Product Spotlight: Hertz H8 DSP Digital Interface Processor

Known best for its speakers and amplifiers, Hertz has recently added an impressive digital signal processor called the H8 DSP to its mix of car audio upgrade solutions. Since more and more car audio enthusiasts these days are working with factory-installed source units, Hertz focused on making its processor solution easy to integrate into these vehicles. With a full suite of tuning tools on hand for your installation technician, upgrading a vehicle audio system with the H8 DSP will transform it into something truly amazing.

Hertz H8 DSP Features

The H8 DSP features four speaker-level inputs, a pair of RCA auxiliary inputs and a TOSLINK digital input. On the output side, there are eight RCA outputs that will provide up to 4V of signal. The four speaker-level inputs will accept as much as 15V, and the RCA aux input is good for 5V. The processor also includes input level optimization LEDs to help maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the system. Another increasingly important feature is called the Universal Speakers Simulator (USS) technology. This circuit presents an appropriate load to the factory amplifier or radio so that external load resistors aren’t required to make the system function.

Hertz includes a few welcome hardware connections that make using the H8 DSP quite convenient. First, the system includes enough memory for two tuning calibrations. External wire connections are available to let users switch between these presets quickly. The system also includes remote turn-on detection circuitry. This processing will allow the H8 DSP to turn itself on when it detects that the factory radio turns on. There’s also a remote output, so the processor can then turn on your system amplifiers.

Hertz DSP — The Hertz H8 DSP is compact and straightforward, yet provides all the tools required to extract incredible realism from your car audio system.

The software includes an input/output configuration wizard that helps simplify the setup process. Not only does this help with signal routing, but it also enables the de-equalization process. Many factory-installed radios, including some that seem surprisingly basic, include speaker-specific equalization processing. The de-equalization process uses a test track (available as a download from the Hertz website) to undo the factory EQ curve as much as possible. The wizard also sets up some basic crossover settings that mean the system can be up and playing very quickly before the fine-tuning begins. This feature gives your installation technician a level playing field from which he or she can start the calibration process of your new speakers.

Signal Processing Features

In Expert mode, any of the eight channels can be configured with high- and low-pass filters with the option of Butterworth or Linkwitz-Riley filters with slop options up to -24 dB/octave. Crossover points aren’t infinitely adjustable, but there are 68 frequency options available – which is more than enough for any possible system design.

In terms of equalization, there are 31 bands, spaced at standard 1/3-octave spacing. Each band is adjustable on 0.3 dB steps up to plus or minus 12 dB. There’s a cool “select all” button that lets your installer change all the bands at once. This is a great feature if the person tuning your system needs more than 12 dB of cut or boost in a single band, as the entire set of slides can be moved at once.

Your installer can enter the distance between the listening position and the speaker, and then the processor will calculate the delay for each output. There’s a fine-tuning window that lets them add additional delay in 0.02-millisecond steps. There is also a polarity adjustment control of each channel that is labeled as “Invert Phase.”

The level of each of the eight output channels can be adjusted in 0.5 dB steps from 0 to -40 dB. There is a master volume control setting that works in 1 dB steps from 0 to -60 dB and a master subwoofer level control that provides 0.5 dB steps from 0 to -12 dB.

DRC HE Remote Control

The H8 DSP ships with the DRC HE remote control. This compact (2.48- by 1.4-inch) remote includes five buttons and a small 4.5-character, 12-segment display. The remote provides master volume control, subwoofer level control and balance and fader adjustment. The presets can also be toggled by the remote, along with the source input (speaker, aux, or digital). The included connection cable is 14.76 feet (4.5 meters) long. Finally, two-sided tape is included to surface-mount the remote in your vehicle.

Since the processor can operate in a stand-alone mode using the remote as the master on/off switch, it doesn’t require a traditional source unit to be in your audio systems. You can play music from a smartphone through a Bluetooth receiver or a media player like the Audison bit Play using the TOSLINK digital connection.

Upgrade Your Car Audio Experience with the H8 DSP

Whether you have an existing sound system or are planning a new build, having a signal processor like the Hertz H8 DSP in the system is a worthwhile investment. Drop by your local authorized Hertz retailer for a demonstration today! For more information about Hertz car audio products, visit their website, Facebook page, Instagram page, Twitter feed or YouTube channel.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

LTE-connected Dashcam Solutions Provide Peace of Mind

It was only with the adoption of 3G cellular service that streaming video from our phone systems became a reality. 4G cellular services offer a bump in data transfer speed with a theoretical maximum that is more than 50 times faster than 3G, making it easy and reliable to stream high-resolution video. Dashcam manufacturers like BlackVue have developed cloud-based solutions that allow you to use a Wi-Fi hotspot in your vehicle, smartphone internet access tethering or proximity to a hotspot in your home or office to keep tabs on your vehicle. Let’s look at how it works.

