This message was from DUMAS WALKER to ALL,
originally in conference Entertain
and was forwarded to you by DUMAS WALKER.
-------------------------
Does anyone here have experience with using a dash mounted camera to
capture video?

Over the past 5 years I have realized that I love to travel. There have
been multiple occassions where things have happened (like a family of
turkey crossing the road, or a moose!) where the moment has passed before I
am able to stop, get a camera out and snap a photo.

After my trip last year, I thought it might be a good idea to look into an affordable, easy to use dash cam that would take video of a better quality
than the ones that simply capture the action during an accident. :) One
where I could enjoy the video later and/or be able to pull some stills from.

I have done a little research. It does sound like there are plenty of
choices. The brand I have heard the most about in the past is Go-Pro, but
I have not seen much about them show up in my research.

It would be nice if it could be removed from the car and still capture
video in the event that I wanted to stop and hike a ways to see something.
I can always do that with my existing camera or phone, though.


* SLMR 2.1a * Repartee: An insult wearing a suit and tie.

* SLMR 2.1a * Why is the word abbreviation so long?
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Mike wrote:

This message was from DUMAS WALKER to ALL,
originally in conference Entertain
and was forwarded to you by DUMAS WALKER.
-------------------------
Does anyone here have experience with using a dash mounted camera to
capture video?

Over the past 5 years I have realized that I love to travel. There have
been multiple occassions where things have happened (like a family of
turkey crossing the road, or a moose!) where the moment has passed before I am able to stop, get a camera out and snap a photo.

After my trip last year, I thought it might be a good idea to look into an affordable, easy to use dash cam that would take video of a better quality than the ones that simply capture the action during an accident. :) One where I could enjoy the video later and/or be able to pull some stills from.

I have done a little research. It does sound like there are plenty of choices. The brand I have heard the most about in the past is Go-Pro, but
I have not seen much about them show up in my research.

It would be nice if it could be removed from the car and still capture
video in the event that I wanted to stop and hike a ways to see something.
I can always do that with my existing camera or phone, though.

Things may have changed, but I found, when researching, dashcams had very limited battery life (probably to save money and keep them smaller) which is prohibitive for recording if the car is off or you want to leave the car.

I went with a high quality one that records both out the front window and inside the car in case I get pulled over, it'll record whatever is going on. I would have liked to get one that also recorded out the back end for rear endings but it was hard to find something that did all three.

You'll also want to check ou the night vision on whatever you're buying, since you want to make sure it'll be able to capture license plates clearly in dark situations.

You'll also want to look at the ease of removing the SD card or see if it has bluetooth/wifi for offloading the videos. I wouldn't be without mine, it adds safety and peace of mind.

Search youtube for reasons to down a dash cam.
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You'll also want to check ou the night vision on whatever you're buying, since you want to make sure it'll be able to capture license plates clearly in dark situations.

Thanks for mentioning this! That is something I would want but had not even thought of. A couple of the times that I wish I had video were during the early morning hours where it was light out but also cloudy, rainy, and otherwise not super bright out.

Search youtube for reasons to down a dash cam.

I will do that. I have watched some general youtube dash cam videos. It seems like everyone in Russia/Eastern Europe has one. :)

Mike
#
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Mike wrote:

I will do that. I have watched some general youtube dash cam videos. It seems
like everyone in Russia/Eastern Europe has one. :)

This is the best advertisement for a dashcam.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA2I86GHPiU
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Hi Mike!

NIGEL REED wrote to MIKE POWELL <=-

Does anyone here have experience with using a dash mounted camera to
capture video?

When I ready the inquiry yesterday I initially thought "Raspberry Pi"
but then my way is a more complicated than sticking a recording device
to the dash.

Things may have changed, but I found, when researching, dashcams
had very limited battery life (probably to save money and keep
them smaller) which is prohibitive for recording if the car is
off or you want to leave the car.

The Raspberry Pi requires a 5v source and up to 3 A (3,000 mA) depending
on the model; should be available via a USB adapter; the current portion
is probably more difficult to obtain with any ol' adapter, plus a cheap adapter may supply under 5v. When the car is off usually no power to
the 12v Accessory Plug; could get a UPS HAT though off-hand I don't know
how long they will supply power, not how long to recharge.

