VIOFO A329S - Testing/Review - RCG

[guitarboymt490]

Thank you very much my friend Karagandinez from Germany

 

[rcg530]

I put together a "video samples" video with front/rear/interior video samples from the following dash cameras: VIOFO A329S 3CH, VUEROID S1-4K Infinite 3CH, 70mai 4K T800 3CH.

 

[Briseide]

I drive both day and night. Is the HDR setting ON or AUTO recommended?

 

[Dan-UK1415]

I drive both day and night. Is the HDR setting ON or AUTO recommended?

Auto is recommended.
It then comes on/off at certain times.

 

[mentadent]

I'm 99% sure HDR is recommended at night

 

[Briseide]

Yes, it's recommended to use it at night, but is video quality better during the day if HDR is disabled? Otherwise, it's worth always setting it to ON, as I've done so far.
In some posts I thought I read that setting the dashcam to Auto caused problems with turning it on/off, but unfortunately I can't find them.

@SafeDriveSolutions If I'm not mistaken, you wrote something about it.

 

[speedingcheetah]

Auto is recommended.
It then comes on/off at certain times.

Problem is, it is not truly "auto". It is a time of day based featur. U have to remember to adjust it ever few months as the dawn dusk change. I found leaving HDR on all the time on is best as it guarantees best video capture in all lighting conditions. Even bright daylight, i find it better to have HDR on, as it helps to cut down on overexposed bright white objects, though my cause a slight color tone shift from white to very light grey in certain situations.
HDR off during the bright daylight, tends to give you a more "cinematic" look, more contrast perhaps.

 

[Briseide]

Problem is, it is not truly "auto". It is a time of day based featur. U have to remember to adjust it ever few months as the dawn dusk change. I found leaving HDR on all the time on is best as it guarantees best video capture in all lighting conditions. Even bright daylight, i find it better to have HDR on, as it helps to cut down on overexposed bright white objects, though my cause a slight color tone shift from white to very light grey in certain situations.
HDR off during the bright daylight, tends to give you a more "cinematic" look, more contrast perhaps.

Thanks!

 

[TonyM]

Personally I prefer Auto HDR because I don't like the blur / artefacts / double-exposure that I see in low light conditions when HDR is active. By this I mean those dull, cloudy conditions for a couple of hours after sunrise and a couple of hours before sunset which is often when I'm driving to or from school or work.

However everyone's preferences are different, so I'd encourage each user to try HDR-ON and HDR-OFF for a few days then review the footage to see what works for them.

 

[mentadent]

I wonder if VIOFO could add some dawn to dusk tables based on location and time of year. This C one is only a few KB:

https://github.com/jpb10/SolarCalculator

Then we could have a 'Dusk until Dawn' or 'Daytime' or 'Nighttime' setting.

 

[lufa6977]

HDR usage of being On, Off, or Auto tends to be a function of two items: the first is what the viewer expects or prefers to see in a video image, and the second is how the lens and CMOS gather that image. None of this video is what we would call cinema quality. With the massive range of lighting, weather conditions, and even windshields, I believe each user should see what works best for their environment.

The 'Dusk to Dawn' is interesting, but one still has to decide whether Dusk to Dawn works with their time zone and DST, as well as local environments. Once Dusk to Dawn is a feature, then users will want the dashcam to go out and get the local weather, and then enable HDR based on that. Of course, for any of that to be of value, the user first needs to decide what features to enable.

 

[Link]

Once Dusk to Dawn is a feature, then users will want the dashcam to go out and get the local weather, and then enable HDR based on that.

That would also be great innovation. Looking forward to the solar calculator being implemented first so that we can move onto more advanced features 😉

I don't necessarily disagree. But the issue with this kind of rhetoric, though, is bias, which we all have, and so we apply it selectively 🙂
Because if one were to apply it equally to every user request/suggestion that's reasonable enough, none would ever get past it, and then innovation could slowly wither.

