61 year old newbie

A

Asturcelta

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Hello everyone, I am writing from Spain, I am 61 years old and I am a complete newbie to dashcams. I want to buy my first dashcam with 2 channels, front and rear, but I'm undecided. I have read comments about the temperature problems of dashcams, and here in Spain it is quite hot, in two hours a car in the sun can reach almost 60 degrees when the outside temperature is 32 degrees.
I have read that the dashcams that get hotter are 4K, so I think should go for a 2K and that is my doubt.
These are my needs:
- 2K front dashcam (rear can be 1080p)
- endure the heat here in Spain
- screen (to be able to modify the configuration in case the wifi fails)
- HDR or some system to minimize flashes from night lights
- 5Ghz Wifi (5Ghz wifi is only for saving the videos on the phone, because 2.7Ghz is too slow) - No very necesary because I can take the SD out and take it to the computer
- parking mode
- not very expensive

At first I thought of the viofo a129 plus duo but I think it doesn't have 5Ghz Wi-Fi and it doesn't have HDR either (it only has WDR????). In the videos, at night, I have seen that there are many reflections of the lights that make it impossible to read the license plates.

I don't know if there will be any camera that meets the characteristics that I need and that is not very expensive.
For all this I am very undecided.
Can you help me?
Thank you

P.S.: I'm sorry for my bad English
 
Hola Asturceltsa. Welcome to the forum.

Temperatures are not a problem for the camera just being in the car while parked, in that case it will just start when you start your car, and then record until you stop your car.
The problem only come when you expect the camera to also record while parked ( using parking guard ) CUZ then you have the heat of the sun and car + the heat the camera also generate when in operation.
Last summer i tried the Viofo A229 camera on one of the hottest days up here, so 31 - 32 deg C warm, and while i just use parking guard for 3 hours on the timer, i did actually expect the camera to shut down due to temperature.

But i parked my car on a open field facing the sun, and to my surplice the camera recorded for 3 hours and then shut down due to the timer.
My little Suzuki car are so cheap it dident even come with a radio or airconditioning.

The A229 do have 5GHZ wifi and the speed are reasonable so it will not take 3-4-5 minutes to DL a 3 minute file.
HDR well some systems have that now, but it is not really the blessing i thought it would be, even in the newest sensor cameras like the Viofo A139 PRO that use the sony IMX 678 sensor
Generally regarding light and night, people tend to more complain about halo / starburst on lights, this can often be due to a widescreen not clean enough inside and out, when you run a dashcam you can not clean your windscreen often enough, even if you are not a smoker.
 
Thanks for answering, in the videos I've seen HDR does its job, in fact I'm seeing that the a119 v3 with HDR has better quality even than the a129 pro or a139. And in fact it is the cheapest of all, a pity that it is only a single channel that cannot be connected to a rear camera.

As seen in the video, the a119 v3 is better in everything.


I don't know why the a129 does not have the same characteristics as the a119 v3, they have gone backwards instead of improving the camera that is supposed to be superior.
I don't see any dual cameras in Viofo that have the HDR like in the a119 v3, maybe I'm wrong and I haven't checked it well.

Therefore, can you advise me what dashcam it looks as good as in the a119 v3 but in dual mode?
 
A119V3 are just a single camera, so the SOC can use all its power to do that, most often this mean the camera can run much higher FPS & bitrate on the one channel or HDR which simple said is taking double frames and so need more power to just to 30 FPS.

It is the constant having to cut corners / make compromise in what you get

There are also much better image sensors out there that could be used, the problem is they will get very expensive, so much so no one dare to make such a system as it will probably only sell in little numbers
 
kamkar said:
A119V3 are just a single camera, so the SOC can use all its power to do that, most often this mean the camera can run much higher FPS & bitrate on the one channel or HDR which simple said is taking double frames and so need more power to just to 30 FPS.

It is the constant having to cut corners / make compromise in what you get

There are also much better image sensors out there that could be used, the problem is they will get very expensive, so much so no one dare to make such a system as it will probably only sell in little numbers
Click to expand...

Yes of course, that's why I'm considering putting two 119 v3 cameras, front and rear.
 
That would work too, and if you do not go for footage too often its OKAY. also with 2 similar cameras, the footage should be in sync as they take the same time to boot and start recording.
Years ago i ran many single channel systems too, but also pulled a lot of footage, so going to different cameras was annoying, so when dual systems came out i went for those at once.

Fair warning: The little spring loaded memory cards, if i was you pulling footage i would just slide the whole camera off the mount, and then in the " security" of your house pull the little memory card, CUZ if it launch it is more easy to find on a hardwood floor or carpet VS in the pea sized gravel i park on at home, also that gravel absolutely no fun crawling around on on your knees.

It have happened so often for so many of us in here over the years we have a unofficial club, some find their card sooner or later, some loose it forever.

The club for premature memory card ejection :LOL:
 
I leave the card in the V3, bring it in as mentioned and use it as a card reader, works perfectly.
 
