VIOFO A329S - Testing/Review - RCG

[rcg530]

Have you tested in a vehicle mounted to the windshield?

I am finding it hard to make any videos pertaining to the product being that it is pre production. Final production does seem a little ways away still.

I had the A329S 3-channel installed in my car during my weekly grocery shopping trip drive. I had it configured for LPID parking mode during the drive. It behaved as expected during the drive. I had the parking mode delay timer of 90 seconds enabled so LPID parking mode wouldn't get triggered by my closing of the door as I left the vehicle. LPID parking mode detected when I opened the trunk or door when I returned to the vehicle.

 

[viofo]

I wish there were a way to activate the parking mode with the bluetooth button. I have a Tesla, so no easily accessible ACC to tap for a trigger.

It would be great to tap a button to activate and deactivate parking mode.

The Bluetooth button supports activating and deactivating the parking mode.

 

[rcg530]

I went for a shakedown run in my car that has the VIOFO A229 Pro 3CH, A329S 3CH, and A329 2CH dash cameras installed in it. I looks like I have a couple of "Car Plate" text values to update to get the correct number of channels noted correctly.

The A329S interior camera has HDR enabled this time [it wasn't enabled in last Friday's example]. The frame grabs are from a different location, but the time of day is similar so the exterior lighting conditions are similar to last Friday's example.

2025-05-13 example with A329S interior camera having HDR enabled:


2025-05-09 example with A329S interior camera with HDR disabled:

 

[rcg530]

Now looking at some frame grabs from the front cameras. HDR is disabled for all three front cameras.

Left-to-Right: A229 Pro 3CH with CPL, A329S 3CH with CPL, A329 2CH with CPL


The A329 front footage looks like it handled the lighting conditions a bit better than the A229 Pro and the prototype A329S. IMO, the A329S front footage looks too dark.

Here's with the car stopped under an overpass:


Here's a plate capture while driving down a rural road at 45 mph:



Please remember that the A329S I have is a prototype unit running with a test firmware version. Things will change / get better as the firmware is fine tuned.

 

[TonyM]

The A329S interior camera has HDR enabled this time

It looks much better with HDR

 

[Chuck McCoy]

The A329S interior camera has HDR enabled this time

Very nice.

 

[rcg530]

I received test firmware for the A329S and A329T to correct the dark exposure level for the front camera with HDR turned off. Here are some frame grabs from the five dash cameras in the car.

BlackVue DR970X Plus 2CH / Thinkware U3000 2CH / VIOFO A229 Pro 3CH CPL / VIOFO A329S 3CH CPL / VIOFO A329 2CH CPL

 

[Briseide]

What do you think are the best images?

 

[rcg530]

What do you think are the best images?

My rankings would be [best-to-worst] A329, A329S, A229 Pro, U3000 / DR970X Plus. My pre-production A329S front camera has a slightly soft focus quality to it compared to the A329. I'm getting a production A329S sent to me in the next week or so.

 

[phhaily125]

a329 no longer available on shop at this time

 

[lufa6977]

I received test firmware for the A329S and A329T to correct the dark exposure level for the front camera with HDR turned off. Here are some frame grabs from the five dash cameras in the car.

BlackVue DR970X Plus 2CH / Thinkware U3000 2CH / VIOFO A229 Pro 3CH CPL / VIOFO A329S 3CH CPL / VIOFO A329 2CH CPL
View attachment 80252View attachment 80251View attachment 80250View attachment 80249View attachment 80248

View attachment 80257View attachment 80256View attachment 80255View attachment 80254View attachment 80253

Which camera captured the lighting and shadows, the same as you saw with your eyes? Overall, the VIOFO lineup out-shined the other two brands; within the VIOFO they were all very close, but the A229 and the A329S (pre-production beta) did poorly on the license plate image.

 

[lufa6977]

a329 no longer available on shop at this time

Interesting, not shown on the U.S. Amazon site either.

 

[Dex_]

My rankings would be [best-to-worst] A329, A329S, A229 Pro, U3000 / DR970X Plus. My pre-production A329S front camera has a slightly soft focus quality to it compared to the A329. I'm getting a production A329S sent to me in the next week or so.

Take my beer. I have some words about.
Firstly, A329 FW V1.1_250120 and A329S FW V1.0_250425 use absolutely same image quality settings. So I do not expect any differences on this FWs due same processor, sensors and calibrations.
As I posted here early I also have a feeling that my A329 does have some focus issue. And I disassembly it to fix focus. But! Focus was at a best position (I tried a find better pos but default was a best of all and I back it again and assembly A329). But why A229Pro shows sharper image than A329? I suppose that it is due other IQ settings so it is software related. Here is one more example:

Spoiler: samples at 2X zoom

Spoiler: Here is full sized original frames

Of course some of you may say that it is not sufficient differences. But that you say about:

Spoiler: another samples

Loose details in power lines, in far trees between 2 houses at left side, loose front building wall texture ... (max bitrate settings, A329 even gave a little bit more bitrate than A229Pro)

I should say that I compared A229Pro and A329 (not A329S or T cause I don't have it yet, but hope Viofo will be able to send it) but as I stated A329 and A329S use same hardware and software setting so A329S should gave same result as A329 (at least on FW V1.0_250425, I don't have something newer).