Dashcam Internet Connection

Once you’ve had your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer install your dashcam for you, all you need to do is use a smartphone app to connect your dashcam to an internet connection. Many General Motors vehicles include Wi-Fi hotspots, and Ford recently announced they’d be including 4G connectivity in upcoming models. You can also source a mobile hotspot solution from most key cellphone companies like Verizon, AT&T and Sprint in the US and Telus in Canada.

Once the connection is set up, you can connect to your dashcam anytime it’s powered to see what it sees. You can also configure notifications to be pushed to your smartphone should the motion sensor be triggered while your vehicle is parked or if someone or something comes into the camera’s field of vision. If you are worried about vandalism or theft or want to know which cat is walking across the hood of your vehicle, this is the way to go.

LTE Dashcam — Having the ability to see what your camera sees using the BlackVue Over the Cloud app on your smartphone adds incredible piece of mind.

Several models of Thinkware cameras can send notifications about driving impacts or when the camera enters or exits a preselected zone.

Because these dashcams have an integrated GPS antenna, they can be used to provide an alert if someone tows your vehicle away. The difference between the solutions we’ve discussed is in the ability to see the camera image remotely.

Will We See Dashcams with Built-In LTE Connectivity?

Absolutely! In fact, many are already on the market. The Waylens Secure360 4G is one option. Waylens offers several data plans that vary in bandwidth and cost. There are some solutions from lesser-known brands out there. We haven’t tested them in terms of image quality and video compression nor have we determined how easy their interfaces are to use. Be sure you check those things out before purchasing.

The Importance of a Quality Dashcam

As we’ve discussed in detail, having an inexpensive dashcam is great if you want to know if a light was green or red when you entered an intersection or the direction a car was travelling when it hit someone. If you want to capture details like license plates, something that is crucial in identifying vehicles that have left the scene of an accident, then you need a camera with a high-resolution image sensor, high-quality video compression algorithms that preserve detail and excellent hardware that will ensure the system works when you need it. Expect to spend at least $300 on a good quality dashcam plus the cost of installation.

Protect Yourself with a Premium Dashcam

Undoubtedly, we’ll see more and more dashcams with Wi-Fi cloud solutions and LTE connectivity come onto the market over the next few years. Where a dashcam is like having a co-pilot keeping tabs on everything that happens in front and behind your vehicle as you drive, a connected dashcam is your personal night watchman, guarding your pride and joy all through the night. If you are interested in a video recording system for your car or truck, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Custom-Installed Radar Detectors Deliver Better Protection

When it comes to long-range sensitivity to police radar and a defense solution against lidar, a custom-installed radar detector is your best choice. Not only do custom-installed detectors offer fewer distractions within the vehicle, they offer better range and more features to help you reach your destination quickly and efficiently. Let’s look at a few reasons why integrated or custom-installed detectors are the best choice for defending yourself against speed traps.

Radar Receiver Sensitivity

Radar receivers use a horn-shaped microwave antenna (or two) to channel high-frequency signals from the radar gun to a high-sensitivity receiver module. The best units on the market use a digital signal processor to analyze the output of the receiver and quickly and accurately extract information about the presence of X, K and Ka-band police radar.

As with any antenna, the size of the antenna itself plays a significant role in its sensitivity. Sensitivity describes how weak of a signal an antenna can detect. If you have a larger antenna, you can detect a weaker signal.

Because custom-installed radar detectors typically use larger antennae (which can be mounted to the front of the vehicle), they can detect weaker signals and provide longer warnings. Most high-quality radar detectors will detect radar guns at ranges of between 1,500 and 3,500 feet, depending on the radar gun being used and the system you have purchased.

Dealing with Police Lidar

Most police forces are investing in lidar guns as opposed to radar. Lidar is much more precise in terms of singling out a particular vehicle in dense traffic. Because lidar guns can measure the speed of your vehicle in less than half a second, there is no time for a driver to react.

