VIOFO A229 Pro FIRMWARE

[Karagandinez]

Firmwares for the front and rear cameras of the A229 Pro are available for download on the Viofo website.

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FWA229P
Version: V1.0_230928
Change Log for V1.0_230928
EthamTxFw
Version: V1.0_230928
Change Log for V1.0_230928

 

[SeanK_]

Thanks! I was just about to ask to see what the latest version was since I just got my camera today.

 

[dawilso9]

Anyone test this out to see if it fixes the problem reported by the early reviewers?

 

[markus]

Does anyone have any more informative info on what has been addressed in the latest firmware, as the official notes are a bit light on info.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Anyone test this out to see if it fixes the problem reported by the early reviewers?

A229 Pro Test & Review PP

Looking at the screenshots three things stand out to me; 1.) The Front camera is “wider” than the Rear camera despite their specifications. In the specifications, the manufacturer always indicates the diagonal angle. So, with resolutions of 2560x1440 and 2560x1080, the horizontal angle will be...

dashcamtalk.com

 

[dawilso9]

A229 Pro Test & Review PP

Looking at the screenshots three things stand out to me; 1.) The Front camera is “wider” than the Rear camera despite their specifications. In the specifications, the manufacturer always indicates the diagonal angle. So, with resolutions of 2560x1440 and 2560x1080, the horizontal angle will be...

dashcamtalk.com

Bummer, will wait a bit longer then. Thanks.

 

[markus]

A229 Pro Test & Review PP

Looking at the screenshots three things stand out to me; 1.) The Front camera is “wider” than the Rear camera despite their specifications. In the specifications, the manufacturer always indicates the diagonal angle. So, with resolutions of 2560x1440 and 2560x1080, the horizontal angle will be...

dashcamtalk.com

Thank you, very much appreciated.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Bummer, will wait a bit longer then.

Thank you, very much appreciated.

I really appreciate Viofo is so enthusiastic about continually beating all other manufacturers at being the first to bring to market new tech, (STARVIS 2).
However, releasing complete hardware with incomplete / unfinished software on unsuspecting paying consumers is something else.
This is par for the course, but this time the A229 Pro & A229 Plus appears to be a bigger time gap for an acceptable / fully functional public firmware.

 

[markus]

Maybe they're trying to fix multiple things at once and making sure internal testing shows it's good to go, before giving it to any external testers, let alone the general public, so as not to have people waiting on multiple firmware updates to come out, especially given the way in which we have to update the firmware on the devices. I'd love to have OTA for the updates, and maybe that'll come in time.

I might be a little more forgiving when it comes to software, as I'm on a development team, and I'll put my hands up that I've let the odd absolutely clanger of a bug get out into live software, sometimes people saw them, other times no-one did, but we got things resolved as quickly as possible, either single updates, or, as mentioned above, waiting a little longer to get multiple things fixed at the same time.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Maybe they're trying to fix multiple things at once and making sure internal testing shows it's good to go

In the eyes of the paying consumer this should have been done "before" taking people's money.

 

[markus]

That is indeed a very valid point, especially as they offered pre-orders, so people jumped on that.

 

[Fragman]

In the eyes of the paying consumer this should have been done "before" taking people's money.

This has been gnawing at me. I purchased this on Sept 15 as a pre-order, received it early Oct, and I still don't have a worthy replacement for my A139P.

While I appreciate Viofo getting the latest tech to market, I'm getting really tired of always getting a poorly performing product at launch. Even on my A139P, there were enough bugs that I went through two different replacements and it still had issues. It's pretty good now, but it took a while. As in months. I expect this to be no different.

Lesson learned. No more pre-ordering or early buying of Viofo products for me, at least not until they change this pattern of releasing a half-assed product and fixing it later.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

at least not until they change this pattern of releasing a half-assed product and fixing it later.

It's only going to get worse.

This has been gnawing at me.

Vote with your wallet.
Contact Viofo, and request a full 100% “cash” refund, and pre-paid shipping label to return the product.
Reason For Return: Defective - HDR on Front & Rear Cameras does not work.
If they refuse, call the 1-800 number on the back of your credit card, and file a dispute for the charge.
Inform your financial institution of your attempt to resolve the issue, and the retailer’s response.
They will usually provide a provisional credit to your account, and perform their own investigation 30-60 days.
This is why I “always” recommend buying from Amazon US, (or other local US retailer with a 30-day no hassle return policy) to protect yourself in situations like these.
If you are unwilling, or unable to take corrective action, then you have no right to be gnawed anymore, and you will just have to hurry up, and wait. lol
I’m sure the HDR will be fixed eventually with an acceptable public firmware, and the A229 Pro 2-CH Rear will be my prediction pick for the best dash cam of 2024.
By that time it should be available for sale on Amazon US so you can enjoy that 30-day no hassle return policy peace of mind.
-Chuck

 

[Fragman]

It's only going to get worse.

