What features would your ideal dashcam have?

[mac]

So what? Again, the point was whether an open source cam exited at all, not whether it was the ultimate camera.

Presenting a failed example of open source dashcam software does not exactly help make ones' point. Take that FWIW.

 

[Dashmellow]

I never see my Itronics ITB-250HD because is mounted in the back. But is so good that I don't need to check it ever. From they day I mounted it in the car I knew that it is always recording. Always.
It have a discrete beep which is "telling" me that is starting recording after the engine started. Two months ago I received many beeps because of some error. I never formatted the Card. I formatted and restarted the camera. From that moment I never heard any beep I never miss any second from my trips. And I drive daily, about 120km with many start/stop of the engine.

enjoy,
Mtz

I've had a similar experience but without any glitches. My rear camera these days is a Mobius with B lens and super-capacitor and I am always reassured by the rear flashing red LED I can see in my rear view mirror when I am driving. Even without the red pilot light though to let me know the camera just works perfectly day in and day out in hot or cold weather with little or no attention and that is how it should be.

 

[Dashmellow]

Presenting a failed example of open source dashcam software does not exactly help make ones' point. Take that FWIW.

FWIW @mac, literally a month ago on September 5th I made a casual remark in reply to @Tobi@s' question about open source firmware where I said, "Have you seen the Raspberry Pi Dashcam Project? Very interesting possibilities for a "roll your own" dash cam. For some odd reason you show up now to take issue with how ultimately successful that particular experimental camera was or wasn't. Like I said, the success of the project was completely beside the point. @Tobi@s writes and modifies software/firmware and so the discussion was about DIY projects in more general terms, but here you are apparently looking to get into some sort of snit over the whole thing. It seems a bit weird, really. Let it go man, time to move on to more interesting things worth discussing rather than nit-pic over irrelevant, month old minor commentary.

 

[kamkar]

hehe i often verify the flashing red LED on the mobius in the RV mirror, and i have found that wearing my sunglasses i cant see it, witch have caused a couple of WTF moments

When it come to the ideal dashcam.

Basic features.

Same or better night performance compared to day footage from todays high end dashcams. ( much more light sensetive CMOS ) > 1/250 sec exposure time at night, higher will be prefered.
2 or 4 remote cameras, as small as possible, if 2 cam units is only made, maybe there can be a interconnect on them so the system is expandable. ( box 1 control the other boxes dasiy chained to it )
A wired remote to start event recordings and mute / unmute audio recording, this could allso house the microfone.
A central storage unit with a SSD or USB memory stick that is easy to remove for backup, size of this unit should be 20 x 100 x 220 MM ( T x W x D) or smaller, i imagine using a extruded ALU profile for maximum heat dissipation / passive cooling.
A USB plug for debug / firmware update.
AV out plug and or HDMI.

Extras.

A GPS antenna
A Alarm expansion module, with a remote would be nice, maybe using a proper external WIFI antenna with good range and a smartphone app.

A prototype sent to me as soon as possible

Disclaimer. this list is subject to changes and additions at any time, the author reserves the right to keep dreaming.
I have a edit button and i am not affraid to use it.

 

[throrope]

Now that all is sorted, I really like my GT680W. The only thing I'd change is the instructions. Last week after months of inattention, I pulled the chip, downloaded a file into my phone, returned the chip and it went back to work. The file perfectly showed an oblivious driver pulling from stopped traffic onto the shoulder right in front of a bicyclist. Fortunately, the attentive rider avoided incident.

IMHO, Garmin is missing an incredible opportunity. If they combined their 5" mid-range navigation model with the features of the GT680W and offered it for less than the two separately, it'd be installed. Intuitively, all that needs adding is a camera lens in an eyeball socket, one more chip and software.

 

[tomroscoe]

I want something unobtrusive that is a fit&forget item. The big plus is that it must have an LCD viewfinder screen, a decent mic, a quick-release from its suction cup and an internal battery.

If I'm involved in any sort of accident I want to quickly pop the cam out of its holder and continue filming, knowing I'm gathering crucial video and audio evidence.

The two little SJ cams (1000 & 4000) answer all these requirements beautifully.

tom

 

[Dashmellow]

I want something unobtrusive that is a fit&forget item. The big plus is that it must have an LCD viewfinder screen, a decent mic, a quick-release from its suction cup and an internal battery.

