

I was really hoping that BV would finally nail it in all key departments (awesome 4K Starvis2 video quality with excellent HDR performance, unrivalled cloud features and built-in LTE in one single package) with the DR970X Plus series, yet seems like you perfecly nailed it with this one sentece, Ariel.

I'm still awaiting my BV DR970X Plus testing units, yet just reading these threads here at DCT leaves me with one single word - disappointment.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I was really hoping that BV would finally nail it in all key departments (awesome 4K Starvis2 video quality with excellent HDR performance, unrivalled cloud features and built-in LTE in one single package) with the DR970X Plus series, yet seems like you perfecly nailed it with this one sentece, Ariel.

I'm still awaiting my BV DR970X Plus testing units, yet just reading these threads here at DCT leaves me with one single word - disappointment.

I love watching your YouTube videos, and all the sample footage you upload.
I wish your videos had English Closed Captions so I could understand what you’re saying.
Is it possible to enable English Closed Captions?
-Chuck

https://www.youtube.com/@wr24_pl

 

[evad]

I love watching your YouTube videos, and all the sample footage you upload.

Wow, that's nice. Thank you for your appreciation!

I wish your videos had English Closed Captions so I could understand what you’re saying.
Is it possible to enable English Closed Captions?

To be honest, I don't think that working on translations and generating CC would be feasible for us, mainly from business perspective. The YT channel's main purpose is supporting our dashcam business here in Poland. However, I might consider researching some AI tools to do just that in the future.

UPDATE: Added auto-generated captions to a few videos on my channel using YouTube's integrated tools. Thanks @Panzer Platform for the tip!

 

[Vortex Radar]

Yeah if you all have any tips for AI generated captions, please share them! Perhaps a dedicated thread on the topic would be helpful. I focus on English only since most of my radar/laser stuff is really geared towards North America and doesn't apply elsewhere, but dashcam stuff is more universal across the world.

I've used Rev.com in the past for human created transcriptions for some important videos, but I haven't been too impressed with the output quality, especially when it comes to some technical terms and product names. (They often ignore the proper spelling of brands and models that are both literally in the video and provided on the side when I pay for a request.) So if we can get a free/cheap AI version that's still pretty close, that'd be a nice improvement.

 

[Vortex Radar]

This week I've been hard at work on my full DR970X Plus review and the video should go live later today.

I've done more testing since and noticed that even though the Plus doesn't have HDR, it does a better job than the U3000 in terms of dynamic range and capturing license plates at night, even though they're both non-HDR IMX678 models.

I've also had one corrupted parking mode impact video where the video blacked out briefly right after the impact. All the other test clips worked fine though.

 

[evad]

This week I've been hard at work on my full DR970X Plus review and the video should go live later today.

I've done more testing since and noticed that even though the Plus doesn't have HDR, it does a better job than the U3000 in terms of dynamic range and capturing license plates at night, even though they're both non-HDR IMX678 models.

I've also had one corrupted parking mode impact video where the video blacked out briefly right after the impact. All the other test clips worked fine though.

Great to hear that. Looking forward to your review. My testing DR970X LTE unit should arrive early next week.

I still can't believe BV used Starvis2 IMX678 sensor and NOT implemented HDR... really disappointing. Perhaps they'll fix it in later firmware update?

 

[kamkar]

On FOV, my feeling is some dashcams are plenty FOV, and i have never in my life seen a dashcam that is sold with a too narrow FOV.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Alrighty, the finished review is now live. The dedicated review thread is here: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/blackvue-dr970x-plus-review-vortex-radar.50479/

I've also added the video to the OP of this discussion thread for reference.

 

[evad]

I have received BV DR970X LTE Plus for testing today.

Here are a few night time snapshots, compared to the 70mai A810 Dual - a great example of well implemented Starvis 2 IMX678 sensor with 4K HDR and perfectly sharp lens.

Example #1





Example #2





Example #3





Let these images speak for themselves...

However, BV should better than 70mai at daytime in terms of motion blur. Will upload a few examples tomorrow.

 

[evad]

And a few day time examples below. While BV's motion blur management is very promising, yet overall image quality is wasted by lack focus. You did it again, BlackVue!

Note: 70mai A810 had CPL filter attached.

Example #1





Example #2





Example #3





Example #4

 

[evad]

Compared DR970X LTE Plus to the previous DR970X LTE (non-Plus) and uploaded sample snapshots to Google Drive:

LTE vs LTE Plus - Google Drive

drive.google.com

At daytime it's a bit hit&miss for the new Plus model, as in a few instances older model delivers better results. Overexposure in Plus model certainly isn't helping.

