VIOFO A329 2CH - Testing / Review - RCG

[TonyM]

Here are some plate captures from the front cameras (A329, A229 Pro, Thinkware U3000, BlackVue DR970X). The plate capture from the A329 footage is just a tiny bit more clear than the A229 Pro footage.

I prefer the higher contrast and sharpening of the A329 for night video. I assume they're all 4K30, with or without HDR as noted?

 

[rcg530]

I prefer the higher contrast and sharpening of the A329 for night video. I assume they're all 4K30, with or without HDR as noted?

The front cameras are operating in 4K 30fps resolution. The HDR status is noted for the VIOFO dash cameras since it can be turned on/off (on in this case), but the U3000 and BlackVue DR970X do not have HDR support. The rear cameras are 2K 30 fps (A329, A229 Pro and U3000) with the DR970X rear camera being a 1080p 30 fps camera.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

I thought the rear cameras for the A329 & A229 Pro were identical except for the case.
Have you seen anything image quality wise, or data / software wise that would make them different?

 

[rcg530]

I thought the rear cameras for the A329 & A229 Pro were identical except for the case.
Have you seen anything image quality wise, or data / software wise that would make them different?

The rear camera for the A329 uses the same IMX675 image sensor as the A229 Pro rear camera, but there is no processor in the A329 rear camera. The Novatek processor in the A329 front camera handles the video processing for the front and rear cameras.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

there is no processor in the A329 rear camera. The Novatek processor in the A329 front camera handles the video processing for the front and rear cameras.

Oops, I forgot about that.
Have you seen any image quality, data / software differences?
They both have the same Bitrate right?

 

[rcg530]

They both have the same Bitrate right?

The A329 records at a slightly higher bitrate than the A229 Pro.

A229 Pro - Nighttime - HDR On - Bitrate = Maximum - 4K 30fps Front / 2K 30fps Rear

A329 - Nighttime - HDR Off - Bitrate = Maximum - 4K 60fps Front / 2K 30fps Rear

A329 - Nighttime - HDR On - Bitrate = Maximum - 4K 30fps Front / 2K 30fps Rear

 

[Augustus]

The A329 records at a slightly higher bitrate than the A229 Pro.

A229 Pro - Nighttime - HDR On - Bitrate = Maximum - 4K 30fps Front / 2K 30fps Rear
View attachment 74360

A329 - Nighttime - HDR Off - Bitrate = Maximum - 4K 60fps Front / 2K 30fps Rear
View attachment 74361

A329 - Nighttime - HDR On - Bitrate = Maximum - 4K 30fps Front / 2K 30fps Rear
View attachment 74362

So a 8% increase in bitrate for the front on the A329, and a 17% increase in bitrate for the rear on the A329 - for those playing along at home.

Nice but meaningful bumps.

 

[Chuck McCoy]

% increase

Percent is hard for my brain to understand.
This is what I interpret. lol

A229 Pro
Front: 60 Mbps
Rear: 24 Mbps
Total: 84 Mbps

A329
Front: 65 Mbps
Rear: 27 Mbps
Total: 92 Mbps

When I get my A329 I’m going to ask Viofo for a custom firmware for 1-CH configuration with 95 Mbps.
I doubt I will get it, but I’m still going to ask. Lol

 

[viofo]

Percent is hard for my brain to understand.
This is what I interpret. lol

A229 Pro
Front: 60 Mbps
Rear: 24 Mbps
Total: 84 Mbps

A329
Front: 65 Mbps
Rear: 27 Mbps
Total: 92 Mbps

When I get my A329 I’m going to ask Viofo for a custom firmware for 1-CH configuration with 95 Mbps.
I doubt I will get it, but I’m still going to ask. Lol

The 1CH mode MAX bitrate is already 97.5Mbps.

 

[Augustus]

Percent is hard for my brain to understand.
This is what I interpret. lol

A229 Pro
Front: 60 Mbps
Rear: 24 Mbps
Total: 84 Mbps

A329
Front: 65 Mbps
Rear: 27 Mbps
Total: 92 Mbps

When I get my A329 I’m going to ask Viofo for a custom firmware for 1-CH configuration with 95 Mbps.
I doubt I will get it, but I’m still going to ask. Lol

Haha, 69% for one channel bitrate for obvious reasons please

 

[rcg530]

I've uploaded to YouTube raw day & night footage from the A329 front and rear cameras.

Daytime Front 4K 60 FPS - HDR Off / CPL Installed

Daytime Rear 2K 30 FPS - HDR Off / CPL Not Installed

Nighttime Front 4K 30 FPS - HDR On / CPL Not Installed

Nighttime Rear 2K 30 FPS - HDR On / CPL Not Installed

 

[Chuck McCoy]

I've uploaded to YouTube raw day & night footage from the A329 front and rear cameras.

Is this the HHR test mule?
I can't tell.

Night time HDR looks pretty good.
I can’t wait to test it side by side with the A119 Mini 2.
I can’t read the plates of oncoming cars from 3:30 to 6:00, but I’m positive the A229 Pro Telephoto would have no problem reading them.
When I get my A329 we should have another meet up.
This time I’ll drive to you, I want to film some test footage on your regular test loop.