I prefer to take footage from memory cards with the memory card in a card reader, this way if card reader and port are fast i get the full speed.
Also you can playback directely from the memory card, something you can not do without lagging if you use the dashcam as a card reader or use a cheap card reader on a slow / old USB port

So browsing footage on the card are effortless, and you can DL footage at the full read speed of the card, which are often like 80 - 100 MB/s
Where as using the dashcam as reader plugged into PC, or a old cheap card reader and you will at best see 12 - 15 MB/s transfer speeds,,,,,, granted if you just copy a single file now and then it do not matter, but if you like to save a lot of the footage the high speed are nice.

Modern dashcams do have ok speed on 5 GHZ wifi transferring a 3 minute file to the phone in 30 seconds, a few years ago doing the same would take 4-5 minutes.

PS. Also not young myself, but it will be 4 years until i am 61 years old.
 
Yes, horses for courses.

I just plug the dash cam into the PC and let it do its thing. Doesn't take that long and I only view footage once it's on the PC SSD.
 
kamkar said:
I prefer to take footage from memory cards with the memory card in a card reader, this way if card reader and port are fast i get the full speed.
Also you can playback directely from the memory card, something you can not do without lagging if you use the dashcam as a card reader or use a cheap card reader on a slow / old USB port

So browsing footage on the card are effortless, and you can DL footage at the full read speed of the card, which are often like 80 - 100 MB/s
Where as using the dashcam as reader plugged into PC, or a old cheap card reader and you will at best see 12 - 15 MB/s transfer speeds,,,,,, granted if you just copy a single file now and then it do not matter, but if you like to save a lot of the footage the high speed are nice.

Modern dashcams do have ok speed on 5 GHZ wifi transferring a 3 minute file to the phone in 30 seconds, a few years ago doing the same would take 4-5 minutes.

PS. Also not young myself, but it will be 4 years until i am 61 years old.
Click to expand...

I would also like a double dashcam, at first I opted for the 129 plus but it does not have 5ghz wifi, then there is the viodo 129 pro du 4k but I have not seen good results in the videos.
Therefore I continue with my doubts.
 
Yes it is not easy, least of all when you discover the other 1000 of brands that are not mentioned in here.

Most times though any dashcam are better than no dashcam.
Also when you get a camera, if you get disappointed with the image quality anyway, you will not be the first one.

I myself have always had really modest wants in what a dashcam must do for me, and any camera do that just fine day or night and only really thick fog will change that.
So all the other things i get, or some times get, that is just a plus for me

2 of the systems i test at the moment, the Vantrue E2 and the Viofo A229 duo, they have the same " issue" every 15 frame are perfect, no blocking at all, i just wish the remaining 28 frames would be just as good CUZ the blocking do narrow the " timeframe" you have to get a good plate capture of a oncoming car ( Danish 2 lane highway - 80 kmh speed ) so really it is just the last 3 frames before the plate are out of view, but optically it could fine be at least 10 frames.
you see this some times when you are putting together a video, as suddenly the best plate capture are further away as that is just by chance when one of the good " reference " frames was made.
Well you see that at least when you whip demo videos up like i do, with a freeze frame and plate zoom, CUZ you are going thru footage 1 frame at the time.


I am not quite sure if this is a matter of the bitrate or the cameras GOP setting ( Group Of Pictures )
It is my understanding that GOP are fine to use if only a little in the frame move, but in a dashcam everything move all the time, so really it should not be used.

Anyway i have been doing this for over 10 years now, and i have still not seen the perfect dashcam.
 
Last edited:
kamkar said:
Yes it is not easy, least of all when you discover the other 1000 of brands that are not mentioned in here.

Most times though any dashcam are better than no dashcam.
Also when you get a camera, if you get disappointed with the image quality anyway, you will not be the first one.

I myself have always had really modest wants in what a dashcam must do for me, and any camera do that just fine day or night and only really thick fog will change that.
So all the other things i get, or some times get, that is just a plus for me

2 of the systems i test at the moment, the Vantrue E2 and the Viofo A229 duo, they have the same " issue" every 15 frame are perfect, no blocking at all, i just wish the remaining 28 frames would be just as good CUZ the blocking do narrow the " timeframe" you have to get a good plate capture of a oncoming car ( Danish 2 lane highway - 80 kmh speed ) so really it is just the last 3 frames before the plate are out of view, but optically it could fine be at least 10 frames.
you see this some times when you are putting together a video, as suddenly the best plate capture are further away as that is just by chance when one of the good " reference " frames was made.
Well you see that at least when you whip demo videos up like i do, with a freeze frame and plate zoom, CUZ you are going thru footage 1 frame at the time.


I am not quite sure if this is a matter of the bitrate or the cameras GOP setting ( Group Of Pictures )
It is my understanding that GOP are fine to use if only a little in the frame move, but in a dashcam everything move all the time, so really it should not be used.

Anyway i have been doing this for over 10 years now, and i have still not seen the perfect dashcam.
Click to expand...
Nice video, the plates look good.
To get a best plate capture it's better record in 60fps?
Which dashcam duo would you recommend that license plates look good under €250, the viofo 229 duo is there at that price?
 