I went with a high quality one that records both out the front
window and inside the car in case I get pulled over, it'll record
whatever is going on. I would have liked to get one that also
recorded out the back end for rear endings but it was hard to
find something that did all three.

The RPi 3 has four USB ports, so I'm thinking plug in up to three
cameras and the fourth port for a USB thumbdrive for the recordings. I
have a 256 GB thumbdrive and it records three or four days on two
cameras here (MotionEye). Transfer the videos via WiFi when parked in
your garage or driveway. (That way you don't drop the thumbdrive in the
snow!)

You'll also want to check ou the night vision on whatever you're
buying, since you want to make sure it'll be able to capture
license plates clearly in dark situations.

I agreen with Nigel's nightvision suggestion, just don't know if would
work with the glare of headlights. Or brakelights. Aside from that
detail be sure to get a camera/s with low lux: 0.1. I'm using ELP-USB100W03M-BL36 -- about a 2" cube, plus has a little mounting bar.
Not sure about the lens -- 3.6mm works nicely for monitoring the front
yard from the second story window here. The camera is also HD (1080) resolution -- high resolutions have more detail but also require more recording space. Low resolutions require less space but less
detail/grainy. A highter frame rate also will make for larger
recodings. (I currently record at 2 fps.)

You'll also want to look at the ease of removing the SD card or
see if it has bluetooth/wifi for offloading the videos. I
wouldn't be without mine, it adds safety and peace of mind.

Automating the process is great! There will be those times when you're running late, it's too cold, my hands are full.... I have a little
script (batch file) which uses rsync to copy the files to the NAS.
Another script deletes files older than two days on the thumbdrive and
thirty days on the NAS.

Search youtube for reasons to down a dash cam.

Better yet Google "Raspberry Pi dashcam"; first hit is for a
"RoadApplePi". Read through various options even if 'naaah": I scanned through the one on Dride Zero and an interesting point: British law
('who cares, I'm U.S.' -- waaait!) allows the dash cam as long as it
doens't block the driver's view, so behind the mirror. (Same would
apply the cameras.)

Semi-interesting little tid-bit on blocking view stuff. When I was
working in New Hampshire in the early 70's the side window parking decal required by the company I worked for (headquartered in NH) was
technically illegal by NH State Law as it blocked the view!




> BarryMartin3@ <
> @MyMetronet.NET <

... I had to sell my vacuum because it was collecting dust.
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Mike wrote:

I will do that. I have watched some general youtube dash cam videos. It seems
like everyone in Russia/Eastern Europe has one. :)

This is the best advertisement for a dashcam.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA2I86GHPiU

LOL, what a maroon. :)

Mike
#
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When I ready the inquiry yesterday I initially thought "Raspberry Pi"
but then my way is a more complicated than sticking a recording device
to the dash.

Honestly, I thought about the Pi also. There might be some challenges, as
you point out, with getting enough power to it in the car. As you noticed,
it would give more space to save video as the thumbdrives are usually
larger than the sim cards.

I agreen with Nigel's nightvision suggestion, just don't know if would
work with the glare of headlights. Or brakelights. Aside from that
detail be sure to get a camera/s with low lux: 0.1. I'm using ELP-USB100W03M-BL36 -- about a 2" cube, plus has a little mounting bar.
Not sure about the lens -- 3.6mm works nicely for monitoring the front
yard from the second story window here. The camera is also HD (1080) resolution -- high resolutions have more detail but also require more recording space. Low resolutions require less space but less
detail/grainy. A highter frame rate also will make for larger
recodings. (I currently record at 2 fps.)

What I have noticed in some side-by-side review videos is that the cameras meant to be dash cams appear to do better in low-light situations than the action cameras do, i.e. at night. On the other hand, the action cameras do better catching objects in motion in daylight, and with colors.

Better yet Google "Raspberry Pi dashcam"; first hit is for a
"RoadApplePi". Read through various options even if 'naaah": I scanned through the one on Dride Zero and an interesting point: British law
('who cares, I'm U.S.' -- waaait!) allows the dash cam as long as it
doens't block the driver's view, so behind the mirror. (Same would
apply the cameras.)

