Dash Cam Settings Overview

Inward-facing trip images are available in vehicles with all dual-facing cameras. Enable Driver-Facing Trip Images to display images of both the driver and road every two minutes. By default, this setting is disabled and displays only outward-facing images.

Camera ID facial recognition is supported with dual-facing dash cams. If you want to use dash cams to identify drivers, enable facial recognition.

Audio recording is supported by all dash cams and internal multi-cameras. By default, audio recording is disabled. If your state or municipality allows it, you can enable audio recording alongside video capture. Audio recording begins only after you enable this setting and does not apply to any previous historical footage.

For more information on the impact to your video storage capacity if you enable this setting, see Dash Cam Storage Capacity.

Adjustable settings for camera storage and video quality are only supported in vehicles with dash cam models CM31 and CM32.

Your camera simultaneously records High Resolution Video (HRV) and Secondary Extended Video (SEV), a lower resolution video. Video Retrieval for HRV, SEV and hyperlapse footage is limited by theDash Cam Storage Capacity. Video storage capacity reduces when you enable in-cab Audio Recording or install a Camera Connector.

By default, dash cams utilize Standard (highest quality) HRV storage. You can customize storage (Standard (default), Increased, Extended) to increase HRV capacity with a lower video quality. To preview the video quality, hover over the setting.

HRV footage is available for clips up to 10min in length. For clips longer than 10min, the hyperlapse functionality enables retrieval of up to 40min of sped-up footage.

To increase the number of hours of total camera video storage, you can allocate more storage to SEV, which reduces the video storage capacity of HRV. See Dash Cam Storage Capacity for more information on the impact of camera accessories or increasing allocated SEV storage capacity to video recording capacity.

By default, dash cams record for 10min after a trip ends. On CM3x series dash cams, with the Parking Mode setting enabled, the dash cam records both road-facing and inward-facing video for 1hr (default) beyond the standard 10min time. For example, a Recording Window setting of 1hr will record 1hr and 10min after a trip has ended. You can customize the Parking Mode recording time from 1hr to up to 12hrs in 1hr increments.

When you enable Parking Mode, audio is captured only if audio recording is enabled for the vehicle; however, AI functionality is disabled.

The vehicle battery will continue to power the dash cams after the vehicle is disabled. Therefore, Parking Mode is only recommended for vehicles with healthy batteries that are driven regularly. Longer recording times drain the battery at a faster rate than shorter recording times.

Cameras installed using the Camera Connector will work only if the third-party camera is configured in a way that permits power to the third-party camera after the vehicle has been turned off. Otherwise, the Samsara dash cam will record after the vehicle has been turned off, but cameras installed using the Camera Connector will not.

Administrators with explicit Live Stream permissions can initiate live stream for vehicles that are on active trips.

You can enable Live Streaming capabilities for your entire fleet or for specific vehicles. To view privacy considerations and instructions to configure the setting, see Live Streaming.