Based on the CSX Caboose thread just mentioned above, it appears that the Cupola camera works for some but not for others. Some of the posters on that earlier thread reported that taking out the window material seemed to fix the blurry image problem (though I don't think that was universally true). On the other hand, the first poster on the second page https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...-csx-w-camera?page=2 suggests that some of this might be due to software. He was able to set the focus and the HD settings using the features in the iPad app for the camera and that the resulting image was very satisfactory. He also reported that there is a pan capability as well.
So, full disclosure, I do NOT own one of these camera cars (but I've seen/experienced other situations where the problem was with the poorly described software capability) -- so before you take a sharp knife/dremel to the window material (if you think that might be the problem), you might want to check that indeed you've messed around with the software app enough so you can rule that out. I have no idea whether, for example, the control capability in the iPad app is different (and maybe better) than what you'd get on a PC or an android device (lame, but not surprising). My speculation is that the camera may have an autofocus feature that could be forcing the camera to focus on the window (or try to if it is too close) - especially if it were scratched or had dust on the surface. So taking out the window means that the autofocus will find another target further away, thus improving the 'blurry' image. Or, if no autofocus, the camera could have left the factory with the focus set incorrectly (and not HD, etc.).
Perhaps Dave Olsen will weigh in again on this -- its possible that this really is a QC problem and no amount of messin' with the app will fix the issue. OTOH, maybe the software instructions are insufficient (or all of the above...
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