DashCam Footage

[Daniellane]

I posted this yesterday in another thread.
Probably belongs here...

I had a chance to play around with the TeslaCam feature in Version 9.0 a little more yesterday. It definitely has some quirks and shortcomings.
See attached video...

I wanted to test to see if it actually would save the last 10 minutes.

It’s seems to only save the last 10 minutes of the current drive that you are taking.

I took a short drive it without saving any footage, then I got in the car and drove for three minutes and pressed the save button.

It only saved the last 3 minutes.

So my suggestion is you should definitely hit the save button before the car turns off in order to retain the last 10 minutes.

It actually accomplishes this by simply renaming the files recent-from... to saved-from...
It seems to create a corrupt recording when it shuts off.
(Note the two files without thumbnails in the attached image)

The one minute video segments are not seamless, there are empty black frames at the beginning of each clip, which creates gaps in time when clips are combined for a continuous timeline. This could render it useless if you were trying to document an incident. (Note the black spaces at ~1:01, 2:02, 2:19, 3:20, 4:21, 5:22,6:23, 7:24, 8:25, 9:26, 10:26, 11:27)

For some reason clips are not always a minute long even in the middle of a multi minute sequence. (Note the 17 second clip starting at 2:02) I’m not sure what causes it to reset. Could just be a brief loss of signal or perhaps it has more to do with some internal file storage system that hands data off to this task.

There also seems to be abrupt changes in exposure (aperture opening and closing) I’m guessing this is to maintain the proper contrast to optimize the system's ability to recognize various objects and lane markings.

 

[NHK X]

Now all we need is a motion sensor on front of camera

Would be cool to keep proximity sensors active in sleep, and if new object detected within a certain range camera turns on and notifies you via app with live stream plus option to download to phone. Add more cameras in future for 360 coverage. Or use parked car in front of house as a sort of security sentinel??

Future is bright

 

[djlott]

TeslaCam is still a bit unreliable. It works and then stops, reboot fixes. Works and then stops. So far I have not been able to go a full 2 days without having to reboot MCU to regain function.

I'm using a 32GB SanDisk USB 2.0 flash drive.

Hopefully future updates will fix:
1) Recording Reliability
2) Seamless recording between 1 minute segments OR
3) 10 minute recording segments

Wishlist:
1) Multi-Camera Recording - and low power recording while parked
2) Wider Field of View
3) Viewing footage from phone or upload to phone storage (especially accident or vandalism)

 

[SpudLime]

Dashcam is definitely very BETA. Dont forget to provide feedback on these bugs so Tesla can fix them.

 

[BHCLUC]

I am using this:

SanDisk 256GB Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive

Formatted in FAT 32 using:

GUI Format

I have "saved" two clips, so today when I goto to work I decided to pull the drive and take a look. Saved MP4s work perfectly fine. Denoted as saved, and not overwritten, despite being over 1 hour old. However, the last hour worth of clips is corrupted. All are 2KB except the last one, but none will play on my PC. Again, the saved clips play perfectly fine.



Not sure what the issue is.

As far as why only one camera, and only 2.5 cars, could that have something to do with the updated equipment hardware in the 2.5 cars? If I recall correctly, the cameras are actually black and white cameras. It appears some sort of processing is done on the footage to simulate color. Also probably why it looks rather grainy at times. Perhaps the upgraded 2.5 hardware is required for this?

 

[djlott]

@BHCLUC Yeah TeslaCam is definitely buggy like this. I noticed that if I pull the USB without stopping recording, the last 1 min clip will get corrupted but I haven't seen a whole string of them like that.

I'm using a similar USB you are except it's USB 2.0 and 32GB. I wanted to go large but feared that using a non-standard FAT32 format might interfere somehow. Doesn't seem to matter since you and I are having similar issues.

 

[BHCLUC]

@BHCLUC Yeah TeslaCam is definitely buggy like this. I noticed that if I pull the USB without stopping recording, the last 1 min clip will get corrupted but I haven't seen a whole string of them like that.

I'm using a similar USB you are except it's USB 2.0 and 32GB. I wanted to go large but feared that using a non-standard FAT32 format might interfere somehow. Doesn't seem to matter since you and I are having similar issues.

