Buffered Parking mode

I updated to the latest v1.9 firmware yesterday. I really haven't gone anywhere and parked, just through a drive-thru and back home. I usually turn the camera off when home because it's either in the garage or in the driveway and I have a security cam above the garage door that looks over my driveway, so no need for the dash cam to be running.

Anyway, I left it in parking mode for a while today while in the driveway. I'm just now looking over the files on the card and I noticed that twice it didn't record/save a rear clip (PR). There is a PF clip for the same timestamp, but no PR. It goes right on to another PF clip. It's only done it twice among a couple dozen 43-45 second clips.

Everything else seemed to work OK so far.

I wish the buffered parking mode would record at higher bitrate, especially on the rear camera. I've noticed in a parking lot at night the front cam looks fine but the rear cam is grainy as all get out. My front parking mode clip bitrates are around 9832kbps while the rear is only around 8194kbps
I know the dark tint on the rear window doesn't help, but during the day the rear cam footage looks fine and not too dark. Maybe I'll play around with the rear exposure setting to try and get better night video without the day video getting washed out.

Just about to check my footage. I'll let you know how how it goes and settings I've used
 
I'm just now looking over the files on the card and I noticed that twice it didn't record/save a rear clip (PR). There is a PF clip for the same timestamp, but no PR. It goes right on to another PF clip. It's only done it twice among a couple dozen 43-45 second clips.
Sometimes the file order can change, so you might get two PF clips then two PR clips in a row. I've not noticed any missing files before.
 
I'm pretty much doing the same thing right now. - - I have the dashcam in low bit rate park mode w/ high sensitivity G-sensor. I went to the store a while ago and gave my car a shake before I got back in the car and I also slammed the door... I'll check tomorrow to see if those shakes registered. I would sure hope so! - Since the motion detector is non-applicable in this parking mode, I raised both my cameras up a bit so that I can see the trees better!

Btw, I realize the g-force items end up in the RO file. Does anyone know what RO stands for? Just curious...

Just an update to my other comment. I let the cam go into parking mode and I slammed all four of my car doors and slapped the windshield where the cam is mounted and the drivers side of my car and nothing, no beep and no RO folder saved. I have the latest 1.9 update with the parking mode g-sensor on high while the normal driving one is on medium. It looks like something may be up with detecting g-sensor events. I also reset the default settings and redid my settings after updating to 1.9 is that makes a difference.

Also what are the PF and PR file names. I assume these mean parking Front and parking Rear to differentiate parking mode?
 
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Just an update to my other comment. I let the cam go into parking mode and I slammed all four of my car doors and slapped the windshield where the cam is mounted and the drivers side of my car and nothing, no beep and no RO folder saved. I have the latest 1.9 update with the parking mode g-sensor on high while the normal driving one is on medium. It looks like something may be up with detecting g-sensor events. I also reset the default settings and redid my settings after updating to 1.9 is that makes a difference.

Also what are the PF and PR file names. I assume these mean parking Front and parking Rear to differentiate parking mode?

Dashcamuser-

I pretty much got the same results as you. - The shaking of my car and the slamming of my driver's door last night did not register at all in the RO file (Read Only). Btw, I had my parking mode set to low-bitrate and I had the g-sensor sensitivity set to "high".

But now I'm wondering if G-sensor works at all while parked if you have the dashcam in a setting other than "auto detection"...eg, Time Lapse 1,2,3, 5 or 10 secs; or low-bitrate...??? That would really make no sense at all to not have g-sensor working while in one of the modes other than "auto detection". - - Does someone know the answer to this?

And yes, you are right, PF & PR are parking front and parking rear files.
 
Dashcamuser-

I pretty much got the same results as you. - The shaking of my car and the slamming of my driver's door last night did not register at all in the RO file (Read Only). Btw, I had my parking mode set to low-bitrate and I had the g-sensor sensitivity set to "high".

But now I'm wondering if G-sensor works at all while parked if you have the dashcam in a setting other than "auto detection"...eg, Time Lapse 1,2,3, 5 or 10 secs; or low-bitrate...??? That would really make no sense at all to not have g-sensor working while in one of the modes other than "auto detection". - - Does someone know the answer to this?

And yes, you are right, PF & PR are parking front and parking rear files.

I hope @viofo can clarify this since i prefer low bitrate recording since i dont have to worry about if my cam is recording or not. Its basically always recording. Also, i think the g-sensor should be working in low bitrate and auto event detection but not time lapse, but i could be wrong. I think they need to tweak how sensitive the sensor is. I hope i don't have a defective one.
 
