Want a great dash cam? Watch the review for the AUTO-VOX D1 Full-HD 1080P dash cam.
Dash Cam Review | AUTO-VOX D1 Full-HD 1080P Dash Cam
Introduction
Hi there smart drivers, Rick with Smart Drive Test, today we have a review of the auto box and a scam to get Dash Cam.
It's the Dash Cam that I use to shoot my videos.
It shoots in 1080P and shoots at a hundred and forty degree wide angle so it is a good camera and produces high quality video.
Every once in a while every now and again it does get an odd tone color to the video, but for the most part it produces clear high quality video.
And I would recommend it.
It is a 4-star Dash Cam.
I've given it four stars out of five.
There are some cons to the Dash Cam: there is a bit of a learning curve in terms of getting it to do what you want it to do; however it doesn't have a lot whole lot of options, but it doesn't a few options.
One of the options that I just cannot get it to do is to protect files, which is essentially it overwrite the video - so every six hours you--get about six hours of video on the card that they provide, the memory card--and it will overwrite the old video.
So if you want to lock something out, I haven’t been able to figure out how to get it to do that yet.
So I'm fairly careful in terms of downloading video that I need right away when I'm making my videos.
That's one of the cons of it, but for the most part it is really good, and my suggestions to the company would be to expand their users’ manual and the information that's on their website.
Saying that, their customer service is really good, they did get back to me within 24 hours.
So what we're going to do today, we're gonna give you a review of the Dash Cam and go over the pros and cons of the Dash Cam.
And give you some more information, so stick around be right back.
[OPENING CREDITS AND MUSIC]
Prologue
Hi there smart drivers, welcome back Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Today we have a review of the Auto-Vox Dash Cam.
This is the Dash Cam that I use for shooting my video.
And as I said in the introduction, it shoot 1080P at 140° degree wide-angle.
So it gives you a good view of the sidewalk on both sides of the road.
The video is clear, yet every once in awhile it does have an odd tinge as you can see here in the video.
There's a blue tinge in the wintertime and it doesn't handle glare very well - if you're driving into glaring sun.
Video Quality
But for the most part it gives you very clear and very distinct video that is high-quality that will allow you to use it to make videos with if you're in the same kind of video making production that I am in, which is shooting in my car.
So the unit is quite compact - it's a small camera.
So it's not going to obstruct your view while you're driving in the vehicle.
As you can see it fits in my hand, I can hold it with one hand.
Dash Cam Pros
The suction cup allows you to move the Dash Cam very easily between vehicles.
You simply just turn the dial and then pull the little tab here on the top of the suction cup and it comes right off.
And you can move that around into other vehicles.
And to put it back on, you simply just put it on in the mounting position where you want it…I don't have it quite straight get.
And to it to the straight position again, you have to pull the tab to get it to peel off and then just push it in, and turn the knob.
And it is secure in all weather… it's secure in sub-zero temperatures and those types of things.
It’s been wintertime here and I basically left in the vehicle most of the winter time.
I haven't taken it out and it works just fine in sub-zero temperatures.
I don't know about the heat, whether it's going to take the heat in the summer time of being left in the vehicle in 35 + degrees Celsius weather, you know, a hundred degree Fahrenheit weather.
GPS Unit
I don't know whether it's going to sustain that, but it does go in.
So the locking mechanism, you just put this on here and then slide it across and then you can simply adjust that when you turn the camera on.
Now there's two chords that I have in here: one is the power cord, which is a HDMI mini cable that plugs in and it goes in on the side here for the power.
And then the other I bought the GPS (Global Positioning Satellite), which I believe it is twelve dollars, I believe, And the adapter for that.
Now I wouldn't recommend buying the GPS because in order to get the GPS to work, you have to use the Auto-Vox player and it won't record on your video so it's not stamped on your video in terms of the speed.
And that was the reason that I bought the GPS, so the GPS didn't work and the only time that you can actually view how fast you were going at that particular juncture was if you're on the Auto-Vox player.
And you can’t download that player into an mp4 or some other movie format that will allow you to view it later on.
So I just found that, unfortunately, the GPS addition was a waste of my money.
