I didn't go with gopro route because black box can pretty much runs itself...

gopro requires too much of work to have it running...power issue, memory card issue, on and off issue.

 

Well, I went ahead and ordered me one. I don't know which seller on eBay you went with, but the one from South Korea says it includes the manual in English as well as the camera voice in English. His prices are going up though...it was 289 yesterday and 300 today

 

I am guessing you ordered blackvue?

My dad got mine for me while he was in Korea.. I didn't order it from eBay.

 

Yup, sure did. Oh ok, cool man!

 

As S14 said, you'd have to worry about power, memory card usage, etc on the GoPro.

I have the first gen Hero HD. You wont be able to see anything at night with the Go Pro (the new HD2 is much better though). When the memory card fills up, it stops recording. There is no auto-on or auto-record. Its an action camera, these are DVR systems.

For comparison, here is a night video of the Hero HD:


I got mine from green-sum on ebay. I paid $248 shipped. I checked most places and there was a slight delay in shipping since its backordered, but a week after I bought it, it shipped (last Friday), and got here before 1pm Wednesday via Fed Ex.

I got the english manual from here:

http://www.blackvue.co.kr/en/content...ch=&searchstr=

The software isn't in English, but if you look at pages 25-29, you can easily match up the settings. The main UI is also very easy to use as it uses symbols for most of the selections. As for the voice on the camera, you can always turn it off. I kind of understand what it says when you turn it on (GPS connected; SD Card not installed), so it doesnt bother me.

 

^^ I thought they offered voice commends in English rather in Korean??
I swear I seen a English version somewhere on youtube... hmm.

 

Yea, me too. Doesnt bother me though.

I might contact Pittasoft to find out about it. I put the new firmware on the memory card but havent loaded it onto the camera yet, so that may change things

 

Looks like its worth the extra dough then. I still wish I could justify enough reasons to buy one at this price. Just can't....

 

I doubt it. I just updated mine as well, but didn't do much.

Yeah, at least it's not like you bought a Korean brand navi that keeps on talking to you in Korean.

 

You do know that there are many other companies that offers lower model at affordable cost.

I seen few models that goes for around $100-200 range.

 

There was one posted on the second page I believe that sells for around $160. The video quality was decent.

Update - The new firmware changes the language! The downside is, it keeps telling me "the version information is different" over and over again.

Ive done a bit of searching and found that quite a few people have run into that issue, but I was on my phone and really couldnt read a whole lot. Ill post if I have any success with it.

 

^^that's a good news!

Hopefully you can solve the issue...

 

These? I just want something cheap I can play with. I don't need audio, it would probably catch me car singing badly the whole time

 

So explain to me how this thing works. You were saying event mode, what exactly does that mean.

Does it just keep recording and just loop every so often?

 

Basically, "event mode" or crash mode is when the camera detects a shock above the preset threshold. It protects that file.

In normal usage, the camera will automatically delete the oldest file if it reaches the memory card capacity. However, it will not delete an event mode recording (unless you change the memory card usage in the software, Ill get to that later).

Due to my suspension, every time I hit a bump the camera switched to "event mode". The software allows you analyze the shock data and then set the thresholds to where you want them, which I did. The firmware thing just got in the way of testing it out today, so unfortunately I wont have daytime vids until tomorrow.

 

ahh ok...thanks for the explanation.

 

^^^ now thats HOT !!!

so temme something:

when you turn the car on: camera turns on as well and starts recording ?
when you turn the car off: camera turns off and stops recording ?
storage is memcard right ? so why is it called DVR ? option to write to DVD ?
max memcard capacity it can take ?
5 minute video takes how much how mum mem capacity ?

 

Unless you have it connected to a power source that is constant, then if it doesnt sense any shock for 10 minutes it will go into "parking mode". It will record if something moves across the viewing area or it senses a shock, but to simplify it, the camera is asleep.

DVR = Digital Video Recorder, just like a TiVo. It continuously records to a mini-SD card.

Im not 100% positive about the max size, but they do mention 32GB in the documentation.

The card it ships with is actually quite good. Its a Class 6 Samsung card. If I ever need to replace it, I will get a Class 10 though.

Depends on the resolution you choose.