If I'm involved in any sort of accident I want to quickly pop the cam out of its holder and continue filming, View attachment 8340 knowing I'm gathering crucial video and audio evidence.

The two little SJ cams (1000 & 4000) answer all these requirements beautifully.

tom

It is very optimistic to imagine yourself conveniently popping your camera out of its holder so you can continue filming after an accident. Unfortunately, many accidents involve broken windshields, deployed airbags, terrible vehicle damage and severe injuries. Hopefully, the simple fender bender you are imagining is all that might ever happen for you. (or any of us)

Some detachable cameras have a shown a propensity to come flying off their mounts during an accident so the convenience of being able to remove it easily can be a double edged sword.

 

[tomroscoe]

I'm pretty sure it's fender-bender shunts that most of us are involved in Dashmellow, and that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of here. Being involved in a multiple motorway pileup or fireball on the A1, you'd be more worried about getting out alive rather than filming for News At Ten.

 

[Dashmellow]

I'm pretty sure it's fender-bender shunts that most of us are involved in Dashmellow, and that's the sort of thing I'm thinking of here. Being involved in a multiple motorway pileup or fireball on the A1, you'd be more worried about getting out alive rather than filming for News At Ten.

You may well be correct but what I was trying to point out is that making assumptions about how a particular future scenario will occur can have its pitfalls. I guess this is what is usually referred to a confirmation bias. The truth of the matter is that anything can and surely will happen to some of us when we are out on the road and there is nothing any of us can do to change that. There have been many accounts both here at DCT and elsewhere of people's dash cams becoming dislodged during car accidents. Personally, I've learned to mount dash cams as securely as possible so they will continue to record no matter what. I've also learned that dash cams generally don't make for good portable video cameras. I always have other cameras with me if I want or need to shot stills or video outside my vehicle.

Anyway, I was just trying to point out that the desired feature of where you can "quickly pop the cam out of its holder" could potentially be a problem as nice as it might be to have the feature. Even the Mobius, which has an otherwise very secure "pop-off" mounting cradle has been known to come out of its mount during an accident.

 

[kamkar]

In that case i would go for my C1 in my pocket, or i would just whip out my cellphone.

But offcourse only if i have been a part of the fender bender, i am not a big fan of ppl stopping to film other ppls misfortune when they had a accident, and especially not if there is ppl hurt.

In these "video or it diden happen" days its nice to allways be armed with a videocamera, its just sad i am so old now my life do not have the same level of action as in the old days

 

[Dashmellow]

In that case i would go for my C1 in my pocket, or i would just whip out my cellphone.

But offcourse only if i have been a part of the fender bender, i am not a big fan of ppl stopping to film other ppls misfortune when they had a accident, and especially not if there is ppl hurt.

In these "video or it diden happen" days its nice to allways be armed with a videocamera, its just sad i am so old now, and my life do not have the same level of action as in the old days

Yes, I agree about the C1. I usually carry one of my Mobius cameras around as a pocket cam. These cameras are perfect for this kind of use.

 

[Mtz]

I have a Mobius or C1 in the car, but always with me the smartphone which can record 720p. At least I don't need to take anything more with me just to record HD if needed.

enjoy,
Mtz

 

[mollydog]

there are many things I'd like my next DVR to have, but my wish list for future DVR's would be something like this:

quality image for day and night footage is top of list, one central processing unit ( you could hide it in the glove box) that you could plugged to it from one to four cameras, but the cameras would be just the lens as everything would be in the CPU. Lens need be no bigger than 10mm diamete, and the wires leading to the lens be as thin as possible, this way no bulk unit attached to the windows just a very small circul (lens). to carry on recording for 15 minutes after ignition off if parking mode is set to off, wi-fi so no screen needed for setup, CPU to have USB so one could connect accessories to it (maybe computer), for future proof of accessories maybe, firmware updates ect, CPU could be connected to the cars ECU or CAMBUS so if needed one can choose other items to record on the SD card, like speed, indicators on, lights on, braking or even GPS.

