BlackVue Wi-Fi DR500GW-HD 16GB Car Black Box/DVR Recorder
From Blackvue
| List Price: | $339.99 |
| Price: | $287.82 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. |
Product Description
New Wi-Fi Feature, Full HD Video: High Definition & High Frame Rate, Extended recording time with a high compression rate 2 megapixel CMOS sensor, Diagonal 120, horizontal 98, Built-in microphone, High-Capacity Memory Card Support (up to 32GB) Various Recording Modes, Motion Detection in Parking Mode Recording, 360 rotation cylinder in sleek design, Full HD label Universal File Format: MP4, Video Playback on various devices, BlackVue App and Software(for PC), MyWay Viewer Built-in GPS and G-sensor, Internal Emergency battery, Voice Guide, 3-color LEDs, Video out, Resolved Heat Issue
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4745 in Car Audio or Theater
- Color: Pearl Black
- Brand: Blackvue
- Model: DR500GW-HD
- Dimensions: 3.50" h x4.00" w x7.00" l,1.00 pounds
- Display size: 0
Features
- New Wi-Fi Feature, Full HD Video: High Definition & High Frame Rate, Extended recording time with a high compression rate
- 2 megapixel CMOS sensor, Diagonal 120, horizontal 98, Built-in microphone, High-Capacity Memory Card Support (up to 32GB)
- Various Recording Modes, Motion Detection in Parking Mode Recording, 360 rotation cylinder in sleek design, Full HD label
Most helpful customer reviews
68 of 71 people found the following review helpful.youtube.com/watch?v=oITJ2xGBuT8 - YouTube compresses video - quality is actually much better than shown on YouTube.I am new to dash cams but not to mobile technology.Its pretty cool - it has WiFi, GPS, 3-axis gyro, accelerometer, shock sensors and ambient light sensor. It records to a MicroSD card or you can download directly via WiFi to your iDevice or Android.I bought this 500GW-HD about a week ago and I have been fiddling with it via Telnet/SSH/FTP, iPhone 5 & iPad 4 iOS app, Android app (rooted Kindle 2 running Jelly Bean 4.2) and the MicroSD card directly. I am primarily a Mac and Linux user on the desktop, although I loaded Windows 7 on my Macbook Air & iMac to look at the Blackvue Viewer Windows application (which is much better than the Mac version, BTW. More on this later)My first impressions of the Blackvue DR500GW-HD are, by and large, positive. The 500GW-HD gets warm, but never hot. The camera mount is solid and very adjustable, the angle of view is excellent and the video quality is much better than I expected, even at night. Audio is crystal clear and in-sync. I expect that Firmware updates will fix/mitigate some of the more glaring defects discussed below.It has some kinks, which is to be expected as this technology is still maturing. In particular, the firmware is not actually updated with any changes you make on the SD card (config.ini), the camera just reads the config.ini and uses that. But not always. Sometimes, after a power down/power up, the SSID and pwd will be forgotten or some of your other settings (timezone etc.) will be ignored. This may be a Blackvue Mac vs. PC application problem rather than a Blackvue firmware bug, although this did happen twice using the Windows app only.My Firmware is in English and the latest version as of this writing - version 1.003; I bought the 500GW-HD along with a Sandisk 32Gb Class 10 MicroSD card from Amazon. I also bought the Power Magic Pro (from eBay) and hardwired the Blackvue. The PMP is set to 12v & 48 hours and has been rock solid so far. A little background for anyone new to hacking the Blackvue 500GW-HD - you can Telnet, SSH and FTP to the device via WiFi. The IP address is 192.168.8.1, login as "root", default password is "pt". FTP is ftp://192.168.8.1/Blackvue/Record/ to access all of your videos.My config.ini is set to Normal, 1080p, Brightness 1, all flashing