How to Read Blackvue Dr650s-2ch Memory Card

Blackvue DR650S-2CH

I've been testing a bunch of dashcams over the past few years in search of the ultimate dashcam and for the past vii months I've been running the Blackvue DR650S-2CH total time in my machine. I'm really liking it equally an all-around skillful dashcam, jam packed with useful features. It'due south like the Max360 of dashcams in that it'southward got all the bells and whistles. At that place's other dashcams that are superior in certain areas and there are a few things about this camera that I wish were improved, but the reason I similar this camera is that it records both in front end of me and behind for consummate protection, the video quality is reasonably good, the camera is stealthy and blackness and so information technology doesn't stand out to other people outside my machine, and it can automatically switch between driving mode and parking mode without me having to putz around with settings so it'southward always in that location running in the background, watching my dorsum.. which is exactly what I desire a dashcam for. In short, it's a fully-featured and well-rounded dashcam. Let'southward dive into this Blackvue DR650S-2CH review.

Blackvue DR650S-2CH Review

Now Blackvue makes a whole series of cameras with different features and cost points, depending on what you need. I'1000 roofing the fully featured version, the DR650S-2CH, simply if you find there'south some features it offers that yous don't need (ie. a rear camera, WiFi, GPS, etc.), I'll become over all the different models at the end so you lot can choose the one that'south all-time for you. 🙂

In the Box

Cameras and accessories included

• Front camera & mount
• Rear camera & mount
• Cig. lighter ability cable (fifteen feet long)
• Coax cable to connect forepart & rear cams (6 meters or 20 feet long)
• MicroSD carte (yous choose how big when you purchase)
• MicroSD carte USB reader
• Trim pry tool
• Extra double stick tape
• 8 cable clips with sticky tape backings
• Quick Kickoff Guide

Purchase the Blackvue DR650S-2CH here

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Stealthy all-blackness design
• Dual channel camera, aka front and rear cameras for consummate protection
• 1080p recording for the front photographic camera
• Automatically starts and stops recording with your motorcar
• Can automatically switch in and out of parking mode recording without y'all having to do anything (Power Magic Pro or B-112 external battery recommended)
• Motion detection while parked to tape when someone is near your car or doing anything to it
• Impact detection in parking fashion is buffered so it records not but after an touch on, but as well before it happens, of import for recording hit and runs while parked
• Voice alerts volition actually tell you when important things happen such as an impact beingness detected in parking mode
• GPS is congenital into the camera, no external accessories or wiring required (tin be disabled if desired)
• Windows & Mac software available, Android & iOS apps available
• Wifi app lets you watch recorded videos or change dashcam settings right from your phone
• Cloud connectivity allows yous to view live footage remotely, watched pre-recorded footage, or go realtime notifications when anything happens to your vehicle while parked
• Supports large memory cards up to 128gb for storing lots of video (17 hrs of dual channel recording at the highest video quality settings)
• Both cameras tape onto a single retentivity card for convenience
• But one cable to run from forepart camera to rear
• Rear cam can instead be mounted on the windshield or rear window, pointed inside, and tape the passengers in the motel (DR650S-2CH IR recommended)

Cons:

• Rear cam only does 720p max
• Long 33 sec startup time means yous can commencement driving in a parking lot earlier your camera is protecting you
• Low flake rate tin can atomic number 82 to pixelated video and difficulty making out details like license plates
• Front photographic camera often has bluish bandage at dark
• Browsing and downloading videos over Wifi is slow, often easier just to plug retentivity card into estimator
• Connecting your phone to the photographic camera via Wifi prevents your phone from accessing the cyberspace
• On screen text such as camera make and model can't be fully disabled from the video (though it'southward piece of cake to crop out)
• Manually marker footage is done past waving your hand next to the camera which prevents noticeable photographic camera milkshake, fleck it can exist tough to know if you've successfully activated the feature while driving
• Manual recording simply saves clip 6 sec before you activate it then y'all'll have to look back at the previous clip to find earlier recording of events leading up to the interesting effect
• There are sometimes pocket-size gaps between video clips so your video may stutter if combining 2 shorter clips into 1 longer clip

Blackvue DR650S mounted behind the Uniden R3 on a Blendmount

Video Quality

The video quality with this camera is pretty practiced. Information technology's non out of this world stellar and in that location are other cameras out there with ameliorate ultimate video quality, higher resolutions, more dynamic range, and college bitrates for improve detail. In my stance this is what I'd most like to see improved: overall video quality. Don't get me incorrect, information technology'll nevertheless do the job at recording what's going on around y'all and the video quality is generally still quite good. I but wish the video quality and overall level of particular was higher, specially to make it easier to read license plates.

