A119 Pre-production beta test, bugs, fixes, FW and suggestions

Perhaps a drop of hot glue to hold the lens in place ? ( just a drop )
I made the suggestion that the side to side movement should be click adjustable ( locks in position )
I really like the A119 , and plan to leave it in place .. ( It really is a nice bit of kit )
 
dash riposki said:
It's possible to bump the lens out of horizontal adjustment when handling the cam, or removing/replacing it. As long as 'straight ahead' is what you need, it looks like it's possible to use a few little pieces of tape to tape it in place.
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True, but I hope that is not what is expected of a production model.
 
For the beta A119 mounted in your car's right position, one can use glue or tape. But, as @CDNinHH said, I also hope that the final A119 will have some click mechanism (or something similar ) for horizontal movement of the lens.
 
My A119 does not recognize a new 64gb class 10 U1 micro SDXC card. It is Silicon Power (SP) brand, made in Taiwan. The product spec on Viofo website says "Up to 64GB MicroSD Card". @viofo can you confirm this?

My G1W-CB can use this card. I format it within the dashcam and transfer it to A119. It still refuses to accept the card. I'm using an old 32gb class 10 card now without problem.

@fiji mentioned earlier he had to format his 64gb card on his computer using some software before he could use it with his A119.
 
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6star said:
My A119 does not recognize a new 64gb class 10 U1 micro SDXC card. It is Silicon Power (SP) brand, made in Taiwan. The product spec on Viofo website says "Up to 64GB MicroSD Card". @viofo can you confirm this?

My G1W-CB can use this card. I format it within the dashcam and transfer it to A119. It still refuses to accept the card. I'm using an old 32gb class 10 card now without problem.

@fiji mentioned earlier he had to format his 64gb card on his computer using some software before he could use it with his A119.
Click to expand...

I can confirm that a 64gb Micro SD card will work. You need to format the memory card in FAT [MS-DOS (FAT32) according to the Properties/Get Info on the memory card on my Mac] format. Then insert the card in the A119 and it should read it and will probably prompt you to format it again.

I just tried it with a Lexar 633x 64gb Micro SD. Didn't work at first until I tried different formatting options.
 
The 64GB Micro SDXC card is still in the exFAT file system after it is formatted in the G1W-CB cam. I reformat it in FAT32 and it works fine in the A119.

I understand that exFAT-formatted SDXC (>32GB) cards are not a universally readable exchange medium because the use of the exFAT file system is governed by a proprietary license. What I don't understand is why the A119 does not support exFAT while the G1W does, considering they both use Novatek chips. Is it possible to update firmware to support and expect exFAT on cards larger than 32GB?
 
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I can confirm that my A119 beta unit records fine when using 64GB FAT32 formatted cards. I tested on Kingston and Samsung Class 10. The exFAT format is not recognized by my the A119 beta unit.
 
The best user experience is if Viofo support formatting a fresh 64gb sdxc. Now when a user buy a 64gb sdxc (by the way this is the best option, 25$ for a good one) and he inserts the sd in Viofo, Viofo doesn't recognize (because all 64 gb sdxc are ex-fat formatted by default) BUT doesn't ask for a format and user can't force format using Viofo menu. So user MUST format it in his PC and which is the most used OS in the world? Windows. And windows doesn't support 64gb fat32 formatting (you have to search & download software from the net).

FAT32 has another big problem: doesn't support files bigger than 4 gb. I'm trying to test this case in these days: I'll do a road trip longer then 30 minutes at 1080p@60 (20 Mbps bitrate, that is 0.7 gb for 5 minutes) and I set loop recording off. What should happen is Viofo close the file when it's bigger 4 gb and start a new one.
 
I don't think people who have a dash cam would set loop recording off and use it as a road trip/time lapse recorder... Even then, with loop recording, you might be able to combine the clips and make it a time lapse or something with post editing. Or get a dedicated action camera or some sort of camera with better video quality to specifically record the road trip.
 
Another thing for me not to set loop to off: in case of power supply failure the files might not be properly save and become unplayable on PC. That is why I always set loop to ON and choose up to max 3 min clips recording.
 
Padwanjoe said:
Another thing for me not to set loop to off: in case of power supply failure the files might not be properly save and become unplayable on PC. That is why I always set loop to ON and choose up to max 3 min clips recording.
Click to expand...

yet another reason why we don't even have a loop off function in our cameras
 
I was always wondering if the A119 can take still photos due to its lack of a mode button. Today, I was tweaking settings. To my pleasant surprise, some JPG files appear in a new "Photo" folder. I don't know what triggered the A119 to take these still photos. Anyone know how to use it to take photos?

Here is a 1920x1080 photo.
2016_0523_162256_002.JPG
 
6star said:
I was always wondering if the A119 can take still photos due to its lack of a mode button. Today, I was tweaking settings. To my pleasant surprise, some JPG files appear in a new "Photo" folder. I don't know what triggered the A119 to take these still photos. Anyone know how to use it to take photos?

Here is a 1920x1080 photo.
View attachment 23296
Click to expand...
I believe if you press mode while the screen is already on and it's recording it will take a snapshot.
 
@Gibson99 Your memory has served you well. Pressing the MENU button during video recording will save a snapshot.
 
Although it may look this way, my username has nothing to do with the Jedis.
And, by the way, I scored better when playing the pork side in Angry Birds Star Wars so I should call you "Apprentice" and not "Padawan". Just kidding. Peace!
 
Still testing.

I'm not sure this is a new bug or it's related to other similar bugs.

Start my car engine, Viofo A119 REC light is on AND Viofo is not recording at all. No beeps, display off, no blinking leds. This is a serious bug: any user thinks Viofo is recording but it isn't.

How you could reproduce it (maybe).

1. Set loop interval to off
2. Format SD
3. Start recording
4. Wait until SD is full, then Viofo will stop recording and start beeping
5. Press menu button to stop beeping
6. Power off the car (and so Viofo)
7. Power on the car (and so Viofo)
8. Look at Viofo: now REC button light is on, display auto power off after few seconds (as usual), no blinking leds and no beeps. BUT Viofo is not recording. If you press menu: display power on and you will see no red circle icon in the header bar

Maybe I disable format warnings, but this is not the point. In my opinion, REC button should never be on when Viofo is not recording. And when Viofo is not recording you should every time listen a loud beep (user can stop it pressing menu, but beep must restart when user restart his car).

Notes:
1. I know you says never set loop interval to off (and I agree with you) BUT if Viofo gives this option we should test it over and over
2. I still don't understand why loop interval off doesn't delete old files. It's a fat32 format, so files can't be bigger than 4gb. With modern huge sd card old files could/should be deleted with no hassle (as when you set 10 min time interval)

IMG_20160525_202412.jpg IMG_20160525_202355.jpg
 
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Maybe it would make more sense to entirely remove the loop interval setting for off as it just seems to cause problems and for most people who want to use this as a dashcam they'd never turn it off anyway (other than by accident?)
 
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