But also, saved recordings are working on mine. So it can write to the drive. Can't imagine that it's a formatting issue.

FYI, FAT32 in the way I formatted is not "non-standard." Windows just does not allow formatting of drives this large because it wanted to push users to NTFS. The FAT 32 standard can support drives of this size.

 

[djlott]

But also, saved recordings are working on mine. So it can write to the drive. Can't imagine that it's a formatting issue.

FYI, FAT32 in the way I formatted is not "non-standard." Windows just does not allow formatting of drives this large because it wanted to push users to NTFS. The FAT 32 standard can support drives of this size.

OK thanks. It's been a while since I've had to worry about FAT32, EXFAT, NTFS, etc. Maybe it's a 32GB file size limit I'm remembering. Not that it matters here with 1 minute / 10 minute recordings.

 

[SpudLime]

OK thanks. It's been a while since I've had to worry about FAT32, EXFAT, NTFS, etc. Maybe it's a 32GB file size limit I'm remembering. Not that it matters here with 1 minute / 10 minute recordings.

FAT32 lets you format to any size you want. The limitation is that files saved to that drive can not be any larger than 4 GB.

 

[JimB1]

Can you explain further why you recommend this? I dropped back from the 64GB flash drive because of the Fat32 limit. I know there are workarounds but didn't want to bother with that. A portable ssd is...honestly not very portable for the intended purpose and wonder why you 'highly' recommend this at $89 vs. $9. Thanks in advance.

I recommended the ssd for a couple of reasons. 1. I use it for my USB music also and it loads at least 10 to 20 times faster than a flash drive, and that is important if you often times change or add music to the USB. 2. It will hold a heck of a lot of music, but if you do not use it for lots of music that would be much less important. 3. My portable SSD is actually about 2x3x1/4 inch, which is really very small for that much storage with rapid loading speed.
It all depends on what you plan to use it for, but I wanted speed and a great deal of storage for music.

 

[JohnnyG]

I have the AP2.5 hardware and will shortly get dash cam running. But does anyone know for certain why the restriction for no AP2.0 cars? Is it processor speed ability is not capable on 2.0? Just makes me wonder if 2.5 is just enough powerful and maybe detracts from other functions it’s performing.
I’m not an engineer just wondering if it affects performance in other areas?

I have AP2.0 (purchased March 2017)

I keep reading these things hoping to see "Tesla announces Dashcam will now work with 2.0" or something like that.

Man, I wish I had this!!

lol - Same. Keeping fingers crossed this feature will be activated with 2.0 cars.

The Dash Cam feature doesn't work with AP2.0 (HW2) cars because the only color camera on those cars is the rear camera. The rest of the cameras are monochrome, with one red channel (RCCC). This changed with AP2.5 (HW2.5).

 

[djlott]

The Dash Cam feature doesn't work with AP2.0 (HW2) cars because the only color camera on those cars is the rear camera. The rest of the cameras are monochrome, with one red channel (RCCC). This changed with AP2.5 (HW2.5).

Just curious, what would color have to do with this other than cosmetics? I have 2.5 and the color on the front camera is a monochrome color of sorts as well. Even if the camera footage were black and white I think it would still be useful in a crash or vandalism situation. I understand why AP1 isn't getting the feature because of the MobileEye limitation. I don't see the limitation with AP2 as you mention above. Do you have additional info on this you could share?

 

[JohnnyG]

Just curious, what would color have to do with this other than cosmetics? I have 2.5 and the color on the front camera is a monochrome color of sorts as well. Even if the camera footage were black and white I think it would still be useful in a crash or vandalism situation. I understand why AP1 isn't getting the feature because of the MobileEye limitation. I don't see the limitation with AP2 as you mention above. Do you have additional info on this you could share?

If you do a search on TMC, you can find sample images from the AP2.0 hardware. It is hard to look at. It was never intended for human eyes. It is not purely monochrome. It is 3 channels clear, one channel red.

The typical average consumer would not be pleased by seeing the output of the AP2.0 camera being referred to as a valid dash cam.

 

[djlott]

If you do a search on TMC, you can find sample images from the AP2.0 hardware. It is hard to look at. It was never intended for human eyes. It is not purely monochrome. It is 3 channels clear, one channel red.

