BlackVue DR380G-HD in A3

[Jameze]

Just wanted to write a quick(ish) thank you to the guys at Advanced In-Car Technologies!

I thought I'd post it here (seeing as though it is installed in an A3 afterall ) as ScottB5's thread HERE didn't get much of a reception over in the Gadgets section, and this camera and AICT deserved a bit of recognition! I'll try not to cover old ground and repeat what Scott has already said.

I decided to grab myself a bargain after spotting the group buy. I think most would agree it's something that would prove invaluable in the event of an accident (especially one which wasn't your fault). If for nothing else, I'm sure it would capture some funny moments eventually (or dodgy manouvres by other motorists).

When it comes to things like this I'm usually one for wanting the 'best' version. The DR380G-HD's bigger brother the DR400G-HD doesn't tick all the boxes for me though - for one it's silver (doesn't blend in as well to the black interior of the car making it more obvious from the outside) and it is 1080p which I would say is overkill. 720p seems to be more than enough quality and won't eat up as much memory when recording. For those reasons, I'd say the Advanced guys picked the right one for the Group Buy.

I've currently got the camera just plugged into the cigarette socket so I've not yet bothered to hide any of the wiring (seeing as it will only be plugged in when driving). Once I get chance to though I'll hardwire it into the fuse panel (running the wires along the headlining and down the A Pillar to hide them from view) and take advantage of the parking feature to record any potential bumps or scrapes in the carpark when leaving the car unattended.

Here are some stills of the camera in action (seem to have compressed a bit when uploading / resizing them so apologies). Once I get chance I'll report back with some video clips of driving and parking mode, and a few pictures of the install itself.


Morning - 08:45

Late morning - 11:06

Night (and rain) - 17:10

Late night - 00:16

Oh, and when you're installing it, don't do what I did on my first attempt and have the rear view mirror fixing bracket obscuring half the camera's vision! What a chump. I originally installed it at the top of the windscreen which I liked as it was quite well hidden, I've since had to move it down below the mirror's fixing bracket and place it behind the mirror which is a shame as I feel it's easier to spot from the outside. I might re-position it yet again back up to the top but just have it slightly off-centre. Will play around at some point and see what it looks like.

Oops!...

I'll be back once I've found the time to hard-wire it into the fuse panel and sought some further advice from the Advanced guys so I'll no doubt return singing their praises once again. They've been more than helpful so far though and a pleasure to deal with so a massive thanks to them all. I return to work from paternity leave a week tomorrow so will aim to be installed properly by then

 

[MrLapou]

I like your post. Sounds like a great gadget to have.

 

[Artimus]

Looks pretty decent that. you can clearly see Reg numbers in all conditions.

I got the bug for a camera too, so I ordered a Chinese model last week! I'll give it a go & if it works, all's well & good, but if it's no good on the road I'll hook it up at the front of the house & get a BlackVue for the car.

Just last Monday night I was leaving the M25 @ J15 for the M4West, when a car (Toyota Prius I think) shot across the grass verge from the M25 & blocked 1.5 of 2 lanes - the rear bumper was hanging off and the car looked crippled, I barely had time to check my mirrors before switching to the hard shoulder to pass. The driver was just climbing out of his car as I passed, so, not wanting to add to the chaos or become involved in a secondary accident, I didn't stop! But I remember thinking it would have been great if I had a camera as I could have reviewed exactly how it happened, also If he'd done that a second later, he would have T-boned my car and the footage could have been handed to the Police & my Insurance Co.

With the increase in un-skilled & less knowledgeable drivers on the roads, I get the feeling these cameras are going to become a necessity, rather than a luxury ..and sooner, rather than later too.

 

[Cruiser89]

Glad you're enjoying it bud!!

You're stills look really great

Give us a call when you get round to installing it and we'll give you some tips.

For anybody else that's interested in this camera, you can check it out by visiting the link below!

