Thread: Dashcam video with GPS speed imprint - court date soon...

I looked arounf at that zoneminder thing, an it looks like it's for Linux. It mentioned a "windows live" version, but I didn't see much in the way of detail. Is that a windows live plugin, or what?

Question... What software/hardware did you use for the DVR and also the overlay? Excuse if you have mentioned it and I havnt noticed

Originally Posted by erkme73

Sorry guys, I hadn't checked this thread in ages. Here's the skinny on how the system works.

1. The DVR is an SD-based recorder (12 FPS @ 720 x 480). Can be found on eBay for about $200 to 250.00. It can be configured to record several ways. I chose to record upon ANY motion in the camera's view. This means if my truck is parked, and someone walks by, they get recorded. It records for 2-3 seconds after the motion stops. In my driveway, facing my garage door, it does not record at all. A 4GB card will hold anywhere between 2-3 days of solid driving, to 1 month of occasional driving. I have it wired to be 'always on' - though after about a week of not driving, it (along with the camera, GPS, and overlay unit) will run my battery down. It is a little larger than a deck of playing cards, has A/V in and out - and a full menu with playback capabilities.
2. The camera is a cheap $60 12V outdoor camera (also from eBay). I removed the outdoor housing, leaving just the postage-stamp sized PCB and lens mounted to the back of my R/V mirror. It's so small no one knows it's there. The camera has no microphone, so all my vids are w/o audio. Standard RCA video out will connect to the adapter cable from the DVR. The camera I use has night vision, but I had to disable the IR LEDS (reflection from the windshield at night).
3. The video overlay unit is from a manufacturer in England. For my truck, I have a separate GPS receiver (Garmin 12 channel eTrex) connected to it via serial cable (it's the one on the bottom left of the linked page). It's not the best way to do it. The company that make the overlay box actually has a new one now with the GPS unit already inside the box. It runs about $250 and has an external SIRFIII antenna. I got that one for my wife's car. It picks up 6 sats on the 5th level of a 7 level parking garage! The overlay unit has a video in and video out jack. So the camera output goes to the video overlay box, the output of the overlay box goes to the DVR. The DVR output goes to a clip-on sun visor mounted 7" LCD monitor.
4. The LCD monitor ($60-$80 / eBay) is about .3" thick, and hides nicely under the visor. If needed you can flip it down, rewind the DVR, and instantly review any questionable event (i.e. did I really beat that light?)

All of this was recently moved from my 2000 Toy Tundra to my new 07' Tundra. Great care was taken not to expose any of the components. Unless you do a detailed search, there is no way anyone would know the system is in there.

BTW, a nice feature is being able to reverse the camera (to view into the car) for when service is being done, or you want to see what the valet driver is doing in your glove box. Or, aim it at that car that's parked 3 RHC hairs from your passenger door. It's great to catch people when they think no one is looking. Of course, it helps in court too (proven!).

On an aside, last week I had after market leather seats (Katskinz) and seat heaters installed on my wife's 07 Rav4 as a surprise. She pulled a 30 hour shift (she's and ER resident physician), so I was able to get it installed before she got off. I couldn't be there to see her reaction when she got in, but the camera did. I turned it around to aim it at the driver seat. The result? When she got in, she had this 5 seconds of panic look... "is this my car???", then a beaming smile. It was classic.

Again, sorry for the delay in providing the details. Hopefully the length of the post makes up for it.

Lastly, now that the court date is over, I am not concerned about the state finding me. I'm now openly hosting the video here:

http://dilo.com/ticket/sr54-cecelia.wmv

And for knorf, you may want to see this BBC video on the LTI 20/20 (the one they got me with) about the supposed accuracy issues...

http://www.speedcameras.org/video/InsideOutFinal.wmv

Read the whole thread before asking questions.

sounds great. does anyone know any software that i could use on a carPC with like a USB capture card to achieve the same result? Thanks

Guys,

Anytime you buy a nightvision camera, make sure it has the blue [HL]IR[/HL] LEDs. That way they don't reflect off the window.

What good are blue LEDs for nightvision?

The blue ones don't reflect off of the window, but still puts out infared. How do I know? I have a nightvision camera laced with 105 Blue LED's.

CLick This

How do blue led's put out IR light?

LEDs are produced in an array of shapes and sizes. The 5 mm cylindrical package (red, fifth from the left) is the most common, estimated at 80% of world production. [HL]The color of the plastic lens is often the same as the actual color of light emitted, but not always. For instance, purple plastic is often used for infrared LEDs, and most blue devices have clear housings.[/HL] There are also LEDs in extremely tiny packages, such as those found on blinkies (not shown).