[Mechta]

Hi all,

While I'm impatiently waiting for arrival of my iX1, I'm wondering if people that have received their X1 / iX1 already can let me know if:

A) Can you please confirm that you can trigger manual recording via Drive recorder to USB and whether it has any time limit on it, as far as I know you are limited to 40 seconds when recording to car's hard drive.

B) Does anyone know maximum supported USB- C drive's capacity , I saw on Amazon couple of cheap 512GB USB-C drives and just wondering if X1/iX1 can read them and if they can be used for storing the camera's footage.

Thanks all!

[Tunners]

Found this on YouTube. I haven’t tried it on mine but it looks like you can record manually record to USB but I haven’t come across anything that states there is a max size.

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by Mechta

Hi all,

While I'm impatiently waiting for arrival of my iX1, I'm wondering if people that have received their X1 / iX1 already can let me know if:

A) Can you please confirm that you can trigger manual recording via Drive recorder to USB and whether it has any time limit on it, as far as I know you are limited to 40 seconds when recording to car's hard drive.

B) Does anyone know maximum supported USB- C drive's capacity , I saw on Amazon couple of cheap 512GB USB-C drives and just wondering if X1/iX1 can read them and if they can be used for storing the camera's footage.

Thanks all!

I'll have to check the capacity of the drive that I'm using, but I can answer your other questions. You must have the drive recorder set to record up to 30 seconds prior to the trigger and 30 seconds afterwards (this is the max on my car). The internal storage was rather limited and was able to record about 8 or so clips before it warned me it was getting full.

You can record for a total of 1 minute at a time, whether triggered by an impact or manually triggering by holding down the Park Assist button on the center console for a couple seconds. The car will record the footage from all 4 exterior cameras that are then saved to the internal storage. I have mine set to also record the raw data as well so this may contribute to the internal storage feeling small.

To store the footage on a USB-C thumb drive, you have to manually select the clips you wish to transfer and have them converted and stored on the thumb drive (one incident at a time). You can only do this when the car is on and parked, and takes a few minutes for each incident to be transferred. I have not found a way for the drive recorder to store the footage directly to the thumb drive.

I know you can use the USB-C port for connecting a thumb drive with music stored on it as well, but I'm not sure on the format/folder structure, or if you can use the drive for both storing footage and music at the same time since I just use CarPlay for my music.

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by Tunners

Found this on YouTube. I haven’t tried it on mine but it looks like you can record manually record to USB but I haven’t come across anything that states there is a max size.

Curious, I'll have to look if mine has that Manual Recording Direct to USB feature (it probably does). It looks like it's limited to just one camera view though in the settings, so I may just stick to the way I've been doing it.

[Tunners]

Next time out on a decent run I will give it try and see what happens.

[FlashMonkey929]

So I just went through the Drive Recorder app in my car and you can in fact manually trigger a recording direct to USB for as long as you have space for it it seems. You have to open the app and select manual to USB, and in the settings you can select it to record all cameras. When you select record you can designate which thumb drive you want it to write to, and in the settings you can select which specific camera, front and rear, or all cameras.

I swear it only had one camera at a time before, so maybe the last update added the functionality?

[Tunners]

Thanks for confirming FlashMonkey929

[Mechta]

Originally Posted by FlashMonkey929

So I just went through the Drive Recorder app in my car and you can in fact manually trigger a recording direct to USB for as long as you have space for it it seems. You have to open the app and select manual to USB, and in the settings you can select it to record all cameras. When you select record you can designate which thumb drive you want it to write to, and in the settings you can select which specific camera, front and rear, or all cameras.

I swear it only had one camera at a time before, so maybe the last update added the functionality?

Thank you for the confirmation FlashMonkey, now if only I could find out what is the maximum USB capacity supported as I assume recordings would take a bit of space.

Thanks again for testing

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by Mechta

Thank you for the confirmation FlashMonkey, now if only I could find out what is the maximum USB capacity supported as I assume recordings would take a bit of space.

Thanks again for testing

When I was going through the process today, the USB drive showed approximately 5 hours of recording time, with a 64GB thumb drive that already had a handful of clips on it from all 4 cameras. I’m not sure if that 5 hours was for all 4 cameras recording, or if it was just 1 camera. I can verify in the morning when I get out to the car again.

[Speedbird71]

It’s all 4 cameras. What near useless though is that it only appears to work if the Drive Recorder app is “running’. Need to play with this more, but if it stops recorder when you switch to maps or CarPlay then what’s the point of the app.

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by Speedbird71

It’s all 4 cameras. What near useless though is that it only appears to work if the Drive Recorder app is “running’. Need to play with this more, but if it stops recorder when you switch to maps or CarPlay then what’s the point of the app.

That’s why I think I’m still going to eventually install my Thinkware F200 eventually. I also don’t like that the front camera is so low compared to the camera used in the BMW Nav for augmented reality, which is in the top of the windshield.

[MontyB1]

If you forget to press the button to record or if the it isn't hard enough then the car doesn't record an incident which is quite possible when something suddenly happens. A few in the X3 forum haven't been impressed at what the car has missed incident wise even with a minor bump unfortunately.

So we are going to add something aftermaket. I added this to my X3 and its been great and really good quality being slightly higher resolution. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

There was a good Linus tech tips video that basically said there were 3x chips on the market and it wasn't worth spending a fortune as you basically got the same chip in a more expensive box. This one did really well for good money, has capacitor battery and a few other bits so got it.

[SpaceSilverX1]

Originally Posted by FlashMonkey929

That’s why I think I’m still going to eventually install my Thinkware F200 eventually. I also don’t like that the front camera is so low compared to the camera used in the BMW Nav for augmented reality, which is in the top of the windshield.

I'm about to order a new Thnkware U1000 or something similar.

Too bad BMW doesn't allow Drive Recorder to function like a regular dash cam because very few aftermarket dashcam can record with 4 cameras simultaneously. (not to mention that having 4 cameras inside the car will probably not look good)

[JFDIT]

I find it very strange that there are multiple cameras on the car with permanent connection to the cloud and BMW doesn't offer a DashCam Subscription.

[SpaceSilverX1]

Originally Posted by JFDIT

I find it very strange that there are multiple cameras on the car with permanent connection to the cloud and BMW doesn't offer a DashCam Subscription.

I'll gladly pay for such a subscription. Even if it's $10 o $20 a month, provided the videos are stored in the cloud as part of the subscription.

[Jmills74]

It is quite touchy and does not like it when apps switch. I used a 128GB drive and it could go for hours it seems. It does not show the recordings in the app you have to view them external on a computer or other device. I uploaded the front camera to youtube as a test.

[fili92]

Hi guys, where is the usb port?
Should I just use one of the two USBs in the center console? The ones near the cup holder?

[Tunners]

Originally Posted by fili92

Hi guys, where is the usb port?
Should I just use one of the two USBs in the center console? The ones near the cup holder?

Yes, you use one of the ones in the centre console.