Reviewing and Testing the new Vantrue N4S Dashcam

I can confirm the 6sec lag between Parking Mode to Drive Mode - I kind of expect this and 6sec isn't a big deal. Yesterday, my front and cabin cameras lost 6 mins at the same time and the rear camera lost 9 mins - all starting at the same time after switching from part to drive mode. Today, the front and cabin cameras lost 25 mins in the middle of parking mode and the rear camera lost more than 32 mins in the middle of parking mode. All 3 cameras also transitioned out of parking mode into drive mode for 6 mins, and then back into parking mode while the car was parked and I was in the office.

I need to double check the wiring in my LTO box, but I don't think that's the problem. I'll draw up a diagram of my LTO parking battery wiring schematic and post it shortly. The Hardwire kit is connected to my LTO box.

UPDATE: These issues have been corrected with subsequent changes to the rear camera manufacturing specifics. My example was a pre-production unit for testing.
 
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EricSan said:
Gotcha! Here is another comparison between the Viofo and Vantrue, both with the HDR feature disabled. The advantage is still clearly in Vantrue's favor. The freeze frame of the wheels is nearly perfect and the "Patriot" logo is sharp and clear with the N4S. Both are blurry with the Viofo. Overall exposure on the Vantrue is a bit better (though tending toward under exposure) than the Viofo (which tends toward over exposure). Both have exposure compensation adjustments that can be tweaked in the app. This car is passing by at about 30-35mph.

Vantrue N4S PlatePix on, HDR off, no polarizer:
View attachment 81292

Viofo A139Pro, HDR off, polarizer installed:
View attachment 81293
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The polarizer helps with the glare. It could also be making the vehicle look less sharp in definition. I would remove the polarizer and do a Apples to Apples comparison.

The N4S I received was installed in a another vehicle, so I can't do an A139 vs N4S comparison. My vehicle has enough cameras sitting on the front and rear windshield, that I don't want any more clutter.

See what happens without the polarizer.
 
EricSan said:
I can confirm the 6sec lag between Parking Mode to Drive Mode - I kind of expect this and 6sec isn't a big deal. Yesterday, my front and cabin cameras lost 6 mins at the same time and the rear camera lost 9 mins - all starting at the same time after switching from part to drive mode. Today, the front and cabin cameras lost 25 mins in the middle of parking mode and the rear camera lost more than 32 mins in the middle of parking mode. All 3 cameras also transitioned out of parking mode into drive mode for 6 mins, and then back into parking mode while the car was parked and I was in the office.

I need to double check the wiring in my LTO box, but I don't think that's the problem. I'll draw up a diagram of my LTO parking battery wiring schematic and post it shortly. The Hardwire kit is connected to my LTO box.
Click to expand...

I checked several videos and the 6 second gap is consistent from Parking ---> Normal Recording. I see no other lapses in recording using the OBDII hardwire. I can't imagine the OBDII hardwire would vary in performance from the hardwire kit.

Start simple on troubleshooting:

1. Locate another SD card. Use SDCard Formatter with Overwrite Format to prep the card https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter/sd-memory-card-formatter-for-windows-download/

2. Insert the "New" and prepped SD card into the camera. See if you get any gaps.

It could be a faulty SD card or an SD card that isn't compatible with the camera. Is the SD Card one Vantrue Sent? Or is it a spare you had on hand?

If that car is Brand New or Another Card still yields random large gaps:

3. Check your hardwire kit and setup.
 
EricSan said:
Yesterday, my front and cabin cameras lost 6 mins at the same time and the rear camera lost 9 mins - all starting at the same time after switching from part to drive mode. Today, the front and cabin cameras lost 25 mins in the middle of parking mode and the rear camera lost more than 32 mins in the middle of parking mode. All 3 cameras also transitioned out of parking mode into drive mode for 6 mins, and then back into parking mode while the car was parked and I was in the office.
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What parking mode are you using? Low bitrate (continuous) or something else?
Have you checked the Event folder for your missing recordings?
 
TonyM said:
What parking mode are you using? Low bitrate (continuous) or something else?
Click to expand...

I’m using LBR continuous recording with the hardwire kit connected to a 12v output on my DIY LTO parking battery. The only thing that I can think of as a potential problem is the ACC trigger wire is 12v from the car’s utility outlet, whereas the Red +v wire comes directly from my battery pack, so the voltage varies from 12-15.8v. I wonder if the hardwire kit is sensitive to the voltage difference. Just finished a 4 hr run with 2hrs of parking mode in the middle, so I need to check the footage now.
 