I use to think so, but then i compared 2 identical cameras side by side in my windscreen, and it was extremely rare the 60 FPS camera got a capture the 30 FPS camera did not get.
In theory 60 FPS restrict the camera in dropping to really slow exposure timing in low light 1/30 second, but it do not matter CUZ 1/60 second while 2 X faster are still way too slow to remove motion blur.

In school we was taught in photo class that if you want to capture a sharp image of movement the exposure have to be at least 1/250 second exposure time, and i think by that the teacher meant movement at speeds a human can do on its own.

In low light i dont really expect plate capture on fast roads, but some days you are surprised.

This is from the A139 system from viofo, on a grey and boring rainy day, and it actually capture plates, but if you notice after a few cars i get near to a little bunch of trees on the left side of the road, this influence exposure timing that drop CUZ it is darker, and so plate capture get harder.


The A139 use the same IMX 335 sensor in the front camera as the A229, but then the rear camera are just a 1080p one and not 1440p like the A229 also are in the rear.
Both of those cameras was uneventful for me during testing, no failures of any kind, just sit there and do what they are supposed to do.
I think right now there are a Sale on both systems. https://viofo.com/12-dash-cam i think those prices also transfer to their Amazon and other outlets.
 
kamkar said:
I use to think so, but then i compared 2 identical cameras side by side in my windscreen, and it was extremely rare the 60 FPS camera got a capture the 30 FPS camera did not get.
In theory 60 FPS restrict the camera in dropping to really slow exposure timing in low light 1/30 second, but it do not matter CUZ 1/60 second while 2 X faster are still way too slow to remove motion blur.

In school we was taught in photo class that if you want to capture a sharp image of movement the exposure have to be at least 1/250 second exposure time, and i think by that the teacher meant movement at speeds a human can do on its own.

In low light i dont really expect plate capture on fast roads, but some days you are surprised.

This is from the A139 system from viofo, on a grey and boring rainy day, and it actually capture plates, but if you notice after a few cars i get near to a little bunch of trees on the left side of the road, this influence exposure timing that drop CUZ it is darker, and so plate capture get harder.


The A139 use the same IMX 335 sensor in the front camera as the A229, but then the rear camera are just a 1080p one and not 1440p like the A229 also are in the rear.
Both of those cameras was uneventful for me during testing, no failures of any kind, just sit there and do what they are supposed to do.
I think right now there are a Sale on both systems. https://viofo.com/12-dash-cam i think those prices also transfer to their Amazon and other outlets.
Click to expand...

Ok then better 30 fps.
I still don't know which one to decide
 
I like the traditional wedge shaped cameras as they install perfect on my windscreen in front of mirror.
There i have a dotted area so only the bottom 1/3 of the camera stick down below that, so if i did not have many cameras there, it would be very stealthy.

The A139 are also wedge shaped, but i find it a hybrid mixed with the barrel type cameras, so it is winder, so more of it can be seen if it is installed in the same place.

img_20180414_143906-jpg.37474

img_20180414_143857-jpg.37475
 
Fully agree. Having had the wedge shape for 4 years now I will never go back to any dashcam that hangs off a stalk with a ball joint.
 
kamkar said:
I like the traditional wedge shaped cameras as they install perfect on my windscreen in front of mirror.
There i have a dotted area so only the bottom 1/3 of the camera stick down below that, so if i did not have many cameras there, it would be very stealthy.

The A139 are also wedge shaped, but i find it a hybrid mixed with the barrel type cameras, so it is winder, so more of it can be seen if it is installed in the same place.

img_20180414_143906-jpg.37474

img_20180414_143857-jpg.37475
Click to expand...

Yes off course I agree. I want a wedge shaped cameras too.
I would like a dashcam with the quality of the A119 v3 but that can be fitted with a rear camera, and I can't find much within my budget.
And put 2 dashcam a119 v3 as I said before is complicated because in the back of the car I don't have a 12v plug.
 
Same here with the back, my car is a 2012 Suzuki splash, so in the old days i hard wired a 3 socket extension , CUZ using long USB cable for rear camera, that lost me a recording of when i got rear ended the first time in my car.

iu


Took the +12 V from the fuse box and then connected the 12 V ground to one of the bolts that hold the rear seat in place.
I had to put rubber bands on the plugs however as the thing was just sliding around hack there / under the rear seat, so dashcam plugs would wiggle loose over time.
 
kamkar said:
Same here with the back, my car is a 2012 Suzuki splash, so in the old days i hard wired a 3 socket extension , CUZ using long USB cable for rear camera, that lost me a recording of when i got rear ended the first time in my car.

iu


Took the +12 V from the fuse box and then connected the 12 V ground to one of the bolts that hold the rear seat in place.
I had to put rubber bands on the plugs however as the thing was just sliding around hack there / under the rear seat, so dashcam plugs would wiggle loose over time.
Click to expand...

Yes that would be an option.
I'm looking for some video that compares the a229 duo and the a129 plus duo.
I haven't seen anything on your channel about the a129 plus duo
 
No the A129 is not one of the systems i have been sent by Viofo, same go for the new A139 pro using the starvis 2 sensor, another are A119 in any of its versions.
So i am still to sample my first 4K system.
 
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