A129 Pro firmware

Hey everyone,

To add to this beeping issue, I don't think it is due to faulty units.
I have been following all the reports of beeping issues experienced by some of you telling myself I was lucky I was spared. It seems like some of you are pining the issue on faulty units.

Well, I have new information that may change everything. My unit wasn't affected by the beeping issue and have been working flawlessly for 3 months or so.
Since 1 week or 2, out of nowhere, without changing any settings or removing the SDcard (I literally never touch my dashcam as it switches automatically between parking mode and driving mode) I started hearing those double beeps. It's really random when I hear them, sometimes a couple of minutes after switching to driving mode, sometimes in the middle of a drive.
My card is the WESTERN DIGITAL WD PURPLE 256GB V30 U3 and as mentioned above, was working perfectly up to now.
That eliminates the hypothesis that it's due to cards with not fast enough writing speeds as well.
 
Why isn’t possible your unit or card is failing..? Sorry but these informantions eliminate nothing (just adding another observations). :)
 
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All I can add here is that cards can slow down with wear, so you'd need to run a test with something like "CrystalDiskMark" to be certain this hasn't happened.

I do tend to think it's not completely a card issue but that's only my guess based on an observation of what has been reported here. All 4K cams push things to the limits of the technology being used for dashcams. My guess is that there's an electronic component going out-of-spec with time and wear as they will all do to some degree. There are literally thousands of those components in the chips and cam so if I'm correct this isn't going to be easy to find and solve.

Phil
 
I do tend to think it's not completely a card issue but that's only my guess based on an observation of what has been reported here. All 4K cams push things to the limits of the technology being used for dashcams. My guess is that there's an electronic component going out-of-spec with time and wear as they will all do to some degree. There are literally thousands of those components in the chips and cam so if I'm correct this isn't going to be easy to find and solve.

This seems realistic and reasonable...
 
All I can add here is that cards can slow down with wear, so you'd need to run a test with something like "CrystalDiskMark" to be certain this hasn't happened.

I do tend to think it's not completely a card issue but that's only my guess based on an observation of what has been reported here. All 4K cams push things to the limits of the technology being used for dashcams. My guess is that there's an electronic component going out-of-spec with time and wear as they will all do to some degree. There are literally thousands of those components in the chips and cam so if I'm correct this isn't going to be easy to find and solve.

Phil
All the electronics are digital, they either work or don't work, so I think it is very unlikely to be "an electronic component going out-of-spec with time and wear".

The only component that should wear noticeably in the first 5 years of life is the memory card where the actual memory cells get a little worn each time they are written to, eventually failures of memory cells will require the card to use time in retrying or replacing them by spare cells, which will slow things down, and then when it runs out of spares the card will fail. I don't think that is the case here since the problem can occur with nearly new cards.

There may be more than one problem, but I suspect the main one is caused by the wear leveling in the memory cards moving stuff about to ensure that all memory cells get well used. It is most likely to do this when files are deleted, and we know the beeps people are experiencing are normally immediately after starting new files are created. I assume that a buffer is getting full while waiting for the card to create the new files and it is the overflow of the buffer that results in the beeping.
The solution is likely to be, either a faster card, or one with faster wear leveling (ie one designed for video), or a bigger buffer in the camera, or a combination.

There may also be an issue with the file system, use of the antiquated FAT32 may be making things worse, or maybe pushing them over the limit. Unfortunately exFAT is currently not an option since the loop recording doesn't work correctly when using it. There are a few things likely to improve with the next firmware update.
 
Hey everyone,

To add to this beeping issue, I don't think it is due to faulty units.
I have been following all the reports of beeping issues experienced by some of you telling myself I was lucky I was spared. It seems like some of you are pining the issue on faulty units.

Well, I have new information that may change everything. My unit wasn't affected by the beeping issue and have been working flawlessly for 3 months or so.
Since 1 week or 2, out of nowhere, without changing any settings or removing the SDcard (I literally never touch my dashcam as it switches automatically between parking mode and driving mode) I started hearing those double beeps. It's really random when I hear them, sometimes a couple of minutes after switching to driving mode, sometimes in the middle of a drive.
My card is the WESTERN DIGITAL WD PURPLE 256GB V30 U3 and as mentioned above, was working perfectly up to now.
That eliminates the hypothesis that it's due to cards with not fast enough writing speeds as well.
Your problem might as well be the lack of formatting the sd card occasionally since you said literally never touch the dashcam. But also there are chances your card's speed is beginning to break down.

In my case, I think solved my beeping problems since it has been over a month with no beeps and now I know what triggers them, so I avoid doing that.
 
In my case, I think solved my beeping problems since it has been over a month with no beeps and now I know what triggers them, so I avoid doing that.
Please share how you solved the beeping problem, at least for you. What were the triggers?

I read that you always reformat in-camera after inspecting the microSD card in a computer. Anything else?
 