That do you think about @rcg530 @viofo @VIOFO-Support ?

 

[DashcamDriversGermany]

But why A229Pro shows sharper image than A329?

What firmwareversion of A229 Pro did you try? Between A229 Pro Firmware there are also differences. I compared firmware from a factory-unit Januar2024 (I think V1.0?) with V1.3
There you can find similar differences on trees and house-roofs. The older one has more sharpness/contrast. The newer one is looking smoother.

But regarding license plate capturing I didn`t found real differences.
I think when really comparing quality if should focus on license plates and the question readable or not.
Having less contrasts or less obvious sharpness does not necessarily mean that it`s unreadeble earlier even if it makes the impression that this might be the case.
At least this is my experience with comparing different firmwares.
(having two units next to each other in the car)

I didn`t compared A229 Pro, A329 and A329S myself yet. Maybe saturday.

 

[rcg530]

Please remember that the A329S I have is a prototype unit running with a test firmware version. Things will change / get better as the firmware is fine tuned.

Here's a local intersection I usually include in my review videos. This is on the second loop of my driving route with the CPL filters having been removed from the VIOFO dash cameras and the EV reset to +0.0.

BlackVue DR970X Plus 2CH / Thinkware U3000 2CH No CPL / VIOFO A229 Pro 3CH No CPL / VIOFO A329S 3CH No CPL / VIOFO A329 2CH No CPL


A plate capture attempt for the three VIOFO dash cameras on a rural road [low ambient light] with both vehicles traveling at approx 45 mph.


A plate capture attempt during the first loop of my driving route with CPL filters installed and EV set to +0.3. No similar opportunity was available during my second loop on this route due to light traffic.

 

[Dex_]

A229Pro with V1.3_240612 FW.
I don`t think only about license plates readability, if we may improve overal image quality why not doing this? Of course if it is not decrease license plate readability. More smooth details gave eye candy frames but we may and will loose some thin details and it can be on far license plates too.
It is only my vision and I wanna tell thank`s for you both for your opinions.

Add:
May be I miss it and someone stated before but I can't find a boot time till start recording for A329S. Does it back again to ~22 seconds like it was on A229Pro? That's sad, A329 boot time was ~12 secs only.

 

[rcg530]

Interior camera frame grabs from the other night's drive. The first driving loop I had the A229 Pro interior camera's IR LEDs enabled. The second driving loop I had the A329S interior camera's IR LEDs enabled. The objective was to not have the IR illumination level too "bright". The frame grabs are from the footage when my vehicle was at the same location in each driving loop to try and keep the exterior lighting conditions the same. The A329S interior camera had its "fish eye" mode enabled.

Freeway onramp left turn lane


Freeway offramp


Dark rural road


City intersection

 

[Chewy]

Can't seem to find any specs on frame rate when running in 3-ch modes.. I'm assuming the front camera drops to 30 FPS when running 3 sensors?

 

[Chuck McCoy]

Can't seem to find any specs on frame rate when running in 3-ch modes.. I'm assuming the front camera drops to 30 FPS when running 3 sensors?

VIOFO A329S 3CH First 4K 30FPS Front+2K Wide 210° FOV Fisheye Cabin+2K Rear Dash Cam with STARVIS 2 Sensor 3-Channel HDR, Support SSD Storage

VIOFO A329S 3CH — 4K Front + 2K 210° Fisheye Cabin + 2K Rear The A329S 3CH is VIOFO's flagship three-camera system: a 4K HDR front camera, a 2K 210° ultra-wide fisheye cabin camera, and a 2K HDR rear camera — all powered by Sony STARVIS 2 sensors and recording...

www.viofo.com

 

[Chewy]

VIOFO A329S 3CH First 4K 30FPS Front+2K Wide 210° FOV Fisheye Cabin+2K Rear Dash Cam with STARVIS 2 Sensor 3-Channel HDR, Support SSD Storage

VIOFO A329S 3CH — 4K Front + 2K 210° Fisheye Cabin + 2K Rear The A329S 3CH is VIOFO's flagship three-camera system: a 4K HDR front camera, a 2K 210° ultra-wide fisheye cabin camera, and a 2K HDR rear camera — all powered by Sony STARVIS 2 sensors and recording...

www.viofo.com

Amazing. Thank you. I was scrolling through the specs on the bottom of the Overview page - never thought to hit the specs text to get redirected to a different page!