[RickZ007]

The Advanced Eye 2 comes with a 32gb MLC MicroSD card, does anybody know if it will take a 64gb? I'm thinking the less frequently the camera overwrites files the longer the card will last....

 

[RickZ007]

Hi RickZ007,
SD Card Size
The key point with the SD Cards used in this dash cam is that they are of 'Industrial Specifications' - 32 GB micro SD class 10 MLC and cost around £25 to £35 with a life expectancy of 5 yrs. You can also get larger SD Cards though I have never bothered with these seeing that the 32 GB is expected to last 5 yrs. I would recommend a spare though, if you do daily high mileage, see all my previous postings on page 6.
Do not purchase SD Cards from your local High Street suppliers even though they may state that they are compatible, as I discovered they were not of Industrial Specifications and did not work in the BMW ACE 2.0 camera.
See also page 5 on this subject from Geezergeek who quotes: "For those who may be interested I sourced a 32GB and a 64GB card from mouser as recommended above. They took a week to come from Texas to Australia and both worked out of the box. The system set up the cards and they just worked a few seconds from entry into the slot. Remains to be seen how they go in the field but with some hot weather around here at the moment (over 40C) I'll report back if any issues."
Links to the Mouser site can be found on these pages.
Has anyone else tried a bigger SD Card who can offer some advice?
Regards, Jack.

Hi Jack thanks for the advice and your informative posts, my new M135i is due to arrive 3rd Week of March when my BMW dealer will install the Advanced Car Eye 2. I'm sure I'll be making use of your excellent posts after handover. I can purchase a 64gb VIOFO MLC MicroSD for £25.99 from Amazon UK, I guess the 5 year life expectancy you quoted is based on an average dash cam daily write/erase rate therefore that rate falls with larger memory cards suggesting life expectancy will increase. My thoughts are to use a 64gb and keep the 32gb as a spare to use if the 64 fails or I need to save a recording following an event. It's my understanding that a 64gb card should store between 4-5hrs of footage using both front and rear cameras.....Rgds Rick

 

[RickZ007]

Update on the above post:
Hi everyone,
luvinit and I exchanged video clips taken in similar weather conditions and agreed that they are of the same quality. Mine was recorded on AVI and luvinit's clip on MP4 and, although luvinit feels that the quality is not that good, I thought that they were acceptable for the task that they are doing and as long that it can identify whose in the wrong then job done! The main thing to remember is our eyesight is different so no one can be wrong or right! It was good to exchange the video clips as our knowledge has increased. Many thanks luvinit for your participation. Has anyone else out there any views on video quality? let us know and if you have any advice on improving the clips during editing. Regards, Jack

Hi Jack,
Are the clips you refer to posted anywhere for us to view, I'm interested in the ACE 2 recording quality, some of the videos on Youtube are misleading and look as though file compression reduced quality in some cases...

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Rickz007,
No unfortunately, as this forum does not support such I believe. I was going to send luvinit my clip by email but in the end we used 'WhatsApp' because the 30 sec clip was still too large! We had both used both front and rear cameras @ 30fps. The only thing that I can suggest is that you PM me and I'll send you my AVI video clip via WhatsApp. I cannot send luvinit's clip due to data protection and permission etc. Jack

Hi Jack,

I use Youtube for sharing video footage privately where a website limits file size or doesn't facilitate video uploads and send a link to those I wish to view it...

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack, thanks for this link unfortunately it doesn't work, I've tried adding .com and replacing the . with u but it still doesn't work. I've PM'd you showing what the link should look like, it's sitting the outbox at the moment. Think messages stay in the outbox until read which is a strange approach...

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Rick
Try this link... I suppose everyone can see it, but it will give you and any one else an idea of the quality..
Jack

https://youtu.be/_R3-mQGdY4E

Thanks for posting the video Jack, the front recording quality looks fine to me. As you rightly said it's good enough to see a number plate when required. Is there any truth that the rear camera is only 720P for some reason resulting in low quality recordings than the front camera which I believe is 1080p...