Some portable radar detectors, on their own, include a lidar receiver and will provide you with an alert that your vehicle has been targeted by an officer. In most cases, if you are speeding, this means you’re likely to get a ticket. There is a slim chance that the warning was received as the lidar gun was targeting an adjacent vehicle, but with a beam pattern that is only 30 inches wide at a range of 1,000 feet, that’s unlikely.

Custom-installed detectors typically include a complete laser defense solution as opposed to a laser warning. A laser defense system detects the light signal from the police lidar gun, then transmits a scrambled beam pattern that prevents the law enforcement officer from measuring the speed of your vehicle. We have a complete article that explains how lidar defense systems work here.

Your mobile enhancement retailer will have the training and experience required to outfit your vehicle with enough lidar transceivers and ensure that they are mounted and aligned properly to provide excellent protection.

A Note on Custom Radar Installations

We’ve talked about keeping the interior of your vehicle tidy in the past. Companies like BlendMount offer some nice options for securing a portable radar detector to your rearview mirror, and your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer can take care of running the wiring to a switched power source for you.

That said, a custom-installed detector takes integration to an entirely different level. Displays can be integrated into a rearview mirror, your dash or the center console for a factory-installed appearance. Some shops, like Ai Design in Tuckahoe, New York, are printing entirely new mirror frames to integrate controls and displays for custom radar detector and laser defense system installations. Talk to the team at your local specialist retailer to find out about the options that are available for your vehicle.

Protect Your Driving Record with a Custom-Installed Radar Detector

If you want the longest-range radar detection available and a viable defense solution against police lidar, drop by your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today and ask about their custom-installed radar detector options.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Understanding Advanced Dashcam Features

By now you know that having a dashcam in your car or truck is the best way to protect your self against fraud and false accusations in the event of an accident. As with any type of consumer electronics product, there are basic dashcams and models with advanced technologies. If you want to know what’s going on around your vehicle, even when you’re at home, in your office or on vacation, then you’ll be interested in what these cloud-based technologies offer.

Wi-Fi Connectivity

We’ve talked about dashcams in the past that forego the inclusion of an LCD screen in favor of Wi-Fi connectivity. In many of these cameras, the Wi-Fi connection is used to connect the camera to your smartphone and not specifically to the internet. Thanks to an application on your Apple iPhone or Android-based smartphone, you can connect directly to the camera and watch or download videos stored on the device. You can also adjust the camera settings in real time from the app on your phone, once again negating the need to remove the microSD card and go back and forth to a computer.

Connecting to your dashcam using Wi-Fi offers several benefits. First and foremost, you don’t need a computer in order to access the video files. If you witness or are involved in an accident, you can download the video file to your smartphone right on the spot. The viewing software provided with cameras like the Momento M6 allow you to edit video clips right on your device and upload them to Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Advanced Dashcam — You can connect to your advanced dashcam using an easily configurable Wi-Fi connection.

Once connected, you can view or download the videos stored on your dashcam right to your smartphone.

Cloud Connectivity

Some camera systems like the BlackVue DR900S-2CH include the ability to connect to the internet through a mobile router in your vehicle or your home Wi-Fi network for real-time remote access. Once your camera is connected to the Internet, you can access the camera from anywhere in the world to see what it sees. If you have a mobile hotspot, you can initiate two-way communication with the driver as he or she drives using the speaker and microphone built into the camera.

You have access to all the video files stored on your camera and you can download them for viewing or back them up to your cloud storage. You can even stream video to Facebook Live or YouTube Live if you have an Apple iPhone.

When your camera is in parking mode and connected to the cloud, you can configure the system to send an instant push notification to your phone if your camera system detects an event. The event can be triggered by the impact sensor or motion in the image.

Vehicle Locating and Tracking Service

Because all of the dash cameras at these feature levels include a GPS receiver, you can check the location of your vehicle on a map. For business owners, BlackVue offers a corporate service called BlackVue Fleet Tracking. You can monitor the location of your vehicles in real time, view vehicle location history and stream live video from up to four cameras at once using the BlackVue Viewer Pro application on your Windows computer. Geographically based warnings are another handy feature to let management manage their assets.

Advanced Video Compression

Though not a benefit in terms of real-time safety, cameras like the BlackVue DR900S-2CH include the option for H.265 image compression. Where most cameras use the H.264 codec to compress the video data, the more advanced H.265 (also called High Efficiency Video Coding or HEVC) format allows for a reduction in file size by about 50% with no additional loss of detail. What does this mean to the owner of a dashcam that offers H.265? You can store almost twice as many video files on the microSD card. This is an important feature for cameras that record in 2K and 4K resolution.

