A229 Pro (2025) Improvement Wish List

[Nigel]

And as an extra bonus they can do it automatically, based on the current GPS coordinates.

Are you expecting automatic time changes as the car crosses time zone boundaries and back?

Obviously it would need to have a permanent text overlay displaying which timezone it was in and if DST was in force or not for that timezone in that country!

 

[Dashmellow]

Well...., that's just about what every operating system does. They can lend it from any linux distribution, the file is about 525KB in size, so that shouldn't kill the available storage. And they can update the file when a new firmware is released.
So, no, not that complicated. And as an extra bonus they can do it automatically, based on the current GPS coordinates.

Time Zone Database

www.iana.org

But a dash cam is not like a laptop or desktop computer. They have a purpose dedicated SoC processor with limited processing power and memory compared to a computer with a full Linux OS. 525KB (more than half a megabyte) for the database plus whatever resources might be required to process and post the data is not so trivial when it is an additional load for dash cam to what it already has to do. Dash cam processors have purpose driven SDKs normally specific to a particular hardware platform and this can limit the features that can be implemented. I'm not so sure an automatic, dynamic time zone database could even work. Also, dash cams/action cams that have attempted programming in Linux have mostly not been very successful.

 

[TheSpanishInq]

Obviously it would need to have a permanent text overlay displaying which timezone it was in and if DST was in force or not for that timezone in that country!

It is not uncommon to record in time UTC and save the timezone in timestamps in computing. Not sure if it needs to be displayed, but that probably too shouldn't need to many resources either. There's room to add custom strings, use part of that for the TZ-info.

But a dash cam is not like a laptop or desktop computer.

I don't think it would require that much compute power to take the TZ/DST change in account, but maybe I'm wrong. And I'm not so sure IF the current SoCs are THAT under-powered, compute wise. The video stream probably get processed by dedicated hardware, i.e. it is off-loaded, similar like dedicated GPUs in gaming computers. Ideally they would combine the stream handling with the writing to 'disk' part. The CPU then only has to do house keeping as the hardware does the hard work.

Also, dash cams/action cams that have attempted programming in Linux have mostly not been very successful.

I'm not saying it should be done with a linux OS, what I meant is that the code to process DST already exists. Seems to me that that can be adapted to work for a dash cam SoC.

I'd tried to find information about the Novatek SoCs on the web but couldn't find much. Are these under NDA?

 

[Dashmellow]

It is not uncommon to record in time UTC and save the timezone in timestamps in computing. Not sure if it needs to be displayed, but that probably too shouldn't need to many resources either. There's room to add custom strings, use part of that for the TZ-info.

I don't think it would require that much compute power to take the TZ/DST change in account, but maybe I'm wrong. And I'm not so sure IF the current SoCs are THAT under-powered, compute wise. The video stream probably get processed by dedicated hardware, i.e. it is off-loaded, similar like dedicated GPUs in gaming computers. Ideally they would combine the stream handling with the writing to 'disk' part. The CPU then only has to do house keeping as the hardware does the hard work.

I'm not saying it should be done with a linux OS, what I meant is that the code to process DST already exists. Seems to me that that can be adapted to work for a dash cam SoC.

I'd tried to find information about the Novatek SoCs on the web but couldn't find much. Are these under NDA?

You raise some good questions. I'm not sure of some of the answers either. I only know that I've learned over the years (partly from forum conversations with jokiin) that dash cam processors and their SDKs do have their limits compared to general purpose computing platforms and often features that people ask for or fantasize about can't be implemented, even if the processor hardware in dash cams is more capable now and has more memory than older models. Some of this I understand has to do with features and capabilities enabled or disabled by competing chip makers at different price points.

 

[Nigel]

I'd tried to find information about the Novatek SoCs on the web but couldn't find much. Are these under NDA?

Yes, information is not for public consumption!

However they use standard ARM processor cores, can run Linux, and Viofo does.

It is not uncommon to record in time UTC and save the timezone in timestamps in computing. Not sure if it needs to be displayed, but that probably too shouldn't need to many resources either.

File times should be in UTC, and should appear correct when viewed on a computer, however the computer never knows what timezone and DST the car was in when the file was recorded, so it can't do the conversion to local time... well it would be possible for it to check the GPS coordinates and convert correctly, but that doesn't happen!

It would be much easier if the whole world was to work in UTC! What would be the problem?

 

[TheSpanishInq]

It would be much easier if the whole world was to work in UTC! What would be the problem?

Working 9-5 would be a dark endeavour in some parts of the world

However they use standard ARM processor cores, can run Linux, and Viofo does.

Interesting, thanks!

that dash cam processors and their SDKs do have their limits compared to general purpose computing platforms

Could very well be. I'm from the x86/AMD64 world, so a lot of guessing/assuming/hoping in my line of thinking regarding the dash cam SoCs.

 

[Nigel]

Working 9-5 would be a dark endeavour in some parts of the world

Then don't work 9-5 in those places!

Different countries seem to start work at different times anyway, 7AM is not uncommon, some countries stop work over mid day. As long as your city can agree start-stop times for the schools then everything else will fit in.

The only real issue would be knowing what day it is!

 

[TheSpanishInq]

Well, I'm in, IF we rename UTC to CET, Central Earth Time. Then I would still live in the same timezone .

 

[Nigel]

Well, I'm in, IF we rename UTC to CET, Central Earth Time. Then I would still live in the same timezone .

In the centre of the earth, it is always midday, the sun is always directly overhead!

 

[Dashmellow]

Put me down for MET - Middle Earth Time!

 

[TheSpanishInq]

In the centre of the earth, it is always midday, the sun is always directly overhead!

Problem solved!

Put me down for MET - Middle Earth Time!

Before you know your stuck in Mordor

But lets get back on-topic

 

[vvs49]

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