A139 - Buffered Parking Mode

HBDave

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Can someone confirm that the A139 still supports Buffered Parking Mode using the current firmware. I was ready to purchase the A129 Plus, until I read they had removed this feature due to firmware issues. I'm now considering purchasing the A139 2-Channel model. I would appreciate any feed back regarding the A139 model.
Thanks in advance for your support.
 
Welcome to DCT @HBDave :)

AFAIK the A139 still supports buffered parking mode- I tested it extensively on the first two FW's and it worked most excellently. It detects motion on all cams, not just the front one. High on motion detect was almost too sensitive picking up pedestrians 20m distant (60 ft) and medium got them at about a third of that distance. It didn't seem to ever miss anything, and even on high wind in the trees and cloud movement didn't often activate it. Never had any motion detect work this well. G-sensor doesn't seem to work during parking on mine, others have had better results. I prefer low-bitrate parking so that's what I've been using but as I need to check the cards in all my cams I'll set it back to motion detect and verify things. Also note that there's now a setting for parking duration which works as expected so that you're not relying only on the hardwire kit to manage battery discharge when parked. I'll report back here tomorrow after work.

Phil
 
I'm happy to report that buffered parking mode with motion detect is working as great as it always has for me. On checking several files I saw about 15 seconds of nothing, then the person or car who moved into view activating the cam along with about 30 to 45 seconds afterward (I fast-forwarded the end views). I have mine set to 2 hours time limit for parking and that too functioned correctly- no more vids from a semi-busy jobsite and the cam was off when I got in the van to leave, booting and recording normally at engine starting. Where I was parked the front cam saw nothing today so the detected motion was from the rear cam or the interior cam, but I know from past experience the front cam does equally well.

Phil
 
Wow, thanks Phil for taking the time to test and reply with your detail description of the Buffered and Timed Parking Modes on the Viofo A139. I really appreciate your efforts in helping me make my purchase decision.
 
Hi, for my part I don't have the Buffered Parking Option, I only have Timelapse 1-15fps, Auto Event Detection and Low Bitrate Recording. I recently installed the new V1.1 Firmware...

Edit: @CaptureYourAction: Thanks for the clarification!
 
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Hi, for my part I don't have the Buffered Parking Option, I only have Timelapse 1-15fps, Auto Event Detection and Low Bitrate Recording. I recently installed the new V1.1 Firmware...
Auto Event Detection is the buffered mode.

Edit: According to Viofo, the A139 does not currently support Buffered Parking Mode. They do currently have a beta firmware version out with buffering for testing.
 
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The "Auto Event Detection" mode is buffered parking mode. You need to have motion detect and/or parking g-sensor activated to use it. With the A139 there are 2 g-sensor settings- one is for driving and one for parking, so be sure which one you are setting.

Phil
 
how's the buffering mode on a139 different from a129 duo?

In my A129, its set to motion detection, low sensitivity and it records cloud movements, trees, even rain. The G sensor for parking mode is set to high and never worked.
I'm deciding if its worth upgrading to A139. If it's same half-baked parking mode, might consider thinkware instead.
 
I dont understand why people would use this mode, in my silly little world there only is low bitrate paired with high G- sensor when parked.

My CCTV camera have SMD ( Smart Motion Detect ) this mean it only trigger with humanoid shapes, and vehicle ( car ) shapes, though with vehicle it do seem like it is the headlight part of the car it register as i some times can set off from home and not get a notification on my phone about vehicle detected.
Rain - rustling trees - hedgehogs - cats ASO do not trigger SMD motion detect :) This is important as i have my tablet on my bedside table, and also get notifications on that, and i do like uninterrupted sleep when i finally fall asleep.
It would have to be something along those lines for me to use motion detect in a dashcam.
 
how's the buffering mode on a139 different from a129 duo?

In my A129, its set to motion detection, low sensitivity and it records cloud movements, trees, even rain. The G sensor for parking mode is set to high and never worked.
I'm deciding if its worth upgrading to A139. If it's same half-baked parking mode, might consider thinkware instead.
In most dashcams Motion Detect (MD) is rather underdeveloped and unreliable. In a lot of cams the sensitivity settings offer only too much or not enough, and because of this a lot of us long-time dashcam users have developed something of a prejudice against it. When you consider what we're asking of it- that it show someone keying or painting our car but not show wind blowing trees, flags, and bushes or clouds floating past rapidly- then you can see how tough the job is. I've tried it in about a dozen cams with no success; either too much or not enough, or it never or always activated.

I do not have an A129 to compare it to, but in my A139 motion detect works beautifully. High sensitivity borders on too sensitive but catches people walking 20m (60ft) away while the medium setting does the same at about 1/2 to 1/3 the distance. Low setting almost doesn't activate. Falsie activation from tree movement and clouds is rare at all levels. And very nice that it works with all the cams, not just the front cam as many systems do. The medium setting is perfect for my purposes. The A139 is the first and only cam I've had where I trust MD to do what I need and I've tested it extensively, but I still prefer to use low-bitrate parking mode mostly because of the prior prejudice developed in the past.

