A119 Mini - Review / Testing

[rcg530]

V1.1_0817
So far I've noticed.
HDR - ON
1. There is no off in the menu. screen so that it does not turn off.

You stated there is no "Off" in the menu. I posted a screen shot of the menu a couple of days ago and it is definitely present. I confirmed the V1.1_0817 I was give a few days ago and the V1.1_0817 firmware file available on the VIOFO website are in fact the same file (both have the same version info, same file size and both have the same md5 checksum value).

 

[gse]

You stated there is no "Off"

You did not understand.
The menu item is called "Display auto-off"
There is a shutdown after 1 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, ..... 3 min.
There is no item that the screen would not turn off.

 

[rcg530]

You did not understand.
The menu item is called "Display auto-off"
There is a shutdown after 1 sec, 5 sec, 10 sec, ..... 3 min.
There is no item that the screen would not turn off.

The way it was worded it looked like (to me) you were referring to the HDR feature.

The menu item is labeled (with language set to English in firmware settings) "Screen Saver". The screen can add an extra heat load to the dash camera along with the extra power it consumes. In hotter environments, leaving the screen on indefinitely can be detrimental to the total heat load on the dash camera internals. I can see having the option present might be nice in certain test situations, but I would not suggest setting the "Screen Saver" to "Off" (if it had that setting) for regular use of the dash camera.

 

[gse]

The screen can add an extra heat load to the dash camera along with the extra power it consumes. In hotter environments,

I understand you, but there are other items for this, the user can set the value to turn off the display, I'm used to driving with the display on, I think that this item should be added and deal with gray artifacts.

 

[rcg530]

New Feature(?): GPS Turns Off During Parking Mode

I was reviewing video footage from both of the A119 Mini dash cameras I have in my car. I noticed that the GPS stamp info disappeared a couple of seconds after the start of low bitrate parking mode. Going back to low bitrate videos generated with V1.0_0714 test firmware, the GPS info stamp data was still present for the entire parking mode session. Starting with A119 Mini test firmware V1.1_0812, I can see the GPS stamp info going away just a few seconds after the start of parking mode. The now publicly available V1.1_0817 also has this behavior.

I don’t see any setting in the settings menu on the A119 Mini nor in the latest test version of the VIOFO Android app to configure this behavior.

I've sent an email to VIOFO to confirm my suspicion that starting with publicly available A119 Mini firmware V1.1_0817, the GPS module is being turned off during parking mode.

Long after the start of low bitrate parking mode recording with firmware V1.0_0724 – GPS info stamp still present.



Firmware V1.1_0817 at the very beginning of low bitrate parking mode (for a couple of seconds), the GPS stamp is presented.



Firmware V1.1_0817, just a couple of seconds later and the GPS info stamp disappears.

 

[ogzogz]

There is one thing I am not entirely sure about.

The camera setting is 2k60 fps.
30fps recording starts when timed hdr is activated later on.
and again in the future, when hdr is turned off, it should be 60 fps, but it starts recording at 30 fps.

 

[rcg530]

There is one thing I am not entirely sure about.

The camera setting is 2k60 fps.
30fps recording starts when timed hdr is activated later on.
and again in the future, when hdr is turned off, it should be 60 fps, but it starts recording at 30 fps.

That's one configuration test that I have not had time to perform. I would assume that when the timed HDR off time is passed, it should turn off HDR and restore the resolution setting. I likely won't be able to test this configuration for a week or two.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Regarding parking mode and GPS I read elsewhere that the new hardwire kit can turn the GPS module off during parking mode to hopefully lengthen recording times. So what you have observed to me makes sense, GPS location shows, then the GPS module powers down as you’re not likely to move once in parking mode.

 

[rcg530]

I've received confirmation from VIOFO that the GPS is now being disabled in parking mode (by default). VIOFO will be adding a firmware menu and app setting option for this feature in a future version.

 

[Lord_Nikkon]

Hello,
I'm thinking, searching for good camera (i was thinking about Vantrue E1 but no good parking mode). I want to ask you (many of you made very good reviews on YT. Does new FW bring some improvments in the overheating area?

 

[Karagandinez]

Hello,
I'm thinking, searching for good camera (i was thinking about Vantrue E1 but no good parking mode). I want to ask you (many of you made very good reviews on YT. Does new FW bring some improvments in the overheating area?

I had no problems with overheating on the old firmware either.
I wrote on another forum 06/18/22

Today I was in the parking lot near the mall.
The air temperature outside was +34 degrees Celsius.
I don't know how hot it was inside the car. During your stay
Mini recorded 61 video files of one minute each. There were no crashes.
After parking, the Mini started recording normally and recorded 70 more video files of one minute each.

