What is the best 3 or even 4 camera system?

[DJFroggy]

Hey guys,


Like the title says, what is the best 3 or 4 camera system???

 

[kamkar]

There are no consumer 4 channel systems ready, and if the plan are to have 2 of those cameras addressing side view things get even harder.
The ones of us that do have side cameras / 4 cameras have done so either with 2 dual channel systems, or with a dual channel ( F & R ) and then single cameras to the sides.

I personally use the K2S system for side cameras as it have the smallest remote cameras of any system, but where to mount them are still a challenge as you can not stick them to the active windows in the door.
Myself i have a piece of fixed glass on my rear doors, so that is where i stuck my side cameras.

I have tested 3 3 channel systems myself the Viofo T130 / viofo A139 and the Zenfox T3, of those my favorite is the A139 as the cabin camera are remote, so you can put it any place along the top of the windscreen, i had mine attached to the mirror stalk ( a mirror mounted off the roof of the car )
The other 2 have the front camera and cabin camera in the same unit, meaning where to put them become a challenge, in my car i can not put them in front of my mirror as them all the cabin camera would record are the back side of the mirror, so i would have to mount it lower on the windscreen, potentially making it illegal, and for sure not stealthy, and stealth are a big + in my book of dashcams.

There are also other 3 channel systems from other brands, but then i have no experience and can only point to the 2 in 1 challenge the zenfox T3 and viofo T130 have

The A139 also use thin coaxial cables for powering and signal transmission, a lot easier to work with VS the thicker USB cables others use


Thinkware are sort of working on a 4 channel system, utilizing a so called multiplexer, but that system are not yet launched but probably will be some time this year.


Mind you +90 % of the things i have taken to share from my dashcams in 10 years have been from the front camera, and in all that time i have for the most at least had a rear camera too.
The side cameras i would not have if i had to buy the system myself, but the K2S i got for testing, after i used on the F & R for a few months it was relocated to the sides.

 

[DJFroggy]

There are no consumer 4 channel systems ready, and if the plan are to have 2 of those cameras addressing side view things get even harder.
The ones of us that do have side cameras / 4 cameras have done so either with 2 dual channel systems, or with a dual channel ( F & R ) and then single cameras to the sides.

I personally use the K2S system for side cameras as it have the smallest remote cameras of any system, but where to mount them are still a challenge as you can not stick them to the active windows in the door.
Myself i have a piece of fixed glass on my rear doors, so that is where i stuck my side cameras.

I have tested 3 3 channel systems myself the Viofo T130 / viofo A139 and the Zenfox T3, of those my favorite is the A139 as the cabin camera are remote, so you can put it any place along the top of the windscreen, i had mine attached to the mirror stalk ( a mirror mounted off the roof of the car )
The other 2 have the front camera and cabin camera in the same unit, meaning where to put them become a challenge, in my car i can not put them in front of my mirror as them all the cabin camera would record are the back side of the mirror, so i would have to mount it lower on the windscreen, potentially making it illegal, and for sure not stealthy, and stealth are a big + in my book of dashcams.

There are also other 3 channel systems from other brands, but then i have no experience and can only point to the 2 in 1 challenge the zenfox T3 and viofo T130 have

The A139 also use thin coaxial cables for powering and signal transmission, a lot easier to work with VS the thicker USB cables others use


Thinkware are sort of working on a 4 channel system, utilizing a so called multiplexer, but that system are not yet launched but probably will be some time this year.


Mind you +90 % of the things i have taken to share from my dashcams in 10 years have been from the front camera, and in all that time i have for the most at least had a rear camera too.
The side cameras i would not have if i had to buy the system myself, but the K2S i got for testing, after i used on the F & R for a few months it was relocated to the sides.

Hey man, thanks for the input. I think I'm still stuck on the T130 because of the horizontally adjustable interior cam. I have a 2015 Hyundai Sonata and the windshield is huge. I have my MaxCam 360C on a blendmount under my rearview mirror. And the T130 can go right above the rear view mirror to the left or right of the fritz. Thanks again!

 

[Wellington_J_Wimpy]

There are no consumer 4 channel systems ready,

I do not know what you mean. I found some 4 channel DVR systems on ebay and Amazon. For example: EKLEVA
and JOINLGO

 

[kamkar]

Yes they have been around for a while, most often in a commercial context like the JOINLGO system.
BUT ! they are often not worth the hassle for a few reasons
1: resolution can be mediocre even out right low, you should not consider anything lover than 1080p
2: bitrates can be very low, and bitrate = image quality to put it in a simple way, filming something static or slow moving like many CCTV cameras do, and 4 mbit are fine, but there is a reason action cameras use around 100 mbit,,,,, cuz there is a lot going on " action"

The other system are probably just as bad, and with both you can be assured you will get next to no support or updates to the systems in form of new firmware's.

