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Gonna have to disagree with you here. The top of the line sensor these days is the Sony Starvis 2 and this camera doesnt even use the Starvis 1. It is better than every other 1080p camera out there but, its supposed to be because its a 4k camera. However, its a low bit rate 4k and it uses an inferior sensor. I stand by my opinion that the image quality is inferior to most other 4k cameras and making out license plates is nearly impossible. I will like you to a video clip of the FitcamX in 4k and you can decide for yourselves.
... Sorry, incorrect. The Fitcamx resolution and image quality are virtually identical to all other options.
For every single real world image I've examined from all manufacturers they ALL suffer exactly the same / expected artifacts. The artifacts are minor faint reflections showing things like the dashboard defroster vents in the front view images. Also the rear defroster wires show up in the images. Those reflections are expected because the windshield has a severe slope and the camera is horizontal. Unless the intent for the dash camera is to create an IMAX film, then those reflections are unimportant.
WRT to a critically important function, obtaining the nearby vehicle license plate in a readable image, I was also incorrectly disappointed when attempting to get the plate characters from the image. Once I figured out how to get a full resolution image from the video stream I realized that the Fitcamx camera system is virtually identical to all other options.
Originally Posted by PTS-BRG
Gonna have to disagree with you here. The top of the line sensor these days is the Sony Starvis 2 and this camera doesnt even use the Starvis 1. It is better than every other 1080p camera out there but, its supposed to be because its a 4k camera. However, its a low bit rate 4k and it uses an inferior sensor. I stand by my opinion that the image quality is inferior to most other 4k cameras and making out license plates is nearly impossible. I will like you to a video clip of the FitcamX in 4k and you can decide for yourselves.
Wingless: If you have any footage from your FitcamX that can clearly read license plates please provide it here so we can see for ourselves..
Thanks for the video. Several things jump out to me from that video. One is that the clip is 5 minutes duration. The Fitcamx permits selection of three or one minute duration for a front-only camera system and only permits a one minute recording for a front / rear camera system. Perhaps this has been edited to concatenate several videos, add the background soundtrack and decrease the resolution from the existing 4K to the provided 480p or 720p shown on the YouTube video.
, still showing full daylight color, has all vehicles using headlights / taillights. Even though the camera is installed in a Kia EV6, w/ a normal raked windshield, there is very little optical artifacts, such as a faint dashboard reflection. My analysis is these artifacts are minimal in that linked video because of the recording time of day.
As had already been provided, the full camera resolution is not available from a screen shot image, but must instead be obtained using their software to export a full resolution snapshot.
One image shows the exported full resolution 3,840H by 2,160V snapshot, scaled to 800H by 450V for forum presentation. The other cropped image shows a vehicle from that exported image, showing the Florida HFD Y02 Sunshine State license plate with acceptable readability at 800H by 597V resolution.
WRT to an example video, the one minute duration video clips created by my two-camera system are huge file sizes. It is beyond my skillset to provide information other than the still frames shown here. I cannot provide video clips, sorry.
Thank you for responding, your images only support my findings and to my eyes those images are of poor resolution. Even in the still screen shot showing the plate, there is only a distance of perhaps one car length or 10 feet. This is unacceptable. 4k cameras should be able to read plates from 30 feet, 1080 cameras can get the same resolution from 10 feet. Again, this is sufficient to see what happened in an accident or from a close encounter but with the resolution available today from the high end cameras, this is unacceptable for me.
Thank you for responding, your images only support my findings and to my eyes those images are of poor resolution. Even in the still screen shot showing the plate, there is only a distance of perhaps one car length or 10 feet. This is unacceptable. 4k cameras should be able to read plates from 30 feet, 1080 cameras can get the same resolution from 10 feet. Again, this is sufficient to see what happened in an accident or from a close encounter but with the resolution available today from the high end cameras, this is unacceptable for me.
Sorry for my failure to understand.
To read license plate characters, one limiting factor is camera resolution. Another factor is the lens magnification. Imaging sensors w/ the same resolution can provide greater detail if the fixed lens optics shows a smaller field of view at a greater zoom.
Please provide equivalent images from alternative camera solutions and please provide links to alternative cameras that illustrate the points that have been postulated.
Thanks for that clip showing the BlackVue DR-900X versus DR-970X dash camera systems.
Those two, plus the Fitcamx all have 3,840H by 2,160V resolution.
The video shows that those BlackVue cameras also permit reading the license plate at about 10' for the DR-900X (time index 10:22) and 15' for the DR-970X (time index 10:55), again virtually identical to the Fitcamx.
The video also shows a side-by-side comparison for the two cameras at time index 12:47.
There is about a 2X cost difference between the BlackVue DR-970X and the Fitcamx. I have not observed a performance difference between those two solutions. If one exists it appears to be very marginal and possibly subjective.
I find taking picture sideway is best. Ie if you need a plate, offset your car half a car width.
this car and I both made left turn, two lane turns left. This car on inside decided to then go to right lane to turn into Lowe’s. Happens all the time……,,
pictures are more clear on my phone vs transferred to iPad and downloaded here.
As other have stated, best is to place a camera externally on front bumper. Matter of $$$$$$
Not really.
Porsche could / should refine their existing Surround View camera option to enable operational recording / playback, TOTALLY eliminating this entire dash camera bother.