I plan to, thanks! I have also wondered about the blocking the view... I
saw one video where a guy was testing 4 cameras in his car at once. He
showed where they were mounted and they had to be obscuring his vision out
of the center of the window. He was somewhere that the drive on the left
side of the road and have McDonald's. :)

Semi-interesting little tid-bit on blocking view stuff. When I was
working in New Hampshire in the early 70's the side window parking decal required by the company I worked for (headquartered in NH) was
technically illegal by NH State Law as it blocked the view!

That figures. I would not be surprised if a government facility required
the same thing. :)

Mike


* SLMR 2.1a * How come wrong numbers are never busy???
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Hi Mike!

When I ready the inquiry yesterday I initially thought "Raspberry Pi"
but then my way is a more complicated than sticking a recording device
to the dash.

Honestly, I thought about the Pi also. There might be some
challenges, as you point out, with getting enough power to it in
the car. As you noticed, it would give more space to save video
as the thumbdrives are usually larger than the sim cards.

Right: the power issue is the main problem, though that may be simply restricting one to using an RPi 3 and below in order to use a department
store bought cigarette lighter power adapter. As one who does a bit of electronics hobbyist I'd probably buy a regulator with a 5A or so output
and make my own adapter.

As for space-saving thumbdrives, the SanDisk 256GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1
Flass Drive - SDCZ430-256G-G46 is nice and compact -- sticks out a bit
over a quarter-inch from the USB 3.0 port on my RPi4.

I agreen with Nigel's nightvision suggestion, just don't know if would
work with the glare of headlights. Or brakelights. Aside from that
detail be sure to get a camera/s with low lux: 0.1. I'm using ELP-USB100W03M-BL36 -- about a 2" cube, plus has a little mounting bar.
Not sure about the lens -- 3.6mm works nicely for monitoring the front
yard from the second story window here. The camera is also HD (1080) resolution -- high resolutions have more detail but also require more recording space. Low resolutions require less space but less
detail/grainy. A highter frame rate also will make for larger
recodings. (I currently record at 2 fps.)

What I have noticed in some side-by-side review videos is that
the cameras meant to be dash cams appear to do better in
low-light situations than the action cameras do, i.e. at night.
On the other hand, the action cameras do better catching objects
in motion in daylight, and with colors.

All depends what they're designed to do. :) Now I'm thinking get a USB splitter, use both cameras.... <g> Splitter wouldn't work because of
the data paths getting mixed but could power a USB hub from the 12v in
the car (I'd use a buck-boost to stabilize). And there are non-powered
USB hubs. Argh! Now you've really getting the Rube Goldburg going!

Better yet Google "Raspberry Pi dashcam"; first hit is for a
"RoadApplePi". Read through various options even if 'naaah": I scanned through the one on Dride Zero and an interesting point: British law
('who cares, I'm U.S.' -- waaait!) allows the dash cam as long as it
doens't block the driver's view, so behind the mirror. (Same would
apply the cameras.)

I plan to, thanks! I have also wondered about the blocking the
view... I saw one video where a guy was testing 4 cameras in his
car at once. He showed where they were mounted and they had to
be obscuring his vision out of the center of the window. He was
somewhere that the drive on the left side of the road and have
McDonald's. :)

So he wasn't in Antarctica! I'm thinking how the car is made and how
much the person wants to hide the wires has a big to say in the camera location. Plus not obscuring vision, of course. To me in the corner
would probably work, especially top corners of the (front) windshield.
Behind the rear view mirror seems logical too: can't see through that
mirror. Thought from memory I don't think would work as I think there's
some sort of black dot field on the windshield to make things look
pretty.

Semi-interesting little tid-bit on blocking view stuff. When I was
working in New Hampshire in the early 70's the side window parking decal required by the company I worked for (headquartered in NH) was
technically illegal by NH State Law as it blocked the view!

That figures. I would not be surprised if a government facility
required the same thing. :)

Close: was a government sub-contractor which also built the computer
systems for Avis Rent-a-Car and some airlines.



> BarryMartin3@ <
> @MyMetronet.NET <

... Restroom Sign:

Express Lane:
Five beers or less.
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