I se that quite a few manufacturers spend time and energy producing large DVR with lots of bling to them, one thing these DVR's don't need is silver like tat all around them, they need to be discreet, I don't want my car window smashed in as someone thought I had an iphone/android phone stuck to my window, best to spend the R&D on quality image capturing than working out what bling looks best, these DVR needn't cost the earth, one can already pick up a 37inch digital TV with wi fi and lots of other things to it for less then £200, this will do for now, I might think of other things later

 

[liveinxs]

For me, i would like to see the Mobius, offer the following, 1080p60fps, and maybe a beep to let you know, that recording has started..

 

[nir]

For me, i would like to see the Mobius, offer the following, 1080p60fps, and maybe a beep to let you know, that recording has started..

1080p60fps (and not only the center part of the sensor) with the whole sensor Wide FOV

 

[DAP]

Things not mentioned so far:
Operating temperature from -40 to +100 degrees C, the entire expected range of tempreatures you can expect in the interior of a car.
Extreem vibration resistance. For some reason, even with solid state electronics, the picture always breaks up when the camera bounces off something.
No IR filter. I don't care if the color is not perfect if it improves the night picture quality.
The ability to not overwrite the GPS data when it overwrites the video.
Support for very large memory cards.
Playback software that runs in Linux, or runs in a browser like Firefox. No more of this windows only crap.
Encrypted data. I don't want a thief to be able to access the recorded data, and the police should need a warant to get a complete record of where I have been and how I drive.
GPS data in a standard format. GPX is a good one.

Other things I agree with:
1080P60 or better.
extreeme low light sensitivity.
Very large battery (what I'd like is a week of battery life for sitting in the airport parking lot with motion sensing enabled). The idea is that the battery would charge when the car is running, and the camera operating continuously. When the car is parked it is in motion sensing mode and running off its internal battery (not draining the cars battery).
Built into the rear view mirror (you could put 4 cameras in a rear view mirror and get 360 degree coverage.
extreeme reliability.

 

[kamkar]

You would need a special battery to cope with those temperatures. if you can do without IR filter, you can buy fine megapixel lenses used for CCTV cameras ( about 10 dollars )

 

[melensdad]

Things not mentioned so far:
Operating temperature from -40 to +100 degrees C, the entire expected range of tempreatures you can expect in the interior of a car.
Extreem vibration resistance. For some reason, even with solid state electronics, the picture always breaks up when the camera bounces off something.
No IR filter. I don't care if the color is not perfect if it improves the night picture quality.
The ability to not overwrite the GPS data when it overwrites the video.
Support for very large memory cards.
Playback software that runs in Linux, or runs in a browser like Firefox. No more of this windows only crap.
Encrypted data. I don't want a thief to be able to access the recorded data, and the police should need a warant to get a complete record of where I have been and how I drive.
GPS data in a standard format. GPX is a good one.

Other things I agree with:
1080P60 or better.
extreeme low light sensitivity...

• I agree with much of the above but I want the ability to TURN OFF all GPS tracking. I don't want that data recorded at all.
• 1080P30 is fine with me.
• Encrypted data would be ideal.
• I would prefer a remote DVR that can be buried under a seat, behind the dash, or in the glovebox with a single wire running to a small front camera and a single wire running to the rear camera.
• WiFi that can be turned off/on instead of a screen, but then defaults to 'off' or automatically switches off if not used for 5 minutes.
• I don't need the camera to run for a week on a battery, but it might be nice to have a system that, using a G-shock sensor, automatically switches on after an impact to catch any aftermath in a parking lot. Not as good as regular parking mode, but probably good enough if you park for long periods of time as the separate battery for long term parking would be more trouble than it is probably worth.

 

[sludgeguts]

For me, i would like to see the Mobius, offer the following, 1080p60fps, and maybe a beep to let you know, that recording has started..

I like the start/stop 'chime' offered by the G1W etc, but a 'beep' is good. Maybe a few beeps to reinforce the LED flashes - so a couple of quick beeps followed by two or three as the LED flashes upon startup then a couple of quick beeps followed by a longer beep on shutdown.
All with the option to turn off in the gui (for those who don't want or need this facility)
I like the idea of 1080 @60
But I'd also like to see the Mobius developed with a decent lens extension - the 20cm is OK, 200cm would be amazing! (I'm thinking for a dual cam setup, allowing both cams to be mounted together mid-car)
Even with a proper dual cam setup, I'm not overjoyed with having one dvr writing two lots of files to the same card at the same time - putting even more pressure on the hardware by asking it to also write GPS data, g-sensor data and other stuff.