The standard resolution way is 1080p @ 30fps for the forepart photographic camera and 720p @ 30fps for the rear camera. I'd prefer 1080p for the rear cam. The front end camera's max bitrate is x Mbps and the rear cam's max bitrate is 5 Mbps. This is lower than average and is function of the reason for reduced image item. Apparently role of the reason this is done is so that it can nevertheless stream live video to your phone if desired. You can also reduce the resolution, frame rate, or video quality to become longer recording times and store more than footage on your retention carte du jour. Personally, I adopt maximum quality and particular. Speaking of which, what's a dashcam review without some video samples to see how the footage looks? Let's take a await.

Daytime Sample Videos, Front & Rear cams

Hither's some fun daytime sample footage in both sunny and cloudy conditions so yous tin cheque out the expect of the camera, the video quality, and the ability to read license plates. Apologies for any smudges or raindrops on my windshield. 🙂

and here's a look at some clips from the rear cam. These clips show the quality of the rear photographic camera, how it looks in sunny and cloudy conditions, and some of the rear photographic camera's ability to capture license plates.

Depression Light & Nighttime Sample Videos, Front & Rear cams

Next allow'south take a look at some sample footage at in depression light situations such as at night and in parking garages. It'due south always tougher on dashcams at night, peculiarly with the rear camera (where yous don't have vivid headlights and y'all may have tinted rear windows like I practice). Overall the video quality is pretty good. You're not always going to be able to run into every detail, especially when there's no street lights or when y'all're moving and things get blurrier, but that's normal with whatever dashcam. Nevertheless, you lot should still exist able to tape what all is going on effectually you lot and at slower speeds and upwards close, you'll exist able to see license plates.

Parking Mode

One of my favorite features of the camera is the way it handles parking mode and this is really what separates it for me from all the other dashcams I've tested and so far. Encounter, I want a photographic camera that protects me both while I'grand driving and when I'm parked. Many dashcams have some sort of parking mode, merely you lot manually have to go into the settings to switch between driving manner and parking style, every fourth dimension you get-go driving or finish driving. It'due south wayyy besides piece of cake to forget and I want a photographic camera that does this automatically. The Blackvue cameras tin can do this using the built-in 1000 sensor to sense when you park and when yous resume driving. It doesn't activate in finish-and-go traffic, only when you're really parked which is cool.

They also have several dissimilar ways of recording while y'all're parked. The normal way is to just record everything (at a reduced frame rate to save space on your retentiveness card) and it marks the videos as parking footage instead of driving to make it easy for you to tell the deviation. It also has motion detection to record just when someone walks or drives by, simply parking on the street, I'd find way too many false positives. This can be helpful for garages, however.

My favorite feature is affect detection and this is huge. If someone bumps into your car, it volition save that video clip for you and store it as a special event and so you can hands find the clip and so it won't get overwritten. Not only that, because it'south able to tape the whole time, information technology's able to show you video from before the person hit yous so you lot can see the whole event including the bear on. Some cameras have this ability too, but they only first recording afterward the affect once they have a take chances to first up. If this is the case, all you'll see is the motorcar shut to you and and then driving abroad if it'south a hit and run. Because the Blackvue is recording the whole time, you can see the whole event. Here'southward an example of someone backing into my car (the spot ahead of me is a no parking zone, no less), triggering my Blackvue, then driving off. (Luckily there was no damage on this impact, but I'm glad to see how well the camera works.) Observe how well information technology captured the whole result including relevant details like the license plate.

