Locked Footage Missing from RO Folder (Deleted instead of locked?)

Jinajon

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Jan 19, 2015
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New Zealand
Dash Cam
Viofo A129 Pro Duo x2, Viofo A119 V3, Viofo WR1
I have run Viofo cameras in my vehicles since the A118C. They've caught several crashes, and caught the face and plate of a hit-and-run driver that spun out my vehicle (the cops caught them).
However today I had a major issue with my A129 Pro Duo.

I had a very near miss when a vehicle swung over the centre line at me and I had to hit the ditch to avoid them, and even then I didn't miss them by much. Once I had got back on the road about 20 seconds later, I pressed the bluetooth lock button; the camera beeped its lock beep and made that awful fake camera snapshot sound, and I kept driving to my destination. (NB I'm certain there was no reboot sound any time after this.)

The next day, I shut the camera down and pulled the card to retrieve the footage, but the footage was missing. Every file up to and immediately after the incident was present, but the actual incident I wanted was missing from the RO folder. Interestingly the front and rear snapshots were captured and stored in the picture folder.

Now in my books, this is a major issue. Realistically, the only time we need a dashcam is when an incident actually occurs. To lose only that file really is very bad.
Now I only wanted this footage for interest's sake, but if this had happened the time I rear-ended a RAV-4 with no brake lights, I'd be one extremely unhappy dude (and out of pocket $20k+).

I've done a bit of searching about this issue, and found a few others who have experienced it, but each time it has been brushed off as a glitch, or blamed on some other issue like bad memory card, but that doesn't make much sense to me.

Details:
Viofo A129 Pro Duo
3-wire hardwire kit (new version)
Firmware v2.1 (latest)
Viofo 128Gb card
Powered directly into side of the cam.
Temp: roughly 22°C (72°F)
Capacitors fine (shutdown time and visual inspection).
Res and bitrate max.
Loop set to 1min.
Card about 6 months old, formatted in cam about two weeks ago.
RO folder completely empty.


Has anyone met this issue before? Any ideas on a cause or a solution?
 

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have a look at the timestamps on the photos and you can work out how far you were through the segment when you pressed the button, once you do that you can do some test saves at the same time increment (and some other times) and see if you can repeat the problem, if it's a bug then it's a lot easier to fix if you can replicate the problem
 
Although things should work as they're supposed to, I've found best reliability with any and all cams comes from just letting it record on it's own for long enough to close the file you want. Just pull the card before it's overwritten and your footage will be there.

Phil
 
Yes i will prefer a sufficient large memory card VS trying to lock things.
But that said i do now use the event button on my camera as for all the years i just used a mental note on things to save, well that have cost me a few events over time.
I have also made the habit of saying out loud what i pushed the event button over, cuz some times as it is after all just little things in traffic then it can be a pain to zero in.
The photos also snapped at events are also very helpful, not least on a SG system that save so much.

Things should of course work as advertised.
 
If the G sensor is enabled, does just giving the camera a gentle slap trigger save?
 
Is your deductible $20k?
I live in NZ, and had 3rd party insurance only. The RAV-4 was a write-off at $16k I think, plus $6k of damage to my vehicle. In NZ if you rear-end someone it is 100% your fault 100% of the time (you were obviously following too closely is the logic). But because of the dashcam footage showing no brake or tail lights, the other driver had to cover all the costs for both vehicles.
 
If the G sensor is enabled, does just giving the camera a gentle slap trigger save?
Generally, no, it is looking for actual acceleration of the car, although it will trigger if you hit it hard enough in the right way.

I've done a bit of searching about this issue, and found a few others who have experienced it, but each time it has been brushed off as a glitch or blamed on some other issue like bad memory card.
With so few reports, nobody has any idea what the issue is. If you can replicate it and produce some instructions so that the engineers can replicate it, then it will get fixed.

Although things should work as they're supposed to, I've found best reliability with any and all cams comes from just letting it record on it's own for long enough to close the file you want. Just pull the card before it's overwritten and your footage will be there.

Phil
This is what I do if there is something really important just been recorded, give it long enough to move onto the next loop recording files, then power it off normally and then swap to a spare card. That way there is nothing unusual happening that might make things go wrong and there is no chance of the video being overwritten, this is the best tested situation. Shouldn't be necessary, but this is always going to be safest, and sometimes that video is very valuable.
 
When you get right down to it, all dashcams are cheap and nasty recorders whose main appeal is ease of use for recording while driving using a HWK. They fall below all up-to-date standards for vid and audio quality, event detection, and smart functionality regards other uses :( As we constantly see here they get 'tripped up' and have more problems the more you try to do with them.

Best to not expect much of them at all other than for driving recording and time-lapse or low-bitrate recording while parked, and best to keep things as simple as possible with them to avoid problems ;) Nothing is as frustrating as not having a recording you want so do whatever it takes to ensure best reliability, and hope for the best in your results.

