Blackvue DR550GW-2CH

Vehicle drive recorder.

The Blackvue DR550GW-2CH has a 1080p camera for the front windscreen and a 720p camera for the back. It can optionally record audio, and has wi-fi capabilities which allows live video to be viewed on smartphones which is useful for initially aligning the cameras.

By default it generates 4 files on the memory card per minute: front video, rear video, audio and gps. The gps file is in NMEA format but with each line prefixed with a timestamp. e.g.

[1389965418729]$GPRMC,123014.844,A,5147.4945,N,00108.9677,E,013.6,326.8,170114,,,A*67
[1389965418729]$GPVTG,326.8,T,,M,013.6,N,025.1,K,A*00
[1389965418729]$GPGGA,123015.844,5147.4974,N,00108.9641,E,1,06,1.8,23.3,M,46.2,M,,0000*67
[1389965418729]$GPGSA,A,3,23,04,13,10,20,17,,,,,,,3.3,1.8,2.7*3C
[1389965418729]$GPGSV,3,1,12,23,75,105,27,13,58,198,29,04,56,287,33,20,47,095,28*73
[1389965418729]$GPGSV,3,2,12,10,30,276,33,17,24,230,29,31,14,031,18,02,13,312,31*7E
[1389965418729]$GPGSV,3,3,12,32,12,089,00,01,12,146,20,25,03,350,,07,01,172,*7A

Removing the timestamps (up to and including the first ] character) should allow GPSBabel to convert the files.

Pros

• Good resolution in both cameras. Has been useful to EdLoach in updating shop information after driving past at speeds below 30 mph.

• Audio facilities can be used for audio notes to supplement the video.

• Having the two cameras, if the sun makes the forward image difficult to read there is still a good chance you can get the information from the rear image.

Cons

• The memory card needs you to disconnect the camera to remove it to transfer or view the files on your desktop machine. It might be possible to do something with the wi-fi capabilities if you are able to leave it powered on near enough your network, but if you power off a cigarette lighter that loses power when you switch off the engine this won't be an option. A workaround would be to have a spare memory card and swap them as required.