Buffered Parking mode

[StrayCam]

Buffered Parking Mode on the A129 Duo has not been forgotten. I received another test firmware yesterday.

I think @CaptureYourAction was correct about the FW versions. Personally I regard all FW versions since 1.5 as beta and I was a bit surprised when 1.8 was released publicly.

Yes, Viofo are busy with the new A129 Pro, plus many other projects. The cameras are similar, so some of the development work will benefit both the Pro and the Duo. I have not yet tested the g-sensor in parking mode on the A129 Pro.

Thanks for the info Tony. - - I'm just curious, why don't they give everyone who wants one a test/beta firmware? Presumably what they gave you to test at least makes the g-sensor work in parking mode....??? That's a whole lot better than what us A129 customers have right now...

As everyone knows, g-sensor in buffered parking mode does not work. I'd be more than willing to try out a better version of 1.9; at least that "might mean" my A129 would works properly which would be a good thing!

When I left the dashcam this morning after parking (when it wasn't responding) the display was off and all lights were off so I just left it and went to work..

Came back this evening, dashcam was powered up and was beeping with the format prompt. I've had it do this before, very random.
So I ok'ed the message and it all worked as normal.
When I stopped at the car wash the dashcam beeped as normal and went into parking mode, however just as I got out the car it done another beep (like the random beeps it sometimes does when driving)
When I went back home the dashcam switched to driving mode as normal and back to parking mode when I parked at up home.

I'm not sure whether I should just pull it out and start using the mini 0906 I have, or maybe revert back to fw 1.5 until I can get things more reliable.

Joe-

I'll try to give you a little help. I'm not sure if any of it will actually help you though...

I experienced the random beeps while driving as well. What was happening in my case is that the normal video loops (3, 5 or 10 minutes) were being truncated. Some people speculated that it could be the SD card...??? I concluded that there are probably many other users experiencing the exact same problem I was experiencing; your situation sounds exactly like mine! - - In order to verify if this is causing your beeping issue, take a look at the length of your video clips. If you see some shorter than the others, that's the issue.

I assume you have used the pin hole reset button on your cam....that's always good to do when your camera is acting strange; after that you would need to do another clean format of your sd card.

I hope this helps you a little... Btw, if you wrote "customer support" at @viofo, they should be able to offer you some assistance. It's just that you might have to wait 4-5 days to get a reply from them! - - Good luck!

 

[Nigel]

I'm not sure whether I should just pull it out and start using the mini 0906 I have, or maybe revert back to fw 1.5 until I can get things more reliable.

Does it work OK without the rear camera plugged in?

 

[Nigel]

I'm just curious, why don't they give everyone who wants one a test/beta firmware?

They probably will once they have something that won't generate a mass of posts and PMs all needing to be answered instead of getting on with the work!

 

[StrayCam]

They probably will once they have something that won't generate a mass of posts and PMs all needing to be answered instead of getting on with the work!

Well, come on... I was told they merely needed to increase the "senstivity setting" for g-sensor parking mode. How difficult is that? How many beta testers do they need to make that adjustment??? - - They should not need even "one"!!!

The Viofo engineers should be able to tweak that adjustment easily. - - Remember, this firmware already went through "beta testing"... - - And Viofo considered it ready for "showtime"!!! - - - Well, everyone knows that it was not ready...it needed an adjustment to g-sensor sensitivity. - - And by now, in the time this problem has presented itself, we could have landed a spaceship on the moon!!! - - There should not be a need for "mass posts and pm's going back and forth... this should be a product ready to be used by A129 users! Of course, Viofo is working on other products: motorcycle cams, 4k cams, etc... - - So those of us with the mere A129 Duo need to sit back and wait...tell, me how long???? - - And the fact is, Viofo doesn't even know the answer to that question!!!

 

[Andy555]

This constant complaining from these suspiciously new accounts is getting annoying. Smells fishy

 

[Sdeel7491]

I'm not a new account! I would like some answers and make me a bit more confident that some thing is happening! And Viofo are doing something!

 

[StrayCam]

This constant complaining from these suspiciously new accounts is getting annoying. Smells fishy

Are you for real Andy?!?!?!

Are you suggesting that these problems that are plaguing Viofo A129 users doesn't exist? Are you suggesting that Viofo has not abandoned this thread? Are you even suggesting that @viofo replies in a timely manners to customer problems?

