New User Feedback

[Dee_82]

Initial Thoughts

Bit of background, i am coming from a Thinkware F750, modified to a F770 and have loved it, its done its job since its initial release a decade or so ago, got me out of a couple of insurance jobs and more than paid for itsself after a year. But it decided its had enough and failed last week so did some research and and weighed up costs and thought, to hell with it. i spent £300 last time im sure i can do better this time.

A229 plus Rational

Choose this over the pro for two reasons, firstly, its quite a bit cheaper and secondly, 60fps in high lighting conditions should be more benificial then 30 which was the only real problem i had with the thinkware, its 30fps at 1080p was just not quite good enough, very close and mostly ok but not quite, so i figured if we can get get a good boost in resolution, bit rate and FPS, we should have more than enough detail to see whats going on. I figured that 4K is probably excessive and your paying a premium for something thats probably not really needed. 4k has its place, for example of a 65In TV its hands down better at a sensible distance over 1080p but on a 32in screen, at a sensible distance there is no benifit at all, i suspect the ability for the sensor to get that much data from a lens behind a dirty bit of glass thats at an angle to the Sun is going to cause far more issues during the day. But i conceed night time might be different story, thankfully thats not really a problem here.

Initial Conclusion

Really impressed with the quality of what arrived, box to accessories, was all very impressive for something that cost less than half what i paid for a F750, install was straight forward, bit disapointed to see aluminium wires but i get thats probably how its so cheap. Hardwire Kit went in without any bother, nice and simple. Setup of device seems to have an overwhelming level of settings which is good for me but i wonder if for less tech savy users much of this should be hidden behind a advanced menu setting or something.
In terms of quality im seriously impressed, i thought my F770 was good but this is almost as good as some of my Home CCTV. very clear, very smooth, MASSIVE file sizes but thats what you get with max bit rate, high FPS and higher resolution! Im sure teh 4K might well have been evern better but the question is really, does it need to be, the higher you push that bar the more extreme the edge case is for its requirement, i guess there is an argument to be said for having it and not needing it rather then needing it and not having it but we did just fine 10 years ago the police etc had no better then what we have now so im pretty comfortable that there is unlikely to be a situation we would need it and at well over £200, im just not feeling it for the pro. Maybe i will regret that, maybe not, time will tell.

I have a couple of questions that i want to answer and will do eventually but would welcome thoughts.

Does Auto HDR mode switch from 60FPS to HDR during the time specified or is it completely disabled if 60FPS is choosen.
Dashcam Viewer doesnt seem to recognise the embedded GPS and meta data, need to figure that out.
Theres a another wifi setting on the device that doesnt appear to do anything, cant think of the name off my head but you can specify and SSID and password but its NOT the hotspot you connect to. need to figure that out, would like to be able to link it to my IOT network in the home but i suspect thats not possible.

Rear camera is a bit iffy with reflection, will purchase the filter and see if that helps.

All in all, really happy with it

 

[Nigel]

Does Auto HDR mode switch from 60FPS to HDR during the time specified or is it completely disabled if 60FPS is choosen.

It should switch to 30fps HDR (still 60 exposures per second) when HDR is in use, however you might need a firmware update, I'll let someone who knows properly give details.

Dashcam Viewer doesnt seem to recognise the embedded GPS and meta data, need to figure that out.

Is your Dashcam Viewer up to date?

Theres a another wifi setting on the device that doesnt appear to do anything,

I think you mean station mode, which lets the camera connect to a wifi router (hotspot) instead of your phone connecting to the camera hotspot.

Rear camera is a bit iffy with reflection, will purchase the filter and see if that helps.

If your rear window is sloping around 45° rather than nearly vertical then the CPL will help a lot.

60fps in high lighting conditions should be more benificial

For recording accidents, 60fps really is not very useful, unless maybe you are on a racetrack. It makes nice smooth videos, nice to watch, but that is about it.