Thanks to the OP for posting this, I have been looking at the FitcamX for my coming 992 porsche as well as an Audi. In reading Amazon reviews, there was one from Jan 2023 that indicated there was no support for iOS? I assume this is no longer the case?
Also, that the camera continues to drain battery for as long as you have the car in park but not locked, assume this is still the case (from your carh washing comment it looks like it is).
Originally Posted by wingless
Not really.
Porsche could / should refine their existing Surround View camera option to enable operational recording / playback, TOTALLY eliminating this entire dash camera bother.
I have a Tesla Model Y, and I have to say, the way they use the cameras and present it on the screen in my view is a game changer. No "dash cam" required as they use the front bumper camera. On top of that, all cameras are recording at all times. Seems simple enough for any car with 360 auto to do and I don't know why they don't yet. The best part is lane changes, when you hit the left/right flicker, a small picture pops up showing exactly what is to your left or right, completely eliminating the blind spot. Really is a wonderful solution.
Thanks to the OP for posting this, I have been looking at the FitcamX for my coming 992 porsche as well as an Audi. In reading Amazon reviews, there was one from Jan 2023 that indicated there was no support for iOS? I assume this is no longer the case?
Also, that the camera continues to drain battery for as long as you have the car in park but not locked, assume this is still the case (from your carh washing comment it looks like it is).
I have a Tesla Model Y, and I have to say, the way they use the cameras and present it on the screen in my view is a game changer. No "dash cam" required as they use the front bumper camera. On top of that, all cameras are recording at all times. Seems simple enough for any car with 360 auto to do and I don't know why they don't yet. The best part is lane changes, when you hit the left/right flicker, a small picture pops up showing exactly what is to your left or right, completely eliminating the blind spot. Really is a wonderful solution.
Works with iOS IIRC. Honestly I have almost forgotten I have the thing lol
Thanks to the OP for posting this, I have been looking at the FitcamX for my coming 992 porsche as well as an Audi. In reading Amazon reviews, there was one from Jan 2023 that indicated there was no support for iOS? I assume this is no longer the case?
Also, that the camera continues to drain battery for as long as you have the car in park but not locked, assume this is still the case (from your carh washing comment it looks like it is).
The plug-and-play version of the FITCAMX in my Cayenne continues to record and draw power for two minutes after I put the transmission in Park and exit without locking. I just now went to the garage and timed how long it took for the blue pilot light on the bottom of the FITCAMX to stop flashing. I don't know if it matters but my FITCAMX is set to record 1-minute segments in 4K. I don't know how the FTTCAMX is powered during these two minutes. Is it still powered from the rain sensor or from FITCAMX's internal rechargeable battery which I had assumed is for powering its internal clock? BTW, I saw in a FITCAMX review that it's internal battery can fail after which the date and time on the lower left corner of the video image becomes inaccurate. I forgot where I saw it but I remember a video showing someone disassembling a FITCAMX and replacing the battery.
Someone asked earlier about how YouTube videos showing FITCAMX operation for longer than 5 minutes were possible since the maximum recording time available on the FITCAMX is 5 minutes. The answer is that video editing software, including the free Microsoft Clipchamp which I use, allow seamlessly concatenating videos together. When the FITCAMX stores a video and then starts another, nothing is lost. The two videos can be concatenated together and appear as if it was recorded as one continuous video.
My FITCAMX is still working great after a little over two months. The night-time videos of my matrix headlights adaptive functioning after they were re-coded by 9XX.com came out quite nice when the FITCAMX was set to 4K. I had to reduce the resolution to 1080P (1/4th the resolution of 4K) for uploading to YouTube. That FITCAMX video, edited with Clipchamp and reduced to 1080P, is at:
I figured I would add a little to the original post on this thread.
I also installed this on a Porsche 992, hardwired to fuse box and both front and rear.
Wow...it really looks OEM. No one can tell you've got a dash cam.
The install for this particular model wasn't as easy as it seems in the FitcamX Youtube video. The steps were indeed the same and the steps on Post #1 in this thread are bang on, but the act of removing the plastic rear-view mirror adjacent pieces is delicate while trying not to break tabs. Twisting the rear-view mirror itself off is indeed a must on a 992--and it requires good firm pressure.
If you do get the hardwire version, be aware that you'll have one or two wires (2 if you also choose a rear-cam) that need to get positioned in such a way as to not interfere with the plastic pieces you are removing. This is definitely a tight squeeze, versus simply plugging into the rain sensor.
Other than that, the remainder of the install is pretty straightforward. The option fuse-box harness is very good and can be customized if you're handy with wiring and need to do something bespoke to connect it to the fuse box.
In my case, the rear dash cam needed install onto tint. Since I didn't want to directly apply the rear dashcam's 3M VHB tape onto the tint, I first installed a small strip of clear cling-film. In turn, the dash cam 3M tape is applied to this cling film. Holds very securely.
The Fitcamx itself works fine. A nice bright picture, both front and back, and the requisite resolution needed. The software also works well, without any bells and complicated whistles.
At the end of the day, it's the OEM look you may be going for--and for this, FitcamX can't be beat.
And the customer service is very good--they respond quickly, despite being in China. Dashcam hard-wire being tie-wrapped to the cabling, behind the A-pillar trim and air bag. This routes right down into the passenger fuse box.
New to the group, I drive a 992 Targa S4 and have purchased the front camera, but wondering has anyone tried installing a rear facing camera on a Targa by running the cable via the roll bar or another way?
07-08-2023, 11:53 PM
