A229 Early Impressions and Issues

[chizzle36]

Hi all, new member here. I just recently purchased the A229 and hardwire installed it into my car to take advantage of the dash cams parking mode capabilities. These are the settings I'm currently using:

Bitrate: high
Loop Recording: 3 minutes
WDR: off
Parking Mode: time lapse, 3fps, recording 24 hours
Motion Detection: medium sensitivity (though don't think this matters given my parking mode setting)
G Sensor: high sensitivity
Memory card: 256 gb Sandisk High Endurance

Post-installation testing seemed to suggest everything was working fine. Dash cam turns on upon starting up the car and immediately switches over to parking mode. I am currently on Day 2 post-installation.

Here are the issues I've run into and wanted to see if the community has any sense of what's going on:
1. When I went to go to my car this morning, the lights were all on indicating that it was still recording, but I was not able to access the screen to check if it was still in parking mode. I hit the Wifi button, which has usually worked to get it out of standby mode and there was no response. I hit the menu button and the exclamation button and there was no response. I had to restart the dash cam to get it working again. I then took the car out and drove about 20 min and parked and it happened again. I wasn't able to get the screen out of standby mode, though the buttons seemed to be responsive this time (was able to "save" a video, but couldn't see anything on the screen).
2. As you can see from my settings, I have it set to record for 24 hours in parking mode. However, upon checking my memory card, it appears it stopped recording around 11:40pm last night, even though it went into parking mode only 5-6 hours prior.
3. I "saved" one of my parking mode videos from my drive today and it is glitching (see attachment). It glitches like that every few seconds in the video. I don't see this glitch on any of the other videos on my card.

Note, I live in NYC and street park with little to no shade where my building is. It has been in the 90s today and yesterday, so I'm curious if the heat has anything to do with these issues.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

 

[Nigel]

1. I think that may be a security measure, so that the thief can't stop the recording while he burgles the car, or something of the sort - you need the key. It has been the same on other recent Viofo cameras.
2. You may have had a low voltage cutoff, what voltage level have you set? Where the lights out?
3. Does it always do that, or just in one video? Not seen anyone report that happening, so if you can narrow down the circumstances a bit, let Viofo know and let them have the video file (put it on google drive).

 

[rcg530]

Hi all, new member here. I just recently purchased the A229 and hardwire installed it into my car to take advantage of the dash cams parking mode capabilities. These are the settings I'm currently using:

Bitrate: high
Loop Recording: 3 minutes
WDR: off
Parking Mode: time lapse, 3fps, recording 24 hours
Motion Detection: medium sensitivity (though don't think this matters given my parking mode setting)
G Sensor: high sensitivity
Memory card: 256 gb Sandisk High Endurance

Post-installation testing seemed to suggest everything was working fine. Dash cam turns on upon starting up the car and immediately switches over to parking mode. I am currently on Day 2 post-installation.

Here are the issues I've run into and wanted to see if the community has any sense of what's going on:
1. When I went to go to my car this morning, the lights were all on indicating that it was still recording, but I was not able to access the screen to check if it was still in parking mode. I hit the Wifi button, which has usually worked to get it out of standby mode and there was no response. I hit the menu button and the exclamation button and there was no response. I had to restart the dash cam to get it working again. I then took the car out and drove about 20 min and parked and it happened again. I wasn't able to get the screen out of standby mode, though the buttons seemed to be responsive this time (was able to "save" a video, but couldn't see anything on the screen).

In my testing of the VIOFO A229 Duo over the past two months, I have always found it responsive to a quick button press <Menu/Pwr> or <WiFi> to awaken the display screen whether it's in normal recording mode or in parking mode. I have not observed or read of any documented feature that Nigel is stating of a security feature requiring a key/code value being needed.

2. As you can see from my settings, I have it set to record for 24 hours in parking mode. However, upon checking my memory card, it appears it stopped recording around 11:40pm last night, even though it went into parking mode only 5-6 hours prior.

Your description of the way you found the A229 after letting it run overnight (LEDs still on but unresponsive) would tend to suggest the HK4 hardwire low power cutoff feature had not kicked in to turn off the power to the A229. It sounds more like the A229 itself went into a frozen state and became unresponsive.