I figured that 4K is probably excessive and your paying a premium for something thats probably not really needed. 4k has its place, for example of a 65In TV its hands down better at a sensible distance over 1080p but on a 32in screen, at a sensible distance there is no benifit at all,

I don't want to say you made the wrong choice, but for other people making the same decision, it is not quite as simple as you explain...

While you might not be able to see the advantage of 4K on a 32" screen, you can zoom in and see the benefit of 4K even on a phone screen!

With the size of number plate we have in the UK, 2K resolution is enough to record the plate of almost anyone who hits you, FHD was normally enough, but the higher resolutions have three significant advantages:

1. The higher the resolution, the wider the field of view used, so things that hit the side of your front wing may not be seen at FHD because they are off the side of the image, while they can be clearly seen in 4K.
2. 4K can see around 30% further, and at further distances, things move across the image slower, so there is less motion blur. On A-roads where you have people approaching at 120mph closing speed, this can make the difference between a plate at maximum reading distance being sharp and clearly readable on a 4K camera while completely motion blurred and unreadable on an FHD camera. 2K falls in the middle, so for people who do a lot of driving on smaller/country roads, I do recommend the 4K option. Most cars that hit you will be going much slower so not a problem at lower resolution, but the car cutting a corner that causes you to swerve into the ditch and damage your own car while he speeds away...
3. If you want to send a recording of bad driving to the police, your eyes can see further than 2K dashcams, while 4K sees roughly as much as you do, and the important details that would get them some points on their license are often either what happens in the distance, or the details of them holding a phone to their ear. 4K seems to work much better in both situations. Most people don't buy dashcams for this reason, but if you want to prevent accidents, getting the bad drivers off the roads, or changing their behaviour due to points/warnings/compulsory driving courses, is probably the most effective use of a dashcam. You doing it may save someone else rather than you, but that works both ways. The UK police do deal with the videos sent in to them.

 

[JardaB]

4K (in the front) is much more important than 60 fps. It has a major impact on reading detail. You need high sensitivity and short exposure time and 60 fps has no effect on that

 

[JardaB]

It should switch to 30fps HDR (still 60 exposures per second) when HDR is in use, however you might need a firmware update, I'll let someone who knows properly give details.


Is your Dashcam Viewer up to date?


I think you mean station mode, which lets the camera connect to a wifi router (hotspot) instead of your phone connecting to the camera hotspot.


If your rear window is sloping around 45° rather than nearly vertical then the CPL will help a lot.


For recording accidents, 60fps really is not very useful, unless maybe you are on a racetrack. It makes nice smooth videos, nice to watch, but that is about it.


I don't want to say you made the wrong choice, but for other people making the same decision, it is not quite as simple as you explain...

While you might not be able to see the advantage of 4K on a 32" screen, you can zoom in and see the benefit of 4K even on a phone screen!

With the size of number plate we have in the UK, 2K resolution is enough to record the plate of almost anyone who hits you, FHD was normally enough, but the higher resolutions have three significant advantages:

1. The higher the resolution, the wider the field of view used, so things that hit the side of your front wing may not be seen at FHD because they are off the side of the image, while they can be clearly seen in 4K.
2. 4K can see around 30% further, and at further distances, things move across the image slower, so there is less motion blur. On A-roads where you have people approaching at 120mph closing speed, this can make the difference between a plate at maximum reading distance being sharp and clearly readable on a 4K camera while completely motion blurred and unreadable on an FHD camera. 2K falls in the middle, so for people who do a lot of driving on smaller/country roads, I do recommend the 4K option. Most cars that hit you will be going much slower so not a problem at lower resolution, but the car cutting a corner that causes you to swerve into the ditch and damage your own car while he speeds away...
3. If you want to send a recording of bad driving to the police, your eyes can see further than 2K dashcams, while 4K sees roughly as much as you do, and the important details that would get them some points on their license are often either what happens in the distance, or the details of them holding a phone to their ear. 4K seems to work much better in both situations. Most people don't buy dashcams for this reason, but if you want to prevent accidents, getting the bad drivers off the roads, or changing their behaviour due to points/warnings/compulsory driving courses, is probably the most effective use of a dashcam. You doing it may save someone else rather than you, but that works both ways. The UK police do deal with the videos sent in to them.

