Information about video cameras in place of outside mirrors

[Eddles]

Mmmm - looks nice...

Think I'll might go for a 7" monitor mounted in the sun visor. Not sure how I can choose the monitor and camera - I don't want to buy them and find that they are blurry/not good enough replacement for the side mirrors?

[Christ]

These cameras are the same type that Neil has installed, I believe. They're all the same camera, by the looks of them.

See last post for edits.

[Eddles]

I guess this aerial would be perfect for what I'm planning?

[Christ]

Yep, but you'll likely have to remove the bottom and gut anything inside it to fit the camera.

Did you plan on getting a strip antenna to replace the existing one?

[Eddles]

Yup.

So just about any waterproof bumper IR camera & 7" LCD monitor would do, or should I be a little bit more discriminating?

[Christ]

If you're looking heavily at price, some of the cheaper stuff from that site appears to all be the same camera, with different monitors. They're all from China, I assume, so the quality might be marginal to begin with. $100 US isn't too much in your currency, is it? (I think yours is more than ours, so it should be less than 100 of yours, right?)

We maybe should take this to another thread, though.

EDIT: Seeing if a mod can move the related posts into another thread.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hi,

I think that the various camera positions should be tried. Personally, because of the wide angle lens and it's barrel distortion, I think that a point of reference is very helpful. I.E. to be able to see a part of the vehicle in the camera view is good.

Hopefully on the built in systems in new cars, they will put perspective correction lenses on the camera that straighten the barrel distortion. Other issues like greater "F-stop" range, with more steps would be good too.

On the screen side of things, the biggest issues arise from bright light conditions: they need to be shaded from having direct sunlight on the screen AND in the case of my screens, they go blank when they overheat. Mine generate a fair bit of heat (from the backlights) and I'm sure that LED backlights would be much better.

I was interested and a bit surprised to see glimpses of video mirrors in the GM Hy-Wire. Look at about 2:18 to 2:27:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jHFT...layer_embedded

To be frank: those video cameras suck! They are nearly fish eye wide angle, and the side view screens are about 1/2 taken up by the side of the car. The quality may be washed out because videotaping a video screen is very hard to do. But obviously GM didn't work very hard on making them useful.

[thatguitarguy]

10.2" Rearview mirror monitor + Water Proof Camera + TS

All in one kit. I think this uses the same camera that Neil has, but has a wider monitor that clips on the factory mirror, and is "presumably" reflective enough to double as a mirror when it is off. This has the dual inputs, so you can buy 1 more camera and be set. What you get with 120 degrees of vision depends entirely on camera placement. This seems like a pretty compact solution. (I'm not a salesman for, or have ever had anything to do with whatever company this is.)

[Christ]

Hell, I've got that in my Paypal, and I don't need to save for a SGII anymore, thanks to dcb. I might buy that for a Christmas present for myself tonite.

[thatguitarguy]

Been thinking the same thing.