When the DR650S captures and outcome like this, the next time you go into your car and showtime driving, the camera will switch from parking mode back to driving style and allow you know that an bear on was detected while parked so you tin grab your phone to view the footage over wifi or pop the memory carte into your estimator and see what happened. This is as well helpful so you can immediately cheque your vehicle for whatever damage as well.

Sometimes I practice become simulated alerts from this such as when a loud vehicle drives by or if I'thou going to my car to open and close the door or the trunk but I don't actually drive anywhere. This tin also cause an impact I'll be alerted to, but that but lets me know that my camera is running in the groundwork and keeping me covered and then I like the reminders, fifty-fifty if they are false alerts.

It also has some white status LED's that can calorie-free upward and let people effectually know that your dashcam is recording, like to a car alarm system with a blinking red LED. If you want a stealthier setup with no lights at all, in that location'southward an option in the settings to blackness out your photographic camera completely.

Note: To use the parking way functionality, you're going to provide power to your photographic camera when your car is off while also making sure that your camera eventually shuts off so it doesn't drain your car bombardment besides far if you're parked for an extended period of fourth dimension. My preferred solution is to utilise the Ability Magic Pro which is an cheap little box that lets you record while parked and then shuts off the dashcam after a catamenia of preset time and/or if your battery voltage drops too low. With the relatively small battery in my Miata, I get roughly 24 hours of recording time at the maximum setting, less if it's cold out. Many people are reporting longer recording times of ii days+ with larger batteries in standard sized vehicles. The other pick is to utilise a B-112 which is a defended battery pack and so you don't have to put the additional strain on your automobile battery. It's a more expensive option, information technology's larger and bulkier, it offers less recording time in my experience (I get 9-12 hours of recording fourth dimension), and information technology takes 1 hour of driving to recharge fully from dead which makes it best for people who drive regularly.

Blackvue B-112 Dedicated Battery Park

Wifi / Deject Features

One of the unique selling points of Blackvue's cameras is that information technology has wifi built in and deject integration. I had a adventure to check information technology out at SEMA 2016.

DR650S settings in the iPhone app

The feature I employ nigh is accessing my camera's video files and changing settings through my telephone. There's no LCD on the back of the camera and so you have to practice that either by plugging the memory carte du jour into your calculator (what I practise almost frequently) or for on the wing viewing, connecting your phone to your camera over wifi and viewing the footage that mode.

Changing settings is pretty straightforward, but admittedly it'due south is a bit ho-hum to view footage over wifi (though it's faster than the previous gen camera, the DR650GW) so I adopt speedily doing everything on the estimator. I also meet an issue where when my phone connects to my DR650S's wifi hotspot, this prevents my phone from being able to access the internet. I don't have this issue when connecting to my GoPro'due south wifi hotspot so it has something to do with the style Blackvue implemented their wifi functionality. It's for this reason that I usually default to having the wifi disabled and when I need it, I just printing the button on the side of the camera to temporarily enable it so I can access my camera. It's not a big deal in practice.

The Blackvue besides has the power to connect to other wifi hotspots (whether it's your wifi at dwelling or at work, a mobile hotspot in your vehicle, or you enable tethering on your cell telephone) so that it can access the cloud which offers a number of cool abilities.

Here's a summary of my favorite deject-related features:

Live realtime video and location viewed remotely through the Blackvue app

Features and Benefits of Deject Functionality

• Scout your dashcam footage live when parked like a security cam so you tin see what's going on
• Become notifications on your phone when something happens such as your dashcam detects an impact
• Access your saved driving video footage from your dashcam remotely
• See where your motorcar is located on a map in realtime
• People tin can log in and talk to you through your dashcam (like you're on the phone)
• Stream live video to Facebook or YouTube

Then you've got some cool abilities, some more than useful than others. When I get-go got the dashcam, I actually liked the notifications virtually and ability to remotely see what's going on in my car in realtime when information technology'south parked (you get 10 minutes of live viewing per twenty-four hour period for free, more if you pay, and unlimited notifications either way), only once the novelty wore off, I didn't notice information technology to be too big of a necessity. I've also found the wifi range to be non so peachy and I had to be parked pretty shut to domicile so I picked up a wifi extender to run at abode nigh the window so my wifi could be picked up outside farther away. It'd exist cool if yous could prepare it up to log into nearby coffee shops or public wifi so it'd always have internet access, but it actually but works if y'all're near preprogrammed wifi hotspots like at habitation or work and you're parked within range. If you really desire to utilize these features, I'd recommend getting a dedicated wifi hotspot for your auto that your dashcam could connect to.