Using firmware version 1.9 for a few days. I confirm the G-Sensor is not working as expected in parking mode. The only way to trigger it is to slap the camera itself.
I also want to add that I found the camera again doing absolutely nothing for hours. Last parking mode session started yesterday at 18.02 and ended at 20:20 then nothing. When I got into the car at about 3 AM, both left and right LEDs were ON, no blinking, so there was power. The camera was responding to buttons and I could turn it off by long pressing the Menu button.
The card has 1.62 GB free space out of 128 GB.
Another interesting thing - yesterday while the car was parked in a busy mall parking, the camera was recording 3 minutes clips all the time, at about 9 Mbps bitrate. I believe it's the normal behaviour when there is constant motion happening?
 
Using firmware version 1.9 for a few days. I confirm the G-Sensor is not working as expected in parking mode. The only way to trigger it is to slap the camera itself.
I also want to add that I found the camera again doing absolutely nothing for hours. Last parking mode session started yesterday at 18.02 and ended at 20:20 then nothing. When I got into the car at about 3 AM, both left and right LEDs were ON, no blinking, so there was power. The camera was responding to buttons and I could turn it off by long pressing the Menu button.
The card has 1.62 GB free space out of 128 GB.
Another interesting thing - yesterday while the car was parked in a busy mall parking, the camera was recording 3 minutes clips all the time, at about 9 Mbps bitrate. I believe it's the normal behaviour when there is constant motion happening?

Did you get your g-sensor to work? I even slapped the camera mount area from the outside of the windshield and i got nothing.

I have had something like that too where the camera would record for a short bit and either freeze or do what yours did and do nothing. But that got fixed when I moved to using low bit rate recording back in v1.5
 
Did you get your g-sensor to work? I even slapped the camera mount area from the outside of the windshield and i got nothing.

I have had something like that too where the camera would record for a short bit and either freeze or do what yours did and do nothing. But that got fixed when I moved to using low bit rate recording back in v1.5
I slapped the camera on one side (while mounted) and that was the only way to trigger the g-sensor. I think @viofo went for the extreme low sensitivity instead of the highest.
I think the car has to be hit by a truck in order to trigger the sensor :)
However, in driving mode it seems to be working well. On medium sensitivity it's being triggered on potholes or over tram lines.
 
I slapped the camera on one side (while mounted) and that was the only way to trigger the g-sensor. I think @viofo went for the extreme low sensitivity instead of the highest.
I think the car has to be hit by a truck in order to trigger the sensor :)
However, in driving mode it seems to be working well. On medium sensitivity it's being triggered on potholes or over tram lines.

I hope mines not defective. I have driven over tram lines before and even a uneven bump on a construction site and no dice. I'll try putting the driving sensor on high and driving to see. If not I may have to contact the seller since this cam is a couple months old.
 
Yes
Did you get your g-sensor to work? I even slapped the camera mount area from the outside of the windshield and i got nothing.

I have had something like that too where the camera would record for a short bit and either freeze or do what yours did and do nothing. But that got fixed when I moved to using low bit rate recording back in v1.5

I tried shaking car again today and slamming door, but nothing causes g-sensor to go off... obviously there's still a problem. I'll have to double check to see if I get a g-sensor event when driving; the other day I though I heard a beep which I assumed meant that a small bump in the road caused it to record, but I didn't see any events in the RO file....????

Btw, I talked with Viofo and they said the G-sensor should always work, even with time lapse parking mode, as long as it is on in the settings; frankly, I can't see any way to turn off G-sensor Parking....,??? There are only settings: low, medium & high....
 
G-sensor parking sensitivity was identified as an issue during beta FW testing for buffered parking mode, and it persists in V1.8 and V1.9. I expect that a FW update will return the sensitivity to normal.
 
Had a whole day of driving and parking today on firmware 1.9

I pretty much got similar results with driving g-sensor working and parking g-sensor not triggering any events.

DRIVING:
I went through all 3 g-sensor settings starting with low, medium and high. LOW setting did not trigger any events, not even potholes, high speedhumps or sudden braking. MEDIUM triggered only one event when I braked hard. No events triggered over any potholes or high speedhumps. HIGH setting triggered a few events over potholes, speedhumps and hard braking. So it looks like the g-sensor when driving works as it should. I prefer MEDIUM setting for driving g-sensor so I know it works and only triggers a few false positives.

PARKING: MOTION DETECTION (with buffer) and LOW BITRATE
Unfortunately I didn't get the same results for the parking g-sensor. Non of the settings starting from LOW, MEDIUM then to HIGH triggered any parking events., whether in MOTION DETECTION or LOW BITRATE. I slammed all 4 doors shut and the boot with no triggers. I also hit my hand on the side windows, bonnet and side doors and no triggers in all 3 settings and in both parking modes.

has anyone tested with the G-Sensor set to low in case the setting has been reversed, have seen that happen before

I tested all 3 parking g-sensor settings and no events detected.

Seems like @viofo needs to look into this
 
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Found in v1.9, that lock button (on body and BT) works unstable - not for any click.
 
Had a whole day of driving and parking today on firmware 1.9

I pretty much got similar results with both driving and parking g-sensors.