LEDs off, default LED colours, default sensors, voice on for everything except Events, custom SSID & pwd, custom root pwd, 1 minute record intervals, MPH and TimeZone to 174. I am in Houston, Texas, if that helps with the timezone thing. I tried setting the Blackvue to 802.11n by adding the line "ap_11n=1" to the [WiFi] section of the config.ini, but it didn't work. Fastest connection so far is 802.11gLet me briefly discuss the Blackvue desktop Viewer applications for Windows and Mac. The Windows apps I am sure most of you are familiar with (and has been discussed many times elsewhere) so I won't spend any time on it other than to state that if you want to make changes that will persist over reboots, use the Windows application. Contrary to what others have stated, the Mac Viewer app does indeed have configuration settings, and they do write out to the config.ini - but I would suggest you do not do this. Use the Windows Viewer app or manually modify the config.ini.The Mac Viewer app looks identical to its Windows counterpart except for the configurations settings and video quality. Yes, you read that correctly; the Windows video quality display is better, on the same hardware. Go figure. I tested this on both a late model 27" iMac and late model Macbook Air, both running Mountain Lion on the Mac side and Windows 7 on the PC side (via BootCamp). Same files, same SD card, the Windows video looks way better.Below are some screenshots of the Mac Viewer app. You will notice the similarities to the (superior) Windows app - all the same functionality (Events, Parking Mode, Normal Mode, date/time, GPS mapping etc.), until you get to the configurations screens. There you encounter extremely limited TimeZone selection and if you save these settings, all bets are off as to what the Blackvue will actually do when it boots up using these settings (not what you expect, that's for sure). My advice; do not use the Mac app to make any configuration changes.grond.tv/blackvue/blackvue4.jpggrond.tv/blackvue/blackvue1.jpggrond.tv/blackvue/blackvue2.jpggrond.tv/blackvue/blackvue3.jpgLet's move on to the iOS and Android apps, both also pretty rough. Both looked like they were written by a 8 year old, with an extremely poor and confusing interface, insane choices of font colours and sizes (very light, bright green on a white background!) along with confusing options. To get to the Live View, you have to swipe the top menu to the right (seriously?) and you cannot delete any videos on the SD card - only copy them to your iOS or Android device. Copying a 1 minute video (about 55Mb) takes a while at 802.11g speeds so get comfy. You can configure the Blackvue via iOS/Android, which simply modifies the config.ini file and then you have to reboot the Blackvue for it to read the new config.ini. But given what I have said above (especially the font colours!), don't bother. There is no dedicated iPad app that will take advantage of the big 10 inch screen, just a iPhone app that you can double the size. It is actually better to do this than use the app on a iPhone as you can see the screen much better. The Android app is phone sized and looks fairly bad on the Kindle 2 but it is usable.Parking Mode takes a while to both engage and disengage, but that can be tweaked via the motion sensors configuration. Event Mode, likewise can be tweaked.Reading this review, it may appear as if I have been overtly negative towards the 500GW-HD, but that is not the case. As I started out saying, my impressions are largely positive. The Blackvue does what it was designed to do - record video unobtrusively 24/7, and it does that very, very well.The camera is remarkably configurable and very capable, far beyond my expectations. Video quality is par excellence for a 2mp CMOS.I recommend the Blackvue 500GW-HD.