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Rick, rear view clip for you to consider, early morning 0745 hrs ...Jack

https://youtu.be/-1zeMH4OZjI

Thanks Jack, as with the front footage the rear footage looks more than good enough to me. Is the camera looking through sun protect/privacy glass, it's difficult to tell.....

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack, I picked up my 135 last Thursday and ACE 2 is running fine though I find connecting the app to view recordings seems a little hit and miss because my camera decides to record which disconnects the app, eventually I'll manage to connect when recording g stops. Regarding the battery, page 32 of the manual says in Parking mode to protect the battery ACE 2 will be shutdown automatically after a defined amount of power has been used.....

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack hope you're looking after yourself and keeping well. I've been playing around with my ACE2 to get a better feel for it and found to connect I have to start the engine until ACE2 says recording started then stop it, I then wait until it says recording stopped, parking mode then open the App and select connect to wifi which takes me to wifi settings, I select the ACE wifi name and it connects then I back out to the App. I don't know what would happen in the event of an accident that prevented me starting the car which would prevent me downloading any recordings, I guess I'd have to slide the camera off the base and take it with me until I can access the files. I don't get with the camera on why I have to start the engine to get the camera into record mode then stop it in order to stop record mode before I can connect. I can't connect without starting the engine first.

Once connected when I try to view recordings some play fine, others take an age to play, some only show recordings from the front camera, it seems very hit and miss. I'm not sure if the MicroSD card quality has any effect on the speed and reliability of displaying recordings, the card that's in mine doesn't have a brand name or MLC stamped on it. Yesterday I had to take some medication to my daughter and on the way a pickup pulling a large trailer passed in the opposite direction, as it approached the trailer slewed out toward me and just missed fortunately. When I got home I went to check the footage on my ACE2 and found it and decided to download it but halfway through downloading the camera powered down so I went through the hassle of reconnecting to find the part of the recording up to the camera powering down has gone missing from the camera. I'm lost as to why the camera powered down part way through a download and why it seems so precarious trying to view recordings directy from the camera. The only time I've needed a recording and ACE2 let me down which raises a few questions concirning reliability which is paramount in a dashcam.

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack, I had another play and definately can't connect the App to the camera without starting the car first initiating the record function then stopping the car to cancel record. I've contacted ACE2 support with photo's of the MicroSD that allegedly came with my ACE2 as I'm doubtful over both the quality and spec of this card given there's no brand name printed on it. Support previously informed me most cards will work if they are MLC with write speeds of 40mb/s minimum, I've purchased a Transcend 32GB High Endurance microSDXC/SDHC (see photo) which is MLC and designed for frequent rewrites with write speed 45Mb/s, it will be interesting to see if actually works and if recording and viewing performance improve. I mention recording performance because occasionally recordings display a stutter during playback which is still evident after download suggesting it happens during the recording process and may be memory card related. All I want is to build up confidence that when I need my ACE2 it doesn't let me down like it did the other day......

 

[RickZ007]

Thanks Jack, I think my ACE2 has been wired correctly because it's been recording in Park mode fine. Recording generally seems fine apart from the odd hiccup in recordings my main issue is the WiFi connection process which seems very erratic. I'm guessing to connect to the ACE 2 wifi it's normal to start the engine to put the camera into record mode then stopping the engine stops record mode and puts ACE 2 into Park mode then WiFi will connect. I can't see any other way to connect and access the recordings. My new MicroSD card just arrived I'll format it in the camera tomorrow and see how it goes, fingers crossed. Can you access your recordings without starting the engine.....

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Rick,
….yes I can access all aspects including recordings without starting the engine, this is as it should be. I wonder if it can be a firmware issue? I would definitely put all this to the ACE 2 Support for their advice and guidance. Let us know how you get on tomorrow. Jack.

If you went to your car now how would you connect. If I go to my car now and pressed the start button without starting the engine my Android phone wouldn't see the ACE 2 WiFi.

