How COMPLETELY useless is the dashcam in the Model 3?

[atj777]

I am constantly reminded how incompetent the Telsa software developers. They are so clueless.

So... first of all the dashcam is crippled because the developers don't realise they do not need to STOP recording in order to save the footage. All they need to do is MOVE the files to another directory on the USB rather than stop recording and COPY the file across and lose 1-2 minutes of recording time.

So... today, knowing that saving footage means I have disabled the dashcam for 1-2 minutes, while driving today I wanted to save some footage. I waited until I got to my destination which was less than two minutes away. When I arrived I hot the save button on the screen. It saved the footage but it has holes in it, including missing the part that I wanted (a bunch of cyclists that wanted to become organ donors by riding in the middle of the road rather than sticking to their dedicated cycle lane in early morning where motorists are unable to see because of the sun).

The footage was saved at 7:21:04 according to the file stamp but only includes the following files:

So I'm missing Front from 7:09, all from 7:10, 7:11, 7:12, 7:14, 7:17, 7:19 The footage I wanted was from 7:14.

 

[yourhero]

how incompetent the Telsa software developers

They developed the greatest software ever in any car, and it’s not even close.

 

[Tasdoc]

I’ve heard VW has good software engineers. Garmin makes good cars too

 

[GHammer]

You're right, you should buy another car that has built in surround dashcams, oh wait....

 

[ARMARM]

TeslaCam/Sentry Mode was an afterthought after someone tweeted Mr. Musk the idea after their car was vandalised .. if you don't like it then buy a proper dashcam system.

 

[cypho]

Random guess here. Are you using a cheap thumb drive?

If so, the thumb might not be fast enough to keep up. If the previous minute hasn't finished saving by the time it's time to start saving the next minute it might dump the recording instead of creating an ever worsening backlog of files it needs to save. If it takes 1:01-1:59 to save each one minute recording, it would have to drop every other minute which is roughly what you're seeing.

If that is the problem, it is still poor software to not display a warning when it's dropping footage because the memory card can't keep up. But at least there would be an easy solution for you.

I use a Samsung T5 SSD to save my dash cam/sentry recordings and I've never seen a missing or corrupted file.

 

[Candleflame]

you are using a slow flashdrive. stop blaming tesla for your own shortcomings.

Get yourself an SSD drive or something which can keep up with the high writing speed.
If footage is cut off in the viewer internally, thats normal. It will be fully saved on the SSD.

 

[atj777]

Random guess here. Are you using a cheap thumb drive?

No.

I specifically bought a SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (64GB)

The manual says:

Although not a comprehensive list, Tesla has confirmed through testing that the following flash drives meet the requirements for Dashcam and Sentry Mode use:

• SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive
• Samsung MUF-64AB/AM FIT Plus – 200MB/s USB 3.1 Flash Drive

I checked through older saved clips and there are lots that have missing segments. In fact, I didn't see any that had the entire suite of files.

 

[atj777]

you are using a slow flashdrive. stop blaming tesla for your own shortcomings.

Get yourself an SSD drive or something which can keep up with the high writing speed.
If footage is cut off in the viewer internally, thats normal. It will be fully saved on the SSD.

It's not the viewer. The files are missing off the flashdrive!

 

[HappyDude]

I haven't run into this problem, my car came with the usb drive that Tesla sells on their website

 

[cypho]

No.

I specifically bought a SanDisk Ultra Fit USB 3.1 Flash Drive (64GB)

I just did a quick search. I see that model sells for $10. So yea - you have a cheap thumb drive.

I'm not defending Tesla. If they suggest that as a confirmed working option, it really should work. And no matter what storage you are using, it really should display an error message if it is not keeping up. If your goal is to gripe - have at it, I agree with you that Tesla should do better.

But if your goal is to get it working, try some faster storage. I am even more confident that it will solve your problem. Samsung's portable SSD's are extremely popular on these forums for a reason: they work.

 

[atj777]

I just did a quick search. I see that model sells for $10. So yea - you have a cheap thumb drive.

It was $34 from JB HiFi in March 2020.

 

[atj777]

But if your goal is to get it working, try some faster storage. I am even more confident that it will solve your problem. Samsung's portable SSD's are extremely popular on these forums for a reason: they work.

Like this one?

Samsung T7 Portable SSD Drive [500GB] (Titan Gray)

Sporting such features as SAMSUNG have created another winner. Buy online or instore today at JB Hi-Fi

www.jbhifi.com.au

 

[atj777]

They developed the greatest software ever in any car, and it’s not even close.

I can't tell if you agree with me and are being sarcastic or you genuinely believe the software is good.

I need to make a list of all the poor design decisions and poor working aspects of my car. I love driving my car but it could be sooo much better if they stopped wasting time with fart noises and did some serious software development.

 

[GrimRe]

It was $34 from JB HiFi in March 2020.

Its the flash drive dude. This is partially Tesla's fault for not making it clearer but--

the dash cam process writes many small blocks to the device. Therefore you need a storage medium that has high IOPS at 4k block sizes. SSDs like the Samsung t5 can achieve around 30MB/s with 4k writes.

USB flash drives on the other hand are maybe around 2-3MB/s. Considering you have 5x cameras recording a H.264 stream at ~2mbit you need at least a 10MB/s write speed.

 

[atj777]

Its the flash drive dude. This is partially Tesla's fault for not making it clearer but--

How is it only "partially Tesla's fault" when I bought one of the only two devices they recommended?

 

[cypho]

It was $34 from JB HiFi in March 2020.

There may be some currency conversion issues here, or just different prices in Australia vs USA. In any case, it is not a high end drive. Seriously, try a higher quality drive. Or just another drive in case the one you have is defective or counterfeit (counterfeit thumb drives are a surprisingly common problem - even from established retailers).

Like this one?

Samsung T7 Portable SSD Drive [500GB] (Titan Gray)

Sporting such features as SAMSUNG have created another winner. Buy online or instore today at JB Hi-Fi

www.jbhifi.com.au

Yep, tons of people here use Samsung SSD like that one. So common that the "USB Hub" accessories that several brands make are all specifically designed with that SSD in mind.

 

[bpjod]

I can't tell if you agree with me and are being sarcastic or you genuinely believe the software is good.

Then let me help. Tesla has developed the greatest software ever in any car, and it’s not even close. I’m *not* being sarcastic.

I could probably come up with a list of 50 or more things that could be improved or added, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is the best software ever put in a car.

Tesla’s software is Windows 10, not perfect and plenty of room for refinement. Other manufacturers’ software ranges from Windows 3.1 to Windows Vista. They may get the job done, they may even have a feature or two that Tesla doesn’t have or is slightly better then Tesla’s implementation, but that is about the kindest I can be.

For instance, show me a car that has a better implementation of dashcam software built in. Go ahead, I’m waiting…

 

[cypho]

Like this one?

Samsung T7 Portable SSD Drive [500GB] (Titan Gray)

Sporting such features as SAMSUNG have created another winner. Buy online or instore today at JB Hi-Fi

www.jbhifi.com.au

Ohh, and it looks like JB HiFi should rename themselves JB HiPrice. That model that JB has listed for $179 is listed for $79 on Samsung's website. Or is 3x the USA price normal in Australia?

 

[atj777]

Yep, tons of people here use Samsung SSD like that one. So common that the "USB Hub" accessories that several brands make are all specifically designed with that SSD in mind.

Does it still have to formatted as FAT (as the manual says that USB Flash Drives need to be)? Or can I buy one and just plug it in immediately - or even format it in the car (Model 3).