EricSan said:
I’m using LBR continuous recording with the hardwire kit connected to a 12v output on my DIY LTO parking battery. The only thing that I can think of as a potential problem is the ACC trigger wire is 12v from the car’s utility outlet, whereas the Red +v wire comes directly from my battery pack, so the voltage varies from 12-15.8v. I wonder if the hardwire kit is sensitive to the voltage difference. Just finished a 4 hr run with 2hrs of parking mode in the middle, so I need to check the footage now.
Click to expand...

I would troubleshoot first to ensure it isn't a faulty SD card before ripping out the hardwire and redoing things. Start easy and work up.

Issue isn't related to the N4S as I am not experiencing any video loss myself.
 
Here is the schematic for the LTO Parking Battery that I built. I just added the 12v set of outputs and this is where the Vantrue hardwire kit is connected. I've verified all of the wiring and it has also run my Viofo hardwired dashcam for the past year.

LTO Schematic 12v 5v Small.webp
 
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jsmith said:
Start easy and work up
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Yep, that's my philosophy, too!

I formatted the card with the camera before I left today and I just checked the card after my trip - no missing files and no glitches with recording. Everything is exactly as expected: all files are present and complete. Guess I can attribute that to something that was going on with the card before I reformatted it. Small side note, a 64GB card is not enough for 4 hrs of driving plus 2 hrs of continuous parking recording with the N4S😉
 
EricSan said:
Yep, that's my philosophy, too!

I formatted the card with the camera before I left today and I just checked the card after my trip - no missing files and no glitches with recording. Everything is exactly as expected: all files are present and complete. Guess I can attribute that to something that was going on with the card before I reformatted it. Small side note, a 64GB card is not enough for 4 hrs of driving plus 2 hrs of continuous parking recording with the N4S😉
Click to expand...

Sounds like either that SD card hadn't been formatted for quite a while or it may be going bad. Monitor footage over the next few days to see if you begin missing recordings again.
 
The card is relatively new and hasn’t been used heavily, so I’m surprised it was acting up. Perhaps it was just a random bizarre sorta thing…. All seems to be functioning fine now. Will definitely keep an eye on the card for the next little while 👍
 
I’ll post a few videos shortly. The short version so far is that I’m REALLY impressed with the N4S. Videos are crisp, readability of signs and plates is good, and color rendition is excellent (plate pix on, hdr off, polarizer installed).
 
Thank you for your review. I would like to see how the n4s compares to the a139Pro or a229Pro in terms of performance at night
 
@EricSan

I haven't had time to verify this issue as a definitive problem to report back to Vantrue, but do you notice the live feed connection via the "Wifi" suffers from significant lag?
 
Yes, there is a lag with a wifi connection, about 4-5 seconds. I see this with my Viofo as well, so it didn't concern me.
 
Here are comparisons of static images taken from the Vantrue N4S and Viofo A139 Pro cameras mounted side by side. At this point in the trip, I was following another car at about 85mph on the interstate - my cop finder is the grey Porsche a few hundred yards ahead. The point of comparison is a road sign just at the edge of the frame, a place where lens distortion is usually greatest:

From the Vantrue N4S, HDR off, PlatePix on, Polarizer installed, sun is behind the car:
N4S 85 mph.webp


And the same shot from the Viofo A139Pro, HDR off, Polarizer installed, sun is behind the car:
Viofo A139Pro 85mph.webp


Both are nice images. The N4s exhibits better overall color saturation - the blue sky is more blue, the green trees are more green, and the grey road is more grey. Clearly the Vantrue camera has greater image contrast, but this also comes at a little bit of cost in the daylight - the darker areas in the shadows of the trees on the right hand side reveals less detail with the N4S than the same area on the A139Pro camera.

The N4S also exhibits less overall image distortion. Check the guardrail on the left in each image. In the Vantrue image, the top of the guardrail is perfectly straight and flat. In the Viofo image, the guardrail is noticeably curved indicating greater distortion.

Below are some crops of the mile marker on the right hand side of both images.
The green mile marker sign is a bit more crisp with the N4S than it is with the A139Pro.
The green "VALERO" lettering on the white background in the bottom left of the blue sign is also more clear with the N4S.
Same is true for the "Pilot" sign above Valero.

