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

[CDNinHH]

I think the power button is not needed either -

I agree with that, I have never used it.

I always use the REC button to stop the recording so I can use the MENU button, is there another way?

 

[dash riposki]

I think that's the only way. with the '60p' quirks on the current firmware, I have to hit the menu button during power up, or I can't get to the menu at all. (when set to 60p)

 

[Gibson99]

I agree with that, I have never used it.

I always use the REC button to stop the recording so I can use the MENU button, is there another way?

ok, good point. you change the settings on the blacksys cameras differently - mostly because neither of them has a screen. the cf-100 requires you to take out the SD card, put it in a windows PC, then run their app to change all the settings you want. the ch-100b has wifi, so you can configure (and get live preview for aiming cameras) via smartphone app. the ch-100b doesn't stop recording while you're configuring it via wifi, but obviously the cf-100 does. and if they have a problem such as missing/bad SD card, it literally TELLS you with voice prompts. repeatedly, in the case of an SD card problem, so there's no chance you'll miss it. kinda like how this camera keeps beeping at you if there's no SD card.

is the processor load so high during recording that you wouldn't be able to get into the menu and change things while it's recording? i would think that if you change a setting like resolution or loop time, it can just stop the current file and start the next one after you leave the menu - similar to clicking OK on a computer dialog box after making a few changes there.

or what about this (for a future cam that doesn't have POWER or REC buttons)? make it so you have to HOLD menu to get into setup, and doing that will stop recording. and when you finish in the menus and go back to the main screen, it starts recording again. that will prevent accidental stoppage from a short press, and still allow it to take a snapshot if you wanted to. it's not like you will be messing with menu options very often, and certainly not while driving. only time i ever get into my menus after the first setup is for daylight savings time (since i don't have GPS) and maybe if i update the firmware.

 

[runtohell121]

What an unfortunate day when I went out and finally decided to check on the footage after the updating the firmware on the A119. The memory card was completely empty, no recording happened the past 3 or 4 days since the update... I remember I updated the firmware, then formatted the card and thought it should have been ready to go and recording. But when I went to check the micro sd card, no footage or anything was on it. Guess I have nothing to provide at this moment since I was hoping to get some night and day footage posted for comparison between the Mini 0806.

I guess it will take some time for me to see how it compares and what improvement it might have been over the previous firmware. Have no updates at this moment, sorry. :/

 

[CDNinHH]

Did you notice if the REC button was rapidly flashing? I know in daylight it is very hard to see. Did you have motion detect on? The latest firmware disabled the beeps that went along with no recording as it was very annoying when using motion detect.

 

[runtohell121]

Motion detection is off.

I wasn't driving the car that the Mini 0806 and A119 was in for comparison. Usually, I just set it up by formatting the SD card and normally it starts recording fine. Might have been my mistake not to double check since I was used to all the other cameras I used which was just format after updating and should have been ready to record.

Right after updating, I would format the card and went through all the settings to set the date, make sure the settings were the one I prefer using: max res, low sensitivity, no sound recording, and at times, disable beep. After setting it up, I usually just turn it off and don't check on it until a few days later once it recorded some footage, but in this case, empty.

 

[jokiin]

did you reset defaults after updating the firmware?

 

[runtohell121]

Nope... I normally don't reset default settings ever, though the firmware itself when updating to newer one usually resets everything (all settings) as far as I know. So I would go through setting and change it back to what I had before and format the card.

 

[jokiin]

best to reset defaults after updating

 

[old4570]

After firmware update the cam should be @ default settings ( new firmware after all )

Here is a vid showing color shift from white to blue ... ( Current updated firmware )

You might see it in a few other places besides the Goodguys building ( wall )

 

[jokiin]

Some settings are retained due to being stored in protected memory areas, best practice to always reset defaults after an update

 

[viofo]

BAD:

• power button still does not wake up screen, but all other buttons do. it beeps when you press power, but screen doesn't come on.
• still beeps once every 2 seconds, 10 times, after pressing ! button. very annoying. i think 2 or 3 times is more than enough. also thought @viofo said that they were going to make it put a big yellow triangle in the middle of the screen as confirmation, but it still only shows the small yellow triangle at the top. after re-reading that post i quoted, and CDN's interpretation, i guess that will be addressed in the NEXT firmware, not this one. I still think it should beep (unless you have beeps turned off) but only 2-3 times, not 10. or perhaps just one quick double-beep like the one it does when you stop recording by pressing REC.
• still no lights or anything to indicate that it's booting/starting up. i saw white lights under all the other buttons while flashing the firmware, but that's the only time i've ever seen them. only the red light under REC comes on after the camera has finished booting and started recording, which is about 8 or 9 seconds. i think the white lights should come on as soon as power is detected, to let you know it DID get power and it's starting up and then go off when it's done booting, or maybe when the screen turns off. obviously REC should stay red while it's recording.
• Red REC light is too dim to be seen during the day. this probably can't be changed in firmware though, and i didn't expect a firmware update to change that.

power button still does not wake up screen: will be fixed in next version.
still beeps once every 2 seconds: is improved in next version.
still no lights: will show white lights while the charger is connected in next version.
Red REC light is too dim: noticed this, try to improve in final version.

 

[CDNinHH]

Thanks Viofo

 

[CDNinHH]

Motion detection is off.

Is the camera hardwired to a BDP device? I use motion detect all the time so I don't have a problem with the camera not recording and I don't fill the SD card unnecessarily. I can see not using motion detect if you are wired (plugged in) to the ACC side only, but then each time the camera gets power it should automatically record.

 

[runtohell121]

Is the camera hardwired to a BDP device? I use motion detect all the time so I don't have a problem with the camera not recording and I don't fill the SD card unnecessarily. I can see not using motion detect if you are wired (plugged in) to the ACC side only, but then each time the camera gets power it should automatically record.

It's not hardwired. I just use a cigarette usb charger to power the device.

 

[Gibson99]

best to reset defaults after updating

not trying to argue as you certainly know more about the hardware side than i do... but when i updated mine, it came up to a time/date prompt on first boot. i checked settings and it appeared that everything had been reset to defaults - i had to change everything again, including the "car no." that i had entered since it was now blank.

i thought only stuff like calibration (for hot pixels) was stored in a protected area, and thus a reset or flash wouldn't affect them.

 

[jokiin]

depends how they have set things up, you can selectively add whatever menu options you want into protected areas so that they don't get updated or erased or you can force other changes, it's just good practice to reset defaults anyway

 

[CDNinHH]

It's not hardwired. I just use a cigarette usb charger to power the device.

Ok, well then that is very strange, because the camera should boot up and go to REC mode automatically at power application. Not sure why you had no files recorded.

 

[runtohell121]

Ok, well then that is very strange, because the camera should boot up and go to REC mode automatically at power application. Not sure why you had no files recorded.

Yeah, I was surprised when I saw the card completely empty. No folders or anything, just VOLUME1 name for the card.

 

[CDNinHH]

Did you format the card in the camera? As soon as I do that it creates a folder called DCIM. So if you don't have that folder then there is possibly something wrong with the card.