Key Facts: Dash Cams
This page is Dashcam Lab's maintained fact reference — the spec facts our guides are built on, restated in plain prose. We report verifiable specifications, never legal advice about recording law.
Resolution: true 4K vs interpolated
True 4K means the sensor itself natively outputs 3840×2160 pixels of real detail. Some cameras marketed as "4K" actually use a lower native-resolution sensor (often around 1440p/2K) and upscale the file to a 3840×2160 container — the file plays back at 4K dimensions, but no additional real detail exists in it. The sensor and encoder behind the number matter more than the number itself. See Is That 4K Dash Cam Really 4K?
Sony STARVIS and STARVIS 2
STARVIS and STARVIS 2 are Sony sensor generations, not standalone specs. STARVIS (1st generation) is a back-illuminated CMOS line built for improved low-light sensitivity over standard CMOS sensors. STARVIS 2 is the newer generation, adding further low-light sensitivity gains plus improved dynamic range (how well the sensor handles very bright and very dark areas in the same frame, like oncoming headlights at night). Neither generation name implies a specific resolution. Full explainer: What Does STARVIS 2 Change?
Bitrate as the real quality metric
Two cameras at the identical advertised resolution can differ several-fold in encoder bitrate (Mbps) — roughly 10-20 Mbps at the low end, 20-40 Mbps mid-tier, and 40-60+ Mbps at the high end. Lower bitrate means more aggressive compression, which loses fine detail first under motion or low light — exactly the moments a dash cam exists to capture. More in Why Bitrate Matters More Than Resolution.
Frame rate and plate legibility
Most dash cams record at 30fps; some higher-end front cameras offer 60fps. A higher frame rate reduces motion blur per frame at highway closing speeds, improving the odds that a license plate or other detail is legible in at least one frame. See Can a Dash Cam Read License Plates?
HDR / WDR
HDR/WDR (High/Wide Dynamic Range) means the camera blends multiple exposures per frame so both very bright areas (sky, oncoming headlights) and very dark areas (shadowed road, night interiors) stay visible in the same shot, instead of one blowing out or the other going black.
Supercapacitor vs lithium battery
A supercapacitor stores charge electrostatically, tolerates extreme heat (commonly up to ~140°F/60°C or higher) with minimal degradation, and provides a short power buffer (seconds to about a minute) once the car shuts off. A lithium battery stores more total energy for a longer buffer window but degrades faster under repeated dashboard-heat cycling over 1-3 years. The honest reason capacitors show up in hot-climate dash cams: heat survival, not longer runtime. Full breakdown: Capacitor vs Battery Dash Cams.
Parking mode types and the hardwire-kit requirement
"Parking mode" covers three distinct features: buffered/motion-triggered (records when motion is detected nearby), impact-triggered (records on physical shock), and time-lapse (continuous reduced-frame-rate recording while parked). Any of these running longer than a capacitor's brief buffer requires a hardwire kit tapping constant battery power, with a low-voltage cutoff module to stop recording before the car's starter battery is drained too low. Details in How Does Parking Mode Actually Work?.
Storage math: GB per hour, loop recording, endurance cards
File size scales directly with bitrate: roughly 6.75 GB/hour at ~15 Mbps, 13.5 GB/hour at ~30 Mbps, and 22.5 GB/hour at ~50 Mbps. Dash cams use loop recording, continuously overwriting the oldest footage once storage fills. Standard consumer microSD cards are rated for infrequent read/write and fail early under that constant-overwrite workload — endurance or high-endurance cards use flash and firmware specifically rated for it. See What microSD Card Do Dash Cams Need? and How Many Hours Fit on a Card?
Field of view vs edge distortion
Typical dash cams cover roughly 140-170 degrees diagonally. A wider field of view captures more of a scene (useful at intersections) but increases lens distortion toward the frame edges, where objects appear smaller and more skewed than they actually are.
Operating temperature ranges
Dash cam electronics are commonly rated for roughly -4°F to 140°F (-20°C to 60°C), but the power-source component — capacitor or battery — is frequently the real limiting factor in a hot, parked car.
A note on recording law
Dash cam and in-car audio-recording rules vary by state and country and change over time. We do not give legal advice — check your own local law before recording audio or mounting a camera on your windshield.
How these facts are maintained
These facts are drawn from Sony Semiconductor Solutions' public sensor documentation, manufacturer specification sheets, and microSD endurance-card datasheets, reviewed against our guides and updated on the date shown above when specs or the market change. We do not publish prices or star ratings, every pick names an honest drawback, and we report verifiable specification facts — never legal-outcome claims. Our full methodology is at How We Evaluate Dash Cams.