Keep in mind, these images are made at high speed (85mph/135kph) and we're examining the area of the frame that typically exhibits the greatest amount of lens distortion, so performance for both is excellent, but the clear advantage goes to the Vantrue N4S. This comparison is even more impressive when you consider the resolution and relative level of video compression of each camera:

N4S Resolution: 2560x1440 30fps, 14.3 Mb/s, overall filesize 319,488 KB for 3mins
A139Pro Resolution: 3840x1600 30fps, 45.9 Mb/s, overall filesize 1,019,690 KB for 3mins

Overall Analysis So Far, Comparing Vantrue N4S and Viofo A139Pro:
The Vantrue N4S camera exhibits less lens distortion, has almost half of the overall resolution (3,686,400 pixels from vantrue vs 6,144,000 pixels from Viofo), one third of the data rate (14.3 Mb/s vs 45.9 Mb/s) and file sizes are almost one third (319,488KB vs 1,019,690 KB) of the Viofo A139Pro and the N4S image is STILL a bit sharper overall. That's an impressive combination! Keep in mind, though, the A139Pro is a 3 year old camera at this point in time - it was released in 2022 and was among the first to use the STARVIS 2 IMX678 sensor.

Vantrue N4S crop:
N4S 85 mph crop.webp


Viofo A139Pro crop:
Viofo A139Pro Crop 85mph.webp
 
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And here is a comparison of static images from each camera's Low Bit Rate parking mode, both cameras a fitted with a polarizing lens. In an interesting contrast with drive mode recordings, the N4S features a higher bitrate and slightly larger file size for lower resolution than the A139Pro has. Again, the N4S has higher contrast and more saturated colors. Both offer similar field of view, with the A139Pro being just a pinch wider. Despite the few second difference in time stamps, I froze the video at the same point in time, note the bird flying in front of the hood.

N4S LBR Parking mode resolution 1920x1080, 4,915Kb/s 15fps, 112,640KB for 3mins:

N4S Parking.webp


A139Pro LBR Parking Mode Resolution 2560x1440, 4,096Kb/s 30fps, 96,627KB for 3mins:

A139Pro Parking.webp


Here are some crops from the center of the frame from each camera.

From the N4S:
N4S park crop.webp


From the A139Pro:
Viofo park zoom.webp
 
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Here are a few images from the cabin camera. The first two are from drive mode, one with the sun coming in the front window, the other with the sun coming in the back window, and the third image is from parking mode. This is the first camera that I am aware of that uses Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 Sensor for the cabin camera. The camera is mounted just below my collision/safety system that is behind the rear view mirror. I had to tilt the camera down a bit after installation, but it captures the entire interior of the car with excellent detail. If you are a taxi/rideshare driver, this is an excellent feature and the image provides plenty of detail. There are also several IR LEDs for the cabin camera, so it can record in total darkness.

You can also see the wires from the hardwire power kit and the rear camera USB cord along the tops of the passenger side headliner. This was a quick and dirty install. At some point, I might get around to running another set of wires under the headliner, which requires removing the A- and C-pillars.

Drive Mode, 2560x1440 30fps, 14.3Mb/s, 319,488KB for 3mins, sun coming in front window (notice better colors out the side windows)
N4S Cabin Camera Drive Mode2.webp


Drive Mode, 2560x1440 30fps, 14.3Mb/s, 319,488KB for 3mins, sun coming in back window (colors outside of side windows more washed out and over exposed)
N4S Cabin Camera Drive Mode.webp


Parking Mode, 1920x1080 15fps 4,915kb/s, 112,640KB for 3mins
N4S Park Mode Cabin.webp
 
EricSan said:
Here are a few images from the cabin camera. The first two are from drive mode, one with the sun coming in the front window, the other with the sun coming in the back window, and the third image is from parking mode. This is the first camera that I am aware of that uses Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 Sensor for the cabin camera. The camera is mounted just below my collision/safety system that is behind the rear view mirror. I had to tilt the camera down a bit after installation, but it captures the entire interior of the car with excellent detail. If you are a taxi/rideshare driver, this is an excellent feature and the image provides plenty of detail. There are also several IR LEDs for the cabin camera, so it can record in total darkness.

You can also see the wires from the hardwire power kit and the rear camera USB cord along the tops of the passenger side headliner. This was a quick and dirty install. At some point, I might get around to running another set of wires under the headliner, which requires removing the A- and C-pillars.

Drive Mode, 2560x1440 30fps, 14.3Mb/s, 319,488KB for 3mins, sun coming in front window (notice better colors out the side windows)
View attachment 81585

Drive Mode, 2560x1440 30fps, 14.3Mb/s, 319,488KB for 3mins, sun coming in back window (colors outside of side windows more washed out and over exposed)
View attachment 81586

Parking Mode, 1920x1080 15fps 4,915kb/s, 112,640KB for 3mins
View attachment 81587
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Nice, one could argue that the bitrate is a little low but with the 2.5k resolution it's plenty enough.

Viofo A329S also uses imx675 for its interior cabin camera - I think a lot more dashcam models will transition to this sensor this year and into next. Same as 4k for rear sensors being the imx678 etc etc
 
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