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Roadster dash cam - suggestions?

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Actually the type of thing I am looking for is something which loops foverever, but at any time you can recover the last hour of footage. This seems to distinguish a GoPro from a car dashboard camera. i.e., most of the time it's very boring material and it constantly overwrites itself, but if I am in an accident or, say, see a giant fireball in the sky and want to sell the video to CNN, I can just stop the loop. If I find a good one I'll post back here. For the Roadster the main concern is that the view is narrow enough already, don't want to obscure it any further! Thanks.
 
I created a thread about dash-cams on the Model S but most of the responses I got were about the camera I had installed in my Roadster.

The mounting bracket and specs for the camera are part of the thread, although I never got around to posting a picture of it deployed in the vehicle.
As I said in my post, the Go-Pro (from what I understood) did not do looping, which was essential to me as I just wanted a camera that ran-and-ran whenever the car was operating. However, 7racer says they do and he owns 2 Go-Pros.
I'm still very interested in a solution for the Model S but have been too busy enjoying the ride. Although the Roadster hasn't been used for a while (Canadian winter), I was very happy with the dash-cam I purchased.
 
New business model for cheap Chinese cameras: you test, you install firmware, no support except to send you a replacement until you finally get a good one. On the plus side these are feature-rich, lots of attachments & did I say CHEAP!!

Order just the camera until you get one that works properly. Then with the attachments.

@7racer: What are the actual file types that end up on the chip?? As opposed to the video streaming. Jpgs & mp4s?? The manual does not mention this.
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@7racer: What are the actual file types that end up on the chip?? As opposed to the video streaming. Jpgs & mp4s?? The manual does not mention this.
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it's H.264 codec MP4 file. Super easy to import into Final Cut or iMovie. I use FCP X right now. Also as you can see it has various settings for looping 5, 20,60,120 minute looping and even MAX looping where it fills the memory card then restarts!

I know there are cheaper options but I really love the versatility of the GoPro. With the new one you have a remote start stop (great for if it suction cup mounted on the outside of the car or your helmet) and a app that you can see what the camera sees and change settings on your iphone for the GoPro.

No I don't own any stock but it really is a nice established well thought out cam.
 
I have two of these:

BlackVue - Full HD 1080p Dash Cameras with GPS

HD, loop video, GPS, etc.

Having looked around a lot (thanks for all the pointers), this seems to be the best one for my needs. Surprisingly expensive at $300 but probably justified for an expensive car. The BlackVue cameras can be really discreet and there are numerous how-videos for running the cables etc... Thanks again!
 
I have been planning on getting the Blackvue for a long time and will order it In time for the S to arrive (to avoid getting tempted putting it in my other car).

Its the best one out there for its purpose.


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Tapatalkin' from iTalatut.
 
Having looked around a lot (thanks for all the pointers), this seems to be the best one for my needs. Surprisingly expensive at $300 but probably justified for an expensive car. The BlackVue cameras can be really discreet and there are numerous how-videos for running the cables etc... Thanks again!

I bought mine from a guy on ebay shipping them from Korea. I think I paid $160 each.

They came with Korean firmware but flashing it to English was easy enough. I have the 400. The 500 is new.
 
Regarding GoPro... Francis had some issues with his, which makes me skittish about picking one up. Hopefully he'll share more info on the troubles.

I bought a go pro 2 a few weeks ago and the instructions said to update the firmware by downloading from their site. After couple of hours doing it and research, GP seems to have botched up their software when they released GP 3 I'm December. So much so that both GP 2 and 3 have issues after the firmware update. The camera freezes up and doesn't respond etc. Check out Amazon reviews and you will see widespread issues. However, the issues may be resolved by now but I highly recommend buying from a place that has an easy return policy. I have since returned the camera but I intend to buy a GP 3 in another month to see if the issues are resolved.
 
GoPros are pretty good - I made this movie using footage mostly from a GoPro (mostly where the camera was attached to the car):

However, it does exhibit rolling shutter issues on fast horizontal motion. Some editing programs now claim they can fix that post production, but I haven't tried it yet.

Also note that GoPro is very wide angle, which isn't always what you want since it makes everything smaller and appear further away than they are. But, it gets everything and smoothes out bumps.
 
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Hey brianman,

no worries, like with any product there will be issues with vocal people about problems. I still love mine and the versatility that it offers. I also figure a bigger company would be more adept at handling exchanges, firmware upgrades etc...vs a smaller company.

But regardless, like I mentioned before, it does do looping which is what most of you where inquiring about for a dash cam.
 
gopro are pretty good - i made this movie using footage mostly from a gopro (mostly where the camera was attached to the car)...

thanks for the warning not to upgrade my gopro firmware yet. I have two gopro's and am very happy with them.

Thanks for linking to those videos; both are great! Footage is pretty good too. So now I'm a bit torn, and might choose the GP just because I'd be able to take it scuba diving as well - I currently use an iPod Nano 4 (the #5 didn;t have a video camera) in a generic underwater housing.

Regards
Ian