Corrupt video files in Sentry Mode

[EVnut]

Ok, so I survived the file corruption issue of the DashCam. Seems to be working well now (red button on the icon remains lit constantly now). BUT!

I'm still getting actual corrupt files. Googling around has me believe that I'm the only one?? Specifically my left "repeater" camera files are dodgy. About half the time they are fine. 40% of the time they have a green stripe in the image. And the last 10% of the time, the file is written but cannot be viewed in any known video player.

The front camera sometimes just has the "can't be viewed" problem. I don't know if I have bad cameras or what the heck is going on. That left camera HAS been replaced once as the original was damaged before delivery of my car.

This is happening mostly on the footage of Sentry mode, but sometimes also while driving (tough to tell sometimes since the files are all mashed together without proper file structure, and if I can't view them, I can't recall if I was driving or parked when the videos were created! Ug.

Any advice? Are others having this issue too? Do I "wait for the next software update" or get service in the program?

 

[jkoya]

What update version are you on ?

 

[SMAlset]

You are not alone. Some of the Sentry mode threads have posts from people experiencing green screen corruption and other distortion. I have both. Reformatting the drive didn't help. Also have a left repeater showing this more than the others. Our Blackvue in our Model S is nice in that the files get marked Event (triggered), Normal or Park and it is helpful in quickly sorting out what you are looking for. I think for a very first effort here it's a good start though. We went from just the front camera to adding the two side repeaters. Lots of room for improvement but that's to be expected. Not sure how high of a priority this has been what with software having been needed for the Model 3 in general and work on Autopilot and FSD ongoing.

 

[EVnut]

What update version are you on ?

Ah. And excellent and relevant question. Oops. I'm on 2019.5.15

You are not alone. Some of the Sentry mode threads have posts from people experiencing green screen corruption and other distortion. I have both. Reformatting the drive didn't help. Also have a left repeater showing this more than the others. Our Blackvue in our Model S is nice in that the files get marked Event (triggered), Normal or Park and it is helpful in quickly sorting out what you are looking for. I think for a very first effort here it's a good start though. We went from just the front camera to adding the two side repeaters. Lots of room for improvement but that's to be expected. Not sure how high of a priority this has been what with software having been needed for the Model 3 in general and work on Autopilot and FSD ongoing.

Thanks... I guess I wasn't searching on the correct terms to find these comments. In a perverse way, it makes me feel better to have company. Are you getting files created that you cannot at all view?

I agree that this is a good "first" effort and is at least better than nothing. But when I *need* that footage, I'm going to be plenty upset if it ends up unreadable.

OK, I'll calm down and wait it out.

 

[jkoya]

Ah. And excellent and relevant question. Oops. I'm on 2019.5.15

I'm on the same version and I am not getting the green stripe or the corrupt files. I'm using a SanDisk 256 GB high speed microSD card....don't know if this makes a difference or not.

 

[EVnut]

I'm on the same version and I am not getting the green stripe or the corrupt files. I'm using a SanDisk 256 GB high speed microSD card....don't know if this makes a difference or not.

Thanks for the data point.

 

[Runt8]

Same version here, and same problem, but only on the right repeater camera. I have a service center appointment on Thursday for an unrelated issue, I'm going to have them check out the camera to make sure it's not a hardware problem.

 

[EVnut]

Same version here, and same problem, but only on the right repeater camera. I have a service center appointment on Thursday for an unrelated issue, I'm going to have them check out the camera to make sure it's not a hardware problem.

Huh. interesting. If you remember, please report back here with any info they may have.

 

[SMAlset]

I bought a USB-A/USB-C card reader that takes SD and MicroSD cards. The dashcam microSD card (Blackvue) I purchased arrived yesterday. Started it out last night and drove the car around this morning and then checked footage on my laptop. The media hasn't seemed to really help make a difference, still getting green screen corruption on mostly left repeater cameras but saw more of it on right with this experimental go-round. Still had distortions (blurry or pixelated images) as well. Some I think are due to the car's speed (no not excessive! basically parking lot and main roadway speeds of 45mph). I had weird corruption again with the front camera--car parked at my garage door at night but perfectly fine images during the day. Tonight I'll turn off the outdoor LED lights at the garage door and see if that's what might be causing the issue in this particular case.

Anyway primarily wanted to test out a microSD card made for dashcam recordings against the previous USB flashdrive I had been using to start off with. Both 128GB, which for my purposes I think is a good capacity to use.