Blackvue DR380G HD In Car Camera System | Advanced In Car Technologies

 

[kanecullen89]

Looks great. So clear and would be extremely good evidence in the unfortunate event of an rtc or deliberate damage. Good post, very interested.
Is it recording 24hrs on an overwrite feature or motion activated?

 

[Jameze]

It will overwrite once the memory is full but you can select whether to overwrite the oldest clips first or the non-event clips (the camera will detect an event such as a bump or heavy braking due to the G sensors inside the camera and try to save these for as long as possible as memory permits). You can also adjust the G sensor's sensitivity. If for example speedbumps cause your camera to record that as an event then you can review that section of the video and adjust the G sensor threshold to just inside that "bump". Rather difficult to explain but will try to include an example in my next post. The software for it though is very good, it's much more than just a video player!

The camera can be set to record all the time for normal driving or switched to event-only recording. Using the G sensors mentioned previously it would buffer-record all the time (a bit like a V+ or Sky+ box) allowing it to skip back say 10 seconds amd capture the next minute or so of video (thus capturing the event and the build-up to that event). Parking mode (when you park up and leave your car) can be either motion activated recording or event activated.

You'll get days of continuous recording before it has to overwrite anything though.

 

[MrLapou]

Got a few questions:

Under the features section on the website given by Crusier89, it states, supports up to 16GB , but further down the spec it says Micro SD up to 32GB.
Which is it?
What is the largest capacity memory it will support and work with using the full capacity of the card?

If it's set to record 24hrs a day at the highest D1 resolution how long will a 16GB and 32GB card last before overwriting begins?

What the uninterruptable power supply and how long will that last with the unit recording continuously at D1 resolution?

 

[N8]

Good questions...

 

[SAiLO]

Nice gadget.

 

[Cruiser89]

Got a few questions:

No problemo!

Under the features section on the website given by Crusier89, it states, supports up to 16GB , but further down the spec it says Micro SD up to 32GB.
Which is it?
What is the largest capacity memory it will support and work with using the full capacity of the card?

The version of Blackvue DR380G HD we buy in comes with a 16GB Micro SD Card as standard. It can support up to 32GB. What you saw on our site is a typo and is being fixed. Happened when we copied one of our last databases over.

If it's set to record 24hrs a day at the highest D1 resolution how long will a 16GB and 32GB card last before overwriting begins?

The camera itself does not record continuously for 24hrs. When the ignition is on, the camera will record until the ignition is turned off. Once you remove the ignition (And have the Power Magic Pro installed) the camera will stay on for about 10mins. It will then put itself into a low power sleep mode. It then stops recording. The camera will re-activate if it picks up any motion or if the car is rocked / bumped.

It's really difficult to tell you how long the footage lasts as it depends on what settings you have your camera on, if you park up near a busy main road etc etc.

But here is what the User Manual gives as a rough guideline:
(Sorry for the rubbish quality, it's a quick scan)
(The table below shows the times for the majority of the Blackvue cameras but doesn't give any times for the DR380 with a 32GB card. But you can get the jist by looking at the DR400 times)

What the uninterruptable power supply and how long will that last with the unit recording continuously at D1 resolution?

I'm assuming you mean the Power Magic Pro here?

You can set the PMP to stay on as long as you want or until it picks up a drop below a set voltage.

So you can set it to power for 24hr, 36hr, 72hr, 128hr, unlimited (From memory). You can also set what voltage it cuts off at. 11.6v or 11.8v.

Once the ignition is switched back on, the timers reset.

Hope that all helps!


Tim

 

[sidibear]

I have a 32gb card fitted in mine. Its usually just parked outside the house so its in park mode and easily gets 24hrs before overwriting. I do have the 16gb card left in the car in case I need to save the footage on the other card, I can just swap them over.
Mine is hardwired so is permanently on, it auto switches to park mode and then to normal recording when you set off.
The footage is fantastic, and you can also zoom in on the scene. The only niggle I have had so far is that depending on the angle of the sun the footage goes pink.
(I was in a rush to get one fitted as I had recently had quite a few near misses so didn't wait for the group buy to finish so got mine from somewhere else).