These problems have been discussed on this thread for months, and I don't normally see you hanging around here trying to help or do anything constructive. - - So, if you have something to add to the discussion, add it; otherwise, just move on!

And by the way, Viofo has been active on this forum today, just not on this thread!!! You'll find them active in one way or another in the motorcycle camera thread or the 4K thread. To Viofo, those customers are much more important than those who own the A129 Duo.

 

[Nigel]

And by the way, Viofo has been active on this forum today, just not on this thread!!! You'll find them active in one way or another in the motorcycle camera thread or the 4K thread. To Viofo, those customers are much more important than those who own the A129 Duo.

There is no point Viofo posting on this thread until there is something to report or something to ask, otherwise they will just spend all their time arguing with you instead of solving the issues! You know that they have been working and communicating on the issue yesterday from TonyM's post.

 

[StrayCam]

Really Nigel??? Viofo is "beta testing a firmware" that just needed an adjustment in sensitivity for the g-sensor in "the buffered parking mode"??? One or two of Viofo's sharp engineers couldn't simply make the adjustment a month ago and give us users the new firmware? - - This is sounding more and more like the Keystone Cops!!!

Over a month ago, Bill Zhou said this issue would be "solved" by their engineers within a month... Consequently, I gave them the time he said they needed and didn't post once to this thread. - - And now after a month has passed, Bill Zhou says he has no idea when this problem will be solved! - - This makes no sense to me at all if they have at least one or two competent engineers. - - If they don't, well then we A129 Duo users have one big problem, don't we?

It's too bad we A129 Duo users who guys like Andy555 bashes aren't prospective customers for motorcycle dashcams or the new A129 Duo Pro; then we'd be getting priority attention!

 

[Old64]

This constant complaining from these suspiciously new accounts is getting annoying. Smells fishy

Hi Andy! Don't need to get into a forum rumble with you but it seems I'm having trouble understanding your definitions also! What do you consider a suspicious new account? Also what do you define as complaining? As to new accounts being new it would seem to me that when you're having trouble with a product and aren't getting much help from the manufacturer might it not be your next option to try to find a forum to get answers like we do here? So if you're lucky there will a forum like this one with plenty of helpful members that will donate of there time freely to try and help you with your problems. In a much more timely fashion than your products company I might add. So back to your "suspicious new accounts". When you have a problem and find a forum that can maybe help you what's the first thing you have to do before asking a it? Think................ Yep join the forum! You now can ask your question! But I guess for some you should wait a couple years before asking so your question doesn't appear to come from a suspicious new account! What's the next thing that most people do when they don't get help or communication from the merchant they purchased from? Think.............. Yep they're "patient and wait awhile" hoping for a solution. What's the next thing in line? I hope I'm not tiring you out here but it would most likely be "complain"! They also do a lot of talking about the company and product to others. There are a lot of people on this forum that have forgot more than I'll ever know about dashcams and for their help I'm very grateful. I haven't helped or posted here much because a big fear of mine is posting something that is incorrect and harming instead of helping. So I just mostly read the posts and try to learn something. But there are times like this when I feel I can help someone I do have a tendency to try. My previous posts were to try and get Viofo to take a few minutes away from their work on the new cameras they want you to buy and spend just a little time with us older model guys and tell us what's going on with to solve our models problems and I would like it to just be the truth not "It'll be coming in a month" and then it shows up much later! As to this post it was made to help you understand that before making a sarcastic post think first and realize there may be reasons for the "suspiciously new accounts" and the "complaining" that are legitimate. So maybe this might be my first helpful post if it "helps" just a few people understand this.

As to the a129 Dou this won't be the last I have to say but it will be the last post I make here about it. There are very good things that happen here but I can see educating Viofo in good communication skills isn't one of them! I'm sorry to everyone here for the waste of bandwidth as that seems to be the only thing that has been accomplished.

Last but not least and may be very relevant to Viofo's communication.
Nigel, Is TonyM an official spokesperson for Viofo? If so that would be great to have someone that knows "officially" what's going on at Viofo keep the rest of us informed. It seems that there are a few guys here that know a lot about what's going on. I wonder where they get their info?

 

[Gooffeyguy]

Talking about firmware updates, in my experience with devices, firmware is written to a memory chip inside the device. That chip has a limited amount of size/memory. When adding features or functions into the firmware it uses more space and sometimes something gets removed to make the space.

