Quick Look At Tesla’s New Dashcam & Sentry Mode Viewer

Tesla is releasing a highly requested feature: a new dashcam/TeslaCam and Sentry Mode viewer. This feature will integrate both Sentry Mode and the TeslaCam to provide the owner with a more detailed look around their vehicle.

Green on Twitter (@greentheonly) provides us a first look at Tesla’s new TeslaCam and Sentry Mode viewer. In a tweet, Green shares that Tesla did a great job on the video browser and that he really likes the UI — “you get to see all 4 recorded cams in real-time and select which one is maximized,” he says in a two-tweet thread.

When parked you press the camera icon to select the player.
you get to select from list of sentry, dashcam or both.
I suspect this is limited to MCU2/model3 but have no mcu1 to test. pic.twitter.com/RaoTQ9UqZv

— green (@greentheonly) April 4, 2020

Check out the video he included to demonstrate that you can simply tap on whichever camera you want to see. It’s like changing a channel with the tap of your fingers. He also explained in the second tweet that when you are parked you can press the camera icon to choose the player. Then you are provided with the option of choosing from a list of Sentry, TeslaCam, or even both. He suspects this is limited to MCU2/Model 3, but isn’t sure since he doesn’t have an MCU1 to test.

Trevor from Tesla Owners Online also gives some feedback on the TeslaCam and Sentry Mode viewer in his YouTube video. He describes it’s basic function/benefit: “The ability to be able to look at your dashcam and your Sentry Mode clips in the car rather than having to pull out your USB key.”

Sentry Mode is a unique, pretty smart, and sometimes very useful feature for Tesla vehicles. Making it easier to view events — especially in real-time — just adds more ease to owning a Tesla versus any other vehicle. Trevor has another suggestion: “I think ultimately to be able to view it on your phone would be even better, but for now, we’ll take this.” Trevor also gives you a quick tutorial on how to access Sentry Mode and explains how the icon has changed.

Both TeslaCam and Sentry Mode have done wonders in helping drivers prove their cases in court, catch vandals and thieves, and even file insurance claims. Another thing noted by many a Tesla owner is that Tesla removed the Hal 9000 graphic from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Green shared that it was due to MGM not being too happy with Tesla’s choice of graphics. Trevor also mentioned that in his video.

And to bring it out of the comments, MGM has spoken and HAL9000 is forbidden (those pesky IP rights). There are new sentry mode icon and the full screen image. pic.twitter.com/ROJkNtLttt

— green (@greentheonly) April 4, 2020

Update: New tweet worth a view:

The mystery of the model3 in-cabin "selfie" cam is slowly clearing.

huge thanks to @davidhooperr for performing a bunch of research and providing the car.

The images are not perfect but at least we get the idea of the coverage now. pic.twitter.com/r447lQZX8u

— green (@greentheonly) April 12, 2020