A139 parking guard thread ( comments - flaws - requests post here )

[kamkar]

Yes, it might be it can not adjust any further, and if it is the same sensor used while driving, and you can not turn G - sensor off while driving, then for sure you do not want to make your next camera with a even more sensitive sensor.
Okay you can then turn it off while driving, but some seem to prefer having it on, though i do not know why. Main thing is to make product that can make as many people happy.

 

[Nath]

Have.

Regarding BlackVue comparison, as you know, Viofo have different settings for G-Sensor in Parking Mode and in driving mode. Parking Mode needs just one more option.

Blackvue has different settings for G-sensor in parking/normal mode as well. I set "10" for each plane in parking and 0(off) for normal mode because 1 was way too sensitive.

Anyway, I'm not talking about user friendly "Low/Medium/High" level, i'm talking about Gs. Take an example GMA302 used in A129Pro - it's 16G sensor, the resolution is 256 LSB/g, means theoretical 4mG/digit (not to mention there is 2mG/°C temperature tolerance) and it also depends on sample rate and the way of filtration. That's not that much superb sensor.

Let's say we need a range of 0.2G (with effective resolution of 10mG/digit, means more like something about 0.5mG/digit = 2000LSB/g) for parking mode, 1G for normal mode and i completely missed that you need a sensor which is also at least able to withstand an accident which could be in range of 10-100G (we don't need to measure it but it should be able to survive...). That is a bit different sensor. But i have to admit that it depends on vehicle - something with more stiff suspension probably wouldn't need such resolution.

But don't get me wrong i would be also really thankful for supersensitive G-sensor in parking mode and more than happy to have such thing in A139.

Okay you can then turn it off while driving, but some seem to prefer having it on, though i do not know why. Main thing is to make product that can make as many people happy.

For me, it's the fact that if you crash in a serious accident, you could end up unconscious or even in hospital and everybody around you will think about how to get you to safety. Who's gonna click the event button for you before the camera overwrites it and possibly erase out of existence the only evidence of your innocence..?
Even in a minor accident, at least for me, would be the most important thing to manage the situation properly and i could forget to save the video - there are more bizarre reactions of people after accidents than just forgetting to hit a button .

 

[kamkar]

For that my argument is, have a sufficient large memory card ( not talking 1TB card )

Say i crash, drive off a cliff and end 50 M down the mountain and i am unconscious and trapped in my car, if no one find me and my car are still running the motor, then it would be bad of course as i could be there for days untill the gas run out and the battery die.
But if someone come and rescue me within say 5 hours, the first thing they should do is turn off the car, so if my camera have over 5 hours of footage the crash are still there just as regular footage, but it is there.
And this is what i have always been told here with accidents, first thing is make sure the accident dont get worse, this mean make sure no more cars run into the already crashed cars, and stop the engine / cut power on any cars involved to cut down fire hazard, and then you can start to do first aid and have others call for help direct traffic, or do it all yourself if you are all alone on a remote empty road.

So i do not fear loss of a event even if i do not have G - sensor on while driving, or are unconscious so i can not press event button, the main thing is to have plenty of memory card space, you will most likely be found within minutes or 1 hour max.
But it is only 2 years ago there was a accident here with a kid crashing at night out in the country, and rolling into a field, and then it was hours before someone came buy and noticed the car on its roof in a field.
If the police / ambulance have been there they always tape up cars, so passers by know it is a old accident taken care off.

So i feel 64GB for every camera in the system are okay, but people should get 128GB for each camera if possible, then they have room for a lot of time before a non locked event would start to be deleted.

I know many other countries are much larger than Denmark and have much more remote places, and actual mountains to drive off which we dont.
But if you are injured bad and trapped alone for hours chance are you are not going to survive, but of course if you have someone left behind it would be nice if they could get insurance policy, and if another car was to blame he can go to jail.

I have notified my 1 friend and my sister that if i crash bad, go to my car at police yard or garage at once and get memory cards from all cameras.

 

[jokiin]

need one of those life alert bracelets with 'check memory card' on it

 

[kamkar]

Robots will save the day.

 

[Mtz]

It definitely needs more sensitivity while parked. In driving I think it offers a good range for everyone.

Normally the G-Sensor sensitivity for Parking Mode should be available only on Auto Event Detection mode because buyers expect it to work when are enabling this function, along with the Motion Detect feature. When using time-lapse or low bitrate mode it is not so important to have it because the camera is recording continuously.
Even the G-Sensor will create more Auto event detection files than needed, it is better to have more than to not have when needed.

I don't know if the SDK allows more than 3 levels and off

At least SDK allows more sensitivity, I don't know about number of levels but that should be not a problem.

 

[Nath]

... When using time-lapse or low bitrate mode it is not so important to have it because the camera is recording continuously.