VIOFO does not recommend V1.3 as it is just to fix users’ cameras that have a screen text issue.

VIOFO says they are just now back to work and a major FW update will be released soon.

As far as the reason for a lack of communication, VIOFO says they were on the spring vacation and the A129 Pro FW is now their top priority.

Fingers crossed.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
What's the most reliable FW version at the moment?
 
Please share how you solved the beeping problem, at least for you. What were the triggers?

I read that you always reformat in-camera after inspecting the microSD card in a computer. Anything else?
For me that's basically it, very simple. I have been able to replicate the issue by only inserting the SD card in my laptop, reading files, ejecting it and putting it back to the camera without reformatting it in either device. I believe the computer adds some some data at the time it gets inserted to it and whatever it is, will cause the camera to stumble at some point. So therefore I always format when I finish reviewing files in the computer then format again in the dashcam. I know that this particular procedure won't solve everyone's beep beep issue but I'm glad it did solve mine so far. I also must state that I still record at 4K front and 1080p on the rear unit at 30fps HDR off, G sensor set to medium, as always and do not use parking mode nor I have a 3 hardwire kit installed.
 
It does appear that parking mode is a common factor amongst people who are experiencing beep beep problems.
 
All the electronics are digital, they either work or don't work, so I think it is very unlikely to be "an electronic component going out-of-spec with time and wear".

Whether digital or analog does not matter, components (resistors, capacitors, transistors and such) do have measurable wear over time, and some do go out-of-spec. When that happens the involved circuit is not going to function as it was designed. This coming from someone whose interest in electronics spans from the time a single transistor was the size of a pencil eraser to now when a thousand of them are regularly fit into a space the size of the period at the end of this sentence.

Everything that works wears, nothing is so perfect that it functions without wear.

Phil
 
I always format when I finish reviewing files in the computer then format again in the dashcam. I know that this particular procedure won't solve everyone's beep beep issue but I'm glad it did solve mine so far.
What FW version are you using?
 
I'm using V.1.2ACCT
 
I am starting to get double beeps also. The SD card I use is the WD PURPLE 256GB V30 U3 card. The dashcam has been running fine since September last year with this card. I have on a few occasions removed the card to get some footage and then have formatted it in camera upon returning it.

I’ve had 3 double beeps in the middle of drives within the last couple of months with the most recent today. Checking the footage I can see it misses a file or two (or half a file) then resumes. The beeping isn’t by any means frequent but I have encountered it. I am not using parking mode and I am using the shipped firmware of v1.1 in 4K dual channel with the hardwire kit.
 
I had beeping until I bought a better quality memory card, and now there are none for many months now. (all of this year and some of December)

I used to run the camera 24/7, and it worked fine in parking mode with no overheating or shut offs, but it was too tough on my car battery - so now I only put in parking mode manually - as needed. There's no reason to do so when the vehicle in the garage all night.

I have a regular a129 duo in our other vehicle, and that one has lower power requirements and does run 24/7.
 
I had beeping until I bought a better quality memory card, and now there are none for many months now. (all of this year and some of December)

I used to run the camera 24/7, and it worked fine in parking mode with no overheating or shut offs, but it was too tough on my car battery - so now I only put in parking mode manually - as needed. There's no reason to do so when the vehicle in the garage all night.

I have a regular a129 duo in our other vehicle, and that one has lower power requirements and does run 24/7.
I had a Samsung 128 Endurance which I think would be a quality card, and still had problems.

Is there a card which is higher quality?
 
I had a Samsung 128 Endurance which I think would be a quality card, and still had problems.

Is there a card which is higher quality?


I cannot attest to its quality, but I think this is the fastest card out there... Might need to sell your first born to afford a high capacity....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07V49PTXN
 
I cannot attest to its quality, but I think this is the fastest card out there... Might need to sell your first born to afford a high capacity....

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B07V49PTXN
That's an insane write speed via the UHS-2 bus, I don't think any dashcams use other than the standard UHS-1 bus currently if even that! So standard microSD interface with 8 pins but running the cards at a different clock speed.

Does raise a good point though that incoming high resolution / bitrate cameras may start requiring cards with the extra UHS-2 pins eventually so the manufacturers can ensure faster cards are being used than needed.
 
That's an insane write speed via the UHS-2 bus, I don't think any dashcams use other than the standard UHS-1 bus currently if even that! So standard microSD interface with 8 pins but running the cards at a different clock speed.

Does raise a good point though that incoming high resolution / bitrate cameras may start requiring cards with the extra UHS-2 pins eventually so the manufacturers can ensure faster cards are being used than needed.
I've always assumed that dashcams don't even use UHS 1, and that is part of the problem, Samsung cards especially only seem to perform well when using UHS, it is as if they don't use their internal caches when not using UHS and can end slower than old class 10 cards.
 
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