Am I supposed To Have Loop AND Parking on At Same Time?

[fishjerky]

Hey, new to dashcams in general, I searched around but didn't find a conclusive answer..

1) Am I supposed to keep loop recording on, as well as Parking Mode?
2) Does loop recording stop when I'm parked, and parking mode "starts"?
3) What is the "normal" setup for this dash cam in terms of what mode and type of recording to use?

Thanks!

 

[kamkar]

loop recording are for the regular "always" recording going on while you drive, looping should not be needed for parking as thats normally a set duration ( if there are no further triggers ) still that should just make parking guard split up the parking events in whatever it is.

I haven't done much in parking guard with any dashcam for a long while, i did try it on my lukas that had 2 levels of trigger, meaning you could set G - sensor & motion trigger values for when driving and so if you was hit react to that and put it in the event folder.
I found use of that pretty silly cuz i was always recording while driving too, and even if it was bad and i got knocked out, rescuers / bystanders should turn off car and so make sure the event was not deleted after XX hours and the memory card filled up.
And it was / is near impossible finding a G - sensor setting that dont trigger by your style of driving or potholes ASO, so IMO using sensors while driving are silly when you record anyway, and if there is a little thing just press the manual event button on the camera to lock it.

And then my Lukas had the same for parking mode too.

But i dont think the A119S have as elaborate settings, so in short yes you like looping on as i am pretty sure that just go for regular driving or maybe parking too, but its what you will want.
Most of us use 3 minute segment size, most dashcams do 1 - 3 - 5 and maybe 10 minutes segment size.
If you have the camera hardwired and so will be able to use parking guard, then you can park and let the car sit there for a little while to enter parking mode, you can then push the car or kick the wheels to simulate G - sensor events, which you can then go to the computer and see if it have worked as planned.

But you do need hard wire to be able to use parking mode with the A119S, if you just put it on a USB power bank while parked i think it will just record normally like when driving, or it will change to parking mode after a little while of zero G- sensor activity.

 

[fishjerky]

Hey, thanks for the reply.

I guess my confusion is that, parking mode only turns on when there's motion, but loop recording is always on. So if I only want parking mode when I'm parked and away, do I have to turn loop recording off manually everytime I park and turn it on again when I start the car? So far checking my cam, it seems like loop recording just always runs and records those 3 min intervals.

 

[5Cowbells]

1) Am I supposed to keep loop recording on, as well as Parking Mode?
2) Does loop recording stop when I'm parked, and parking mode "starts"?
3) What is the "normal" setup for this dash cam in terms of what mode and type of recording to use?

With Parking Mode enabled there are three possible submodes: 1) Normal recordings (at the set resolution and fps), 2) Standby mode (not recording), and 3) Time-lapse recordings. Parking mode can be enabled all the time, while driving or parked, hence is autonomous. The camera records in Normal recording mode until it senses no camera/car movement (by G-sensor) and no motion in the camera field of view (FOV) {Edit: Motion Detection} for 90 seconds. Then it goes to standby mode (not recording). When motion in the FOV is sensed by the camera, it switches to Time-lapse recording. If motion in the field of view ceases for 90 seconds, the camera goes back to Standby. A bump to the camera/car (G-sensor) while in either Standby mode or Time-lapse recording mode will cause the camera to switch back to Normal recording mode. To resume Standby or Time-lapse recording, the Normal-Standby-Timelapse recording cycle must repeat.

To answer your questions:
1) Yes I would recommend that. The Loop Recording setting is applicable to "Normal" recordings with Parking Mode enabled or not, and most folks prefer the three minute setting. Time-lapse recordings also loop but differently. The Time-lapse mode always records two minute duration files, but the actual clock time recorded (end time minus start time) varies dependent on the Time-lapse setting set in the Parking Mode menu selection. For more details, see this link: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/are-people-upgrading-to-v3-3.30403/#post-361075.

2) No. The camera will continue to record Normal recordings with looping until conditions are met to switch to Standby mode.

3) Parking Mode operates autonomously, i.e., requires no operator intervention to activate when going from driving to parked or back as long as the camera remains powered. Effectively, recording Normal Mode (recording continuously) is also an autonomous option too, but does not save file space on the microSD card. Other modes (motion detection, Time-lapse, and a combination of the latter two) could be used while parked but require the operator to switch the camera modes when going from driving to parked and back.

 

[5Cowbells]

So if I only want parking mode when I'm parked and away, do I have to turn loop recording off manually everytime I park and turn it on again when I start the car?

No. As far as I can tell, Loop Recording and Parking Mode are independent functions.

 

[fishjerky]

Hi 5Cowbells, I wanted to say thanks. After reading your responses as well as https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/viofo-parking-mode-new-beta-feature.29382/page-4 I have a much better understanding now. Specifically the biggest confusion I had before was I thought looprecording and parking mode were both "recording options", but that's not the case as you specified, it's more like that one is how it records, and the other is when it records.