At least in low-bitrate it is important as well as in normal mode, to flag unusual situation... (one doesn't always check car for dents or scratches, or could be even impossible due to weather, etc.)

At least SDK allows more sensitivity, I don't know about number of levels but that should be not a problem.

And that's the problem i was talking about. It's not about software but about hardware. Same goes for e.g. resolution, you probably can set 4k via SDK for A139, the chipset even could be able to create files in 4k, but the sensor isn't able to shoot natively more than 1440p and the information simply wouldn't be there...

 

[Mtz]

I put the so word with bold.

I will explain more: somebody who is looking on internet to buy a dashcam and want the parking mode feature they can discover the Viofo dashcam and its Parking Mode. When they see it and read some Viofo description, 99% of them are interested the camera to detect when somebody is approaching to the car or when somebody hit the car even with a shopping cart at the parking mall.
Many of them are thinking that the camera is not consuming at all any power when it is in standby but also they are saving space on the card so this Auto event is the most wanted feature.
More than that, some of them are not so interested about the driving mode but about the parking mode.

All of them know how a CCTV camera is working so they expect the dashcam to be the same good as a CCTV camera is regarding the motion detection. In reality, even the CCTV camera have a poor sensor compared with the Sony sensor from a dashcam, it is always much better than any dashcam.
Because the G-Sensor is advertised to work in parking mode they are thinking that the dashcam it is even better. But it is not working as they imagine and because of this maybe is better Viofo to describe that the G-Sensor is working only when the car is hit by another car. In this way all these discussion about the G-Sensor will end.

At least in low-bitrate it is important as well as in normal mode, to flag unusual situation... (one doesn't always check car for dents, or it's even unable due to weather, etc.)

I am not talking about normal mode and the G-Sensor is working OK in normal mode.
You will not feel good to have too many RO files on the card because of a too sensitive G-Sensor when using Low bitrate mode because the space is already consumed by the continuously recording of low bitrate mode. You will have many parking mode files and possible many RO files, 99,99% of them false alarms.
But if you will have more files than expected in Auto event mode that is not so bad because for sure the dashcam will not record continuously so the wasted space on card will be only on the RO folder.

 

[kamkar]

(one doesn't always check car for dents or scratches, or could be even impossible due to weather, etc.)

That is true, getting back to your car your might not see a person having keyed the passenger side of the car.
But i also dont think a G - sensor would pick up such a deed, but i still have the G - sensor on, i just wish i would get notified when i get back to the car and start it ( and not hear you have 71 events )
CUZ even if a event have been created for some reason, if you are not told then you do not know at least not until you look in the RO folder, and that could be days later in which case any low bitrate recording supporting the event might be gone.

That is one smart i would like in a future camera, a setting that allow that if a event have been created, upon downloading that event also get the supporting files on either side of the event.
Not ! saving those in RO folder too but just as a optional add on when you DL the event and of course the supporting files are still on the devise, that i think would make low bitrate parking mode more useful.
You can of course do it manual on the computer with the memory card in the reader, but in a future dashcam i do not expect to be using memory cards for storage or data transfer, that should be done with the wifi i dislike or a thumb drive, and the camera should be able to know what you have already backed up so you dont do the same files 2 times.

 

[SawMaster]

Choices are good.

For the newbies having both G-sensor and Motion Detect activate for "Event Detection" by default is wise, but for advanced users every option should be available including turning off any unwanted functions.

Ideal for me would be low-bitrate parking with a somewhat sensitive G-sensor setting. Misses nothing and saves from having to scan hours of recordings to find the event which caused the damage, and eliminates the chance of having no recording of damages which are only discovered a day or two later.

Phil

 

[Nath]

@Mtz @kamkar Sure, it's not about detection that side has been keyed or hit by a shopping cart (those are the cases in which low-bitrate recordings would safe the day), but it should be possible to have an event if someone "bumped" into the car while parking. To reduce a hassle with hours of looking for one specific moment in hundreds of files.

I'm not one of those type of guys from dashcam compilations who claims every scratch as a total loss but "that's ok" guy either. Any damage to paint pisses me off like nothing else because it will be expensive and the paint won't be the same ever again (in terms of colour and durability). So at least i don't want to be the one who will pay premium for repair.
I understand that there are work cars for trips from point A to point B, in which case some minor scratches just don't matter, but in my case i like to buy a car for everything. At this moment i have BMW X7 as my main and i would literally kill anybody for any damage..., not to mention for this vehicle i also let the paint to be covered by PPF which is also not the cheapest to replace. That's even the reason for having two sets of A139-3CH, which hopefully will cover whole surroundings.