Plus is doing much better job at night time. Definitely less motion blur and much better job catching details, yet lack of HDR and license plate reading is definitely a bummer.

Hopefully BV is going to fine-tune daytime performance and implement HDR in future updates, which would give a Starvis2-powered-premium-dashcam a definite "Plus" compared to previous models and competition.

 

[Vortex Radar]

It looks like one of my DR970X Plus' is toast. The one I'm running up front power cycles regularly while driving and most of the footage has these pink lines that keep scrolling through the now very jerky footage.



This happens both when driving or when parked, with both firmware 1.000 and 1.001 (which has since been pulled from Blackvue's site for some reason), and regardless of memory card (including several Blackvue cards). The dashcam is basically unusable and needs to be replaced. This was my sharper copy of the two and hopefully the replacement unit has an in focus lens.

At this point I'm feeling pretty frustrated with these dashcams. They have consistent lens focus issues for both the front and rear cams, exposure flickering issues, reliability issues, periodic security vulnerabilities for the cloud features, I can sometimes connect to my dashcams with my iPhone but not my Android, Blackvue has removed some features that I really liked on previous models including the ability to connect to multiple hotspots and to have fine tuned control over voice notifications, etc.

I've run Blackvues as my primary dashcam for about a decade now, but given the issues that I and others have been reporting with these latest models, I don't think I can justify recommending it any longer given the high pricepoint and compromised video quality and reliability. Cloud stuff is great, but you gotta nail the basics.

 

[DCS Australia]

It looks like one of my DR970X Plus' is toast. The one I'm running up front power cycles regularly while driving and most of the footage has these pink lines that keep scrolling through the now very jerky footage.

View attachment 71260

This happens both when driving or when parked, with both firmware 1.000 and 1.001 (which has since been pulled from Blackvue's site for some reason), and regardless of memory card (including several Blackvue cards). The dashcam is basically unusable and needs to be replaced. This was my sharper copy of the two and hopefully the replacement unit has an in focus lens.

At this point I'm feeling pretty frustrated with these dashcams. They have consistent lens focus issues for both the front and rear cams, exposure flickering issues, reliability issues, periodic security vulnerabilities for the cloud features, I can sometimes connect to my dashcams with my iPhone but not my Android, Blackvue has removed some features that I really liked on previous models including the ability to connect to multiple hotspots and to have fine tuned control over voice notifications, etc.

I've run Blackvues as my primary dashcam for about a decade now, but given the issues that I and others have been reporting with these latest models, I don't think I can justify recommending it any longer given the high pricepoint and compromised video quality and reliability. Cloud stuff is great, but you gotta nail the basics.

Well said. At their ridiculous price point and how unreliable their products have been (aside from the 1st generation X-Series), it's dishonest for anyone to continue promoting and recommending Blackvue to any customer here in Australia as well.

Blackvue was never a #1 in its home market. The cloud feature is a hype as well and unless you have a proper setup, it's a nightmare to explain customers what they can and cannot.

Any IMX678 dashcam without real-HDR is a joke.

Thank you for your honesty!

 

[safedrivesolutions]

It looks like one of my DR970X Plus' is toast. The one I'm running up front power cycles regularly while driving and most of the footage has these pink lines that keep scrolling through the now very jerky footage.

View attachment 71260

This happens both when driving or when parked, with both firmware 1.000 and 1.001 (which has since been pulled from Blackvue's site for some reason), and regardless of memory card (including several Blackvue cards). The dashcam is basically unusable and needs to be replaced. This was my sharper copy of the two and hopefully the replacement unit has an in focus lens.

At this point I'm feeling pretty frustrated with these dashcams. They have consistent lens focus issues for both the front and rear cams, exposure flickering issues, reliability issues, periodic security vulnerabilities for the cloud features, I can sometimes connect to my dashcams with my iPhone but not my Android, Blackvue has removed some features that I really liked on previous models including the ability to connect to multiple hotspots and to have fine tuned control over voice notifications, etc.

I've run Blackvues as my primary dashcam for about a decade now, but given the issues that I and others have been reporting with these latest models, I don't think I can justify recommending it any longer given the high pricepoint and compromised video quality and reliability. Cloud stuff is great, but you gotta nail the basics.

I agree with you i am reviewing the 970X PLUS LTE. Cloud is great for some things. Even the manual recording touch sensor stops working intermittently on my unit. I have to re record all my videos for this unit again because none of the manual recordings saved except for 1.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Any IMX678 dashcam without real-HDR is a joke.

Yes.
I’ve been saying this for the past 9 months, (June 2023) since the release of the Thinkware U3000.
“STARVIS 2 without HDR is almost useless at night time”