Dashcams are bit of a in between, you do not want too high bitrate as that generate larger files, and so room for less on a memory card, also the higher the bitrate the hotter the camera run.
So the dashcams are generally around 20 mbit for 1080p systems, and of course a bit higher for 1440p and 4K systems, alsi it depend on the compression needed, the old standard was H.264. then came H.265 which in general do the same image quality at 50% of the bitrate in H.264, and then we have the new formats used in streaming services ASO, which have not really seen adoption in dash cameras yet.

 

[DashCamDelight]

I think one of the major problems from multi channels is where to mount a camera on many sedans. Your car does not have this issue. You could simply use 2 x 2 Channel Setups.

Your car has two fixed side windows. So very simple solution. Buy a Front + Rear camera for Front and Back. Then a Second Front + Rear and mount on those side windows. Better to use a 2 x 2 Channel setup, as you'll get benefit of the higher resolutions where I think a 4 Channel setup might suffer from lower video quality due to the need to compress all 4 channels.

Hardwire both systems and you're good to go.

 

[kamkar]

The hardware ( SOC ) to support 4 good 1080p channels are there alright, just no one hit it out of the park on that one, and the main problem is indeed side camera placement.

I have a conventional 2 channel front & rear with the front being the main unit for that, then i have a dual remote system as side cameras, the K2S as it is the dual remote system with the smallest remote cameras.
I use to have footage to share of this config, but the YT channel with that footage i deleted last week.

The side camera placement is there as cars have very different designs only common thing is the curtain airbags which you must be aware off.
My car have a little fixed glass on both the front doors and rear doors, so i put my side cameras on the rear doors, as in the pic above some card can also have some glass in / on the C pillar you can use.
Alternative you can go " film down the side" like Tesla side cameras, but in my view those cameras are just rear cameras with maybe a little more of the side, i prefer side cameras aimed 90 deg to the direction of travel.
The film down the side cameras have been made and are fairly easy to do and also install, but it dident seem to catch on and the Korean brand i know made one such system ( Gnet ) they dont seem to carry that model anymore,,,, it was also just 720p so not recommended by me.

Thinkware also flashed such a system with side cameras like that in 2019, but it have yet to be seen selling.

 

[kamkar]

Actually i ran a 4 channel system 8 - 9 years ago, but these was 700 TVL analog cameras, so nothing special, though the front camera i put in a box style camera, with 30 X optical zoom
And back then i think the box only supported 32GB of memory card,,,,, which granted back then was a big card.
But it was a folly of mine and i soon got a single front dashcam with 1080p resolution.

I have been having multiple cameras in my car for many years, at first just front & rear, but side cameras soon followed, anyway i have never needed side cameras and i have only taken B roll footage from them a couple of times, the rear camera a bit more often, actually getting rear ended i missed the recording as my rear camera was on a too long too cheap USB cable from a power source in the front, and even if it was not needed the insurance company still enjoyed the front camera footage.
Really the front camera is all you need, it might not capture what go on to the sides or behind you, but it register everything you do and in all conditions aside for the thickest fog, and so silly claims against you are easy to counter with the footage from that camera.
And if you drive nice, then what ever happen can not be your fault.

Still ! you should get a 2 channel camera, not least if you are American and have to deal with 1 plate in the back of the car, cuz then your rear camera are the only chance to identify a oncoming car after it have passed by you.

And dont get too fires up about parking guard, which sound ideal with 4 cameras, but even just 1 or 2 cameras, that in itself also carry some challenges and limitations.
I use parking guard for 1 hour on front and rear cameras, but i have to admit my driving pattern are unique and also i dont really park in suspect public places, as i dont go to such places, in general i dont like rubbing shoulders with my fellow Danes,,,,,,, but 500.000 people of any other nationality dont bother me at all.
At home i of course have CCTV on my car where it is parked, a much better solution as my car is filmed from above at about a 45 deg angle from my 2 floor apartment balcony door, this mean the AI motion detect dont wake me up at might with anything other than vehicle or human shaped motion, and just within 3-4 feet of my car as the CCTV camera are zoomed in to be able to get a identifying capture.

Early morning time lapse recorded with CCTV camera aimed higher.