31 of 31 people found the following review helpful.I received my purchase which was sent via UPS, 2 day business shipping. The package arrived on time, in great shape and everything inside the same. I had fun installing the camera in my 2012 Tahoe. I mounted it on the windshield, directly in front of my rear-view mirror and ran the cable above the headliner, along the passenger side, down and inside the windshield side support covering, under the dash and to the lighter adapter ( I plan on wiring it directly to the fuse box in the near future).Before ordering, I had several email conversations with the selling company and they were professional and replied within just a short period of time. They stated that their testing showed the DR500 to run cooler than the DR400 and earlier models (more on that later). They also claimed to be an authorized seller for Pittasoft. I decided to give it a try and placed the order. After I received and set it up, I had a question regarding a setting, so I emailed the manufacturer Pittasoft. Before they would deal with me, they asked for my serial number to verify the product was sold by an authorized dealer. I emailed them the serial number which they indicated was an authorized unit and my questions were answered, however, due to and "only due to" the difference in time between USA and Korea, several back and forth replies took a couple of days.I have had this in my vehicle for over 2 weeks (EDIT: July 5th, 2013, now nearly 5 months and still operating flawlessly it's been in a lot of hot weather, even to the point that the camera was too hot to handle) and the unit runs perfectly. The unit records clear pictures, unfortunately, when I zoom in on a plate of a passing vehicle using the Windows software, most often the plate is unreadable due to the picture's pixels being scattered, and the unit is set at the highest setting, Full HD (1920x1080) @30fps, with no compression; thankfully this is not a deal breaker for me as the rest of the video and sound is exceptional. I did buy a larger 32GB mini SD card which works flawlessly.The unit has been running 24x7 and goes into the parking mode about 10 minutes after I park in my parking spot. The parking mode records things at by movement, usually locking in on the event 5 seconds before it sees it and then for one minute in length. I'm using the factory settings which seem sufficient for me. One night I had a 1 minute recording at about 2 am. I played the video only to see a small moth walking on the windshield in the vision path of the camera. I liked that, knowing that any passing movement in the middle of the night is recorded.I want my unit to be as stealth as possible, so in the event that someone were to break in to the vehicle, the recorder would not draw attention, I have all the LED lights settings marked "off" when the unit is operational which still leaves the WI-FI indicator on. I placed a piece of black tape over that LED and now it is totally dark. In addition, I have the voice settings off so an intruder would not be alerted by voice either.I am currently in Florida and the weather is now in the 80's. With the sun hitting the unit, it does get hot, but then so does everything the sun hits. I have not seen any issues on any of the video, still clear, smooth and good audio. Even out of the sun, the camera is warm to the touch, not hot, and the card, if I pull it out and immediately put it between my lips, it also is warm but does not feel dangerously hot. I'll do an update on the units heat once summer is over or if I have problems sooner, but as of now, I'm very satisfied and don't see a heat issue.So for now, the following on my likes/dislikes.Pros:*Cylinder shape -The unit is horizontal to the window making for a smaller look, so it's not as obviously a recorder is in the vehicle.*Wi-fi, via an Android App- (no screen-again keeping a small inconspicuous footprint) allowing to easily adjust height view, play back and verify everything is working properly. I can view it using my phone or my larger Android tablet, which really is nice. The application also has a settings page where all the camera settings can be adjusted (settings can also can be adjusted using the PC software; I don't have a Mac so I can't say one way or another for that). I have an old unused Droid I have set up with the Android App that is set using only the Wi-fi allowing me to keep it logged into the camera as long as I like.*Available Settings; normal, event and parking. -Normal, allows for normal live recording while the vehicle is in motion. -Event, when an event occurs, such as a sharp corner, fast braking/acceleration, hard bump, an accident or damage to vehicle, the recorder will ensure that in the case of power loss, the one minute event is saved before the camera can shut down preventing the loss of the data. -Parked, the camera goes into what I visualize, a none record mode even though the camera sees everything going on in front of it and if and when any movement occurs, it begins recording 5 seconds before the movement and for at least 1 minute or until the movement stops.*On all the time, so no lag for start up. When I get in the car, the camera has already recorded me approaching from the front and when I start the vehicle, the camera continues on recording.*Internal clock, minutes are accurate but nonadjustable (this give credibility to the time of the recording), one only needs to adjust the time zone and the clock is right on.*Long power cord, which should enough for most installations. In addition, unit comes with two 3M window stick-ons (more can be purchased) and 5 or 6 cord hooks that stick to the window or car molding to help direct the power cord.*GPS system works well and is as accurate as any other GPS system I've used.*No lag or missed time between video clipsCons:*The factory SD card had a Trojan Horse. My antivirus program (Norton) immediately found, quarantined and removed the "autorun.inf" file on the SD card due to it reporting the file infected with W32.Downadup/W32/Conficker. However, if one reads several forum posts about this, it seems this was common on these disks. I formatted the card with the format function built into the camera, all the operational files were automatically reinstalled but W32.Downadup was not. This must have been introduced only to the card when it was made, it is not in the camera software.*The cost, however, now that it is installed and operational, I feel the cost was reasonable.*The instruction booklet was translated to English, but it could have been done better, some sentences don't make sense.*Even though the instruction booklet is in English and touched on most of the options, it did not go into depth about the sensitivity settings, so in the event I need to change them, it will be a bit of trail and error. There is also a "Brightness" setting. I've played with it a little, but I'm not able to see a difference and again, the instructions failed to explain this.*Most functions of the Android app and Windows software is in English, however, there are a few spots where the English is poor or still in, I believe, Korean.*The 140 degree view of the camera is nice, however in certain circumstances, mostly with rain or water, the playback view can look like a fish eye. If there were an option of an 120 degree lens, I believe I would opt for that.Bottom line, I think this is a great unit and I'm glad I opted to buy it. I plan on putting a second camera in my truck, to the rear, however I don't think I will buy another DR500 for this since that unit won't need all the options.
