What we should really get from a Dashcam Manufacturer...

[TonyM]

Has anyone done a benchmark of how much power is consumed recording 4K Video with 100 Mbps, EIS on, etc...?

I'll plug in a USB meter and let you know.

 

[TonyM]

I sometime have to leave my car parked in a spot for more than 8 hours where people can reverse into it and drive off.

I wouldn't really recommend high-bitrate 4K video for long-term recording in a parked car. The F1 doesn't have parking modes like some other traditional dashcams. You can record time-lapse video, but changing the settings would be a pain each time you park the car.

I use the F1 as a high-performance 4K camera, alongside a regular 1080p dashcam that has GPS, G-sensor impact detection, low-bitrate parking mode and so on. If I was using the F1 as my only camera, I would get a larger microSD card and run a lower bitrate.

 

[Nigel]

What would you (or anyone) recommend for an F1?

The F1 can run at 75 as standard, although it is a bit variable depending on content, that is a nice compromise - good quality but still OK on card usage as long as you have a big card or don't need the loop recording to keep the video for long.

Should remember that the Blackview DR900S-1CH has a table of bitrates/quality for 4K 30fps video on their website:

Highest (Extreme)	25
Highest	12
High	10
Normal	8

So they think that a normal bitrate for 4k 30fps video is 8Mb/s and that 25 is extreme. Maybe their expectations are less than yours, but most people are happy with a lot less than 100Mb/s, yes the quality is not as good but you can still see that it is 4K resolution, with low bitrate other things get lost before the resolution is lost, so the colours on Blackview video are horrible compared to the F1 video, but beautiful colours and shading are not essential for a dashcam. If you are making a driving movie then they are, and then you definitely want an F1 not a DR900S. If you want ultimate quality then you don't want either, but you also can't afford it!

 

[TonyM]

@BradE The F1 has a setting for fisheye-reduction. Although it is optimised for the original 160deg lens, this is the effect it has on my ~130deg lens:

The camera is still recording a 4K resolution video, despite the obvious crop, which means it is interpolating to get back up to 3840x2160 pixels. There's very little loss of quality though, as seen in these 100% crops.

 

[mpm235]

After owning several Dashcams, and looking at multiple reviews of new Dashcams over the years, I'm still disappointed with the offerings out there. A lot of Manufacturers don't even seem offer all of the features people really NEED in a Dashcam, particularly ALL of these being in the ONE unit.

What I would really like to see in a Dashcam (and all together) is:

1. A dedicated H265 encoder built in.
2. 1080P.
3. NO Fish-Eye effect (ie: curved corners on the recorded Videos) Pay attention Blackvue... the DR900S 4K unit in particular! 160 degrees Field Of View (FOV) would be a sweet spot for me.
4. Super Capacitors - NO Batteries (I live in Australia, which gets VERY hot summers and inside car temperatures DO get hotter than 80 degrees Celcius in some places in a very short time!).
5. A reliable Bluetooth transmitting Rear Camera (my car key Fob WON'T work when using a Rear Camera Cable run around inside my car - top, bottom, or even hanging! Believe me, I've tried everything. I currently use a VIOFO A129 Duo *, for those who are curious.)
6. A good microphone that can record sounds outside the car (to a limited extent) with the windows down.
7. Able to have an optional CPL Filter attached (this helps reduce glare from the Sun and car headlights to some degree at night).

8. (OPTIONAL) A realistic "Parking Mode". That is, Buffered recording (5 to 15 seconds before an event happens), that starts automatically, can record audio as well while this is going on, and have the ability to record at 30 frames per second when recording the event to your SD-Card if something happens. I currently just let my Dashcam keep recording as normal when I leave my car, although it would be nice to save a little bit of power and storage space by having a proper "Parking Mode" feature that you don't have to remember to turn on and off each time...


Now, I've deliberately specified 1080P instead of 4K for a couple of reasons:
a) 1080P encoded at H265 with a dedicated chip in real-time will produce a sharper picture to be written to your SD-Card because there are less pixels in the video to process. There would be more "artifacts" in a 4K Video than in a 1080P Video because there are more pixels to process on-the-fly - and also while in a moving vehicle, which as we all know, makes things hard to read in the playback of a Video.
b) H265 compression also means less space is taken up on your SD-Card.
c) A dedicated chip for the H265 encoding makes a LOT of difference. Anyone who has ever used a Logitech C920 HD Webcam will know what I mean - these things have a dedicated encoding chip (although it encodes at H264, not H265!) so your CPU doesn't have to compress the video on-the-fly when you are using "Skype" with someone. (The difference is like Night and Day - see it for yourself if you don't believe me!)
d) Encoding and recording the Video at 1080P will also consume less power than doing the same for 4K Video (Important for those who want to use a Battery supply for their Dashcams).

And, let's face it - even with 4K Video Dashcams available out there now, you STILL can't make out much at night time (License Plates, etc) when the vehicle is moving!


Please tell me if something like what I've described above already exists.

* = Even my current VIOFO A129 has a "Fish-Eye" lens, which I've discovered after buying it (which I hate).