The typical average consumer would not be pleased by seeing the output of the AP2.0 camera being referred to as a valid dash cam.

Thanks for the extra info. I'll check it out for curiosity's sake.

 

[JohnnyG]

Thanks for the extra info. I'll check it out for curiosity's sake.

Here's some sample shots.... #46

That thread has gobs of information in it. It's a good read from start to finish. Keep in mind, a lot of the sample shots in this thread have been (attempted to be) enhanced, to try to add color or correct white balance, or adjust exposure.

 

[djlott]

Here's some sample shots.... #46

That thread has gobs of information in it. It's a good read from start to finish. Keep in mind, a lot of the sample shots in this thread have been (attempted to be) enhanced, to try to add color or correct white balance, or adjust exposure.

Agree that the pics in the early part of the thread are pretty bad. But later in the thread, there are some much better shots and some overlap views in pure B&W. Is this photo editing or some processing done by the NVIDIA GPUs? That's a long thread but maybe gives hope to some AP2.0 users. Again thanks for the discussion.

AP2.0 Cameras: Capabilities and Limitations?

 

[JohnnyG]

Agree that the pics in the early part of the thread are pretty bad. But later in the thread, there are some much better shots and some overlap views in pure B&W. Is this photo editing or some processing done by the NVIDIA GPUs? That's a long thread but maybe gives hope to some AP2.0 users. Again thanks for the discussion.

AP2.0 Cameras: Capabilities and Limitations?

Those images had been heavily processed, merged, de-warped, etc. I believe verygreen listed his tools within that thread.

I'm not saying it's impossible, but it's very unlikely, and I wouldn't get people's hopes up based on it. The original system was tuned specifically for driver assistance, and not human viewing. It would require a lot more processing of the original PX2 system to make it viewable for humans; and then it would be monochrome only. You couldn't identify whether it was a blue Ford Focus or a silver Ford Focus that hit you and ran. Was the perp wearing a gray hoodie, or a green hoodie? Etc, etc...

Trust me, I understand having the previous version and really really wishing somehow my hardware can do what the newest hardware can do. Heck, with this company, I just wish that all of my hardware would do what the CEO originally claimed it would do: but that's a whole different thread. ;-)

 

[Tstachler]

Does it matter what the USB drive name is as long as there is a root level folder named "TeslaCam" ?

My dashcam was displaying a red light then, later the red light seems to stop displaying. Yes . buggy. Anyway, both my USB drive and roo folder was name TeslaCam so I change the name on the USB drive to test out since there was a number of exe files at root level after a day of driving along with the TeslaCam folder. Anyway, after renaming the USB drive name and erasing the the mpg and ex files, I don't seem to be getting the red dot indicating recording anymore.

Plan to test and play with it a bit more tomrorow, ..... but def BUGGY!!

 

[BigTonyTones]

Id be happy with black and white photos on Ap 2.0. I have a dashcam already but a backup wouldnt hurt

 

[berkeley_ecar]

I have AP2.0 (purchased March 2017)

I keep reading these things hoping to see "Tesla announces Dashcam will now work with 2.0" or something like that.

Man, I wish I had this!!

lol - Same. Keeping fingers crossed this feature will be activated with 2.0 cars.

I, too, have a March 2017 Model S with AP 2.0. I've been using a four-channel Blackvue 750-based dashcam setup, but would be happy to have a "native" dashcam system that used the vehicle's cameras. @JohnnyG makes some important points about the cameras in an AP 2.0 car. However, I wonder if another development plays into this issue as well.

Another thread on the forum, which I can not locate at the moment, pointed to a recent
Electrek article, which states that a newly developed Tesla processing board, part of a "hardware 3" suite, will be required for full self driving (FSD), and that current owners who paid for FSD will receive a (free) hardware upgrade. I'm wondering how much of a role the processors play in supporting the dashcam, and if a camera upgrade might be part of the "hardware 3" upgrade. There will be skepticism about if and when such an upgrade will occur, but if it does come to pass, owners of AP 2.0 cars who purchased FSD at the time of their order could possibly get dashcam capability -- @JohnnyG and others may have insights/facts relating to this conjecture on my part.