43 of 45 people found the following review helpful.UPDATED 4/12/2013Upgraded to latest firmware 1.0.5, but didn't notice any new features or improvements. Also switched to using 32GB card and now on a few occasions it wouldn't record. I have to unplug the camera power to start recording again. WiFi feature maybe selling point, but I haven't used it in 2 month. The video feed is choppy and with delay when using live view feature. I covered silver accents with black tape, looks tacky, but at least it doesn't stand out as much now.Virus issues: There were reports that there is a virus on the sd card from this seller. I have not had this issue because I purchased this from another source, but prior to upgrade my blackvue to 1.0.3 I've actually formatted the card, so I don't know if I had the virus or not.I've been using different DVRs over the years, mostly Chinese made, this is first Korean DVR and this is the first one that actually I really like and it addressed most of my previous concerns:THE GOOD- Compact, simple, non distracting design and solid quality feel- No built-in display, it's substituted with WiFi connection to your smartphone which becomes DVR display. Love this feature! Keep in mind there is about 1-2 second delay in the live image. You can also stream live video to a browser without using any apps, simply by entering the following url in the browser (without spaces) h t t p:// 192 .168 .8 .1 / blackvue_live.cgi.- Excellent daylight quality- Low profile mount, but see cons- Parking mode motion sensor, haven't tried yet- Bunch of venting holes for hot climates, I haven't tried it in the hot weather, but it doesn't seem like it would have any issues as previous model- Voice notifications, fun to have at first, but I would rather turn them off- Extra wide angle, you will most likely see the A pillars in your car. If you turn it facing inside the car you will see the sides of the front windows which may be handy, but the image doesn't flip over.- Very easy to view your recordings on a smartphone. (I only tried Android app)- Included wire management clips, nice addon- IR sensor to turn on/off microphone. Interesting feature, but I don't see any practical use to turn off microphone.THE NOT SO PRETTY- Night quality still has plenty of room for improvement, but overall it's definetely better then most cheap DVRs I've tried- Some minor user interface glitches in the Android app, hopefully will be resolved in the future updates- A bit pricey when there are plenty of HD cameras that cost less- Silver accents are noticeable. Blackboxes should be All-Black-Boxes, but nothing that black tape or marker can't fix.- Design does not allow you to move the camera horizontally- No built in battery, there is however some sort of capacitor that serves purpose of allowing the cam to save the file correctly when there is no power.- Standard bitrate is a bit low at 7000, but with some modding (search forums) you can increase it up to 15000- I've been having mixed feelings with the mount. On one had I understand the stick on clip design, but I prefer non permanent solutions, like suction cups. Also removal of the DVR is a bit cumbersome. You have to first unplug power then click the button to unlock and only then you can remove it from the mount.- It does get warm a bit to the touch, but venting holes help to cool it down fast after powering down.
No comments:
Post a Comment