In Car Cameras

[cleverdicky]

I would want a film crew and sound man for that sort of money ...

 

[Ben Longden]

Im free!

The vision off them IS admissable in court, provided you make two copies; one for the other party.

Russia is the current leader in their use, simply because of the amount of crashes... so drivers use them to prove innocence.

I have one in each of my cars, both from Uncle Ebay, and find them very good.
The trick is to get a large capacity card, and set them to do files every 15 min.

The cameras automatically finalise the file once the ignition is off, so no grabbing the card straight from the camera after a red light runner nearly wipes you out.

The vision needs to be copied to your PC, and it will play with Windaz Media Player.

Not only does the vision work well, with most cameras recording a 140 degree field of view.
They have motion sensors in them, so they start recording if the unattended car is moved.

They also record audio very well, so if the plod is narky, you have a record of that. Likewise for road rage incidents as well. Just don't tell them they are being recorded. Save that for later on.

With my setup, the cameras are a permanent fixture, with the ugly suction mount being replaced by a home made permanent one that sticks to the glass (easily removable) and the cable being hidden and sourcing power from a discrete lead. So the camera is not really noticed at all.

Yes, it is a black box for the car, and works well..
I hope never to use the vision, but if things turn to mud, at least there will be a record.

 

[PhiliusM]

I've got a Blackvue DR400-HDII in the SLK and a Roadhawk DC-1 in the Volvo. The video resolution from the Blackvue is much better although it's picture brightness control is very aggresive. I got the Blackvue because I was finding difficult to read number plates from the Roadhawk. They're both very good though.

 

[stuartmac]

Hi,

is the information gleaned from them admissible in court.

Not always necessary, tG. I know of a case of a motorcyclist wearing a helmetcam knocked off by a white-van driver pulling out without looking. In subsequent accident statement, van driver made up some story blaming the motorcyclist. Deadlock ... 'til the motorcyclist sent the van driver's insurers a copy of the film of the van driver admitting at the time it was his fault and apologising ...

Regards,

 

[richardN2O]

That's my Xmas present sorted

 

[Troon]

Until the Raspberry Pi team start selling the camera module and I manage to install that combo permanently, I'm using Witness Driving on my work iPhone. Phone is in a mount behind the RVM, records 720p with GPS and sound, works brilliantly.

Only problems are 1) I've nearly left the iPhone in the car a few times and 2) it's a bit pricey at £0.69 for the app.

 

[Frontstep]

http://www.exeros-technologies.com/action-cameras/full-1080p-hd-camera

You even get to watch a video in 1080P with this one.

 

[panason1c]

I'm using a Blackvue 380g-HD and very pleased with it, very small and discreet, clarity is good and i like the fit-and-forget versatility of the unit.

 

[bigtwin]

Im free!

The vision off them IS admissable in court, provided you make two copies; one for the other party.

No, it isn't. It's true that you would have to provide a copy to the other party if you were seeking to have it admitted as evidence. And if you succeeded, it would be at least 3 anyway, one for the court too. It is NOT automatically admissible. Useful to persuade insurance companies, yes, useful as a negotiation tool, yes perhaps, but automatically admissible as evidence; absolutely not.

This is a largely untested area of law. The recent case of the man who doctored the time stamp on the video evidence, but failed when it was spotted that the shadows on the footage were in the wrong place for the time of year has done nothing to assist. This is highly unlikely to ever be decisive evidence in normal driving cases, it's simply too easy to fiddle. So for now, it's corroborative at best.

 

[panason1c]

I cannot see any problem regarding the usage of car-cam footage being used as evidence as long as it was immediately disclosed to the police that you have a video recording of the event, also, handing over the SD card to the police at the time would clear you of any accusation of tampering.
Video evidence is widely used in courts, street cctv, mobile phone footage, etc, and i dont see why car recorder footage would be treated any differently.

 

[bigtwin]

I cannot see any problem regarding the usage of car-cam footage being used as evidence as long as it was immediately disclosed to the police that you have a video recording of the event, also, handing over the SD card to the police at the time would clear you of any accusation of tampering.
Video evidence is widely used in courts, street cctv, mobile phone footage, etc, and i dont see why car recorder footage would be treated any differently.

It's an entirely different continuity of evidence issue. I didn't say it cannot be used - it can, but whether it can, and if so, the weight attached, depends entirely on the circumstances of capture.

 

[Gkinghorn]

For those of you who wonder what the quality is like of the Android based Road Voyager free app ..here is some i recorded earlier - apologies o sound ..its my fault not the app ..

but thought some might want to see ..i put this on an old Android phone that has a dodgy screen ..seems to work ok ..tho the phone does get warm being used constantly but not dangerously so..

http://youtu.be/ZgIdO6cqBL4


[YOUTUBE]ZgIdO6cqBL4[/YOUTUBE]

 

[bigtwin]

For those of you who wonder what the quality is like of the Android based Road Voyager free app ..here is some i recorded earlier - apologies o sound ..its my fault not the app ..

but thought some might want to see ..i put this on an old Android phone that has a dodgy screen ..seems to work ok ..tho the phone does get warm being used constantly but not dangerously so..

http://youtu.be/ZgIdO6cqBL4


[YOUTUBE]ZgIdO6cqBL4[/YOUTUBE]

I suggest that footage is clearly faked.

The car made no attempt to veer into the petrol station at 0:32.