So there are clips that come in the package, as you can see here in the image that will allow you to tie these cables up down the window and those types of things, but I just leave them hanging down in here.
And probably that’s not very safe.
Moves Well Between Vehicles
But because I have the camera in other vehicles all the time, and I'm moving it between different vehicles, I need the cables.
So I don't secure them in the vehicle, but if you have it in the same vehicle all the time you can secure the cables and there are the little clips that come with the Dash Cam that will allow you to do that.
So that's the other thing.
So I have the GPS and the power cable and then the other thing I like about it is that the power adapter for your vehicle.
It has the USB port as well.
So I'm driving an older vehicle, so I don't have a USB port in my vehicle.
With this USB port I can plug my iPhone in and charge it on longer trips, which is very nice addition to the power cables.
As well it comes with a cable that allows you to hook it up to your computer.
Saving of the Video Files
Now it saves the files in five-minute increment.
So every five minutes you get a different file, which for me is a bit of an inconvenience because I'm making a movie and I have to line those files up.
And the files overlap a little bit, so it's not like you can just bump them up against each other and they work.
And I'll show you that on the computer, in case you are making videos like I am and using a Dash Cam it is it of a pain, but I've got really good at lining up the audio, so it doesn't take very long.
But it is one of the inconveniences.
Another is that the menu it is a bit of a learning curve in terms of using the camera and getting it set up and those types of things.
Works Automatically
However, once you get it setup, it's fairly self-sufficient.
It turns on by itself it automatically, and records.
The camera will wait 20 seconds after you turn the key to the ‘ON’ position before it actually starts, so there isn't a power surge that potentially damages your camera.
It does come with a memory card - a fairly big memory card that will allow you to record about six hours of video.
So it's a fairly long trip before you have to download stuff if you want to download and keep records of your trips and those types of things.
It does have audio and the audio is not too bad - it's pretty good for not having a microphone and those types of things.
So overall, it's a good camera that produces high quality video.
And as I said it does overwrite the video, and unfortunately I haven't figured out how to protect the video yet.
If you want video that you’re going to save, you might want to turn it off or whatnot if you can't figure out how to do that.
And probably what I need to do is to get in touch with customer service and ask them how to do that, because just from the owners’ manual I cannot figure that bit of information out.
The rest of the functions are fairly self-explanatory and you'll find that it works fairly well right out-of-the-box.
The Wrench??
Now there are a couple of things in the box, actually one thing in the box that I haven't really figured out what it's for, which is the wrench, but otherwise everything out of the box will allow this camera to work quite well.
And again, it comes out of the vehicle and you just pinch this little tab here, and then slide the camera across and it comes right out of the vehicle.
So that's the Auto-Vox Dash Cam.
I'm going to go to the computer now and I'll show you the files on the computer, and I'll give you a couple of clips that show you how well this camera actually works.
So stick around, we’re going to go over to the computer.
At the Computer
At the computer here, looking at the Auto-Vox dash cam and the files that you get when you plug it into your computer.
You plug it into your computer and the screen on the Auto-Vox Dash Cam will come up with mass storage, and you simply select mass storage.
And when you go into your files--I have a Mac--so you going to volume 1, and click on that, click on CARDV, click on movies, and you'll see the list of videos that is produced here.
And as I said, it's in five-minute increments for the files that are in the memory card on the Auto-Vox Dash Cam, so you simply select the ones you want.
And for myself, what I do to find the ones that I want, because they're all numbered sequentially here, is I take these and I pull them into Quick Time player here, and it comes up on Quick Time player, and then simply - you can just slide the scrubber across here and you can fast-forward through the video.
And have a fairly quick look, and locate quickly exactly which piece of video that you're looking for.
So that's the way that I do it on a Mac.
It obviously works a little bit better on a Windows machine, because it is designed for Windows, and if you get the player that you can download for the Dash Cam with the GPS unit, it only plays on Windows - so know that as well about the GPS unit.
The player only plays on Windows.
If you have a Apple like I do, it's not going to be any good to you because you can't use it.
Making a Continuous Video Clip
Now I use Screen Flow to edit my video.