Unlike g-sensor which relies on a module in each cam which can very from cam to cam, motion detect is a software function which should be the same across-the-board in every example of a cam model. Based on this I would expect that anyone with an A139 to have similar results to mine. Whether to trust and use MD is your choice, especially when low-bitrate is available and is a more certain approach. In the A139 either one of those methods is preferrable to my old habit of having a cam recording normally all the time which is tough on cams and car batteries. If low-bitrate is available in the A129 that might be a viable alternative for you. All I can do is relate my experiences- the end choice is yours.

Phil
 
Hello Phil (@SawMaster ),

Had a quick question based on your explanation. Based on what I understood, in terms of battery drain or usage: Auto Event Triggered ( uses motion sensor ) < Motion Detection & G-Sensor <Low Bitrate. Is the general practice enabling both Auto Event Triggered and Low Bitrate / Timescale?


If the auto event triggered notices someone approach the car but wait for 1 minute before they do anything, does Auto Event Triggered capture it? As in, would the camera automatically keep recording for 30-45 seconds after that person leaves the field of vision or does it stop just 35 seconds after he enters regardless of what happens? If it's the latter, would I need to look through the entire low-bitrate mode capture to figure out what happened?

Also, would enabling both destroy the duration parking mode can operate for? Thanks!
 
Firstly, you cannot use two parking modes- in other words you can use either auto event detect (motion detect with pre-buffering) OR low bitrate (always recording so no pre-buffering needed).

On auto event/motion detect, if someone was detected then they stood still, a file is made of that, If they moved again another file would be made so yes it should capture sporadic movement. In my testing where I used to live there were sometimes kids playing in view, and I got file after file of that from start to finish, along with the usual 30-45 seconds of 'after the fact' video. So the auto event files are of a specific length but they aren't going to miss anything.

The parking mode timer is also a separate function, working with whatever parking mode you use.

Phil
 
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I had the A129 Duo which I liked except for the MD, over the time I used it and waiting for VIOFO to improve its sensitivity i just lost intrest in using the MD! This was one of the reasons for buying the A129 Duo.

Anyway i sold it with the car back in August and what with lock down hardly using the new car until a couple of months ago, then I thought about a new camera and started to research what to buy and saw the new Viofo 139 2 ch,but I thought with the frustration I had with the 129 Duo MD I thought no! so I waited and compared other options more costlier cams!

I finally bit the bullet and bought the new A139 2 channel and had it fitted and i can only say I made the right decision, I think it’s a good camera. All the functions work well and i use the MD set for i hour when I’m out and about and park up it works well ! When I’m home it’s covered by CCTV !

The only function I would like is to be able to switch off in parking mode,but I think this should be addressed by Viofo!
So far so good
 
For those testing: In Parking Mode, could you please confirm if G-Sensor (on high sensitivity) actually picks up bumper taps/door dings, minor hits etc.
 
Mine is from the earliest production run so it may not be typical, but I can't get a response from g-sensor in parking regardless of sensitivity setting. I've kicked bumpers, slammed doors, gave the old van a sharp hard shove, and nothing :( But it works in driving mode where even on low sensitivity setting it kicks in 2-3 times daily at the worst jolts in the road. Since I use low-bitrate for parking I will capture whatever happens anyway, so it's no problem for me but it would be nice if it worked better!

Phil
 
My A139 do make a event upon slamming door ( camera in parking mode by then ) but just saw today i do also have 1 single when driving event too but i do have drive G - sensor to low of course, it would be off if i had the option.
Though i have no idea why the camera triggered there, it is on a good stretch of road, and i dont recall running over anything :unsure:

Anyway i will make a test to be sure a little later to see if it trigger in normal mode, and when parked ( by bitch slapping my windscreen,,,,,,,, dont worry it deserve it going all scratchy on me when i have been faithful to it since 2012 )
 
I get notifications about a event created if i tap the camera in parking mode or in regular mode.
At first i thought it only worked once right after boot, but it turned out my "ass was just on fire" ( Danish expression related to if you are in too much of a hurry ) so once the first 3 minute event was done i could make a new one by tapping the camera again.

Granted i have not looked on the memory card to see if the files are actually there.
 
I haven't tried the windshield slapping trick, but it is long known to set off g-sensors best ;) To me, my good hard shove should do the trick, since that would be equal to a car backing into mine at a low speed which could do considerable damage. I've seen mant doors and fenders destroyed by this kind of slow impact. So to me, if a g-sensor isn't going to capture something as common as this, then I'm not going to rely on it. With my old minivan and the B1W cam, opening a door normally would activate the g-sensor but strong winds rocking it did not. So it can be done better than we get with the A139.

The perfect dashcam has never been built and never will be. But of the many cam's I've tested, the A139 is as close to perfect as I've seen and I like it a lot. it does have it's issues as all cams do, but none of them are deal-breakers to me and none will stop this cam from protecting me with very good reliable video, which to me matters most of all.

Phil
 
Yeah the A139 have been nice to test on, but many probably still can find things that bother them or they would like to see the camera do.
 
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