Please note that VIOFO has stated in a post in another thread on this website that they have found compatibility issues using a SanDisk High Endurance microSD in the A229. Here's a link to the VIOFO post where they mention that issue ( https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/memory-cards-confirmed-working-not-working.47090/post-576114 ). I've successfully used a VIOFO 128GB MLC microSD and a SanDisk 128GB Max Endurance microSD card in my A229 Duo. I might suggest getting a different microSD card since VIOFO seems to believe there might be an issue using the SanDisk High Endurance microSD card in the A229.

3. I "saved" one of my parking mode videos from my drive today and it is glitching (see attachment). It glitches like that every few seconds in the video. I don't see this glitch on any of the other videos on my card.

I have not observed any glitching (corrupted image contents) in any of the parking modes I've used with the A229.

If you have not already, check what firmware version is installed in your A229. If it's older than the current version of V1.0_0623, you might try updating the firmware version to the latest version. Here's the link to the VIOFO A229 Firmware & Manual download page: https://viofo.com/content/61-a229-duo-support/

 

[chizzle36]

1. I think that may be a security measure, so that the thief can't stop the recording while he burgles the car, or something of the sort - you need the key. It has been the same on other recent Viofo cameras.
2. You may have had a low voltage cutoff, what voltage level have you set? Where the lights out?
3. Does it always do that, or just in one video? Not seen anyone report that happening, so if you can narrow down the circumstances a bit, let Viofo know and let them have the video file (put it on google drive).

1. The screen issue occurred even when I started the car.
2. The lowest setting and no, the lights were still on.
3. I've only observed it in that one video so far.

 

[chizzle36]

In my testing of the VIOFO A229 Duo over the past two months, I have always found it responsive to a quick button press <Menu/Pwr> or <WiFi> to awaken the display screen whether it's in normal recording mode or in parking mode. I have not observed or read of any documented feature that Nigel is stating of a security feature requiring a key/code value being needed.


Your description of the way you found the A229 after letting it run overnight (LEDs still on but unresponsive) would tend to suggest the HK4 hardwire low power cutoff feature had not kicked in to turn off the power to the A229. It sounds more like the A229 itself went into a frozen state and became unresponsive.

Please note that VIOFO has stated in a post in another thread on this website that they have found compatibility issues using a SanDisk High Endurance microSD in the A229. Here's a link to the VIOFO post where they mention that issue ( https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/memory-cards-confirmed-working-not-working.47090/post-576114 ). I've successfully used a VIOFO 128GB MLC microSD and a SanDisk 128GB Max Endurance microSD card in my A229 Duo. I might suggest getting a different microSD card since VIOFO seems to believe there might be an issue using the SanDisk High Endurance microSD card in the A229.


I have not observed any glitching (corrupted image contents) in any of the parking modes I've used with the A229.

If you have not already, check what firmware version is installed in your A229. If it's older than the current version of V1.0_0623, you might try updating the firmware version to the latest version. Here's the link to the VIOFO A229 Firmware & Manual download page: https://viofo.com/content/61-a229-duo-support/

Thanks a lot. Hopefully changing the card will fix the issues.

Do you think 128gb is adequate?

 

[rcg530]

Do you think 128gb is adequate?

It depends on how you intend on using your dash camera. For a 2-channel camera, I believe a 128GB microSD card capacity would be sufficient. I've been able to keep several 2-to-3 hour driving routes (1 hour to 1.5 hours of normal mode and 1.5 to 2 hours of low bitrate recording) on a 128GB card in my A229. Using time lapse parking mode should save quite a bit of space compared to low bitrate recording.

 

[Nigel]

Thanks a lot. Hopefully changing the card will fix the issues.

Do you think 128gb is adequate?

Doesn't really seem like card issues, but worth trying a different one.

Definitely worth a firmware update, and note that you may have slightly different hardware to people who received pre-release versions, so you want a firmware update from Viofo, not an old version.

It is worth taking these issues up with Viofo, and giving them all the diagnostics you can think of. Being a new camera they will be interested and have people working on it. Try using Viofo customer support, as well as reporting progress here.