All in all a fantastic bit of kit and the cost of which you will probably save in your next no fault accident when you don't have to pay out your excess.
Also bear in mind that there have been a couple of incidents reported on here that the camera may well have caught and the guilty party identified. Beanoir's damage in the car park and also JoJo's mums alleged running into someone. Hindsight is fantastic, but the way driving standards are dropping and drive off's are more common, it really does make sense to get one before you really needed one.

 

[Cruiser89]

I have a 32gb card fitted in mine. Its usually just parked outside the house so its in park mode and easily gets 24hrs before overwriting. I do have the 16gb card left in the car in case I need to save the footage on the other card, I can just swap them over.
Mine is hardwired so is permanently on, it auto switches to park mode and then to normal recording when you set off.
The footage is fantastic, and you can also zoom in on the scene. The only niggle I have had so far is that depending on the angle of the sun the footage goes pink.
(I was in a rush to get one fitted as I had recently had quite a few near misses so didn't wait for the group buy to finish so got mine from somewhere else).

All in all a fantastic bit of kit and the cost of which you will probably save in your next no fault accident when you don't have to pay out your excess.
Also bear in mind that there have been a couple of incidents reported on here that the camera may well have caught and the guilty party identified. Beanoir's damage in the car park and also JoJo's mums alleged running into someone. Hindsight is fantastic, but the way driving standards are dropping and drive off's are more common, it really does make sense to get one before you really needed one.

Good to hear you're still loving it bud.

How has the car been with it wired into permanent?

Totally agree with you on the reasons behind getting one! Insurance companies these days are very tough cookies to deal with. Sometimes it's quite difficult to prove your innocence in certain situations.

Say a claim where you know you are innocent but the claim was awarded 50/50 you are then left to deal with the aftermath which could be quite costly. Paying for one of these cameras to save all of that anguish is more than worth it.

It's just a shame that we now live in a world where we have to prove we were innocent...

Thinking of doing an ASN discount for this specific camera soon... Who would be interested?

 

[monopole]

I would be interested, mark me up.

 

[PH1L]

Would be good to see a fitted PIC so I can get an impression on the scale

 

[Cruiser89]

Would be good to see a fitted PIC so I can get an impression on the scale

Here are a few pictures of an installation we did for an Audi TT customer over on the TTOC Forum....

 

[N8]

Loving this

 

[Cruiser89]

Loving this

Thanks bud!!

The guy who we installed it for is a Formula 2 driver who we have done quite a bit for on his TT, he loves cars and gadgets. He loved the outcome, especially hiding all the cables up and through the rear view display. Nice and neat!

 

[sidibear]

How has the car been with it wired into permanent?

Not had a single problem. The car is usually sat there for days at a time so initially I was a tad concerned about power draining but nothing so far.

 

[nevergivup99]

I have fitted one of these items myself and have recorded a few silly incidents , unfortunately by motor cyclists using the roads round where I live as their own personal race tracks .
There is a new power supply for the Blackvue which hasn’t appeared in the UK yet that uses an independent UPS (uninterruptable supply) it can be hardwired or plugged into the cigarette lighter, this supplies the Blackvue direct and doesn’t affect the vehicles battery.
The parking mode on the blackvue does several things when it is in park mode, it hibernates, and wakes when it receives a shock or knock, and also it records if there is movement detected within its field of view, both of these detections are programmable for a more precise incident recording.
I am most impressed with mine, but I do have to tweak it a little ,the suspension is a little hard on my vehicle so a few potholes have triggered an event recording , this isn’t a problem , it only takes a few minutes with the software provided.
Don’t forget though, it may require a firmware update now and again.

 

[Jameze]

Back with an update! Sorry for the delay, been a hectic couple of weeks.

I've now fitted the camera in permanently, hard-wired into the fuse panel. What a difference! For starters, all the wiring is hidden. It runs across the headlining and down the A pillar into the fuse box so no more running wires across the dash and into the cigarette lighter. Secondly, I can now take advantage of the Parking Mode feature which, after only a day or so using it, I am thoroughly impressed by.