Advanced Dashcam Features and Technology

If you are in the market for a dashcam with advanced features like cloud connectivity and Wi-Fi, visit your local specialist mobile enhancement retailer today. They would be happy to show you what is available and arrange for their technicians to integrate one into your vehicle.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Drone Telematics is Ideal for Families with Young Drivers

If there’s a young driver in your family, upgrading your vehicle with a telematics system like Drone is a great way to know where they are and how they’re driving. Drone combines high-speed cellular LTE connectivity with an onboard GPS receiver to relay the exact location of the vehicle to your smartphone or the Drone website. You can even configure geofence notifications, so you know when the vehicle arrives at or leaves a specific location. Let’s look at how these features work to help keep parents calm when their kids are driving the family car or truck.

GPS-Based Vehicle Locating

The X1-MAX, X1R and DR-5400 Drone modules include an integrated GPS receiver antenna. Location information is visible within the DroneMobile app on your iOS or Android smartphone or on the Drone website. The GPS locating capability is impressively precise. This accuracy lets you know which side of a driveway you’re parked on or exactly where the car is in a mall parking lot.

If your son or daughter is out with the car, you can check their location and speed while they’re on the move. If you expect them home at 10:30, you can see whether they’ve left their friend’s house or movie theatre, or if they’re just around the corner.

Young Drivers — When you use the Drone app to find the location of a vehicle, you can click on the icon to see how fast the car is traveling.

Geofences Deliver Instant Alerts

A lot of families allow their kids to use the family vehicle to go to work at a part-time job. By logging into the Drone website, you can create alerts based on an address or a geographic area on a map. The website allows you to set these warnings (called geofences) based on a radius around the chosen location or using a rectangle or adjustable polygon. Another option is to use the POI (Point of Interest) feature to set an alert. You can enter the address of a business or someone’s house, and the Drone system will let you know when the vehicle arrives at or leaves that location.

As you can see from the above screenshot, this family has configured the system to let them know when their son arrives at the drugstore where he works. This information will also be recorded in the Activity Log so that it can be reviewed later.

Speed Warnings Promote Safety

You can always click on the Location tab, then click on the vehicle icon to see how fast it is traveling. Likewise, you can configure the system to send an alert to your smartphone if the vehicle exceeds a preset speed limit.

The Curfew Alert feature is another way to monitor the use of your vehicle. Once you’ve configured a start and stop time, the system will send a notification if the vehicle moves during that time period. There’s no way to sneak out at night with the car when this is activated.

Drone Reduces Parent Stress

Most of us trust our children to take care of our vehicles. That doesn’t mean that we don’t worry when they’re driving. With Drone on board, we can check their location and speed as often as we want. Visit your local authorized Drone retailer to have the hardware installed in your vehicle, then choose from the Premium, Premium Plus or Ultimate service plan packages. You can learn more about the fantastic features of Drone by visiting their website, Facebook page, Instagram page and Twitter, or their YouTube channel.

This article is written and produced by the team at www.BestCarAudio.com. Reproduction or use of any kind is prohibited without the express written permission of 1sixty8 media.

Product Spotlight: Hertz H8 DSP Digital Interface Processor

Hertz H8 DSP Features

Signal Processing Features

DRC HE Remote Control

Upgrade Your Car Audio Experience with the H8 DSP

LTE-connected Dashcam Solutions Provide Peace of Mind

Dashcam Internet Connection

Will We See Dashcams with Built-In LTE Connectivity?

The Importance of a Quality Dashcam

Protect Yourself with a Premium Dashcam

Custom-Installed Radar Detectors Deliver Better Protection

Radar Receiver Sensitivity

Dealing with Police Lidar

A Note on Custom Radar Installations

Protect Your Driving Record with a Custom-Installed Radar Detector

Understanding Advanced Dashcam Features

Wi-Fi Connectivity

Cloud Connectivity

Vehicle Locating and Tracking Service

Advanced Video Compression

Advanced Dashcam Features and Technology

Drone Telematics is Ideal for Families with Young Drivers

GPS-Based Vehicle Locating

Geofences Deliver Instant Alerts

Speed Warnings Promote Safety

Drone Reduces Parent Stress

Customer Reviews

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