Thank You

Hello Brad, this is a really good post mate, well done. I would add the camera should be as discreet as possible and have some sort of universal / flexible mount. I have two Nextbase cameras (one front, one rear). To make them more discreet I have covered the silver parts and logos with matt black tape. The cumbersome mounts that they came with were no good for my cars steep front and rear screens. I had to get aftermarket mounts to get them mounted properly. Cheers, Mark

 

[Nigel]

@BradE The F1 has a setting for fisheye-reduction. Although it is optimised for the original 160deg lens, this is the effect it has on my ~130deg lens:

The camera is still recording a 4K resolution video, despite the obvious crop, which means it is interpolating to get back up to 3840x2160 pixels. There's very little loss of quality though, as seen in these 100% crops.

View attachment 45113View attachment 45114

Seems to only be interpolating in the horizontal direction, vehicles towards the edges of the image are becoming very wide and flat! Even that Skoda which is not far from the centre is substantially wider than normal. I think you would get a better looking result by doing the de-fisheye on your computer, you will not loose much in the process since the level of detail is already lower than our 1080 cameras, and you would be able to avoid zooming in so much, not sure why it does that, you have to loose the corners, but the zoom isn't necessary.

 

[TonyM]

Seems to only be interpolating in the horizontal direction,

I think it's doing something in the vertical direction too. My dash has gone from concave to convex.

I recall Viofo saying there were two anti-fisheye options in the A12 and they went for the stronger correction of the two.

 

[BradE]

@BradE The F1 has a setting for fisheye-reduction. Although it is optimised for the original 160deg lens, this is the effect it has on my ~130deg lens:

The camera is still recording a 4K resolution video, despite the obvious crop, which means it is interpolating to get back up to 3840x2160 pixels. There's very little loss of quality though, as seen in these 100% crops.

View attachment 45113View attachment 45114

Thanks for the comparisson, TonyM. The Fish-Eye Reduction looks very good.

Any word on when when the F1 will be released with Super-Capacitors for our hot climate?

 

[BradE]

Hello Brad, this is a really good post mate, well done. I would add the camera should be as discreet as possible and have some sort of universal / flexible mount. I have two Nextbase cameras (one front, one rear). To make them more discreet I have covered the silver parts and logos with matt black tape. The cumbersome mounts that they came with were no good for my cars steep front and rear screens. I had to get aftermarket mounts to get them mounted properly. Cheers, Mark

Thank you. I'm starting to wonder myself if it's worth running 2 separately powered Dash Cameras in my car also... I don't have a hardwire kit in my car, but have 2 separate 68AH batteries as standard in my boot. I also have a Super-Capacitor Jump Starter that can charge up from as little as 5v from a car battery and turn my 4 litre V8 Engine over for around 3 seconds before needing another charge up again.

What car have you got, may I ask, with what type of battery?

 

[TonyM]

Thanks for the comparisson, TonyM. The Fish-Eye Reduction looks very good.

Any word on when when the F1 will be released with Super-Capacitors for our hot climate?

A firmware update with super-capacitor support was released some time ago, but there's been no word on an actual capacitor yet. I also heard that early hardware versions like mine may not even be capacitor-compatible.

 

[TonyM]

Hmmm... Somehow the shots from the A129 look better? Is that because of the CPL filter on the A129?

The images from the F1 look lighter.

I did a quick comparison:
F1 (with A129 lens) running official GitUp firmware v1.2
A129 running official Viofo firmware v1.50

GitUp F1 with F1.6 A129 lens

https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/gitup-f1-4mm-f1-2-lens.32338/ :oops:

dashcamtalk.com

 

[BradE]

I've asked GitUp (the Member here) when the Capacitor version is coming out, but I guess that is vapourware... From what I can see online, they have been working on this since late 2017, and "tweaking the AI" with a Capacitor based version with a new lens since last year. GitUp won't even respond to my question, so I guess it's not happening soon.

Another question then about the F1: Can EIS work with Fish-Eye reduction turned ON, or does it require this to be off first before it will work?

 

[TonyM]

I've asked GitUp (the Member here) when the Capacitor version is coming out, but I guess that is vapourware... From what I can see online, they have been working on this since late 2017, and "tweaking the AI" with a Capacitor based version with a new lens since last year. GitUp won't even respond to my question, so I guess it's not happening soon.

The F1 was not released for sale until the end of 2017. Developing a new fast 4k lens will take time, and I think the hardware will need to change to support a capacitor. So in all likelihood we're looking at the next camera version, not just a simple update. I wouldn't be surprised if an F2 with a fast lens and capacitor arrives in the next year or two.

 

[kamkar]

Yes i do think the Gitup guys are hard at work on new stuff, not just F1 possible update but also their other cameras.
Looking forward to see what they come up with, not least in the F1 form factor.

 

[Nigel]

Yes i do think the Gitup guys are hard at work on new stuff, not just F1 possible update but also their other cameras.
Looking forward to see what they come up with, not least in the F1 form factor.

It will be good to see a new Gitup, but I think they have been working on dashcams recently - hopefully a new multi channel dashcam that will beat the F1 for detail, low light, and with capacitors as standard coming soon?