Real 4K vs. Fake 4K Dash Cams

A true 4K camera captures at a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels (W x H), which roughly translates into 8 megapixels (MP), so it must have at least an 8 MP sensor to do so. Any image sensors smaller than 8 MP are physically incapable of capturing 4K video, yet that’s what many so-called 4K cameras claim, through upscaling.

While all true 4K dash cams are equipped with 8 MP sensors, not all of them are created equally. The Sony STARVIS 2, found in models like the BlackVue DR970X Plus, Thinkware U3000, and VIOFO A229 Pro, offers superior low-light performance, colour and contrast, clarity, noise reduction, and lower power consumption. Advanced technologies such as high-bitrate recording, faster shutter speeds, Super Night Vision, and HDR further improve video quality, making these newer models the best choice for capturing high-quality footage. Sony STARVIS 2 image sensors are currently the pinnacle of dash cam quality, and are a key factor to look for when searching for a high-recording-quality model.

Many cheaper 4K dash cams on the market use older image sensors like the OmniVision OS08A10 (launched circa 2020) and the Sony STARVIS IMX334 (launched circa 2018).

True 4K resolution is 3840x2160 pixels, providing exceptionally clear and detailed footage. However, many fake 4K dash cams, such as the Rove R2-4K and Rexing V1, use upscaling to artificially enhance lower-resolution footage. Upscaling is a process where the dash cam stretches or enlarges the video to meet the 4K pixel count, often resulting in distorted or blurry images. Upscaling tries to intelligently guess what fills missing pixels, but simply can’t create details that were never captured in the lower resolution. Some fake 4K cams even record at non-standard resolutions like 2880x2160, which fail to deliver the true quality of authentic 4K, misleading consumers with inferior performance. While the vertical resolution (2160) matches true 4K, the horizontal resolution (2880) falls short. To achieve 3840 pixels horizontally, these cams stretch the video, distorting the image quality and misrepresenting true 4K performance.

Lastly, as 4K cameras require high-resolution sensors which don’t come cheap, this is often reflected in the price of the final product. Our most affordable 4K dash cam, the VIOFO A229 Pro, starts at a somewhat steep price of $229.99 USD - and that’s just with a single camera, no SD card, and no hardwiring kit! As a result, if you come across a 4K dash cam for anything less than that, the chances of it being fake are higher, and you will most likely not get the results you were hoping for.

Even if you choose a dash cam that records true 4K video, what good is it if the footage comes out choppy and full of motion blur? That’s why it’s important to avoid 4K dash cams that capture at lower framerates, which we define as anything below 30 fps. All of the 4K dash cams we currently carry capture at 30 fps, but this isn’t always the case with cheaper or older systems.

Many 4K dash cams on the market run older or lower-end hardware, which leads to constraints in their ability to capture at an ideal framerate. These cheaper or older 4K dash cams will account for those constraints by dropping their framerates to prioritize the desired resolution. While lower framerate footage may be perfectly usable when everything’s at a crawl or a standstill, important details like license plates and road signs become increasingly more difficult to make out as speed increases.

Even older 4K systems from name brands like the VIOFO A139 Pro did exactly this: it captured 4K video at 30 fps in its 1- and 2-channel configurations, but adding the third interior camera limited the framerate to 24 fps. Fortunately, this is no longer an issue with its successor, the A229 Pro, which sustains the full 30 fps even with the third camera in action.

If you plan on purchasing a multi-channel dash cam, make sure to check the video quality of any additional cameras as well. You may not want a system that sacrifices rear and interior video quality for high-quality front footage.

The BlackVue DR970X Plus series’ rear and interior cameras only capture at 1080p, but we’ll cut them some slack since their powerful cloud features need that extra processing power. However, many other 4K dash cams without cloud features only capture at 1080p or lower resolutions at the rear.

While we have yet to see any dash cams that capture 4K video across all channels, systems like the VIOFO A229 Pro and Thinkware U3000 capture 2K video in the rear, ensuring that anything that happens behind your vehicle is captured with greater clarity and detail than 1080p footage. The A229 Pro specifically even uses Sony STARVIS 2 in it’s rear camera.

Because 4K video files are significantly larger than 2K or 1080p files, they naturally take up more space on the dash cam’s SD card. Smaller SD cards, with a capacity of 64GB or less, can only store a few hours of 4K footage at a time, not accounting for any system files or footage from other channels in the system. This will either translate into a full SD card in no time or a smaller window to retrieve important footage before it’s deleted, depending on how the dash cam operates.

We recommend choosing 4K dash cams that support storage capacities of 128GB or greater. Both of Thinkware’s 4K systems, the U1000 and U3000, and the original BlackVue DR970X support SD cards as large as 256GB, while all of BlackVue’s and VIOFO’s current 4K systems support a maximum storage capacity of 512GB. Having more storage means a lower chance of your SD card filling up or important footage being lost as it’s overwritten.