 

[lufa6977]

That would also be great innovation. Looking forward to the solar calculator being implemented first so that we can move onto more advanced features 😉

I don't necessarily disagree. But the issue with this kind of rhetoric, though, is bias, which we all have, and so we apply it selectively 🙂
Because if one were to apply it equally to every user request/suggestion that's reasonable enough, none would ever get past it, and then innovation could slowly wither.

The purpose of the rhetoric is to enable or remind people to think about what they ask for and what they truly need in a dashcam or any product. Someone here once asked a manufacturer whether the dashcam would be integrated with CarPlay or Android Auto... the answer was 'no'. If manufacturers make a dashcam work with CarPlay, then people will also want it to work with whatever General Motors or others come up with. Do you want your dashcam integrated into Alexis? Why? Those questions should always be evaluated thoroughly. People already want extensive LTE and Cloud features. Not a bad idea for fleet services, but how many individuals will really use it daily? What are the sales figures for consumer-level LTE and cloud services now?

The discussion should always be there; if not, one day you will be able to remove your dashcam from the windshield and use it as a cellphone. 😉
After all, it is only a dashcam whose purpose is simple. We all have a cellphone to make and receive calls with.

 

[Karagandinez]

The discussion should always be there; if not, one day you will be able to remove your dashcam from the windshield and use it as a cellphone. 😉

Or use it as a coffee maker... 😎

 

[rcg530]

A 2-minute 50 second video of nothing but plate captures using front and rear cameras from a VIOFO A329S 3CH dash camera, a VUEROID S1-4K Infinite 3CH dash camera, and a 70mai 4K T800 3CH dash camera.

 

[Link]

The purpose of the rhetoric is to enable or remind people to think about what they ask for and what they truly need in a dashcam or any product.

I think we all struggle at times to recognize the fallacies in our own arguments 🙂
You may not see it this way, but that kind of rhetoric is fundamentally flawed for the reasons I mentioned above.

Imagine this: I could write a generic copypasta with this exact type of rhetoric (maybe starting with some of the arguments you just made in your latest reply 😉) and use it as a reply to every feature request or suggestion that I don't think should be prioritized, perhaps tweaking a few details each time.
The problem is that I would be the one choosing when to use the copypasta. Since I decide that, the argument becomes only as valid as my personal opinion about the importance/relevance of each feature request or suggestion.

In the end, the “argument” loses its relevance, and it would make more sense for me to just state my opinion directly.
Something like: “This sounds like a nice feature, but I don’t think it should be a priority right now because…”

The discussion should always be there

Absolutely. I'd always agree with that.

I appreciate how much our opinions differ, and I was actually hoping to encourage a more efficient discussion by addressing this small hurdle.
However, I realize this has drifted too far off-topic. Sorry, OP, I won’t continue down this tangent any further.

 

[patrocle]

VIOFO A329S 3CH dash camera

Curious if the A329S 3Ch still shuts down when hot out? I know is not that hot right now around here in Placer county valley but the A229Pro 3ch shuts down once in while if in direct sun or in the summer where is quite hot out and inside the car.

 

[kamkar]

A dashcam should not shut down in normal operation, even if you are driving thru death valley.
But parking guard can prompt cameras in cars parked in the sun to do a thermal shut down to save them self.
A few will come back on their own once temperatures have dropped, but in general expect them not to.
Others can deploy a bit more complicated solutions to at least give you something in the worst of situations.
It is rare i have heard of regular operation thermal shut down, my own car is so cheap it did not come with a radio or AC, but then again Denmark not the hottest place in summer, so never experienced something like that in over a decade of running dashcams.

I have no personal experience on the new Viofo 300 series.

 

[rcg530]

This video contains day and night sample footage from a Thinkware U3000 Pro, a VUEROID S1-4K Infinite, and a VIOFO A329S front camera. There are several license plate captures as well. The HDR feature is enabled and CPL filters are installed for all of the sample footage.

 

[indigo]

This video contains day and night sample footage from a Thinkware U3000 Pro, a VUEROID S1-4K Infinite, and a VIOFO A329S front camera. There are several license plate captures as well. The HDR feature is enabled and CPL filters are installed for all of the sample footage.

why u like use cpl