Figurer Software

To view the footage on your computer, there's Windows and Mac software bachelor. Information technology lets you sentry all of your recorded video files, discover only specific types of video files (driving, parking, Thou-sensor related event, and manually marked clips), see where everything took place on a map, see both your front and rear video clips, etc. It makes things mode easier than manually sifting through the all the private video files stored on your dashcam's memory card like I accept to exercise with other dashcams.

You tin besides admission footage stored in the deject, conform your dashcam's settings, and so forth. They did a good task with the software.

Summary

So in short, this is a very capable dashcam for people who desire full coverage when they're driving, when they're parked, and covering both the front end and rear of your vehicle. If you don't want or need rear protection, Blackvue sells a front end-only version of the camera too which I'll embrace down below in the adjacent section. For me personally the biggest selling signal is the automobile-switching from driving mode to parking fashion. I also honey that GPS and Wifi are integrated in the dashcam and so you don't have extra antennas to tuck abroad somewhere and more than cables to deal with. If you don't want these features, Blackvue also sells versions without GPS or Wifi and they're more affordable. Again cheque the list below. I do wish the video quality was a bit higher, the startup time was quicker, and the wifi was faster and more responsive without preventing my phone from beingness able to use the cyberspace while continued and then it does have some quirks, only when it comes to keeping me protected and recording what's going on around me while I'one thousand driving and when I'thou parked, the DR650S-2CH does a not bad job and I'm happy running it daily.

Which Blackvue model to get?

Cameras:

DR650S-2CH: Front/rear protection, 1080p/720p, Wifi, Integrated GPS

DR650S-1CH: Front end only camera, 1080p, Wifi, Integrated GPS

DR650S-2CH IR: Front end/rear protection, rear photographic camera has infrared LED's to calorie-free upward passengers in cabin, 1080p/720p, Wifi, Integrated GPS

DR650S-2CH Truck: Front end/rear protection, rear photographic camera has beefy waterproof housing for external mounting, 1080p/720p, Wifi, Integrated GPS

DR430-2CH: Front/rear cameras, 720p/720p, No Wifi, no GPS (External GPS antenna optional)

DR450-1CH: Front just camera, 1080p, No Wifi,no GPS (External GPS antenna optional)

DR470-2CH: Front/rear cameras,1080p/720p, No Wifi, no GPS (External GPS antenna optional)

Accessories:

Ability Magic Pro: Power your dashcam from your car's battery while parked, turning your camera off before information technology drains your vehicle's battery too far

B-112 External Battery Pack: Dedicated bombardment pack to power your cameras for 9-12 hours while parked, recharges in one hour

DR650S Tamper-proof Mountain: Prevents removal of memory card, unplugging of camera cables, or aiming camera away from road

Full Disclosure: Later on checking out Blackvue's berth at SEMA last year, I asked them if they could send me a retail copy of their latest dashcam to exam and review. They sent it to me for free, I become to go along it, and they're not paying me or otherwise compensating me in any fashion. The links in this article are affiliate links to Amazon, just like with all the other dashcams I review, but none of that influences my opinion one way or another. What you encounter here is really what my accept is on this photographic camera, both the expert and the bad. A large give thanks yous to Blackvue! 🙂

For learn more about unlike dashcams, be sure to check out my all-time dashcam reviews!

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Summary

Reviewer

Vortex Radar

Review Date

2017-06-19

Reviewed Item

Blackvue DR650S-2CH

Author Rating

5

Product Proper noun

Blackvue DR650S-2CH

Price

USD 250

Product Availability

Out of Stock

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Source: https://www.vortexradar.com/2017/06/blackvue-dr650s-2ch-dashcam-review/

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