A119 Beta firmware A119_170606_V3.1B - Basic Observations... Motion Detection Mode.
Not experienced on Motion Detection (MD), but did some testing more or less for subjective evaluation. Testing done with NO CPL, Resolution 1080P60, Loop Recording 3 Minutes, EV Exposure 0.0, WDR ON, Motion Detection ON, GPS ON, G-Sensor Middle Sensitivity, LED ON mostly... OFF before sunset and later, Screensaver 15 Seconds, indoors morning to mid-afternoon, in car - driving and parked afterwards. No log of events was made to compare with videos, so no objective analysis of detection capability versus false triggers could be made.
- Easy set up a static scene that would not continuously trigger the MD, as happened previously with an A119S.
- Easy to trigger MD in that static scene.
- The MD recording cycle is about 1 minute. If a new trigger occurs during the one minute MD recording cycle, it appears to reset the 1 minute MD recording cycle clock so that the camera continues recording for another minute. If the triggers continue to occur within successive MD record cycles, a file will be generated with a duration of up to the full Loop Recording time (3 minutes in this case). {Edit: Otherwise, if no new triggers happened in the most recent 1 minute MD recording cycle, then the A119 stops recording, ends the file, and awaits a new trigger. Files were consistently a few seconds to 3 minutes in duration.}
- Appears that screensaver operates normally in MD mode, i.e., once screensaver turns off the LCD screen in the MD mode, it stays off unless manually activated with a short-press of the Power button. This was one of the issues listed in the change log as fixed. Confirmed.
- While making 5 short drives with MD mode ON (4 day and 1 night), files were recorded normally as they would be with MD mode OFF.
- Parking Lot observations... Ran MD mode in a car parked in a busy Mall parking lot looking across several rows of cars toward a part of the Mall building. Cars passing up the next aisle over about 2 car lengths away in front triggered MD recording most of the time. Pedestrians also triggered MD recording, especially when passing within 2-3 feet of the front bumper. Sometimes the trigger sources were not obvious by looking at the video. Overall, the MD mode was tested in the parking lot for 2.55 hours, and recorded 54 files for a total record time of 1.63 hours. Unable to make judgements on the detection capability versus false triggers because of the subjective nature and short duration of these tests, and lack of experience with MD. In general, performance did exceed my expectations, for whatever that's worth. The trigger sensitivity seemed to be in the "just right" ballpark for a one-size-fits-all single sensitivity setting.
- Presuming my understanding of how the MD works is correct, by watching the beginning and the last minute of each file recorded, even without a written log, events that trigger, re-trigger, or fail to trigger the MD record cycle can sometimes be identified. {Edit: The source of the initial trigger event (if captured) of a given file will be at the beginning of the file, unless the previous file was terminated by the Loop Recording function, in which case the trigger probably occurred during the last minute of the previous file and the current file is just a continuation of the previous file.} If the file duration is less than the Loop Record time, 1) the last re-triggering event should be observable at close to the 1 minute to go point in the video, and 2) events occurring during the last minute of the file that failed to re-trigger MD recording should also be observable. {Edit: If Loop Recording times out before the last 1 minute MD recording cycle is completed, the current file ends, and the A119 carries the remaining MD record cycle time forward and starts recording a new file immediately. Consequently, files can be generated whose initial trigger actually occurred in the previous file, and a file of less that 1 minute duration is possible.}
- I saw nothing to indicate that any pre-buffered video was incorporated into the recorded files.
- I found no new Menu setting that allows the user to select the MD trigger sensitivity, an enhancement that has been previously suggested.
Regards,