Parking Mode enables you to capture moments from when you're not with your car by means of either a movement sensor or a G sensor. As I think I stated in my previous post, it will constantly buffer when in Parking Mode and if an event is captured it will skip back a few seconds and record the event for either 1, 2 or 3 minutes depending on your settings (or until the movement or motion detected has finished).

Parking Mode is automatically enabled when no motion is sensed after 10 minutes. So 10 minutes after parking up the camera will switch over from normal driving mode to parking mode. Once you then return to your car and drive off, it automatically switches back to normal driving mode once 10 seconds of motion is detected. As you can see in Cruiser's pictures above there is an LED ring which changes colour depending on the mode it is in. This can be turned off for either modes or all together (to make it less obvious when parked up at night). Personally, for me, I've turned it off all together as I figured even after parking up, the ring will still be illuminated for the 10 minutes it is in normal driving mode before it switches to parking mode (will stand out at night!). You can alternatively have voice confirmation switched on (as I do) so that the camera tells you when it's changing modes when you're in the car.

When I purchased my camera I also bought the Power Magic Pro. With this installed into the system it will monitor your battery's voltage and once it reaches your set parameter it will completely switch off the system (thus preventing a drained battery). It can also be set to switch off after a set amount of time. I've gone for 11.8v and 72 hours, but you can have unlimited. The settings are:
Voltage - 11.8v, 12v, 22.8v, 23.2v.
Timer (hrs) - 6, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72, 120, infinity.

I mentioned positioning in my previous post. I've since moved my camera a final time to the very top of the windscreen but as off-centre as can be until the rear view mirror bracket is out of sight. The camera has an AV Output and comes with the wire needed to plug into a suitable device so I did just that - dragged the TV out to the car and plugged it in to allow me to perfectly position the camera. Thanks to the wide angle lens, even though it isn't dead centre, it will never miss any of the action!

Here are some videos of the whole system in action (switch quality to 720p)...

Parking Mode:


Normal Driving Mode:



...sorry they're not great examples, I parked in my girlfriend's parent's drive last night and the trees moving ever-so slightly (very difficult to see until you look closely but the camera still picked it up!) caused the camera to record all night and overwrite all my other clips to make space for what looks like National Geographic's new nature show! I've since turned down the motion sensor sensitivity so I think it's just a case of adjusting it until you're happy - as long as it picks up vehicles and people then I'm happy. Squirrels, cats, birds, leaves and wind I'm not too fussed about...

I mentioned previously about the Event recording and the ability to adjust the G sensor sensitivity. I've taken a screenshot from BlackVue's brochure which explains how this works (should be fairly self-explanatory)...

It's a bit dark now but if people want then I'll get a couple of pics of the camera in the car tomorrow if the weather is decent enough.

And that's it really! Another massive thanks for the guys at Advanced In-Car Technologies for all the help they've offered since purchasing from them (certainly wouldn't get that on eBay!). It's refreshing to be able to add another trustworthy and helpful company to the list. They certainly know what they're doing and bend over backwards to help you out.

My only complaint... you guys aren't anywhere near Leeds!!

 

[Jameze]

I have a 32gb card fitted in mine.

Good to know, I'll have to get one ordered for mine. I too was finding lots of conflicting information online that suggested it only supported up to 16GB so good to know I can stuff a 32GB into it

The only niggle I have had so far is that depending on the angle of the sun the footage goes pink.

I've read online somewhere that a UV filter can help this - an old sunglasses lens or even a lens from some 3D cinema glasses. I'll have to give this a go at some point and see what happens. I've seen some footage on YouTube of someone with a UV filter fitted to their in-car camera and as he moves it over the lens, the reflections on the windscreen just disappear. I'll have to see if I can find an old lens lying around somewhere and give it a go.

 

[Cruiser89]

Amazing write up buddy!!

Thanks for the kind words.

