Parking camera

This is my second gen 3 Tacoma. I thought the rear view camera is great. I was driving a rental Mazda SUV last week. The parking camera is much better. It gives a much wider view and the image is much clearer and brighter. Is it the camera or the radio display?

 

I concur - my wife's 2017 Forester has a much nicer view - wider, cleaner, all around better view.
No idea if it's the camera or the display but it could be better.

I'm in no mood to change it out mind you, but I do agree it's not the best out there.

 

Lots of threads out there complaining about the backup camera quality. I have the advanced tech package which adds the 360 degree panoramic view and the front facing camera, and while it certainly isn't broadcast television quality I think it's plenty good enough for parking use.

 

Yep, the quality of the backup camera in my wife's Outback seems better, AND, the parking lines bend with the wheel angle. WTH Toyota? I do however feel the Infotainment System and it's integration with Android Auto is head-and-shoulders better than the one in her '19 Outback.

Parking Assist: one thing I think would be really cool is a camera pointing down on the passenger side mirror. I'd like to know how close I am to the curb. I'll get used to judging based on the car in front or behind, still - I think that would be a helpful add-on.

 

My truck does that too. Maybe it's something on the advanced tech package?

 

You can turn that feature off if you want. Oh, and to the OP: It's the camera quality that sucks. The front facing camera is worse than the backup, but hey...we get one. So that's a win.

 

If you have the advanced tech package, you get the front facing camera and 360 Surround view (you get cameras in the outside mirrors), you can turn this on manually so you can see what is right next to your doors. It's mainly used when offroading, but you can also use it to guide you when parking in tight spots.

 

Man, that’s would be so convenient with the side cameras. Wish I had the tech package, but sadly the SR5 doesn’t come with that option

 

My screen splits into a view of either the front or rear camera depending which I select, and the other half of the screen is an overhead view of the truck. Very helpful when parking. Those malls can be dog eat dog you know LOL

 

Geeez...It's just a parking camera.

 

If I have the Tech Package with BSD, RCTA, and Parking Assist, am I supposed to be able to turn on/off the parking lines with wheel angle? If so, I don't know where that is located.
So I don't have the "Advanced Tech Package" with the cameras all around, and that's OK. If I add one, I might add one pointing down from the passenger-side mirror. I'd like to think I can judge the distance to the vehicle in front of me. Maybe the Parking Assist function uses the front radar following sensor to beep if you are too close when parking?

I have not researched what I can turn on/off via the Multi-Function display or the Infotainment display interfaces... Hopefully if the parking line bend with wheel angle and front-facing radar for parking assist aren't something that has to be done via the dealer and "techstream" or whatever that interface is called.

Don't get me wrong. I'm well aware that the overhead view would be great for off-roading when you are caught in a narrow pass, but yeah I want a simplified view for "mall-driving".

Actually, malls are going the way of the dinosaurs aren't they?

 

Yes, you can turn it off. Just click this button on the screen right here (I circled it for you)

 

it's pretty awful honestly.

wife's rubicon is like 1080p vs. the tacoma's which is like... 480p max.

it's like playing gran turismo 7 on a ps5 and then going back to playing gran turismo 1 on the ps1 from 1995.

it works for not running into shit but it's garbage.

 

Yeah, thanks but, it seems that option doesn't exist unless you have the Advanced Tech pkg with the "view from above".

 

It’s not amazing but it’s far better than the one I had in my Frontier, so I can’t complain. Although I eventually updated my Frontier to put a Kenwood 740HD in its place and THAT was incredible. I miss it but I don’t think I could do a good job mounting it in the Tacoma so I haven’t tried. The stock Tacoma is good enough though for what it is.

 

I have seen this discussion post up here a lot.

The camera quality is dismal. Its not so much the utility, its that nearly 10 year old vehicles have MUCH better quality camera systems than Toyota. This was even mentioned in a review of the 21/22 Sienna, a completely redesigned vehicle for the 21 model year.

The issue is the communication protocol Toyota uses. They are using NTSC as a method to transmit the video signal and that has at best 480 scan lines. So the camera is literally ~640x480, or there about.

you can compare the number of pixels
307,200 (640x480)
921,600 ("720")
2,073,600 ("1080)
8,294,400 ("4k)

The old school 720 "HD" TVs have THREE TIMES more pixels. You could display TWENTY SEVEN of these cameras on one 4k computer monitor. This was considered poor resolution over a decade and a half ago.

 

Its like footage from the first moon walk - its sketchy, but at least you can see it...

 

What menu did you go to to get this screen? I have the 360 cameras, but I don't have that angle gauge on mine.

 

It’s the camera because I upgraded my dash to something nicer and CarPlay looks amazing and when I put it in reverse it’s like whoa where did this come from

 

To get to this screen, you have to put it into 4L.