Phil
 
Hmm ... I just locked a bunch of footage and had the same issue - empty Ro folder, but front and rear snapshots present in the DCIM>Photo folder. So it seems to be repeatable, but it smells like a faulty memory card to me. Just a very odd and highly undesirable failure mode.

I'll run f3 on the card and see what comes up. I'll also try another card from one of my other vehicles and see if I get the same problem or not.
 
Do you format the card in the camera each time after you've had it in the computer?
Not every time, but most times, yeah.
 
Mac can leave hidden files on the card that will trip the camera up

Assuming the card is legitimate, not faulty/failing I'd start by doing a full overwrite format using SDformatter to return it to its original state, then format in the camera and test again, if you still don't get your files saved in the RO folder then try rolling back to an earlier firmware version and test again

If it works with an earlier firmware then that would suggest that there's a bug in the current version
 
Using another Viofo 128Gb card from one of my others cameras, everything works as advertised - I can retrieve automatically or manually locked footage no issues. So the problem does indeed seem to be likely to be the card.
Mac can leave hidden files on the card that will trip the camera up
Aware of this (y)
Having said that I've never seen or heard of spotlight or other hidden files actually causing any issues for a Viofo cam?

The card is legit, bought directly from Viofo. 124.72Gb, actual capacity (free space) 124.69Gb. No data lost, corrupted, changed, or overwritten in f3 test. Average write speed 66.43MB/s, average read speed 84.49MB/s (should have no issues handling the 4K+HD).

Full overwrite format with SD Card Formatter and then reformatted in cam, and now everything works as advertised - I can retrieve automatically or manually locked footage no issues.

Hmm. I think I will keep an eye on this card and see how long until it fails. I'll post here when it does.

Does anyone have any theories on why front and rear video file would be deleted instead of locked? And why this would occur with no other signs of card degradation?
 
Is it normal that it took still photos when you pressed the button?
 
I have run Viofo cameras in my vehicles since the A118C. They've caught several crashes, and caught the face and plate of a hit-and-run driver that spun out my vehicle (the cops caught them).
However today I had a major issue with my A129 Pro Duo.

I had a very near miss when a vehicle swung over the centre line at me and I had to hit the ditch to avoid them, and even then I didn't miss them by much. Once I had got back on the road about 20 seconds later, I pressed the bluetooth lock button; the camera beeped its lock beep and made that awful fake camera snapshot sound, and I kept driving to my destination. (NB I'm certain there was no reboot sound any time after this.)

The next day, I shut the camera down and pulled the card to retrieve the footage, but the footage was missing. Every file up to and immediately after the incident was present, but the actual incident I wanted was missing from the RO folder. Interestingly the front and rear snapshots were captured and stored in the picture folder.

Now in my books, this is a major issue. Realistically, the only time we need a dashcam is when an incident actually occurs. To lose only that file really is very bad.
Now I only wanted this footage for interest's sake, but if this had happened the time I rear-ended a RAV-4 with no brake lights, I'd be one extremely unhappy dude (and out of pocket $20k+).

I've done a bit of searching about this issue, and found a few others who have experienced it, but each time it has been brushed off as a glitch, or blamed on some other issue like bad memory card, but that doesn't make much sense to me.

Details:
Viofo A129 Pro Duo
3-wire hardwire kit (new version)
Firmware v2.1 (latest)
Viofo 128Gb card
Powered directly into side of the cam.
Temp: roughly 22°C (72°F)
Capacitors fine (shutdown time and visual inspection).
Res and bitrate max.
Loop set to 1min.
Card about 6 months old, formatted in cam about two weeks ago.
RO folder completely empty.


Has anyone met this issue before? Any ideas on a cause or a solution?
I just had a similar issue where my car was involved in an accident. I pulled the card same day and unfortunately, the footage showing the accident is not there, along with about 3 hours of footage that preceded the accident.

Camera: Viofo A129 Pro Duo
Card: Samsung 256GB MicroSDXC Evo Select

Both are fairly new, just a few months old.

As in your case, it seems the accident may have actually caused the footage to be erased (which is the exact opposite of what should happen).

Did you confirm that the issue in your case was the SD card and not the Viofo camera?
 
I had this same problem last week, I am new to VIOFO and got a new A139, hardwire kit and a good card all installed less than a month ago. Also, I have been able to reproduce it a couple times.

What I found is if the g-sensor locks one, or if I manually lock the file, they are in the locked folder for the day, but the next day they disappear even if nothing else was locked. On the next day they are also missing hen I go through the "All Files" folder, just that locked one is missing, although those before and after the locked file are present. As stated above, this is a problem when you don't have to pull it up the same day, and it's gone the next even though the surrounding files are there.

I am new to the forum, and I understand I am posting about an A139 in the A129 section, but I am looking for a solution for this issue and saw this post with people asking how to reproduce it, and figured I would add my findings.
 
Did you confirm that the issue in your case was the SD card and not the Viofo camera?
No. The card worked perfectly for about another year. I have recently also had the same issue occur on an A139 Pro.
 
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