Which one for long distance travel?

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Dingo

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Hello,

I am looking for a Dashcam to use in Turkey. I'll travel throughout Anatolia for about 3000 miles. Then, I will drive through Eastern Europe to Germany. Next, I'll travel to the US in the fall. I want to record all these drives. Of course, I want the best picture quality.

I purchased the Yi Ultra Dashcam, since it supposedly has the best picture quality. I've problems with it, however, since it records in 1 min. intervals. Couldn't fix that so far. I want something with which I can record continuously till the sd-card is full. Another problem is that apparently the looping cannot be turned off with the Yi.

Since availability in Turkey is limited, could you recommend any one from the following: (this is the amazon equivalent in Turkey.)
https://www.hepsiburada.com/arac-ici-kameralar-c-26027

Many thanks!
 
I don't see any there that I would recommend, maybe better to buy from outside of Turkey

All dashcams will break the files into segments and will loop when full, that is by design, that is easily editing back to one file though
 
So many cameras that I have never heard of!

I did see an Viofo A119S, you can easily get help with that on this forum and it will give you a good video quality, much better than your Yi.

All dashcams will loop when the card is full, you need to empty the card every day if you don't want to loose anything, and use a big enough memory card to last all day.

I think the A119S has a timelapse mode which would reduce the amount of memory space required considerably and make your 3000 miles of video manageable, best to ask the people who own one if that feature is of interest.
 
jokiin said:
I missed that one, did see G1WS and A118C2, I would agree though, the A119S is probably the only worthwhile camera on the list and would be the one to go for
Click to expand...
I clicked on Viofo in the manufacturers list on the left, made it easy to find :)
 
I'd rather buy one when I am in Germany, or the US, but I'll miss out on the 3000 miles in Anatolia, plus Eastern Europe on the way back to Germany.

About editing it back into one file. When I drive for a day, let's say 10 hours, I have 600 one minute mini files. Do I edit them into one file easily with one click or do I've to repeat whatever I do 600 times?

As for the continuous loop, does it notify me (on the Yi or the Viofo) if it is full and starts erasing or won't I notice it. I could then copy the files on my laptop without loosing anything.

I was wondering if I should get an "action camera," like a GoPro, which would reduce the continuous recording and loop issue. Question is, how can I mount that on the dashboard or windshield?
 
GoPro will overheat by the time it fills up

editing back to one file is just a couple of clicks

they don't warn you when they're going to loop, not an issue though just use a memory card large enough that you can't fill it in a day anyway, 128GB is plenty to have more memory than you need
 
OK then, I'll get the Viofo then. As for the 128GB, is it supported by the Viofo. The Yi is limited to 32 or 64, I think.

As for the editing, is there a separate program? Can you recommend one?

Is the Viofo attached with a suction cup or is it glued? I couldn't tell from the picture, but it appears it only has the glue thingy. Since I want to use the cam in the States, too, that would be problem, wouldn't it?
 
suction cup is optional, editing program there are plenty of options, camera will support 128GB no problem
 
Dingo said:
I was wondering if I should get an "action camera," like a GoPro, which would reduce the continuous recording and loop issue. Question is, how can I mount that on the dashboard or windshield?
Click to expand...
An action camera will still have a file size limit, which is generally no more than 10 minutes of video. Normally they either stop recording when the limit is reached or restart leaving a gap of a second or more. With a dashcam you avoid any gaps, although some will give an overlap which needs cutting out.

You probably don't want all your segments joined together, 3000 miles of footage would be a huge file, even if it is timelapse. You need some breaks to make it manageable.

There is plenty of software that will reassemble, from dashcam viewers that do it automatically to ffmpeg that you can use in a batch file to automate a daily assembly and do it without re-encoding so that no quality is lost.
 
Well, in addition to the 3000 miles in Turkey, I'll add another 2000 in Easter Europe.

Which software do you use? (I've a Mac here, but will use Windows Statesside)
 
When I travelled around, I used to record everything and save.
But it might be worth now making a Hyperlapse or a timelapse instead. More manageable.
 
Dingo said:
Well, in addition to the 3000 miles in Turkey, I'll add another 2000 in Easter Europe.

Which software do you use? (I've a Mac here, but will use Windows Statesside)
Click to expand...
I know nothing about Macs.

I normally use a windows batch file with ffmpeg, especially if I have a lot of video and am doing exactly the same thing every day. It can also easily produce a high speed timelapse for the day which makes it easier to check what was in the daily video and it can do a good job of compressing the video if you need to save storage space, I normally archive stuff in VP9 (YouTube) format which can half the disk space used without any noticeable quality loss and still looks reasonable at much higher compression levels.

If I want some video effects then I might use the VSDC video editor (http://www.videosoftdev.com/ ).

A video editor is probably not the best way to join a lot of clips, if you don't want to use a batch file then a dashcam viewer should be the answer, I used to use Registrator viewer but I'm not sure which is the best choice these days.

Note that the A119S can be set to 10 minute clips rather than 1 minute which results in a much more reasonable number, although as long as the recombination process is automated then it doesn't really mater how long they are.
 
Dingo said:
I found on amazon Germany different prices for the same Viofo. Can't understand why. Any ideas?
https://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=viofo

As for the lease, is this one fine:
https://www.amazon.de/gp/B0743GYB11
it is not the one you recommended, but it says it is for A119 rather than A129.
Click to expand...
A119, A119S, A119 Pro, A129 are all different cameras and should have different prices, plus different shops charge different prices anyway.

They are all good cameras, I would choose the A129, but you had no choice in your Turkey shop, and I would be happy with the A119S anyway. A119S and A129 are 1080 resolution, the A119 and A119 Pro have more resolution but are not so good in the dark. If you are making a 1080 resolution movie then I would use the A119S or A129.

For the CPL, the A119 CPL will fit all these cameras, but the A119S and A129 have a different lens and sometimes it can see the edge of the CPL in the corners of the image. Not a big problem, but if you are making a movie then it could be annoying. If you can only get a A119 CPL then you can use a file to enlarge the hole in the A119 CPL so that there is no problem.
 
I got the one for 89 Euros (my cousins is going to bring it on Monday from Germany, since the Pro is unavailable in Turkey, sold out). Since I am only using it at daytime, the 119 Pro has better resolution and ergo better pictures, if I understand correctly.
 
Dingo said:
I got the one for 89 Euros (my cousins is going to bring it on Monday from Germany, since the Pro is unavailable in Turkey, sold out). Since I am only using it at daytime, the 119 Pro has better resolution and ergo better pictures, if I understand correctly.
Click to expand...
More resolution means more detail when the lighting is good, but if you are making a 1080 movie then the extra detail would get lost when you reduce the resolution. It would have the advantage that you could zoom in a bit in the video editor and still have full 1080 resolution, and that is probably good for movie making since dashcam lenses are normally very wide angle. Zooming in a bit on the centre of the image will also reduce the amount of fisheye distortion and the amount of reflections. With a very wide angle lens you get windscreen reflections at the sides even with a CPL filter, after zooming in a bit nearly all should be gone.

Don't forget to get enough storage, the A119 Pro records more resolution and more detail than the Yi, the files will be significantly bigger.

Hope you post some of the results...
 
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