I know the A129 Duo wasn't originally made with buffered parking mode. Maybe when they added that feature to the firmware, and also the seperate adjustable sensitivity of the g-sensor and motion sensor while parked, the memory blocks those are written to are conflicting with some of the features.

Dunno

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

 

[StrayCam]

Talking about firmware updates, in my experience with devices, firmware is written to a memory chip inside the device. That chip has a limited amount of size/memory. When adding features or functions into the firmware it uses more space and sometimes something gets removed to make the space.

I know the A129 Duo wasn't originally made with buffered parking mode. Maybe when they added that feature to the firmware, and also the seperate adjustable sensitivity of the g-sensor and motion sensor while parked, the memory blocks those are written to are conflicting with some of the features.

Dunno

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Well gooffeyguy, I appreciate your speculation, but it really serves no purpose. The experts know what to do and how to do it. They just need to get it done...much like when you take your car to get repaired. You really don't need to know how they do what they do, and these days cars are so complicated, who would even have a clue?

 

[TonyM]

No, I am not an official spokesperson for Viofo or any other manufacturer. I volunteer to test cameras in my spare time, and I try to be helpful where possible.

I don't think that increasing the parking mode g-sensor sensitivity is a simple task for the software engineers, otherwise it would have been done months ago. I don't know what the reasons for this are, and it's not really my place to speculate. I test the firmware and comment back to Viofo on what does and does not work, and suggest occasional improvements.

Sometimes, trying to fix one thing has unintended consequences for another camera function. Sometimes the fix can work for a software engineer sitting at a desk, and maybe it works in Nigel's car, but not in mine. So then we try to figure out which of the many camera settings and external inputs could make the difference.

The latest beta version did not work for me, so there's more work to be done.

Opening up testing to a wide audience would probably give Viofo too much information to process, including a long wish list of suggestions for improvement and perhaps some anger or frustration. Better to have a few people who can test successive firmware versions and remain objective in their feedback.

I acknowledge that customer service is important. Viofo do at least have a presence on this site and respond when they can, which is more than one or two other companies that I've been testing for. Perhaps they should take 5 minutes to come here and say, "We don't know when this will be fixed"?

I think Viofo try hard to please everyone and as a result the firmware is becoming rather complicated with all the extra features that keep being requested and included. Adding buffered parking mode to an existing camera has been a big challenge. That's why you don't see it on many other cameras. It's great that it works at all.

 

[Nigel]

Sometimes the fix can work for a software engineer sitting at a desk, and maybe it works in Nigel's car, but not in mine.

I think a g-sensor is a far more complicated device than most people realise, to get a good result requires a Fourier transform of the sample data into the frequency domain and analysis of the shape of impact events over time to distinguish between a large truck passing and the wind caused by it fairly violently shaking the vehicle and a relatively minor impact of someone causing a door ding that hardly moves the vehicle at all. Should probably filter out the significant low frequency impact of a supersonic aircraft flying past 100 miles away while recording the faint scratching sound of someone keying the paintwork. Then there is the issue that Tony's vehicle is twice the weight of mine and has a much softer suspension, so it's response to those events as recorded by the g-sensor is going to be very different. The g-sensor is not a particularly good or reliable device for detecting impacts and should not be 100% relied on, which is why I like low bitrate parking mode which is certain to record everything, nice if impact events do get put in the locked folder but not essential.

Well, come on... I was told they merely needed to increase the "senstivity setting" for g-sensor parking mode. How difficult is that?

I've no idea, sometimes things are much easier than you might expect, other times they are much harder!

 

[LMN]

I wonder if it would help if there were a wider sensitivity range for the user to select from for their particular circumstance.

Something like 0-10, or even better 0-100.

Having only 3 choices seems limiting... When driving, my car will trigger occasionally when on High, but is fine on Medium. I would like to experiment withing finding the sweet spot somewhere in between those 2 settings where is won't trigger when driving over bumps in the road, but I still have max sensitivity for when I need it in an accident.

 

[Old64]

No, I am not an official spokesperson for Viofo or any other manufacturer. I volunteer to test cameras in my spare time, and I try to be helpful where possible.