A 32GB card can hold approximately 10hours of continuous footage at 1920x1080 @ 30fps before it begins to overwrite the oldest file.

The motion detection recording option can hold up to 3 days of data on a 32GB card.

 

^^^ i should have asked you another question....

gimme the link to it bro !!! hahaha am getting her tonight LOL....

 

I got mine here, but I paid $248 shipped 10 days ago

http://www.ebay.com/itm/140716863427...t_10017wt_1102

I think Wookie got his from here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-BlackVue...ht_11715wt_995

Most places seem to have it on backorder, but they ship from the manufacturer pretty quickly.

 

Yup sure did. I don't think mine is backordered though. Should arrive in about a week or two max.

 

 

WOWZERZZZZZ !!!

a $100 difference ??? why ??? what are the differences between the 2 ??? just different sellers ???

 

I think demand has multiplied for this unit. When I was looking at them about three weeks ago there were no delayed shipments and they were selling for around $250. I bought mine 10 days ago for $248 shipped and decided to just wait out the delay since they were usually delayed by a week at most. Now the same auction I got mine from wants $399

There is an auction thats still asking $250. Search "BlackVue DR400G-HD" on eBay.

 

I was able to successfully flash the latest (2-28-2012) firmware!!

Strange quirk - since my camera shipped with the Korean firmware, I had to flash the latest Korean firmware on top of it. So....it still speaks Korean. But, you can use the English software that came with the English firmware. Ill go in depth with it tomorrow after I get some day time videos, Ill also show you guys how it handles a power loss

Im going to attempt to flash the latest English firmware on top of the latest Korean firmware tomorrow. We'll see how that goes.

 

^^^ guess i have to wait to order until tomorrow LOL

 

I contacted Pittasoft (the people that make the BlackVue) about the firmware. They said that the English firmware can't be flashed over the Korean firmware. They went on to say that it is against their policy to distribute their products to other countries. So my question now is why do they have an English version of the firmware?

Im going to take a look through all the files and see what exactly is different. There may be a way to fool the camera into thinking its an English version.

 

figure all that shizzz out quickly Morgan....i need to order this

 

I guess its good that work is slow.....I have tons of time.

But, the camera itself will speak in Korean, but you can take the software from the English firmware .zip and use that to setup the camera and view your recordings. Im not seeing any other differences, and everything that the camera literally says is also paired with the LED lights. So, you can turn the voice off entirely and you wont even realize that its the Korean firmware.

 

^^^ so i just read something:

1> you can see live video feeds using a video out....AWESOME
2> you can see the video on an Android OS phone/tablet....and save it on the devices memory....

is the 2nd point true ??? if so fawk all that am gonna order right now LOL...

 

For #2, as long as you have a micro-SD card slot on your phone.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...=search_result

The cool thing with the program is you can change all your settings and save them onto the card, no PC needed. You can even update firmware directly from your phone.

Unfortunately my phone doesnt have a memory card slot

 

^^^ hmm....btw who was talking about a phone

 

 

I fucking left my memory card at work, so wasn't able to test it out at night.

I will be picking up a fuse box connector when I visit Korea in few weeks... and might pick up filter that minimize glares.

 

I think civic got a great deal on his blackvue... currently in Korea, they are going for around $259 (if I were to compare dollar to won as 1:1) to $300 mark.

If some of you guys actually do want to save some cash, I will pick one for anyone is interested.

edit: currency is about 1: 1.12, so it won't be much.

 

Im going to pick up one of those fuse connectors as well. Im just trying to decide if I want it on a switched or constant port. The BlackVue draws approximately 3w per week in parking mode, if the car will be parked longer then that Id just disconnect the camera from the plug.

They Power Mate that BlackVue sells has a failsafe built in that cuts power to the unit when the battery gets to a certain level, but Im cheap

 

^^^ dude check you PM and get on my build thread....link in my sig....

 

In

 

Interesting finds. I am waiting to see all your results before buying one.

 

Looks good. Pretty clear. Tempted to get a dash cam too now.... stupid thread.

Not sure I can justify since I don't drive much though.

And I know that freeway... 2 freeway south bound all the way to the end where Echo Park is, right?