I am trying to find out where the microphone is located for the PDR. My sound is terrible and I want to check the mic before making the dreaded trip to the dealer. Sound is very muffled and voices inside the car are all but unintelligible. Is this normal or do I have a problem? Thanks for any and all info you can provide on PDR sound. Also, when you put the PDR in VALET mode by entering your 4-digit code, my understanding is that it starts recording immediately. But when does it stop recording? If you put it in VALET mode when dropping it off at the dealer and it has to stay overnight, does it just record all night long (assuming you have enough SD card space available)? Do you need to enter the 4-digit code again to turn it off?

 

Does ANYONE actually USE the PDR? A little help would be appreciated. Someone must have something to say on this topic.

 

If I had it, I'd answer you. The only microphone I know of is at the top of the driver's side "A" pillar and that is used for the phone and DIC commands.

Elmer

 

I have it and used it twice already. It does sound like the mic is muffled maybe under the dash area somewhere. At speed though it maybe good that it is muffled or I think you would get alot baffling.

 

According to a Corvette engineer, "It's integrated into the camera, underneath the trim and in front of the inside rear view mirror."

 

In the other thread on this topic, I mentioned that I found the mic to be in the same area as the camera by tapping my finger in the area with the PDR recording. The finger taps were obvious in the same area as camera itself.

Also, my PDR stops recording about a minute after engine shut off in valet mode. Starts recording on its own when engine is started. You need to enter the code to turn valet mode off.

As far as sound, I think it is decent. In the other thread, I posted a short PDR clip that had a portion of a bluetooth paired phone conversation on it - gives you an idea of what to expect. This was in a vert.

 

I have PDR and other than the overlays I am not impressed with the video quality or sound quality at all.

The video has black areas encouraging on the upper left and right, the quality is grainy, does not show well in other than extreme sunshine.

The audio is okay but not good.

The ability to add the overlays is GREAT.

I am hoping to take simultaneous video / audio with PDR and GoPros and then with Adobe Premier blend them together or an overall better outcome.

At somepoint, it would be great if there was an 'upgrade' option from a vendor on the PDR camera and mic!

 

Here is a Corvette engineer's response to camera quality, "We do have an HD video camera, but because of the data acquisition we're pulling, 720p HD was the highest quality we could go and still capture the data for Performance Data Recorder. If we went to 1080p, you would lose half of your recording time. We wanted to find that perfect balance, and we feel like we did."

Quote from: https://www.facebook.com/corvette/po...079507322238:0

 

make the resolution a user configuration item through the menu just like to add and which to add overlay is currently.

 

I got from the comments that there would be a bandwidth issue at 1080p while capturing the other data streams, so 720p was as high as they could go. So that seems the technical limitation. The storage comment was not a good reason IMO because memory cards are big and cheap. I don't see a $60 128Gb card as difficult when you have a $60k+ car.

As for the video quality, I agree the recordings are poor in comparison to other "HD" cameras. First it's soft, indicating poor lens or video processing or over compression. 720p video can look amazing and sharp. Second, the color balance is off and the colors are very muted - almost a sepia hue. Again maybe lens or not accounting for the windshield filtering, but this may be correctable in the device firmware. So maybe that's a future dealer update. But if the camera head is just spitting out a bitstream to the SD card, that may not work if there are already bandwidth limits. You could do it in video post-processing, so maybe a Cosworth software update. The obscuring of the video in the upper corners seems like a design oversight/limitation though.

But for all that negative, it's still pretty darn cool. I'd order the PDR without hesitation. The overlays and the Toolbox software post-processing and analytics are sweet. Without question the video could be better though.

 

The blacked out areas in the upper left and/or right corners is probably due to the blacked out area of the windshield. If you look at the camera from the outside of the windshield, you will see the windshield blackout curves around the camera opening. Camera needs to be moved or aimed downward just a bit or the blacked out area of the windshield needs to have a larger opening for the camera to shoot through.