How does the A119 emergency lock function work?

NZguy64

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Does pressing any button achieve this? It is impossible to see the buttons on the camera when in a normal driving position, as it is mounted behind the rear view mirror. Can you activate an emergency file lock by pressing any of the buttons?
 
Does pressing any button achieve this? It is impossible to see the buttons on the camera when in a normal driving position, as it is mounted behind the rear view mirror. Can you activate an emergency file lock by pressing any of the buttons?
Per the user manual pressing the 'emergency/confirm' button (middle button with the triangle on it) will save the currently recording file.
 
Per the user manual pressing the 'emergency/confirm' button (middle button with the triangle on it) will save the currently recording file.

Yes I'm aware, but I was hoping there was a way to do it without having to hit one specific button. The design of the A119 lends itself to stealthy mounting, which... kind of makes it difficult to locate one button while driving.
 
Yes I'm aware, but I was hoping there was a way to do it without having to hit one specific button. The design of the A119 lends itself to stealthy mounting, which... kind of makes it difficult to locate one button while driving.
Maybe you could use something like this to stick on the button to make it easy to find by feel. I use them for a number of things and it works well for me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B003IJRZ6C
Edit: I like your avatar. Your private plane? :D
 
Maybe you could use something like this to stick on the button to make it easy to find by feel. I use them for a number of things and it works well for me.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/B003IJRZ6C

Great idea!

Could be worth noting that in firmware version 3.3, if you press the emergency button within the first 15 second of a clip also the preceding clip will be moved to the Read-only folder. I haven't tested it yet but seems like a really smart feature.
 
Great idea!

Could be worth noting that in firmware version 3.3, if you press the emergency button within the first 15 second of a clip also the preceding clip will be moved to the Read-only folder. I haven't tested it yet but seems like a really smart feature.

Yep. I'm pretty happy with this camera. Unrelated to the thread, but here is some 1440p video I recorded with it and was wondering if those blocky pixels are normal? They are particularly noticeable on the road surface.

 
I'll have to look at my footage, gotta say though, I never looked that closely. When I first got it, I just made sure I could read license plates approaching me, that's about it.

If someone doesn't give you a response in the meantime, I'll post on my video quality tomorrow. I have to do it at work since I no longer own a computer.
 
looks like youtube compression to me.
 
Yes I'm aware, but I was hoping there was a way to do it without having to hit one specific button. The design of the A119 lends itself to stealthy mounting, which... kind of makes it difficult to locate one button while driving.
The G-sensor will do it for you if, heaven forbid, you have a crash or hit a hard bump.
 
Unrelated to the thread, but here is some 1440p video I recorded with it and was wondering if those blocky pixels are normal? They are particularly noticeable on the road surface.

Not sure what you mean. You have reflections from your dashboard that may be misinterpreted as blocky pixels (make sure to watch the video at 1440p). There is also a limited color depth generally in these cams which means that colors that are close to each other are represented as the same color on the recorded movie but this is normally not a problem in this application. You see it clearly in situations where the light changes and the camera adjusts exposure time, leads to some banding effects. If it is a problem try to adjust exposure and/or wdr settings and see if it becomes less noticable.
 
Not sure what you mean. You have reflections from your dashboard that may be misinterpreted as blocky pixels (make sure to watch the video at 1440p). There is also a limited color depth generally in these cams which means that colors that are close to each other are represented as the same color on the recorded movie but this is normally not a problem in this application. You see it clearly in situations where the light changes and the camera adjusts exposure time, leads to some banding effects. If it is a problem try to adjust exposure and/or wdr settings and see if it becomes less noticable.

I got a CPL filter since that video was recorded, and the reflections are less noticeable now, but the blocky pixels are still present. I will have a play around with the exposure and WDR settings though. Thanks.
 
I'm not surprised if there are some blocky pixels to be detected in the most moving parts of the image which is right in front of the hood.

Here is a random daytime clip how it looks like with my A119 (v1) and CPL filter.


In most cases I can pause the video and see registration plates clearly. More often on raw video clips than in the Youtube rendering of course. To obtain "perfect" video quality from a photographic viewpoint is not what I expect from a dashcam at this (or any) pricepoint... but I find it very useful for the intended purpose in the case of the A119. Especially at the 1440p resolution and with the CPL filter.
 
You have reflections from your dashboard that may be misinterpreted as blocky pixels

My grey dash mat is about to be changed to black to compare reflections
 
I'm not surprised if there are some blocky pixels to be detected in the most moving parts of the image which is right in front of the hood.

Here is a random daytime clip how it looks like with my A119 (v1) and CPL filter.


In most cases I can pause the video and see registration plates clearly. More often on raw video clips than in the Youtube rendering of course. To obtain "perfect" video quality from a photographic viewpoint is not what I expect from a dashcam at this (or any) pricepoint... but I find it very useful for the intended purpose in the case of the A119. Especially at the 1440p resolution and with the CPL filter.

Yeah here's a clip of mine taken after I installed the CPL filter. Reflections not quite as bad as before but still visible. As for the blockiness, I see mine is about the same as yours, so I'll just try adjusting the exposure settings to see if it helps. Nice country, by the way. Would love to drive there some day.


My grey dash mat is about to be changed to black to compare reflections

This was my first thought too.... unfortunately it appears no one makes dashmats for my model :/
 
Yeah here's a clip of mine taken after I installed the CPL filter. Reflections not quite as bad as before but still visible. As for the blockiness, I see mine is about the same as yours, so I'll just try adjusting the exposure settings to see if it helps. Nice country, by the way. Would love to drive there some day.

Reflections can be more or less manageable depending on the slope of the windshield, also suspecting anti-sun treatments may have an impact (some windshields from especially french car makers seem to have a purple tint when observed through polarized glasses like the CPL attachment we put on dash cameras). For some reason it is not possible to get a clear view from the outside through these windshields like on "normal" windshields so maybe it also implies limitations to what dashboard reflex cancelling effect you can expect from a polarizing filter. Never seen this discussed but I find it interesting.

You are very welcome to drive around here in Sweden! What you have seen here is only a few clips from mainly forest regions, there is literally everything from vast flat field landscapes to mountain roads, fantastic coastal roads etc. We do not have any desert sceneries to offer though... not yet :)

__
PS. There is no significant blockiness in your video as far as I can see. In my own example of video clip I can see a slight trace of it right in front of the hood (the representation of the coarse road surface tends to break up a little) when the speed is a bit higher but I do not see it as a problem for all practical purposes these cams are intended for.

BTW, the exact same phenomenon is seen on many other dashcams for instance Blackvue DR650GW as rendered in Youtube format. Whether it is visible also in raw footage remains for further investigation but as I said, relevance is questionable for the purpose of these kind of gadgets.
 
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