Thank you for taking the time to post this. This is what we would like from Viofo. They don't need to say exactly when a problem will be fixed or an update will be released but when they say a month and the month goes by and then 3 months go by without them at least posting a small update with a small explanation would go along way to help the many that are waiting to hang in there and it would also help to ease the frustration some. Your help and communication both here and with Viofo has been to the benifit of many and is gratefully appreciated! This is what we would like from Viofo (good communication) and if they would try to improve it I'm sure it would benefit everyone.

I acknowledge that customer service is important. Viofo do at least have a presence on this site and respond when they can, which is more than one or two other companies that I've been testing for. Perhaps they should take 5 minutes to come here and say, "We don't know when this will be fixed"?

It is a big step in the right direction and could be a great advantage to them if they were prudent and truthful with these posts dealing with product problems and issues. I'm wearing this out but what would you rather be told "it'll be out in about a month" and then no communication and no update 3+ months later or when it's not ready in a month or so a very short post saying "we're sorry but we're having some issues with the new update and it is going to take longer than expected. We will post information weekly on its progress". IMO I'd like the second because it would help me to understand that they are at least working on it and understand that and 5 minutes to ease frustrations and inform their customers could be very helpful to all. I am very impressed that they do have a presence on this forum as a lot of companies "chicken out" in this respect. I feel if you communicate well with you customers and are truthful most will be very patient, co-operative and have very good things to say about them.

I know I said I wouldn't post on this again but I wanted to personally thank you for all that you do to help everyone including Viofo. It definitely makes their products better and helps their customers. I also believe it or not am trying to help as I'm sure StrayCam and others are also. If no one ever talks about what's wrong or gives input on what they feel could be done better (some would call this complaining) how will we all ever improve? Sometimes a company's best ideas and improvements come from their customers input.

 

[StrayCam]

Buffered Parking Mode on the A129 Duo has not been forgotten. I received another test firmware yesterday.

I think @CaptureYourAction was correct about the FW versions. Personally I regard all FW versions since 1.5 as beta and I was a bit surprised when 1.8 was released publicly.

Yes, Viofo are busy with the new A129 Pro, plus many other projects. The cameras are similar, so some of the development work will benefit both the Pro and the Duo. I have not yet tested the g-sensor in parking mode on the A129 Pro.

Tony-

Although there could be other issues with the A129 Duo, I am only familiar with one: the g-sensor does not get triggered in buffered parking mode. That would be the first thing I would test if I had a beta version in my hands. Have you tested for that yet?

Thanks for any additional info!

 

[TonyM]

Tony-

Although there could be other issues with the A129 Duo, I am only familiar with one: the g-sensor does not get triggered in buffered parking mode. That would be the first thing I would test if I had a beta version in my hands. Have you tested for that yet?

Thanks for any additional info!

I started testing the buffered parking mode on the A129 Duo in January, including motion detection and g-sensor activation. Much has changed since then, and I have checked the g-sensor sensitivity and functionality on every firmware version since.

Did you mean the Pro rather than the Duo? I'm getting to that next week. So far my focus has been on reliability in hot weather, and a variety of other things.

 

[StrayCam]

I started testing the buffered parking mode on the A129 Duo in January, including motion detection and g-sensor activation. Much has changed since then, and I have checked the g-sensor sensitivity and functionality on every firmware version since.

Did you mean the Pro rather than the Duo? I'm getting to that next week. So far my focus has been on reliability in hot weather, and a variety of other things.

Thanks for your follow-up Tony. Yesterday you said the day before you received another test firmware for the A129 Duo. That is, unless I misunderstood your post below...?

Buffered Parking Mode on the A129 Duo has not been forgotten. I received another test firmware yesterday.

Since virtually everyone on this thread, "Buffered Parking Mode", is very much interested in getting a firmware from Viofo that allows the A129 Duo g-sensor to function in "buffered parking mode", I would suspect that would be a priority for the beta testers as well as for Viofo. - Please don't tell me I'm wrong about that! And I, and I'm sure others, would like to get a firmware that even only works in "normal temps", let alone hot temps.

So no, I did not mean the A129 Pro which is not due out for another month or two.

When do you expect you will test the updated firmware (beta version?) for the A129 Duo? - I hope soon if not already. Thanks Tony!

 

[TonyM]

Thanks for your follow-up Tony. Yesterday you said the day before you received another test firmware for the A129 Duo.

When do you expect you will test the updated firmware (beta version?) for the A129 Duo? - I hope soon if not already. Thanks Tony!

Done already...

The latest beta version did not work for me, so there's more work to be done.