I like the TeslaCam/Sentry Mode feature and hope they'll be able to improve what I'm now thinking is more software related. Do you think once HW3 gets installed (if you upgraded to FSD) that that new board will affect the processing of the video through TeslaCam?

 

[SMAlset]

Same version here, and same problem, but only on the right repeater camera. I have a service center appointment on Thursday for an unrelated issue, I'm going to have them check out the camera to make sure it's not a hardware problem.

Let us know what service says about the camera/recording issue. Someone said logs were pulled for them and there was some transfer issues...can't recall exactly what they reported. But the green screen and other corruption seems common among owners.

 

[skrtskrt]

I use to have two 2GB (too lazy to buy a new one) drives that I would switch alternatively when one of them got filled up instead of just always reformatting after the drive got full. After sentry mode update, the file gets full within 10 minutes of driving. What gives?

 

[Red5StandingBy]

Model S owner here. I get the same issue for my right repeater on Sentry Mode - version 2019.8.3. 0kb files and all sorts of artifacts for the ones that aren't completely corrupted.

 

[Knightshade]

I use to have two 2GB (too lazy to buy a new one) drives that I would switch alternatively when one of them got filled up instead of just always reformatting after the drive got full. After sentry mode update, the file gets full within 10 minutes of driving. What gives?

A single camera uses 1.8GB of space (30MB/minute, 60 minute running buffer)... if you saved a 10 minute clip you'd already be out of space.

The update enables 2 side cameras, so you require a minimum of 5.6GB just for the 1 hour dashcam buffer, let alone saved clips, let alone anything sentry mode is doing.

8GB would be the bare minimum if you don't intend to use Sentry mode at all. 16-32GB could easily fill up in one day of Sentry Mode use if you park somewhere with a lot of foot traffic.

 

[Scott7]

I use to have two 2GB (too lazy to buy a new one) drives that I would switch alternatively when one of them got filled up instead of just always reformatting after the drive got full. After sentry mode update, the file gets full within 10 minutes of driving. What gives?

Was it already recording 3 cameras simultaneously before you updated? From what I've seen, just the TeslaCam while driving will use more than 2GB even if you never use Sentry Mode.

In fact the TeslaCam is always recording when the car "on" even if the car is parked. Last time I looked at mine, the full hour of video was just recordings of my garage from when I was playing with the car and whatever.

 

[EVnut]

Model S owner here. I get the same issue for my right repeater on Sentry Mode - version 2019.8.3. 0kb files and all sorts of artifacts for the ones that aren't completely corrupted.

Good info, thanks. Sorry it is happening, but at least none of us are "alone" with the issue. Which means it is at least likely to get fixed at some point.

 

[EVnut]

8GB would be the bare minimum if you don't intend to use Sentry mode at all. 16-32GB could easily fill up in one day of Sentry Mode use if you park somewhere with a lot of foot traffic.

Since inception, I've hoped for a way to view/delete the files directly on the center screen. If I'm traveling without my laptop, and use Sentry mode regularly... I'm gonna fill my memory card quickly, and have no way to free up space for further use. Requiring off-board file deletion to keep free space on the memory card isn't a sustainable situation. At minimum, we need an option to overwrite when the card gets full. Of course smarter recording activation would help quit a bit too.

 

[dlieu]

same thing here. a lot of corrupted "left repeater" files specifically. No OS corruption though as before noted. It is either files are not entirely flushed, or some encoder compatibility issues.

 

[jkoya]

Since inception, I've hoped for a way to view/delete the files directly on the center screen. If I'm traveling without my laptop, and use Sentry mode regularly... I'm gonna fill my memory card quickly, and have no way to free up space for further use. Requiring off-board file deletion to keep free space on the memory card isn't a sustainable situation. At minimum, we need an option to overwrite when the card gets full. Of course smarter recording activation would help quit a bit too.

I'm using a USB/Lightning card reader with my high speed microSD card. It does allow me to view and delete the sentry mode video files on my iPhone X using the manufacturer's free app.

 

[EVnut]

I'm using a USB/Lightning card reader with my high speed microSD card. It does allow me to view and delete the sentry mode video files on my iPhone X using the manufacturer's free app.

That's slick. I guess I should have expected that ability to be out there. Yet.... still quite the PITA when we have a big ol' computer and monitor right there in the car already attached to these files... is my thinking.

 

[ent3ndu]

2019.5.15 and also have random green screens & 0 byte repeater files.

Just updated to 8.3 but haven’t had the chance to test yet.