Images of items I have purchased (except trainers [no feet pics])

Not just that, a 4K sensor at 1080p should deliver better encoding of the 1080p output, this uses H.264 remember, the 4K sensor is 8MP and uses H.265 so automatically there by nature of what it is should produce better results. I'm just trying to track down footage from others of that same 4K model to confirm the theory though.
 
mrk said:
You can choose the version with a rear camera too, comes with a long cable to route the wiring etc and it all feeds into the same bit in that housing.

This is it for ref for the E46, but same ones exist for other cars too:
www.aliexpress.com

New 4k Car Dvr Wifi Dvr Video Recorder Dash Cam For Bmw 320i E46 E90 E91 E92 E30 530i E60 F10 E39 E34 E36 X1 E84 X5 E70 E53 E87 - Dvr/dash Camera - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
www.aliexpress.com www.aliexpress.com

It has Wifi built in and using the Viidure app to connect is quick and easy, you can then view or download footage as needed, or just eject the microsd card etc.

The app:

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Here is some footage put together for day/night driving.


As you can see it's acceptable given it's the lower 1080p H.264 sensor not the 4K WDR one using H.265., and yes my windscreen does need to be cleaned. I think what I will do is order the 4K one on its own and just swap the camera section out and sell the 1080p one on one of the E46 groups for cheap. A bit of a loss but at least I know the system fully works as expected.

Note that it does not do GPS or other super fancy stuff, plus I don't really care about displaying my own speed :p It just records and timestamps the footage and has a crash sensor. The time/date is synchronised from the app.
Click to expand...


As long as it can show enough detail for insurance purposes, then the GPS data is not a major selling point for me.

I also like the fact that it becomes part of the sensor box and doesn't alert Smackhead Pete that there's a dashcam worth breaking a window in to get.

Cheers for the details and one I'll look at if I get the new car in the next few months.
 
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Yeah that's the main thing really, the footage if required is good enough to tell what car is what in the event of an incident. It's not going to go on Ultimate DashCam UK compilations so doesn't need to be super amazing.
 
thought the night sensitivity of image sensors had changed little with the sony/xymos 1080p still a leader, and need better optics/larger aperture to improve night time vision
(such that a gopro was always superior) otherwise you have fewer photons available for each sensor element from going to 4k sensor.
. h265 is computationally/power more expensive to encode so if they have just reduced bitrate using it may not give any quality (night time numberplate) benefit over 264.
 
Now that my windscreen is cleaned the picture is improved and I'm actually just going to keep this 1080p one, it's perfectly usable for day and night and it's a nice smooth 1080p 30fps so rather that than a dodgy 4K (potentially).
 
mrk said:
Now that my windscreen is cleaned the picture is improved and I'm actually just going to keep this 1080p one, it's perfectly usable for day and night and it's a nice smooth 1080p 30fps so rather that than a dodgy 4K (potentially).
Click to expand...

This may sounds like a really dumb question, but what did you search for to get the one that looks OEM??
 
dirtychinchilla said:
This may sounds like a really dumb question, but what did you search for to get the one that looks OEM??
Click to expand...

I found his one by searching for E46 Dashcam.

I couldn’t find any for C30 Dashcam that is specific for mine. There are for other Volvos but not mine.

a.aliexpress.com

4K Plug and play Car DVR Wifi Video Recorder Dash Cam Camera For BMW X3 E83 X4 E84 320i e46 e90 e91 e92 e30 530i e60 f10 e39 e34 - AliExpress 34

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com
a.aliexpress.com a.aliexpress.com
 
dirtychinchilla said:
Hah thanks, that was stupidly easy. They all look equally **** - how do you choose one?
Click to expand...

Choose the quality? The internals/sensor are all pretty much the same between all the brands really from the cheapest to like £300 ones. Linus Tech Tips did a video years ago on this. Bar a few exceptions. Most of the differences are the software and the enclosure.

My rear one isn't even a traditional dashcam, it is an Action cam like a GoPro, but a Chinese knockoff. It does however have a Dashcam mode so it starts recording when the receives power and then stops 30mins after parking.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Choose the quality? The internals/sensor are all pretty much the same between all the brands really from the cheapest to like £300 ones. Linus Tech Tips did a video years ago on this. Bar a few exceptions. Most of the differences are the software and the enclosure.

My rear one isn't even a traditional dashcam, it is an Action cam like a GoPro, but a Chinese knockoff. It does however have a Dashcam mode so it starts recording when the receives power and then stops 30mins after parking.
Click to expand...

Very good. It's a real shame that you can't record through a reversing camera.
 
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