Thread: Please share your car DVR experience and recommendations

Hey HiJack, I'm happy too! :wink - as in friendly wink:

And not wanting to hijack this thread (no, that wasn't an intended pun)...
Interesting about the law and recordings. Usually it is not illegal to record, but it's how its used. If it's illegal to record, I wonder how they deal with all the tablets and phones etc. (LOL - to the checkout chick that queried why I had a video camera in my bag: "My phone is off for repair." - and that was totally acceptable!)

And yes to an up-front declaration of recordings. That is often a legal requirement for phone recordings etc (for companies LOL) else otherwise mitigates any post-declaration privacy arguments of a complainer.
But it also often prevents nasty confrontation.

And don'tcha love affirmative action (or anti discrimination)? It is wrong that there should be the lighter handling of the target groups, but until the much greater crim.... wrong of discrimination disappears IMO it is a necessity, and totally fair. (Hence the "affirmative action" situation here - it is a legal bias that attempts to redress a civil bias. IMO if the norms want to remove that affirmative bias all they have to do is overcome else remove their bias. Simple eh? (Not!).)
Of course it can be abused, but in cases of wrong (eg, nasty cops), it can be beneficial by instigating a civil(ised) approach.
I wonder if my gf will ever pull her indigenous status, or if I ever pull my NESB status (Non-English Speaking Background)? Both are ridiculous as we are indiscriminable from everyday ockers, not that that prevents others knowing our backgrounds and being biased against that.


Forgive my later diversion, but that too is one of my passions.

Back to DVRs...

Originally Posted by HiJackZX1

I agree, for theft control, this may not be the best system. I strictly put mine in to defend against people that use our suck a$$ law against people. One accident I was ticketed even though I was driving ok. She was speeding up a Bus Only lane and because I had no proof, I was ticketed. The camera system is also useful with Police stops. Police in my area can be rude, nasty, and down right awful. Since the camera system, all of them treat me with respect and usually let me go with a warning. In FL law, it against the law to record video and sound unless its a public employee that works for citizens. So once I get pulled over, I immediately let them know my car is being recorded for sound and video and that it can not be shut off and is for my safety purposes. They then see the equality sticker on my rear hatch (yes i'm gay), and in their heads it equals harassment charges on my behalf. Police hate dealing with things like this, so rather than go through it, they just let me go with the fakest smile on their faces.

I agree completely.. well, almost completely. But my thought is not about theft identification. Many courts have ruled that you have to have 300 to 350 vertical lines of face for identification. Of course lesser video can still help with theft protection. It might not convict but it can be probable cause which could lead to more evidence or recovery.

But my primary reasons for wanting video are accident and LEO protection. And just the fun of having it. Like you, my response to a police officer would be that the interaction is being recorded and it is hard-wired and cannot be turned off. Of course his reaction could be to arrest me and put me in his car where his cameras watch and record instead. But number one is accidents. There are so many wackos on the road it just blows my mind. And fault is assigned to whoever convinces the traffic cop. And think of the YouTube possibilities

Originally Posted by dalepres

Many courts have ruled that you have to have 300 to 350 vertical lines of face for identification.

What? The implication being that if you have less lines but it conclusively IDs the person, it will be rejected on a technicality?

Luckily here they threw out technicalities - or rather, it is the intent of the Law that is more important.
Unfortunately that means I can no longer get out of speeding or murder charges because they wrote oldFart on the warrants etc instead of oldSpark - provided they can prove I am definitely (or beyond reasonable doubt) that I am the intended person.
Hence even if the Law had its reasons for specifying >300 lines for ID, lesser lines would probably not be rejected if they clearly confirmed the ID/person.

However, when I hinted at low-res, I was thinking of typically below 450 verticals. The old PAL resolution of 576 (x 720) is what I start to consider as acceptable.


Just remember, if the driver is insured and the vid "proves" or supports that they were intoxicated, don't submit the vid. (That assumes their insurance is void when intoxicated. The same may apply to unroadworthy vehicles, or merely the driver of that vehicle.)
Vids can also be handy to prove that you hitting someone didn't kill them - they died when they hit the ground. (LOL. Or not LOL.)

Thing is he cant arrest you. If he does, that just adds to the harassment case you would file. It is 100% legal to record them, if he doesnt like it and arrests you, then he doesnt know the law and you will have a lawsuit case against them.

