Dashcam video with GPS speed imprint - court date soon... - Page 6

TripleThreat · 12-03-2007, 12:14 AM

Can't you just have the GPS output the Nema info in MPH instead of Knots. I can change that in my Garmin setup. Newbee so don't kill me to bad...What are the white blocks from?

Enforcer · 12-03-2007, 12:22 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by TripleThreat

...What are the white blocks from?

He's blocked out his location and something else.

Scruit · 12-05-2007, 11:58 PM

The white blocks are covering up my location and my name. I'm paranoid that way, sorry. :-)

My research showed that I was unable to configure the GPS device to output MPH in the $GPRMC sentence. Instead I am building a Zilog Z8 MCU based circuit that will intercept and modify the sentence. It makes 3 key changes:

1) Speed is in MPH, and labelled as such.
2) Heading is changed to direction such a N instead of 0 or NE instead of 45.
3) Time is adjusted to a timezone based upon an offset configured using a row of dip switches to specify offset in hours. The first bit will be 0 for adding and 1 for subtract, and the rest of the bits will be a number between 1 and 23 to specify the hours offset from UTC. so 1000 0100 = -4 hour offset. 0000 0001 would be +1 hour.

I have the circuit working on the zilog dev board and I'm gonna spend a day this week etching a PCB. Then I can install the circuit within the same project box as the existing GPS overlay.

erkme73 · 12-07-2007, 03:55 PM

Man, I am so glad to see others doing this. Can you imagine if just 20% of all cars had this type of technology? I think it would cause a significant increase in law enforcement honesty. Those that don't have it would benefit from those that do.

Scruit, I wish I had just a fraction of your knowledge of electronics.

For those interested, I have a video overlay box with video in/out (RCA) 9-12V input and serial input with cable to DB9, and a hand held Garmin GPS receiver (with separate power/data cable) that I no longer need. I upgraded my car with the all-in-one box from the English firm - so now both cars have exactly the same setup. I have no need for the separate GPS and overlay box. PM me if anyone is interested.

Scruit · 12-07-2007, 09:28 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by erkme73

Man, I am so glad to see others doing this. Can you imagine if just 20% of all cars had this type of technology? I think it would cause a significant increase in law enforcement honesty. Those that don't have it would benefit from those that do.

Scruit, I wish I had just a fraction of your knowledge of electronics.

For those interested, I have a video overlay box with video in/out (RCA) 9-12V input and serial input with cable to DB9, and a hand held Garmin GPS receiver (with separate power/data cable) that I no longer need. I upgraded my car with the all-in-one box from the English firm - so now both cars have exactly the same setup. I have no need for the separate GPS and overlay box. PM me if anyone is interested.

I had some fun this morning:

Accident in the snow

Close

You need to upgrade your Flash Player

THe GPS overlay is not in place because I'm still working on the MP conversion circuit.

erkme73 · 01-12-2008, 09:36 PM

Just wanted to add that whatever you do install, make sure you have a monitor in the car somewhere that can display the video being recorded. My wife's car was hit when someone threw something from their car. It hit her windshield, penetrating it. This happened on the interstate at 70+ MPH. Glass and wind tore through the car, and into her face. She was not hurt, but barely brought the car to a stop without crashing.

I never installed a monitor in her car, so we couldn't review the video until I got the SD card home. Unfortunately, a week earlier, I had replaced her RV mirror with an electrochromatic/Homelink mirror - and had to move the camera to the new post. Apparently, I did not push the power cable completely back onto the camera - and it never recorded anything. I didn't verify (DOH!), and a week later this happens (see below). I've circled the camera.

The picture below shows what each component looks like. Keep in mind that this was the initial install that required an external GPS receiver. I replaced it with an all in one box - the company put all of it in the same box as is shown for the "over lay" picture.

Lastly, given the rather aggressive verbal exchange Brett Darrow had with a rabid policeman, I thought it might be prudent to record audio as well - just in case. So I also installed a high-gain microphone (concealed) that records all conversations inside and within 10' of the car (when the window is open).

LinuxRacr · 01-15-2008, 11:32 PM

Ok, this is going to have to be one of my projects in the future.

erkme73 · 01-16-2008, 08:45 AM

I was just contacted by the GPS/overlay box manufacturer in England. They have taken the custom software and box design that they built for me, and made it a standard item on their web page. It's considerably cheaper than what I paid for it - go figure. In fact, if you look at the page promoting the box, you may find the picture (half way down the page) oddly similar to the one on the first page of this thread:

http://www.blackboxcamera.com/pic-osd/gpsspd.htm

krnpimpsta · 01-16-2008, 02:35 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by erkme73

The picture below shows what each component looks like. Keep in mind that this was the initial install that required an external GPS receiver. I replaced it with an all in one box - the company put all of it in the same box as is shown for the "over lay" picture.

Lastly, given the rather aggressive verbal exchange Brett Darrow had with a rabid policeman, I thought it might be prudent to record audio as well - just in case. So I also installed a high-gain microphone (concealed) that records all conversations inside and within 10' of the car (when the window is open).

Thanks for the link - I just watched that video and my adrenaline is pumping. I'm so ****ed at our society for tolerating this sort of law enforcement behavior.

I just installed my second car-camera yesterday, but now I'm thinking about adding more - and making them ALL hidden. If that kid hadn't claimed that he was uploading all the videos to a secure source (who knows if that was true or not), I'd bet that that cop would destroy everything in that car to get rid of the evidence. I would rather record everything in secret.. or does anyone have any good/easy methods of automaticly streaming videos to internet storage? (I have sprint broadband)

erkme73 · 01-16-2008, 04:31 PM

No doubt this Sgt. Foaming Mouth makes cops look bad - and it's no my intent to paint them all with the same brush. What I do find particularly disturbing is how so many officer defend the guy with comments like "Yea, he went a little over the top, but he shouldn't get fired. It was the A$$hat kid who started it..."

That's what makes me more made than the actual incident. Bad apples and the rest don't throw them out.

BTW, you're right about the camera saving his tail. There are plenty of stories where officers crossed the line and in desperation killed the 'suspect', planting evidence to make the killing justified. Again, most cops are ok, professional, and human. But this officer should be arrested.

Lobo · 01-19-2008, 07:18 PM

I forget exactly how I came across this thread about 2 1/2 weeks ago but I started browsing through it and was intrigued by the idea. As luck would have it about a week and a half ago I was involved in an accident in which an officer "witnessed" the accident. Had I had one of these installed it would have paid for itself 100 times over. I can guarantee that the replacement car will have one of these installed.

Never, ever trust the police.

Lobo · 01-27-2008, 08:53 AM

Watching the video of the unit that the company is now offering for the built in GPS overlay it makes me wonder if the stand alone unit you were using is actually better? Having only used the dash based GPS units (TOMTOM) I was wondering exactly where you placed the GPS to receive the signal?

erkme73 · 01-27-2008, 08:55 AM

I'm using the version that has the overlay box with an external (magnetic mount) antenna. I've kept the antenna inside the vehicle, on the back dashboard. Have yet to lose signal.