DRIVING:
I went through all 3 g-sensor settings starting with low, medium and high. LOW setting did not trigger any events, not even potholes, high speedhumps or sudden braking. MEDIUM triggered only one event when I braked hard. No events triggered over any potholes or high speedhumps. HIGH setting triggered a few events over potholes, speedhumps and hard braking. So it looks like the g-sensor when driving works as it should. I prefer MEDIUM setting for driving g-sensor so I know it works and only triggers a few false positives.

PARKING: MOTION DETECTION (with buffer) and LOW BITRATE
Unfortunately I didn't get the same results for the parking g-sensor. Non of the settings starting from LOW, MEDIUM then to HIGH triggered any parking events., whether in MOTION DETECTION or LOW BITRATE. I slammed all 4 doors shut and the boot with no triggers. I also hit my hand on the side windows, bonnet and side doors and no triggers in all 3 settings and in both parking modes.



I tested all 3 parking g-sensor settings and no events detected.

Seems like @viofo needs to look into this

CaptnEric-

Thanks for your report! It seems you must have edited your original report as you start off by saying "similar results" with both driving & parking g-sensors. But later in your details, you indicated that "Driving Mode" G-sensor works fine, but that G-Sensor doesn't work at all in "parking mode"...

I'll do the same as you and keep Driving Mode Sensor on "medium"... and cross my fingers that Viofo fixes the G-Sensor in parking mode soon. - Thanks again for your thorough analysis!!!
 
GOOD NEWS!
I tried resetting the A129 using StrayCam's pinhole suggestion, Viofo firmware v1.8, and his settings, and today the buffered parking mode worked flawlessly! Every buffered parking mode clip was exactly 45 seconds and I didn't see any false positives. Now, if my A129 was a little sharper focused I'd be a happy camper. :)
Thats great! I just was going back through and catching up and looking to see if you were able to find a fix! Wooo! and Thanks to BCHobbyist for the tips, you da bomb man.
Also RavenManiac, BCHobbyist has a few videos on his youtube page and some options on his website to help fix focus/sharpness depending on how involved you want to get with it. But thats great news! Im working on a comparison video with the IR version as well and this was the only snag I kept running into. Hopefully thats the fix it needed!
 
I honestly think my cam or gsensor is defective because i have both parking and normal gsensors on high and i went over speed bumps and man hole covers and nothing. Ill keep testing tmor when i drive to work to verify but if not ill probably have to contact the amazon seller since it should be under warranty. I really hope it isn't defective.

Edit: decided to take another drive on another road and i got two gsensor events on high sensitivity. That confirms that it works but it seems inconsistent. Hopefully @viofo can fix it in firmware especially for parking mode
 
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CaptnEric-

Thanks for your report! It seems you must have edited your original report as you start off by saying "similar results" with both driving & parking g-sensors. But later in your details, you indicated that "Driving Mode" G-sensor works fine, but that G-Sensor doesn't work at all in "parking mode"...

I'll do the same as you and keep Driving Mode Sensor on "medium"... and cross my fingers that Viofo fixes the G-Sensor in parking mode soon. - Thanks again for your thorough analysis!!!

Hey @StrayCam ,

Yeah I don't know why I wrote "similar" for both g-sensors. I meant to say it was a similar experience regarding the parking g-sensor where no amount of force triggered an event during parking. So thank you for picking that up. I'll edit it so it's not confusing lol.

Although I had fairly good results with the driving g-sensor yesterday, today it was kind of a different story. I forgot I had left the setting on high and remembered this morning. Anyway, while taking my youngest son to school this morning, driving the same route as I did yesterday, I had only 2 events triggered. One was going a little faster than usual over a high speedhump (these are 15km/h speedhumps and I drove over it at 40km/h) and the other was a rough patch of road with a few potholes. I should've got more events as I did drive over speedhumps at a higher speed than usual and even braking hard didn't trigger anything this time. When I got home I double checked that I had left the driving g-sensor on high and it was. Yesterday I got a lot more events travelling the same route. So yeah a mixed bag of results in 2 days and I really don't know what to make of it. It seems like it's hit and miss. I just hope it works if I'm ever involved in a collision!

I can also confirm that the parking g-sensor still didn't trigger any events today. I had it on low setting while parked outside my son's school and changed it to medium when I got home. In both scenarios I slammed all 4 doors, the boot, hit the side windows and doors, shook the car side to side and nothing. Seriously I must've looked like a raving idiot to people who were passing by
 
I honestly think my cam or gsensor is defective because i have both parking and normal gsensors on high and i went over speed bumps and man hole covers and nothing. Ill keep testing tmor when i drive to work to verify but if not ill probably have to contact the amazon seller since it should be under warranty. I really hope it isn't defective.

Edit: decided to take another drive on another road and i got two gsensor events on high sensitivity. That confirms that it works but it seems inconsistent. Hopefully @viofo can fix it in firmware especially for parking mode

I got the same inconsistency today
 
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