Last updated 5/7/2023
What is continuous loop recording on dash cams?
A continuous loop recording dash cam records video when the SD card is full, and overwrites the old recording on a dash cam with the new footage. Essentially, it gives your dash cam the ability to continue to record despite the full or used camera memory space.
Most dash cams come with loop recording pre-installed. Continuous recording has it’s advantages and disadvantages, and we’ll give a high level overview of both in this post.
What Does Loop Recording do With Video Files?
The loop recording feature overwrites old video clips and saves new ones when your SD card (or other storage method) exceeds the limit of the camera memory. It’s typical of almost every dash cam on the market to have a loop recording feature, but it can also vary based on the device manufacturer.
When planning a long drive you should have a high-capacity SD cards that can store all the footage for your trip. Or you can clear out your old footage manually or format your SD card.
Advantages of Dash Cam Loop Recording
Loop recording provides additional support to your dash cam. The primary purpose of loop recording lies in the human aspect of being a camera owner. People often forget to clean their SD card or delete old boring dash cam footage so a feature that allows them to automatically delete it is convenient.
Another advantage lies in the loop recording time aspect. Loop recording breaks down a large video clip into small video clips.
These short videos can be managed easily and transferred a lot more easily. Large videos take a long time to download, transfer, or edit on one hand. Some dash cams don’t record audio in an attempt to lower file size as well.
Similarly, this allows for quick identification of footage from a car accident. Accidents occur in minutes, sometimes seconds. The longer the video segments, accidents are harder for users to find.
Typical dash cam storage methods include:
- Memory cards (standard camera micro SD Card);
- Cloud storage \ Cloud Video Management;
- Pre-installed dash camera’s or car camera memory card;
- Video clips stored via WiFi.
Disadvantage of Continuous Recording
Several have also argued that loop recording will overwrite filmed footage which can be used as evidence in the event of an accident.
Related: How Long Do Dash Cams Record?
Sometimes the continuous loop recording feature can malfunction when the SD card contains too many video files for overwriting, AKA the time you need it most.
Essentially, this would result in the entire captured dash cam video recording being deleted. The maximum storage size of a dash cam can vary since video clips are stored in many different locations.
However, this won’t happen if your dash camera has a G-Sensor, which are found higher quality dash cams. If an accident happens, a dash cam with a G-Sensor automatically enters an emergency state, retaining accident footage that can’t be overwritten.
How Does Dash Cam Loop Recording Work?
Video captured by the camera may be enlarged to the maximum capacity the computer has on the card. A diaphragm camera will have an integrated memory card to avoid having to pay for a memory card.
Remember that different dash cams can accommodate different file sizes and can be used on different memory cards. Once a SD card is overwritten the older files are replaced with new videos. It can also be very frustrating and expensive when traveling for long distances. As mentioned in our Cobra SC 400D review, there’s a reason all the best dash cameras have a quality loop recording mechanism installed within the firmware – it’s incredibly important to have.
Another disadvantage lies in the case that your dash cam requires an SD card but you don’t have one installed. If you have loop recording mode enabled in this situation, you continuously overwrite footage that happened a few minutes prior. In this case, it’d be best to turn loop recording mode off until you’re able to install an SD memory card.
How to Turn Loop Recording On for Short Video Clips?
Whatever the specific vehicle model follows, the procedure will complete the dashcam settings. First find the settings in the dashcam menu. Then, find Loop Record column and click OK.
The interface offers three different lengths of time: one minute, three minutes, and five minutes. The duration will depend on how you are feeling and click OK. Ideally, the time length should not be too long and should be sufficient. We find 3 to 5 minute video files to be optimal.
Reasons for not being able to set loop recording
Loop recording is typically turned on by default. Unless a recording was made during emergency mode, this would be unprotected and could only be manually deleted.
Moreover, the memory card is limited in its storage and unable to record loops without being deleted immediately. So if the display on the dash cam shows inadequate storage then the user has to manually delete these videos before they can be used. In some cases, you may even find some video recordings on this card, even in emergencies.
It has the same feature of recording loops as other dashboard cams that allow the user to record clips for one second or two.
Loop recording is available to almost all Dash Camera cameras and allows for continuous video recording when a SD card is full of SD. Dashcams that have Loop recordings with a memory card are stored as short fragments usually between 3 – 5 minutes.
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