63 Blue Thunder

The PDR in my new 2016 works great!

My question concerns the maximum length of a recording. I don't get any message but it seems that the recording stops after about an hour and 45 minutes.

There is a discussion in the archives that says the FAT 32 format only allows a single file size of 4K which is about an hour and 45 minutes. Is this correct?

Do you have to restart every so often to use as a dash cam? I go for lots of long cruises!!

Thx.

CETA 256

Yes, the PDR is neat indeed. Mine has a recording of about 785 minutes total. It is designed to shut off each time the car is turned off so you will have to start it again each time. Mine failed to shut off once and ran the battery down so, out of precaution, I shut mine down manually as I turn off the car.

63 Blue Thunder

If you go for a 4 hour cruise, does your PDR record the whole thing?

My video card has lots of space, but stops recording after about an hour and 45 minutes.

cheapthrills

"There is a discussion in the archives that says the FAT 32 format only allows a single file size of 4K which is about an hour and 45 minutes. Is this correct?"

Yes unfortunately it is correct. May be a bit longer if you don't record much info, lots of extra stuff gets recorded other then video.

HalfMoon

Corrected, max file size is 4GB on fat32, not 4KB.

ZP2016

I stink at setting electronic stuff up so My wife set mine up and she down loaded a program to change it to a fat 64 and I have aprox 1500 minutes of available recording. She is out of the office for a couple of hours, when she gets back I will ask her more specifics.

cheapthrills

It's my understanding the PDR will only work on fat32. The amount or recording time shown has not much to do with how big a single file can be and why events are limited in size. If she got it to work on anything other then Fat32 we need to hear from her.

ZP2016

Sorry was in correct about FAT 64 it was Fat 32
this is what we used, from Stingrayforum.com
So here we go:
First, you obviously need to get an SD card. As the manual says, get a Class 10 as that is the highest speed. It does not matter much for the recording but lesser cards may give you trouble for playback. There is also a UHS number on the card, but that is not very important. Obviously, the bigger the memory, the more recording time. A 256MB card gives you about 5 minutes of recording, a 64GB card gives you 1540 minutes! I bought a 64GB Sandisk SD card for $53 (tax etc. included from Best Buy).

Second, the card needs to be formatted in FAT32. If it is formatted any other way, like ExFat, the card will not work and you will think something is wrong with your PDR! Just FAT will work, except for playback.

As most cards come with ExFat, how do you make it FAT32? That was my challenge and after a few hours of internet searching I found the solution. My PDR system now works like a charm! This is what you do: you have to format your card into FAT 32. Typically, when you stick your SD card in the computer, and you right click on the card, it will not let you format to FAT32 (if for example, you're on or 8). The problem, which a lot of websites list, is the fact that FAT32 can only record up to 4MB, but that is not true if you reformat the card.

Soooo.... stick your SD card in your computer. and then download a free program called Easeus Partition Manager (don't worry, you can take it off your computer later and it is certified by Norton anti-virus etc.). Once you get it downloaded, you open up the home page of the "Partition Manager" (there are 3 parts to this program, but you just need Partition Manager). Once you open up the home page, you will see "your computer", including the SD card. Click on the SD card (make sure you only click on the SD card and not your regular hard drive). Then click on "format partition". Make sure it says FAT32 and make sure it says that the sections are set to be 64k (not 32k). That's very important.

Then, when you want to close the program, it will tell you it is formatting the card and asks you if you want to continue. Of course you say yes. Within a few seconds, it's done! It will say that the card is FAT32. Go to your Corvette and stick the card in the glove compartment SD slot (not the one in the middle console) and start playing with it! It'll work like a charm.

64GB is a huge memory (1540 minutes), but this will work with smaller size cards as well. I will make you an offer.... if you truly cannot make this work, let me know and I'll format a card for you (which you would need to buy and send to me) and I promise that PDR will immediately spring to life!! I am not a computer guy, but I am persistent and I had to figure it out the long hard way, but I did. Good luck.

P.S. There are a lot of recommendation on the internet how to convert to FAT32, but a lot of it is complicated and baloney. This Easeus program works and is relatively simple.

m3incorp

ZP2016, you are correct in every thing you posted BUT I think what the OP is asking is why the PDR will only allow a single continues stretch of recording of about an hour and 45 minutes. Yes you have the approximate 25 hours of space on your 64 GB card but they are saying the PDR will shut off after roughly the time they are stating. Of course, you can turn it back on and it (PDR) will record for another session and yes each session will be on the memory card until it reaches its full capacity. I think the question is why the PDR won't continue to record continuously up to that theoretical 25 hours of space on your 64 GB card. This has nothing to do with the formatting of the card, as it will be FAT32 for it to work. An example would be you bought a 64 GB card and picked up your car at a dealer 10 hours away. You insert the properly formatted card into the PDR slot and begin your drive home with the intent to record the entire drive. After driving for 1 hr 45 minutes your PDR stops recording, so now you must restart the PDR recording mode and continue to do this about every 1 hr 45 min until you get home. When you get home and you view your PDR recording, it will have four sessions that recorded your drive home, is the way they are explaining it above.

63 Blue Thunder

Yup, m3incorp, you have stated it well. Looks like FAT 32 does not permit extended recording for those of us that want to use the PDR as a dash cam, no matter what the capacity of the card.

With no warning that the PDR is no longer recording, this is a significant deficiency. Remembering to start a new file every 1.45 hours is a nuisance!!!

ZP2016

Interesting, I have only recorded for a short time. I was planning to take a 1400 mile trip to Las Vegas from Kansas City next spring and record the trip. I guess I will have to record it in small sections. A pain in the butt but if it only records for 1.5 hours at a time. I will just have to restart it when necessary.

defaria

FAT32's max file size is 4 gig. You can get about 20 min/gig. Thus a 4 gig video should be approximately 80 minutes. I guess the PDR could be smart enough to say "Hey we're approaching 4 gig. Let's close this and open a new one" but you're not gonna get say a 3 hour video in one file as that would be larger than 4 gig.

cbernhardt

I recently drove my 2015 on a 2000 mile trip trying to use the PDR as a dash camera. The file size is restricted to 4 GIG (approx. 1 hour - 40 minutes), and the PDR will not stop recording at the 4 GIG mark and automatically start a new file, this must be done manually. Hopefully this could be fixed with a software update. I purchased a $20 dash camera and it will record in 10 minute clips and overwrite the oldest file if you run out of memory.

Another problem that I had was that when trying to replay the 4 GIG file using Quicktime I received the following message:
Error – 2002”: a bad public movie atom was found in the movie 51110_080026_00001_.mp4
The file played fine using a program called Avidemux.

Charles