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack, as per my previous post my ACE 2 records fine in Park Mode does this suggest it's wired right. My understanding is that the only wiring is the supply and if it records in Park Mode with the car locked it's wired correctly from a supply that remains on. I'll contact ACE 2 support today and see what they have to say. I'll also try my new MicroSD card and see if there's any improvement to viewing recordings, either way I can format the original card in the camera and keep it as spare in case I ever need to remove the new one to protect a recorded event. I'll keep you posted....

P.S. In my ACE 2 manual it says on page 37 that for vehicles registered 2019 onward 3 quick presses of the start/stop but are required to connect, I'll give that a try and hopefully my connection issue will be resolved, fingers crossed and watch this space.....

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack, the three presses works as does the new MicroSD though I haven't seen any improvement in performance. I'm beginning to think the ACE 2 App is the root of a few problems because I find when I select some recordings they eventually play front footage only as though the rear camera didn't record, then if I pause playback both the front/rear camera buttons appear and play. I now think that both camera's record every time but there are issues with the App causing it not to playback properly. I'm going to experiment with VLC on my Mac to playback recordings on the memory card.

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack already reinstalled the App and reset the ACE 2, great minds think alike. I managed to split the files in VLC no problem, I find the split even works during playback when it brings up a second window and you can flip between the two and by dragging the screen sizes down watch them side by side. Fortunately the issue with the missing footage showing the idiot who nearly took me out the other day is an ACE 2 App issue, I managed to find and view the full file in VLC. Just out of interest I checked to see if their number late was clear enough to read, by dragging the VLC progress bar backward and forward I just about managed to pick it out, I confirmed it was correct by using the DVLC Road Tax checker which gave the correct vehicle details. It took a bit of playing about to stop on a reasonable clear frame but wasn't bad considering our combined passing speen was around 80mph. Another thing I've noticed is that the ACE 2 App often doesn't play back audio leading me to think there may be a mic issue but audio plays fine for every recording in VLC, another App bug.

 

[RickZ007]

When I try to set up my ACE 2, I get a message on my phone's wifi settings saying that the BMW is connected but "no internet", I wont let me proceed any further with the setup as you have described so well. My phone has the internet in the same car, so why does the ACE/app say "no internet". Does I need internet when it is next t the phone?

I would really appreciate your advice.

Thanks

What I do on my M135i X is enter the car and press the start button 3 times which switches the ignition on and powers my ACE2. Next I start the ACE2 App and when it opens I select "Go to wifi settings", I ignore my BMW connection and look for the wifi ID for my ACE2 and select it then enter the PW I set,once connected I press the back button which returns me to the App which is now connected to my ACE2. The ACE2 transmits it's own wifi signal, at some point you will have set it up with an ID and password, it's these you use to connect your App to the ACE2 wifi.

 

[RickZ007]

Take care Jack and many thanks for all your efforts.

For all the remaining ACE 2.0 owners, mine had been working find including connecting to the Android ACE 2 App, then the other day the App stopped connecting for no apparent reason so I raised it with ACE 2.0 support and their reply is attached and works if anybody else has experienced the same....

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack fortunately my ACE2 still appears to be working fine. I'm intrigued to understand why some are affected by the upgrade whilst others aren't. Given the apps poor reliability I'd have thought ACE would have made an effort to get their updates right before releasing. Given the BMW and Mini logo are on the ACE2 you'd hope BMW are on their back......

 

[RickZ007]

Hi Jack, I agree with you on the Android front. I bought a more robust memory card for my ACE2 and keep the original as a spare. I had a near miss with someone driving recklessly towards me towing a trailer and checked the footage on my PC out of interest and freeze framed the offending car and managed to pick out the number plate at what was at least a combined speed of 100mph. I'd say this was pretty good given all the negative comments about the ACE2. Occasionally I'll connect with the app to confirm my ACE2 is working and find the App is problematic but fortunately the ACE2 seems to just work and do it's job, touch wood.

 

[RickZ007]

Have you reformatted the microSD card.