One time I was driving past an accident, which forced me to slow down, not only to see what was going on, but because its the right thing to do for Police and safety personnel. Well I guess one cop decided that he wanted to pick on the truck that probably has some stupid uneducated person driving it. So he pulls me over, screaming that I am speeding and that im a stupid f#%k, and should know better and that when I see a cop working an accident, I am supposed to slow down. I mean he was going off on me. So then I just looked at him with a blank stare, you know the one you do when you want to let someone know they shouldnt have went there? Then I took my finger, pointed to the camera and black box recorder, and waited for his response. His response "I am sorry sir, you have a nice night." I am a heavy speeder on the highway and because the FL highway patrol now uses Dodge, and my car has a very similar look, people get out of my way in fear of being pulled over. Well one day I was going 80 in a 60 and the HP pulled up along side me. Instead of pulling me over, he was maneuvering his car to see how it will look on the screen I view to see my rear and blind spots. By this time I am going 60, and I am starting to get nervous. So I said screw it, lets see what he does. I speed up, he speeds up, then leaves me in his dust. I get to my destination thankful. So my guess is that most officers do not want to even screw with someone that can record them, they rather just go to the next car that they do not have to watch themselves. Im certainly not complaining.

fyi--in 3 states, it is illegal to record someone else without their consent, making it illegal to record police. oldspark is in australia, so a similar law could apply there(i don't keep up on the laws there ).

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_ille..._record_police

Originally Posted by soundman98

fyi--in 3 states, it is illegal to record someone else without their consent, making it illegal to record police. oldspark is in australia, so a similar law could apply there(i don't keep up on the laws there ).

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_it_ille..._record_police

Actually you need to reread that...

It is only illegal to record using an eavesdropping device and an camera is not considered to be an eavesdropping device. I believe they are more referring to things such as bugs or other devices used to eavesdrop. I have had a couple accidents that I was ticketed for because the other driver lied and I told the truth and I received the ticket because they believed the other driver. (In both cases the other person was an older woman that was naive about driving and should not have been on the road. If I had recording equipment it would have been a whole different case.)

Ditto.

And if valid, that means no-one could video in public etc. It would be nice to enforce on some of our invasive "investigative" (ha!) journalists though!


As too legalities in Aus, someone did claim that a certain youtube'd audio recording of a club member being abused or attacked at a club gathering was illegal. However that someone was of the same someones that has made so many ludicrous legal and other "factual" statements...

A few years ago videoing a road scene I was approached by a truckie that said I needed his permission to have videoed him. I explained it was public etc etc. He persisted. Finally I asked "ok, do I have your permission to film you?". "No!". "Well I'm gonna film you anyhow." He did nothing. (LOL - I was tempted to ask him to help me ask ALL passing divers if I also had their permission.)

With my setup I plan to get a sprint 3g/4g unit and use it with an external antennae. This will allow me to send live feeds to a server in a remote location so if someone does break into my vehicle and attempt to steal the video recorder they will still be recorded.

But if I have my way I will have 8 externally in a stereoscopic setup (Although I have seen a camera that has stereoscopic inputs with one input that I will have to check out further.) And multiple cameras inside my truck. I am expecting to have each camera go to an ARM board in pairs where the calculations will be done. But because these are expensive power wise to run I plan to have a low power mode where most everything is shutdown until it notices an alarm state then the cameras will come on in a tiered fashion to grab the perp and all video will be uploaded to a server in case the equipment is located and damaged.

So my needs in a DVR are a little different but I am monitoring this thread for ideas.

Ps: To enable my security system I will likely use external sensors such as radar sensors which can be run at a very low voltage and when a possible issue is seen it will act accordingly. I may have to have a "high traffic" mode when parking at a store and such or it will continually trip. Although having a video feed for when people back into the vehicle or have door dings etc would be interesting. Should be a fun part to the project. The ARM boards I will be using have a very low energy usage mode where I should be able to power the board from a standard 1400 ma battery for days before adding in the cameras etc.

My Vehicle for comparison will have 2 high quality batteries mounted under the hood of the same style in parallel with one to run the in car added on electronics and the other taking place of the stock battery. I will use a constant duty solenoid to only have them connected when charging. I will likely have backup batteries with their own charging systems on each ARM board that need to be powered when the truck is off. So power won't be an issue for me. I also hope to add solar power to the truck to keep the batteries topped off and may have the truck monitor voltage and start its self when the voltage drops to charge the batteries. (With a Co2 monitor to make sure it does not run in an enclosed area while in automatic.) Should allow the truck to be stored for months at a time without issue while fully monitoring its surroundings. (Although this is a daily driver)