Vote with your wallet.
Contact Viofo, and request a full 100% “cash” refund, and pre-paid shipping label to return the product.
Reason For Return: Defective - HDR on Front & Rear Cameras does not work.
If they refuse, call the 1-800 number on the back of your credit card, and file a dispute for the charge.
Inform your financial institution of your attempt to resolve the issue, and the retailer’s response.
They will usually provide a provisional credit to your account, and perform their own investigation 30-60 days.
This is why I “always” recommend buying from Amazon US, (or other local US retailer with a 30-day no hassle return policy) to protect yourself in situations like these.
If you are unwilling, or unable to take corrective action, then you have no right to be gnawed anymore, and you will just have to hurry up, and wait. lol
I’m sure the HDR will be fixed eventually with an acceptable public firmware, and the A229 Pro 2-CH Rear will be my prediction pick for the best dash cam of 2024.
By that time it should be available for sale on Amazon US so you can enjoy that 30-day no hassle return policy peace of mind.
-Chuck

Yeah, no. I'm not going to file a chargeback for a dashcam that works but has broken HDR. That's a little scummy, imo. It's also scummy of Viofo to release a half-assed product, imo. But either way, I preordered a product, I paid to play and got a little burned. Happens from time to time. Just look at the entire gaming industry.

You kinda missed the important part of my response.

Lesson learned. No more pre-ordering or early buying of Viofo products for me

 

[Chuck McCoy]

You kinda missed the important part of my response.

Incorrect.
I refuse to acknowledge on account you sound like my ex-wife.
She didn’t necessarily want her problem fixed, she just wanted to talk about it, and a sympathetic ear.
I offered a fair resolution to your complaint, and you refused.
You’ll get no sympathy from me. lol
-Chuck

 

[Fragman]

Incorrect.
I refuse to acknowledge on account you sound like my ex-wife.
She didn’t necessarily want her problem fixed, she just wanted to talk about it, and a sympathetic ear.
I offered a fair resolution to your complaint, and you refused.
You’ll get no sympathy from me. lol
-Chuck

Cool, didn't ask for it in the first place.

I still don't have a worthy replacement for my A139P

If that comment and compliant warrants a chargeback, half the products on the market do as well. I don't know what kind of "logic" you're using here. You didn't even have to involve yourself.

 

[Karagandinez]

Here are the latest firmwares for the front and rear cameras of the A229 Pro.
FWA229P_V1.0_231123
EthamTxFW_V1.0_231116

 

[Karagandinez]

Here are the latest firmwares for the front and rear cameras of the A229 Pro.

Front V1.1_231208
Rear V1.0_231207

 

[markus]

Here are the latest firmwares for the front and rear cameras of the A229 Pro.

Front V1.1_231208
Rear V1.0_231207

Oh, interesting to know the front is now V1.1 rather than V1.0. I've not installed it as yet so had not noticed that change. I just grabbed the build version from the .bin file and, assumed (yeah, I know what they say 😀 ) it was still V1.0

I've updated my post elsewhere on this, but thought I'd pop in here too:

I'm unsure how useful this may be, but if you drop the .bin files into a text editor - I use BBEdit - and search for FFFFFFFF20 the next six characters seem to be what I'd call the build number for example:
FWA229P.bin = A229 Pro Front Cam: FFFFFFFF202312084 - so after FF20 you see 231208
EthcamTxFW.bin = A229 Pro (and plus?) Rear Cam: FFFFFFFF20231116 - so after FF20 you see 231207

Once you have the build number, perform another search using the build number and you should be able to find the full version number, for example:

search FWA229P.bin for 231208 in and you will find this: VIOFO_A229P_V1.1_231208 so you can see the full version number (version and build number) for the A229 Pro front cam

search EthcamTxFW.bin for 231207 and you will find this: V1.0_231207 so you can see the full version number (version and build number) for the A229 Pro (and plus?) Rear cam

 

[Karagandinez]

Oh, interesting to know the front is now V1.1 rather than V1.0. I've not installed it as yet so had not noticed that change. I just grabbed the build version from the .bin file and, assumed (yeah, I know what they say 😀 ) it was still V1.0

I've updated my post elsewhere on this, but thought I'd pop in here too:

I'm unsure how useful this may be, but if you drop the .bin files into a text editor - I use BBEdit - and search for FFFFFFFF20 the next six characters seem to be what I'd call the build number for example:
FWA229P.bin = A229 Pro Front Cam: FFFFFFFF202312084 - so after FF20 you see 231208
EthcamTxFW.bin = A229 Pro (and plus?) Rear Cam: FFFFFFFF20231116 - so after FF20 you see 231207

Once you have the build number, perform another search using the build number and you should be able to find the full version number, for example:

search FWA229P.bin for 231208 in and you will find this: VIOFO_A229P_V1.1_231208 so you can see the full version number (version and build number) for the A229 Pro front cam

search EthcamTxFW.bin for 231207 and you will find this: V1.0_231207 so you can see the full version number (version and build number) for the A229 Pro (and plus?) Rear cam