The resolution of the sensor is not related to the width of the field of view. The field of view is determined by the optics. On the contrary - an unnecessarily wide field of view (e.g. above 140 degrees) degrades the resolution of details - more image information must be delivered to the same sensor area.

Motion blur is only related to exposure time. Nothing else

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Initial Thoughts

Bit of background, i am coming from a Thinkware F750, modified to a F770 and have loved it, its done its job since its initial release a decade or so ago, got me out of a couple of insurance jobs and more than paid for itsself after a year. But it decided its had enough and failed last week so did some research and and weighed up costs and thought, to hell with it. i spent £300 last time im sure i can do better this time.

A229 plus Rational

Choose this over the pro for two reasons, firstly, its quite a bit cheaper and secondly, 60fps in high lighting conditions should be more benificial then 30 which was the only real problem i had with the thinkware, its 30fps at 1080p was just not quite good enough, very close and mostly ok but not quite, so i figured if we can get get a good boost in resolution, bit rate and FPS, we should have more than enough detail to see whats going on. I figured that 4K is probably excessive and your paying a premium for something thats probably not really needed. 4k has its place, for example of a 65In TV its hands down better at a sensible distance over 1080p but on a 32in screen, at a sensible distance there is no benifit at all, i suspect the ability for the sensor to get that much data from a lens behind a dirty bit of glass thats at an angle to the Sun is going to cause far more issues during the day. But i conceed night time might be different story, thankfully thats not really a problem here.

Initial Conclusion

Really impressed with the quality of what arrived, box to accessories, was all very impressive for something that cost less than half what i paid for a F750, install was straight forward, bit disapointed to see aluminium wires but i get thats probably how its so cheap. Hardwire Kit went in without any bother, nice and simple. Setup of device seems to have an overwhelming level of settings which is good for me but i wonder if for less tech savy users much of this should be hidden behind a advanced menu setting or something.
In terms of quality im seriously impressed, i thought my F770 was good but this is almost as good as some of my Home CCTV. very clear, very smooth, MASSIVE file sizes but thats what you get with max bit rate, high FPS and higher resolution! Im sure teh 4K might well have been evern better but the question is really, does it need to be, the higher you push that bar the more extreme the edge case is for its requirement, i guess there is an argument to be said for having it and not needing it rather then needing it and not having it but we did just fine 10 years ago the police etc had no better then what we have now so im pretty comfortable that there is unlikely to be a situation we would need it and at well over £200, im just not feeling it for the pro. Maybe i will regret that, maybe not, time will tell.

I have a couple of questions that i want to answer and will do eventually but would welcome thoughts.

Does Auto HDR mode switch from 60FPS to HDR during the time specified or is it completely disabled if 60FPS is choosen.
Dashcam Viewer doesnt seem to recognise the embedded GPS and meta data, need to figure that out.
Theres a another wifi setting on the device that doesnt appear to do anything, cant think of the name off my head but you can specify and SSID and password but its NOT the hotspot you connect to. need to figure that out, would like to be able to link it to my IOT network in the home but i suspect thats not possible.

Rear camera is a bit iffy with reflection, will purchase the filter and see if that helps.

All in all, really happy with it

With the 1.3 firmware version, the camera can switch back to 60fps when the HDR is off. We will release it soo.
About the issue when using Dashcam Viewer, you may refer to this post or ask their support directly here: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/dashcam-viewer-for-mac-and-windows.4357/page-60#post-619749
For the wifi setting, we guess that you mean wifi station mode. For more details, you can check this blog: https://viofo.com/blog/how-to-switch-a139-dash-camera-to-wi-fi-station-mode-with-app-b76.html