Please don't judge me

 

[kamkar]

I have a extremely relaxed relationship to my car, even if i paid more for that little car than any other have buying the same car ( except other Danes of course ) so i should be very protective of my "expensive" car.
But i am not.
But i must say when people dent or scratch my car and then just dont care at all, those kind of people i would rather not have in my society, that kind of attitude make me so angry.
And i can assure anyone that if i encounter such people on my way, i would come down on them very hard, possibly too hard.
One of my wet dreams is to meet one of those people that just freak the hell out at a checkout in a store, and being very nasty to the poor person at the checkout, that person i would instantly attack full on verbally, and i will also urge the person to wait outside for me, so we can settle this the good old animal way,,,,,,, cuz that are sadly still the only thing many people respect, and so in that case i will also lower myself to their level.

Please judge me for what i do.

 

[Margate5]

@Mtz @kamkar Sure, it's not about detection that side has been keyed or hit by a shopping cart (those are the cases in which low-bitrate recordings would safe the day), but it should be possible to have an event if someone "bumped" into the car while parking. To reduce a hassle with hours of looking for one specific moment in hundreds of files.

I'm not one of those type of guys from dashcam compilations who claims every scratch as a total loss but "that's ok" guy either. Any damage to paint pisses me off like nothing else because it will be expensive and the paint won't be the same ever again (in terms of colour and durability). So at least i don't want to be the one who will pay premium for repair.
I understand that there are work cars for trips from point A to point B, in which case some minor scratches just don't matter, but in my case i like to buy a car for everything. At this moment i have BMW X7 as my main and i would literally kill anybody for any damage..., not to mention for this vehicle i also let the paint to be covered by PPF which is also not the cheapest to replace. That's even the reason for having two sets of A139-3CH, which hopefully will cover whole surroundings.

Please don't judge me

Yeah the main reason I got this 3 channel dash cam system was to capture as much as I can and find it / be alerted as easily as possible regarding any potential problem while my vehicle is parked. Right before getting this system installed I found a fairly long scratch and I would have loved to have caught who did the damage. Wasn’t too deep so luckily it came out and they re-ceramic coated the area and charged me $100

 

[SawMaster]

Not my usual parking mode preference, but the 'motion detect' of my A139 is excellent. It will capture those walking by, whether they key your paint or not. So you might still have to sort through videos, but not all of them like with "low-bitrate".

Where I last lived (semi-detached homes with a community parking lot) there was someone walking or driving by every ten minutes except late night, so I got a lot of 'useless' vids, but it missed nothing, including neighbors leaving their front door 20m away. Not too many 'wind-in-trees' or 'clouds going by' clips but there were some. I may actually go back to using it for parking but I haven't decided that. I generally distrust MD but this cam does it very well

Phil

 

[kamkar]

Several of the places where i look for a new apartment, is the kind where you park your car on a parking lot far away.
I am not liking that so those setups have been filtered out in my search ( not gambling on getting a apartment next to the parked cars )

It would be super if dashcams could get the AI level of even just entry CCTV cameras, that would be good for parking guard.

BTW i looked at my card today, i am pretty sure i set a 1 hour duration for parking guard, but it have run the +3 hours the low voltage allow for.
But maybe the firmware are not there to support that yet.

The Adata card i am testing for compatibility seem to be handling the A139 just fine, but i will give it a week or two more before i call it.

 

[kamkar]

I think i found the root of my parking guard timer problem, turns out i only updated the firmware on the "spare" main unit from the camera that got vandalized, but not the camera in the car.
So will update that today.

 

[kamkar]

With a more recent firmware loaded i did get the 1 hour parking guard i had selected, so all well in that regard.

Low light parking guard footage seen more noisy than driving footage, or is it just me ? it is after all lower bitrate, but not sure if that have anything to say in that regard.

 

[SawMaster]

Yep- low birtrate at night is grainier and nosier, but that's what to expect of a lowered bitrate. It's still better than most cams at night, and motion detect can give you somewhat better images if you really think it necessary.

Phil

 

[kamkar]

I was thinking maybe some parameters for image noise have not been implemented in the parking mode profile, so that could be changed.
Dont bother me much though, i do not park in suspect dark places, just noticed as i looked over footage today, and my parking yesterday extended into nighttime.

Made a time lapse sky video last night with my action camera hoping to capture some shooting stars, got one of them for a whole night recording so that was a wasted effort.

 

[colinh]

Can i ask a very basic question on A139 parking mode, what hours can be set for it to run and then auto turn off. And will this setting be saved and always run once parking mode occurs?
Asking as i wouldnt really need it more than 8 hours if parked away from home, and at home i have cctv and car is often parked up for 6-7 days - dont want the dashcam running too long to lower the battery (even with the auto voltage cutoff).
I cant find any info on the parking timer mode.
Any other issues to note when comparing with A129?
Thanks.