In regards to the UV filter I haven't seen any pink footage before (I sometimes get a bit of glare due to the low winter sun). I have a massive roll of uv film that I'm gonna try on mine and see how that works. If it works, ill send some bits of film to you and Sidi.

Have you got a link to that YouTube video so I can have a look?

 

[Jameze]

Yeah I get some glare (which is expected when driving directly into the winter sun) and only briefly goes pinkish when it's blinding bright.

The UV film would be much appreciated, would be nice to filter out the reflections that the windscreen picks up.

I'll have a look for the video when I'm at home (no Internet at the flat yet!). I came across it accidentally though but from what I can recall it was with a FineVu camera if that helps you try and find it?

 

[Jameze]

Managed to find the link on my phone...

25 mm CPL filter - it works! - YouTube

Sorry if it's a mobile link!

Seems as though it's a "CPL" (Circular Polarizer) Filter that's used to filter out the windscreen reflections.

 

[Cruiser89]

Managed to find the link on my phone...

25 mm CPL filter - it works! - YouTube

Sorry if it's a mobile link!

Seems as though it's a "CPL" (Circular Polarizer) Filter that's used to filter out the windscreen reflections.

Cool, thanks!

Looks like a Blackvue camera too..

 

[Turbo jay]

I wonder if this would bring down insurance premiums? Anyone tryed?

 

[tcardio]

Parking Mode:

I assume this video was planned as I just can't swallow the probability of having an Audi A3 cross your camera's path at 18 sec mark!

 

[Jameze]

I assume this video was planned as I just can't swallow the probability of having an Audi A3 cross your camera's path at 18 sec mark!

Of course it was parked up at a busy Park with an array of cars passing constantly. I chose the footage with an A3 for you good folks

 

[Jameze]

I wonder if this would bring down insurance premiums? Anyone tryed?

I've heard that Adrian Flux offer 15% discount if you've got an in-car camera fitted. I personally wouldn't like to use it for this though as if you took the camera out for a day and forgot to put it back, or it somehow failed and you had an accident, I'm pretty certain they'd refuse to pay out. It puts too much onerous on you in my opinion - I'd rather just use it at my own leisure.

 

[monopole]

Any update towards the group buy?

 

[The Governor]

I'm hankering after a camera for my car but can't justify the £200 price (plus fitting?)... anyone got any tips on somethign a bit *ahem* less expensive

 

[Cruiser89]

Any update towards the group buy?

Hey bud,

Unfortunately there wasn't enough interest in the GroupBuy...

Thinking of doing a Forum discount in the future though!

 

[Cruiser89]

Of course it was parked up at a busy Park with an array of cars passing constantly. I chose the footage with an A3 for you good folks

I take your parked up footage and raise you...

"how to park in a parking space"

In all seriousness though. This footage could be showing this driver hitting my vehicle and then driving off.



(Don't forget to click the little cog and set it to 1080p Quality)

 

[Jameze]

I take your parked up footage and raise you...

"how to park in a parking space"

Haha I wasn't going to upload this but you've made me now!

Some very precise reversing here... I still can't decide if they hit the column or not!?



We could easily start a thread with these videos haha.

 

[monopole]

Having made the decision that I wanted the DR380G-HD, I went ahead and purchased last week with a professional install along with the Power Magic Pro. All I can say is, excellent customer support from the AICT team . Anyway, can I make just one small recommendation Tim/James - RE the installation >> the installer forgot to switch the Power Magic Pro -ON- !!!!, I was trying to figure out why I got no Parked data, I spent 2 days adjusting settings finally setting to absolute max sensitivity for movement and G when parked - still nothing. Today I checked the location the PMP was installed ensure it was working and low and behold, it was still set to "0", flicked the switch, on come the light and bingo - Perhaps a tip to your installer network to ensure it is on when they have finished the install . Last thing, for some reason the "enter" key doesn't work to start a new line when posting a message on this forum, otherwise it works fine elsewhere????

 

[Gizmo68]

Any update towards the group buy?

