- High Definition Video Recording; Video reverse recording 180 degrees
- 4x digital zoom in/out function; 12 mega pixels portable camera feature
- LED light for night photography & Motion Detection recording functions
- Wide Angle 120 degree lens; Screen rotation 360 degrees & Lens rotation 180 degrees
- Supports up to 32 GB SDHC Memory Card; Convenient assemble/dismantle Windshield Bracket
-It works. It supports loop recording, automatic recording upon power-on, and a car mount these are the only reasons why I purchased it over a conventional camcorder. In fact, I have two of these in automated operation in the front and rear of my car.
-Automatic exposure control seems to work well.
Cons:
-The included user manual is not too informative. It is also written in broken English.
-The user interface is not too friendly, but it works if you use it right. You'll get used to it. The only time I ever have to touch is when correcting for daylight saving time changes.
-Don't expect the best optics. With the device mounted on my windshield, I would have liked for the video to be good enough for me to read the license plates of cars, but the only plates I can read are those of the car immediately ahead of or behind me, and only if the light is right. I guess not all HD camcorders are the same.
-The video capture angle is reduced when recording at 1080p. "Wide angle" is available only with 720p. Personally I have been recording at 1080p instead so I have a better chance of capturing readable license plates.
-The video is written to files with the MOV extension. This is less preferable than say MP4, etc.
Bugs:
-Loop recording mode seems like it has a software bug. The device breaks the video file even though the specified period of time has not elapsed for a particular video. This was observed with the largest advertised loop duration of 45 minutes.
-In loop recording mode, there is a substantial gap between the end of one file and the beginning of the next file. There shouldn't have been any gap at all. This is a sign of inferior software design. The gap was observed to be approximately five seconds for the largest possible loop duration of 45 minutes. The gap was observed to be nearly two seconds for the smallest possible loop duration of 1 minute. With a 30 minute split, the probability that a random five second block is not recorded can be approximated to be 5/((30*60)+5) = 1/361 = ~0.3%.
-In automatic recording upon power-on mode, if the car/power is turned on and then turned off before the recording has had a chance to begin, the right thing to happen would be for the device to shut down, but this doesn't happen. Instead, the device starts and idles displaying the current view on the screen. If the device is then ignored, it may technically drain its entire internal battery and lose all its non-default settings thereafter. You therefore never want to leave it indefinitely in this state. To reset this state and have the device shut down (or begin recording), restart the car/power, wait till recording begins, and then turn off the car/power as necessary. Alternatively, manually power the device off using its power button. To avoid entering this state altogether, always make sure that you allow recording to begin before you turn the car/power off.
Comments:
-The file format is MPEG-4 QuickTime. The video encoder is Ambarella AVC with a variable bit rate of about 8000 Kbits/s at 29.970 fps. The audio encoder is Ambarella AAC with two channels and a constant bit rate of 128 kbps. The file can be played with VLC media player. If your computer is old, just play the file at a reduced play speed, e.g. 0.67x or 0.5x.
-Be sure to check the website dod-tech.com for more info about this model before purchasing it.
-I picked this over the GS600 model because I intentionally did not want GPS recording, and I wanted an integrated display.
-In addition to SDHC cards, an SDXC card is also technically usable, but a 128GB SDXC card was formatted by the device to only a 26.96GB FAT32 volume, as if it were a 32GB card. I manually formatted this card to have a ~128GB FAT32 volume, but the card was then not recognized as being usable by the device. I currently use a 32GB SDHC card.
-I'm currently using it in 45 minute loop recording mode with automatic recording upon power-on.
-FAT32 has a max file size limit of 4GiB. Given the max observed data rate, a 45 minute file can typically be expected to be no larger than about 2.8Gib, which is safely less than the limit.
-There was an unrated seller on eBay advertising this item for a much lower price, but the seller turned out to be fraudulent. Don't fall for such scams.
I will update this review if I have more to add. If you know of an alternative car camcorder that you believe is superior, please let me know!
Buy DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD Now
Apparently four other people who wrote reviews here bought FAKE DOD F900LHD car DVR made in China. The only authorized DOD reseller here on Amazon is CameraTec who sells real DOD cameras (and where I bought it from).http://www.amazon.com/gp/aag/main?ie=UTF8&asin=&isAmazonFulfilled=1&isCBA=&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&seller=A56FNWS5K0M3V
So, before you buy F900LHD see this page:
Read Best Reviews of DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD Here
It didn't come in the box like the one in the picture; in fact, it came in another box for another camera unit. So at first it appeared I received the wrong product until I opened it and checked against my order.I am disappointed.
The 1920x1080 option records very choppily. When sound recording is on, the unit lasts only ~50 minutes on battery. It lasts ~70 minutes without sound recording. The default video resolution is 1280x720 (720p). With this resolution, license plate numbers and letters can be read when vehicles are stopped less than 3 ft away. While in motion, the only things legible are highway signs. This only applies during the day.
Night time recording isn't any better, and neither is the transition of coming out of a tunnel. When emerging from a tunnel in the daytime, it's like you're seeing the light (i.e., can't see anything for a second). Night time recording is like having extreme astigmatism; highway signs cannot be read at night, license plates become white due to headlight glare, and street lamps are just orbs of light.
The default recording length is 2 minutes. Other options are 5 and 10 minutes. With sound on, each 2 minute video file is ~230MB. It will overwrite the oldest file when it runs out of room. A 32GB card will do the job. This is the only good thing I can find about this unit.
The unit will turn itself off after a few minutes if you leave it on without doing anything. Any settings you set will have reverted to the defaults when you turn it back on, except for the time and date and time/date formats.
The unit comes with a mount and a suction cup windshield mount. The mount that I received wasn't very snug to the unit. Sometimes the unit will fall, and sometimes the mount to the suction cup apparatus will come off. If the unit does drop off the windshield mount, it will "freeze". A quick battery in-and-out will get it back to normal. The windshield mount is not very compact.
It also comes with a 3 ft USB wire, and an extremely long car charger wire (~8 ft?).
Unfortunately, it is not very durable. After only two weeks of use, the unit refused to record video, even after pressing the "Reset" button. The idea is good, but the quality is missing.
Thus, I have returned it. I am waiting for my refund.
Want DOD F900LHD Full HD Car Black Box DVR Camera 1080P LCD Discount?
Camera is large but does not as much, worse I ever seen, I paid $70 and I am regret I did it.Bugs:
Main one it can't record when card is full. It is freezing or saying no more memory available, should it loop recording?
Can't recognise SD card one time from 3
Video recording is weird and horrible in quality. Motion detection is slow.
Mount is horrible, not as easy to detach camera, not much flexability to move camera around, doesn't hold camera well on windshield
Battery can't hold < 10 min of work
Good:
HDMI and USB car charger cable I could use them somehow
The recording quality and sound:
Ring on the lens:
The sticker on the monitor:
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