128GB is enough for most people, more is nice if you drive all day, otherwise you need to learn to press the lock button whenever there is something you want kept. For just commuting you will probably get several days on a 128GB card.


Are you using wifi a lot? If so, try not using it, to see if it is wifi causing the problem...

 

[chizzle36]

Thanks all. I have updated the firmware and ordered a Max Endurance card. Went ahead with 256gb just to ensure I'm able to make full use of Parking Mode. Hopefully these will resolve the issues.

And @Nigel, no I don't leave the Wifi on during normal usage.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

I have seen an image distort like that when the memory card wasn't seated well in the card reader. I don't recall whether simply re-seating it would fix it or if the card simply wouldn't always seat correctly in that particular card reader.

 

[chizzle36]

I have seen an image distort like that when the memory card wasn't seated well in the card reader. I don't recall whether simply re-seating it would fix it or if the card simply wouldn't always seat correctly in that particular card reader.

Hm, that is concerning bc I do have trouble getting the card in. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[CaptureYourAction]

Hm, that is concerning bc I do have trouble getting the card in. I'll keep that in mind.

I'm referring to the card reader (not the camera itself), but I suppose the same could happen in the camera.

 

[chizzle36]

I've updated the firmware and inserted the Max Endurance SD card, so will see how it goes.

In the meantime, is "Maximum" setting for the bitrate overkill? Is High sufficient?

 

[kamkar]

I never use anything but the maximum image quality / bitrate.

TBH i dont really understand why there are options to choose from, if i made a dashcam it would not have any selection in this area.
If you need room for more footage buy a larger memory card, dont experiment with lesser image quality / bitrate to get smaller files.

I just tried another card in my A229, the 256 GB Adata endurance, a A2 / V30 card that should be plenty fast, but it just will not work, cut out after a few minutes,,,,, in my 100 mbit 4K / 60 action camera the same card work just fine.
So as i was prepared for this issue i had another "new" card in my pocket, the Kingston canvas,,,,,, which seem to be working just fine so far.

 

[chizzle36]

I never use anything but the maximum image quality / bitrate.

TBH i dont really understand why there are options to choose from, if i made a dashcam it would not have any selection in this area.
If you need room for more footage buy a larger memory card, dont experiment with lesser image quality / bitrate to get smaller files.

I just tried another card in my A229, the 256 GB Adata endurance, a A2 / V30 card that should be plenty fast, but it just will not work, cut out after a few minutes,,,,, in my 100 mbit 4K / 60 action camera the same card work just fine.
So as i was prepared for this issue i had another "new" card in my pocket, the Kingston canvas,,,,,, which seem to be working just fine so far.

Thanks!

 

[Karagandinez]

I never use anything but the maximum image quality / bitrate.

TBH i dont really understand why there are options to choose from, if i made a dashcam it would not have any selection in this area.
If you need room for more footage buy a larger memory card, dont experiment with lesser image quality / bitrate to get smaller files.

I just tried another card in my A229, the 256 GB Adata endurance, a A2 / V30 card that should be plenty fast, but it just will not work, cut out after a few minutes,,,,, in my 100 mbit 4K / 60 action camera the same card work just fine.
So as i was prepared for this issue i had another "new" card in my pocket, the Kingston canvas,,,,,, which seem to be working just fine so far.

The user should always have a choice.
It's good that in the settings of the DVR there is a choice and not only bitrate.

 

[kamkar]

Dont get me wrong i am very much pro choice, it is one of the reasons i dont feel at home in my country, as really i have no choice, it is the Danish way or the highway.
But i dont see a reason to have the user be able to choose anything but the best image quality, that is like buying a brand new kick ass SLR camera and then use the cheapest lens you can put on it, sure it can take pictures and auto focus work, but it is miles from what the camera could do / should do.
Or spend thousands of euro buying a big bad ass BMW, and only drive it in the first 3 gears.

 

[chizzle36]

UPDATE: As mentioned, I updated the firmware and replaced the memory card with the Sandisk Max Endurance. 2 day test shows that everything is now working correctly.