I'm hankering after a camera for my car but can't justify the £200 price (plus fitting?)... anyone got any tips on somethign a bit *ahem* less expensive

There is a group buy over on Briskoda for anyone interested:
The prices are as follows, including delivery, which are significantly under RRP:

Blackvue 400G HD v2 (with 16gb card) = £210
Blackvue 380G HD (with 8gb card) = £170
Blackvue 300 (with 4gb card) = £95

The GB ends on Thursday 15th though, so be quick (you would need to register on Briskoda to join in the GB)

 

[Jameze]

There is a group buy over on Briskoda for anyone interested:
The prices are as follows, including delivery, which are significantly under RRP:

Blackvue 400G HD v2 (with 16gb card) = £210
Blackvue 380G HD (with 8gb card) = £170
Blackvue 300 (with 4gb card) = £95

The GB ends on Thursday 15th though, so be quick (you would need to register on Briskoda to join in the GB)

Very good prices! Half tempted by a 300 for the back window.

These forums play havoc with my bank account!!!

 

[monopole]

Having made the decision that I wanted the DR380G-HD, I went ahead and purchased last week with a professional install along with the Power Magic Pro. All I can say is, excellent customer support from the AICT team . Anyway, can I make just one small recommendation Tim/James - RE the installation >> the installer forgot to switch the Power Magic Pro -ON- !!!!, I was trying to figure out why I got no Parked data, I spent 2 days adjusting settings finally setting to absolute max sensitivity for movement and G when parked - still nothing. Today I checked the location the PMP was installed ensure it was working and low and behold, it was still set to "0", flicked the switch, on come the light and bingo - Perhaps a tip to your installer network to ensure it is on when they have finished the install . Last thing, for some reason the "enter" key doesn't work to start a new line when posting a message on this forum, otherwise it works fine elsewhere????

Without any intention to do so, my post has been misconstrued as being negative to AICT and their installer network. Let me make this point, the installer did a very professional job resulting in high quality work. He was prompt, efficient and effective. I feel my point was constructive towards the fact that the PMP is a new item in addition to the installation of the Blackvue device and the installer network should be aware to ensure the device to be switched ON prior to completion. I have subsequently ordered from AICT again which shows my belief in their customer support. I seriously did not intend to be negative, purely constructive to both AICT and their customers. Next year I am getting the Audi Optical Parking Sensor Kit along with their highly recommended professional install.

 

[MrLapou]

monopole, I read your report as a valid and constructive to mention this setting issue.

 

[Cruiser89]

Having made the decision that I wanted the DR380G-HD, I went ahead and purchased last week with a professional install along with the Power Magic Pro. All I can say is, excellent customer support from the AICT team . Anyway, can I make just one small recommendation Tim/James - RE the installation >> the installer forgot to switch the Power Magic Pro -ON- !!!!, I was trying to figure out why I got no Parked data, I spent 2 days adjusting settings finally setting to absolute max sensitivity for movement and G when parked - still nothing. Today I checked the location the PMP was installed ensure it was working and low and behold, it was still set to "0", flicked the switch, on come the light and bingo - Perhaps a tip to your installer network to ensure it is on when they have finished the install . Last thing, for some reason the "enter" key doesn't work to start a new line when posting a message on this forum, otherwise it works fine elsewhere????

Without any intention to do so, my post has been misconstrued as being negative to AICT and their installer network. Let me make this point, the installer did a very professional job resulting in high quality work. He was prompt, efficient and effective. I feel my point was constructive towards the fact that the PMP is a new item in addition to the installation of the Blackvue device and the installer network should be aware to ensure the device to be switched ON prior to completion. I have subsequently ordered from AICT again which shows my belief in their customer support. I seriously did not intend to be negative, purely constructive to both AICT and their customers. Next year I am getting the Audi Optical Parking Sensor Kit along with their highly recommended professional install.

Hey Monopole!

Thanks for the kind comments! We are nice guys and are always here to help out whenever there is an issue!!

I'm glad you like the camera and thanks for your recent order! Hope you enjoy your new AutoDAB Digital Radio which will be winging it's way to you in the next few days

Tim