 

[rcg530]

Is this the HHR test mule?
I can't tell.

Night time HDR looks pretty good.
I can’t wait to test it side by side with the A119 Mini 2.
I can’t read the plates of oncoming cars from 3:30 to 6:00, but I’m positive the A229 Pro Telephoto would have no problem reading them.
When I get my A329 we should have another meet up.
This time I’ll drive to you, I want to film some test footage on your regular test loop.

The A329 is in the Caprice. The MIOFIVE raw footage was from the HHR. A meet up sounds good.

 

[ogzogz]

I've uploaded to YouTube raw day & night footage from the A329 front and rear cameras.

Daytime Front 4K 60 FPS - HDR Off / CPL Installed

Daytime Rear 2K 30 FPS - HDR Off / CPL Not Installed

Nighttime Front 4K 30 FPS - HDR On / CPL Not Installed

Nighttime Rear 2K 30 FPS - HDR On / CPL Not Installed

The black areas are too much black. Contrast should be reduced slightly. This also applies to the a229 pro. It also provides slightly grainy peripheral imaging, although not as much as the a229 plus. Yes, maybe the bitrate will shift a little more to the black areas. An adjustment is required while maintaining plate readability.

 

[rcg530]

This video contains nighttime video samples from the new VIOFO A329 2CH dash camera. I compare the A329 video footage with the VIOFO A229 Pro 2CH, Thinkware U3000 2CH and the older BlackVue DR970X 2CH dash camera.

 

[172wwii]

This video contains nighttime video samples from the new VIOFO A329 2CH dash camera. I compare the A329 video footage with the VIOFO A229 Pro 2CH, Thinkware U3000 2CH and the older BlackVue DR970X 2CH dash camera.

Excellent videos.
Here's an interesting observation: The speed (MPH) can vary significantly between the cameras. For example, at the 12 second mark in the video, the A329 is recording 12 miles for hour, while the DR970x is recording 20 miles per hour. I figure that's within the margin of error for calculating MPH with GPS (especially while decelerating), but it's worth noting that a single screen grab may not accurately reflect the real speed of a vehicle. This of course would be especially important with deciding fault/penalties in a court case.

 

[Nigel]

Excellent videos.
Here's an interesting observation: The speed (MPH) can vary significantly between the cameras. For example, at the 12 second mark in the video, the A329 is recording 12 miles for hour, while the DR970x is recording 20 miles per hour. I figure that's within the margin of error for calculating MPH with GPS (especially while decelerating), but it's worth noting that a single screen grab may not accurately reflect the real speed of a vehicle. This of course would be especially important with deciding fault/penalties in a court case.

The GPS speed reading is updated once per second on all those cameras, so you must expect that one camera will sometimes be a second different in timing of the update to another. This is enough to easily make an 8mph difference in what is shown. The actual value will normally be accurate to +-1mph of the real average speed during the second over which it is sampled, the displayed speed will be at least one second behind live speed, normally it is more than one second behind, how much depends on the camera, some have quite a bit of noise filtering which delays the accurate display. So the displayed GPS speed is only accurate while traveling at constant speed over several seconds, then it is probably within +-1mph.

 

[Mtz]

This video contains nighttime video samples from the new VIOFO A329 2CH dash camera. I compare the A329 video footage with the VIOFO A229 Pro 2CH, Thinkware U3000 2CH and the older BlackVue DR970X 2CH dash camera.

If there is no headlight pointed to the other car license plate, the HDR feature is useless.
The Viofo HDR car license legibility was degraded because some beta testers or influencers reported to Viofo that they can not see road things or other things outside of the road. They can not understand that the most important thing if some accident happens is the other car license plate and not some road billboard advertising.
The best HDR legibility of Viofo was on the first firmwares of A139 Pro two years ago. Since then, Viofo adjusted the firmware based on that people feedback I mentioned above. Yes, the image is more nice based on that feedback but not so useful like when the priority is the HDR.

But after Viofo released the telephoto camera I considered that the main camera of A229 Pro is not so important to read license plates so I lose my interest to provide feedback for HDR. If american people want to have some chance to read license plates at night they must buy a telephoto camera from Viofo and enable HDR on it.
Of course, comparisons like the one above will always show that the Viofo is better for plates legibility but never so good as a telephoto camera.
But again, on the rear camera you should not have expectations no matter if HDR or not. You can have some chance from your rear breaking light if the rear car is close to your car but this means the speed between both cars is almost 0, so HDR is not needed for rear camera. I keep it to off for my rear cameras because it is only consuming power and not providing advantage but in only very rare situations.

 

[Augustus]

One thing I noticed with the v1.0_240913 firmware installed in the A329 is that I cannot get a live view in the beta/test Android VIOFO app (v3.2.17) that supports the A329 nor from the production iOS VIOFO app v4.2.5 (202409041614) that states it supports the A329. I've tried 60fps and 30fps resolutions and normal/maximum bitrate options.

Did you retest with the latest 3.2.18 Android app?

 

[rcg530]

Did you retest with the latest 3.2.18 Android app?

No I did not test that app version since I already had a beta android app that was a329 compatible. Installing an updated test firmware v1.0_241009 allowed the live view to work again.