I will update the post after 7 weeks of observations:
After that, I was several times on the lake, where the air temperature reached +32 degrees and the DVR was in parking mode for up to 12 hours continuously. Well, parking lots were shorter: from 2 to 6 hours at a temperature overboard up to +36 was enough and there were no failures.

 

[Lord_Nikkon]

I had no problems with overheating on the old firmware either.
I wrote on another forum 06/18/22

Thank You very much. I was looking for 70mai (m500 - lack of SD is hard to accept for me) and VanTrue (E1 - parking mode almost doesn't exist). Now i have Mio J60 which simply is old and also soon will die. Viofo 119 mini looks the best in small camera competition, but affraid to buy crap.

 

[Karagandinez]

Thank You very much. I was looking for 70mai (m500 - lack of SD is hard to accept for me) and VanTrue (E1 - parking mode almost doesn't exist). Now i have Mio J60 which simply is old and also soon will die. Viofo 119 mini looks the best in small camera competition, but affraid to buy crap.

A119 Mini has been installed in my car since the beginning of June and there were no problems with it, both when shooting on the move and in the parking lot. The parking lot uses "Low Bitrate Recording".
Yes, and on this forum, overheating was found only in one person, although many people use this model.

 

[Lord_Nikkon]

A119 Mini has been installed in my car since the beginning of June and there were no problems with it, both when shooting on the move and in the parking lot. The parking lot uses "Low Bitrate Recording".
Yes, and on this forum, overheating was found only in one person, although many people use this model.

Ok so this is very clear statment, which helped me with decision.

Any special thinks i need to take under account when i will configure a119 mini?

 

[Karagandinez]

Any special thinks i need to take under account when i will configure a119 mini?

What are the differences among parking modes, and how are parking motion detection, parking G-sensor, and motion detection working?

There are three modes of parking, and you can only choose one mode at a time, Auto event detection, Time-lapse, and Low bitrate ①Auto event detection: in this mode, the dashcam will only record when it detects movements around your car. and...

support.viofo.com

Low bitrate parking mode.

 

[rcg530]

Hello,
I'm thinking, searching for good camera (i was thinking about Vantrue E1 but no good parking mode). I want to ask you (many of you made very good reviews on YT. Does new FW bring some improvments in the overheating area?

I currently have a preproduction unit and a production A119 Mini in my car. The A119 Minis have been working well the past several weeks since I selected 2K 30fps for the video resolution. VIOFO is making adjustments to the A119 Mini to help improve its ability to dissipate heat. California is about to go through an extreme heat wave (110F to 115F max temps next week) so I'll see how the hold up under those elevated daytime temps.

I've worked extensively with Vantrue and the Vantrue E1 now has a functional parking mode since E1 firmware EBH161. There was a field of view shift in parking mode, but that's been resolved with EBH182 firmware, but there is now a low audio recording level issue they're working on. Both E1 dash cameras I for testing have a noise of some sort (rattle - one worse than the other) taking place inside of the E1 which is being picked up by the internal microphone in the audio being recorded.

 

[Karagandinez]

California is about to go through an extreme heat wave (110F to 115F max temps next week) so I'll see how the hold up under those elevated daytime temps.

We are waiting for a report on the work of the A119 Mini and A229 Duo at such temperatures.

 

[Vortex Radar]

I currently have a preproduction unit and a production A119 Mini in my car. The A119 Minis have been working well the past several weeks since I selected 2K 30fps for the video resolution. VIOFO is making adjustments to the A119 Mini to help improve its ability to dissipate heat. California is about to go through an extreme heat wave (110F to 115F max temps next week) so I'll see how the hold up under those elevated daytime temps.

That's awesome. Do you know if it's something likely improvable with a simple firmware update?

 

[rcg530]

That's awesome. Do you know if it's something likely improvable with a simple firmware update?

The production A119 Mini I was sent from VIOFO was to have had some sort of optimization already in place to handle heating in a better manner (not stated to me what that change was). VIOFO is potentially making a hardware optimization in the next A119 Mini production batch to help dissipate generated heat better and/or a firmware change to reduce the amount of heat generated by the A119 Mini. I've been told what the potential change(s) might be for the A119 Mini. Until the change(s) appear in reality, it's all speculation at this point.

 

[rcg530]

A119 Mini - HDR - VIOFO App

VIOFO has released v2.9 for iOS and v3.2.6 for Android of the VIOFO app which adds support for the new HDR feature in the A119 Mini starting with firmware V1.1_0817.

There are two new settings in the app. "HDR" and "HDR Time". The "HDR" setting can be set to "Off" (HDR always off), "On" (HDR always on) or "Auto" (HDR is on during the selected time frame as defined in the "HDR Time" setting).