Drive Camera mode question

[Zevo]

That's the one I got (512GB) and it has worked flawlessly so far. Also nicely tucked completely out of the way in the glove box, unlike an SSD with a cable that you'd have to manage/tidy up somehow. It does max out with less capacity than an SSD, but with storage prices these days that might not be so bad. And how many days of non-incident road cam footage do you really need, lol

I'm curious, how many hours/days of non-incident road cam footage actually fits on a 512GB drive before it starts to overwrite?

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[emroch]

I'm curious, how many hours/days of non-incident road cam footage actually fits on a 512GB drive before it starts to overwrite?

I just took my drive out to check.

Road Cam records constantly and saves 15 minute chucks of all 4 camera views, grouped by driving session. Looks like putting it in putting it in park (and maybe requiring the driver to exit, not sure) ends the session and the next drive will get a new timestamp/folder.

A 15 minute clip from one camera ranges from 1GB to 1.5GB. All the videos are MPEG-4, so I assume the size differences are due to brightness (day vs night) and uniformity/activity which affect how much it can compress the video data.

How many days it will save obviously depends on how much you drive, but 512GB at say 5GB/15min is over 25 hours of driving. This will also be reduced by any Road Cam clips you save using the record button/honking/SOS, and any Incident or Motion clips you copy to the external drive.

 

[Zevo]

How many days it will save obviously depends on how much you drive, but 512GB at say 5GB/15min is over 25 hours of driving. This will also be reduced by any Road Cam clips you save using the record button/honking/SOS, and any Incident or Motion clips you copy to the external drive.

Thanks for doing all the math. Given the price of storage at the moment knowing that 512GB will likely be more than plenty is really helpful to know.

 

[emroch]

I think the key thing, especially for a road trip where you might only get 2 days of continuous recording, is to star/clip any incidents you think you'll want to save. You can't view the continuous recordings from the vehicle, only the manually triggered clips + incidents/motion cam, so if you want to be able to go find a arbitrary part of the drive, bring a laptop with you.

Personally, I have not found a need for the continuous recording even with my old windshield dashcam other than being able to see more than 15 seconds before a manually saved clip. And Rivian makes it much easier to trigger a clip than my old dashcam, so I should be able to remember to click record within 15 seconds of seeing something worth saving.

 

[Millbarge]

I think the key thing, especially for a road trip where you might only get 2 days of continuous recording, is to star/clip any incidents you think you'll want to save. You can't view the continuous recordings from the vehicle, only the manually triggered clips + incidents/motion cam, so if you want to be able to go find a arbitrary part of the drive, bring a laptop with you.

Personally, I have not found a need for the continuous recording even with my old windshield dashcam other than being able to see more than 15 seconds before a manually saved clip. And Rivian makes it much easier to trigger a clip than my old dashcam, so I should be able to remember to click record within 15 seconds of seeing something worth saving.

and I'm assuming an impact or other jolt would trigger the system automatically placing a clip in the saved folder?

 

[emroch]

and I'm assuming an impact or other jolt would trigger the system automatically placing a clip in the saved folder?

Yeah, that would fall under the "Incidents" tab. I don't know what the thresholds are though, so it might not catch everything. Like a bump in the parking lot might rely on Motion Cam and not trigger an Incident. A sufficient pothole at speed can trigger an Incident (ask me how I know), as does harsh braking.

Incidents are stored on the 64GB internal drive and won't delete them automatically. If the internal drive fills up, it will delete un-starred motion cam clips first. If it is still full, it will stop saving new Motion Cam/Incident clips, but Road Cam should keep recording since it saves externally.

Incident recording can also be turned off, but should be on by default.

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