A129 Pro firmware

[JohnnyFiama]

Versions beyond V1.3 are beta versions that Viofo has sent to various users or posted here on DashCamTalk or in their own Community Forum.

The sad reality of that is no stable releases in over 7 months, despite several well documented (and therefore known) bugs persisting since 2019, quite terrible really.

 

[Paul Iddon]

The sad reality of that is no stable releases in over 7 months, despite several well documented (and therefore known) bugs persisting since 2019, quite terrible really.

After V1.3, they are beta, so stabiltiy will not neccessarily be there - hence why they are beta?

 

[JohnnyFiama]

After V1.3, they are beta, so stabiltiy will not neccessarily be there - hence why they are beta?

I think you’ve missed my point (perhaps it was poorly made), the vendor has failed to deliver a stable release since 2019, beta versions being unstable is a given.

 

[AlexTan]

How's the V2.0 beta firmware holding up?

 

[Paul Iddon]

I'm using 1.7T but will try V2

 

[JohnnyFiama]

With v2 I have had instances of lost footage while driving, no audible beeps, just missing five minute segments here and there.

Running a Samsung Evo Plus 256 for those wondering, have tried formatting both in camera and via the official sdcard.org formatting tool (which does offset the partition as another poster has mentioned).

Parking mode is still hit and miss, sometimes it’ll record 24hrs, and then other times only 10 mins. I do not believe this is battery related, due to the scenarios surrounding the occurrences.

I’m running a 3.0lt Audi diesel with a reasonably beefy battery, following a decent run there is no way the voltage drops within 10mins.

 

[Paul Iddon]

It's odd isn't it?

I'm sure I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've had bleep issues and failed recordings.

One of my units is a pre-release test model and the other I received as a retail unit before general sales of the cam in England (maybe even Europe or further afield).

Both seem to have very few issues from installation right to current day. I have a Ford Focus 2002 Ghia. One cam is powered by the 12v adapter, the other is hard wired. Both cams I only have running when driving.

Paul.

 

[programatix]

From my tests, I think v1.7T is the most stable.

V2.0 tends to have write error and worse, it may stop recording while showing that it is recording (rec led & rec timer). Additionally when there is error, no audio alert is played. So you would think that nothing has gone wrong until you find that you have missing recording.

Edit: For v1.7T, you need to use exFAT. fat32 will give you random beeps.

Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Both cams I only have running when driving.

I think this might be the biggest factor. Viofo believes the issue is related to parking mode (possibly the quantity of large files created in parking mode). Some using parking mode claim to have no issues though, which is odd as well.

Also, for those wondering, formatting the card inside the camera will also create the 32MB partition, just like SDFormatter.

 

[programatix]

Also, for those wondering, formatting the card inside the camera will also create the 32MB partition, just like SDFormatter.

From my tests, the dashcam doesn't always decide to recreate the partition. It may reuse the existing partition and just perform a format. On how it decide this, I'm not sure.


Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

 

[CaptureYourAction]

From my tests, the dashcam doesn't always decide to recreate the partition. It may reuse the existing partition and just perform a format. On how it decide this, I'm not sure.


Sent from my SM-N975F using Tapatalk

Strange, might depend on firmware version. I deleted the partition, then formatted it in the camera and it recreated it. V2.0 I believe I was on.

 

[SawMaster]

Parking mode does play into this somehow, but whether it's a cause or a symptom I do not know. People who do not use parking mode definitely have fewer or no problems of this nature.

A darn shame that this hasn't been fixed as this is otherwise a top-tier cam for vid performance.

Phil

 

[Nath]

As i mentioned before, it looks like the Viofo cams are pretty picky about power supply. After i replaced my HK3 for a different power source my cam works quite well (stopped recording once after 10 days without any issues, many times in direct sunlight / quite different from often bleeps, resets and freezes).
The reason why we see most issues in parking mode could be fact a HK3's output "quality" depends on input voltage level of a car's battery(if nothing else, at least it changes switching frequency).

EDIT: And therefore i asked before whether somebody with affected unit tried to use a cam only via powerbank (for drive and parking mode)

 

[gabilondo77]

I use the camera via powerbank and had lots of beeps and the camera was asking to format when the card(Viofo 128GB) was full.One month ago I have formated the card with SDformatter and no problem since then..30min driving and 8h30min in parking mode every day,everything is fine now,hope will keep it like that..

 

[TonyM]

I use the camera via powerbank and had lots of beeps and the camera was asking to format when the card(Viofo 128GB) was full.One month ago I have formated the card with SDformatter and no problem since then..30min driving and 8h30min in parking mode every day,everything is fine now,hope will keep it like that..

Which FW version are you using?

 

[gabilondo77]

@TonyM I think I'm using the one in the attached picture.Not sure if I updated to 20200417 v1.7T..but I'm pretty sure I use the one in the picture,I will check tomorrow.
LE:The firmware is the one in the picture.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I use the camera via powerbank and had lots of beeps and the camera was asking to format when the card(Viofo 128GB) was full.One month ago I have formated the card with SDformatter and no problem since then..30min driving and 8h30min in parking mode every day,everything is fine now,hope will keep it like that..

So after using SDFormatter, did you then format inside the camera again?

Was the card formatted to Fat32 or exFat?

 

[gabilondo77]

Yes,formated in camera too and was FAT32 on SDFormatter,overwrite format long option.

 

[JohnnyFiama]

The reason why we see most issues in parking mode could be fact a HK3's output "quality" depends on input voltage level of a car's battery(if nothing else, at least it changes switching frequency).

You may be right with this, but honestly I really struggle to understand why those fancy supercapacitors fail to smooth the voltage, also for those who have reverted to the A129 (non-pro) why do they not suffer the same ongoing problem. Certainly when it comes to driving mode, I realise that others have also speculated that power is a crash-inducing factor.

Nevertheless the HK3 is a VIFO product and so if flawed then perhaps we should more thoroughly investigate and find a way to log voltage spikes/drop-off's between the HK3 and camera.

I really wish @viofo would chime in and recognise that we are all keen to help diagnose the problem, even with these issues ongoing I'm sure most of us would be more at peace knowing that it was being actively investigated.

 

[SawMaster]

The supercaps in a dashcam are not directly connected to the power input so they will not provide any power-filtering or smoothing.

Phil