So here is one of my videos, and this is actually my night driving video that you can look at on YouTube.
And I have two pieces of video here.
The large piece is the Dash Cam [CURSOR POINTING TO VIDEO CANVAS] and it actually works fairly well at night, especially if there are streetlights and those types of things.
So this whole track down here is the Dash Cam video and as I said it works well, especially if there are streetlights and whatnot, and other traffic.
And again you can look at that video on my YouTube channel.
Just go on and search night driving and you'll be able to find it.
Now if we look at two clips here, as I said the clips overlap, so if we go to the end of the two clips… just find the two clips..
the two ends here… here's the two ends.
So essentially what I've done here is I've put markers in.
I found two words that were the same at the end of both clips.
So I'll just remove that marker and, essentially what I've done here is if I play this, “that they are curving around…” the word here where I had the marker is “that.” And then essentially what I do is put the scrubber where I want it and I right click for Screen Flow and add a visual marker.
And then I just type in a name for the marker and it puts in a marker.
Now what I do is do the same on this clip and then I line the two of them up – the two markers.
Line the two marks up here on the scrubber and it will line up almost perfectly on this.
Now if you're using Screen Flow, you have to take the snapping off, because otherwise it moves too far.
So if you take the snapping off, you can move the video track one frame at a time.
And what I suggest is move it one frame, so there's one frame, two frames, 3 frames - move it three frames the left, and if it isn't lining up for you, then move it three frames to the right.
And then if it doesn't line up, then you're doing something wrong.
It's not the right video track, or you're not in the right place, or the two tracks don't line up, but this is about how much the five minute clips overlap.
So you should be able to get fairly efficient with that if you're trying to make a continuous clip.
And you can see here when I play this clip, [PLAYS CLIP] “polls that their curving around.” It’s essentially seamless - that you can't even tell that there's a jump cut in there.
Because there isn't a jump cut - it actually looks seamless.
And you get pretty good, if you're doing it all the time.
But for most of you, you’re not going to be using the Dash Cam for making videos - you're simply going to be using the Dash Cam for security purposes.
So that's how the dash cam works to download the files onto your computer.
Conclusion
Quick review of the Auto-Vox dash cam.
This is a good dash cam and shoot good quality video 1080P, 140° degrees, that shoots both sides of the road, even on multi-lane, big roadways, you can see both sides and well into the shoulders on both sides.
It's good quality video for the most part - ninety-six percent of the time, you can just set it up on automatic and it will fire up automatically when you start your vehicle.
And it works well in the wintertime.
I don't know about hot temperatures, and I haven't had it in the car in the summertime, but most of the time in the wintertime I don't even take it out of the vehicle I just leave it in the vehicle.
It move easily between vehicles and because I'm moving around vehicles all the time, because I'm teaching in different vehicles - commercial vehicles and passenger vehicles and those types of things - it works really well.
And it is easy to move around between vehicles and simply plug it into the power source in your vehicle.
And as I said, the plugin for the power source on the unit has a USB port, so for me on an older vehicle, it works really well because I can plug my phone and in those types of things.
As well, it works fairly well on the computer.
Unfortunately, the files are in five-minute increments that it saves to the camera.
And it's a six hours--approximately six hours of video--that it will save.
So it's good for longer trips as well.
And it's fairly easy to find the clip that you're looking for.
It's a bit of a pain if you're trying to make a continuous video - you have to put the video clips together and sort of line them up because they overlap and you gotta figure out where that overlap is to make them seamless.
But for the most part, it works well.
It's a good camera!
Question for my smart drivers:
Leave a comment down in the comment section there, all that helps out the new drivers looking towards buying a dash cam.
Salutations
I'm Rick with Smart Drive Test.
Thanks for watching.
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Check out all the videos here on the channel if you're working toward the license or starting a career as a truck or bus driver.
Lot of great information here.
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Thank you for watching.
Good luck on your road test.
And remember pick the best answer not necessarily the right answer.
Have a great day.
Bye now.
[BLOOPER] Question for my smart driver: with this review would you [DRAWING A BLANK, MAKING A FUNNY FACE AND SMILING]
