Very nice congratulations with your new Vehicle.
Parking guard / mode is the camera recording or being able to record while the car is off and parked, so if you do not use that right now but just want to record while you drive, then you can easy set everything related to parking guard / whatever to off, though i do think when you have set the overall parking guard ( i think that is what they call parking mode, see if there is a OFF option under that menu item ) to off, what else related to that should not matter what it is set to as the camera never get to that is its OFF
No parking duration is just if you use parking guard, this way time on the timer turn the camera OFF VS letting it be active as long as it can on the battery / cut off value on the hard wire kit. so leave that if you do not use parking guard right now.
I use it CUZ there is no reason to have parking guard on when i am parked at home where i have CCTV, also at home where i park, pitch black almost at night in the back yard, so a dashcam would not see much in the little light VS my CCTV camera on my 2 floor balcony door, it see everything clear as day.
I dont know how you plan to review footage, i have always put the memory card in my card reader on the PC, you can of course also use a phone and the WIFI with the viofo APP ( at least i think this model also have wifi ) it just seem so slow and troublesome to me personally + i hate to touch or just look at my phone
Anyway looking at footage you can always see what is going on, if there is a lot of clips in the event folder, this could mean a few things.
1: the G-sensor is on while you drive, or at a too sensitive setting, or your streets are in a very poor condition CUZ even on LOW a pothole will trigger a event, anyway these will of course be clips where you are driving.
2: you are using parking guard / mode, and in some way a lot of events are created automatic , this could be by the G-sensor / shock sensor or as i mentioned above using t he motion detect parking guard mode, if this is events while parked, well your car will be sitting still in all those events.
When i use a new camera i use the default settings, or that is if it is not default i make a few changes.
Segment size / duration i like to be 3 minutes, you can most often choose between 1-2-3-5-10 and 15 minutes here.
The image quality also some times just called bitrate must be Maximum, only the best is good enough for me.
Then i set my time Zone to get the correct time on the camera, right now that is the actual +1 hour in Denmark, but in the summer i have to change this to +2 hours as dashcams unlike our computers and telephones dashcams can not handle automatic change between summer and winter time.
Then i make sure GPS is on and display speed & time/date in the footage.
Then i make sure G- sensor / shock sensor are off ( if possible ) or set to low for when driving ( some cameras only have 1 setting for this also some times OFF is not a option, that then go for both when driving and when parked if you use parking guard / mode )
Now i have not really tested many of the new HDR enabled cameras, if that is there i would like it to be only on at night as explained above, hopefully there is a timer that can automate this CUZ i will not do it manually.
HDR use in daytime have some unfortunate side effects, it is not like it turn the video image into garbage, but this i understand can have a negative effect on very little things like licence plates captured,,,, or not by the system.
I think that is just about it for my settings in the very basic use mode not using parking guard / parking mode, so all other settings i just leave as they are.
So as you go along, keep a eye on your Event folder on the memory card, there should be as little as possible files in there, even if there is room for a lot, if that file is huge it just take memory space that could be used for your regular driving around.
Also when your memory card is full, have a look in the normal folder where your regular driving along video are, then you can see for how many days / weeks you have room for, just so you know and will not stress out if you 2-3 days later remember " O i need to save that things i saw 3 days ago " it should still be there and easy to find using the time/date names of the saved videos.
If you have a serious event in your car, well it dont matter if it is not locked in the event folder on the memory card, even if you are unconscious in your car, the first thing first time responders should do is turn off your car, which will of course prevent your system from recording any more.
If you have had a smaller fender bender, and the other part is not behaving like a civilized, well i would turn the key so the motor stop in your car, but not all the way, this way the camera should still be recording, and if you can leave a door or window open, it might also record any sound, for the same reason if you can only talk to the other part while close to your car.
Of course you can also whip out your phone and record with that, but ´that tend to provoke some people, so best if all remain as calm as possible.
Also i would not mention you have a camera to the other part, his insurance or a court will learn that when that time come, and what any attending police officer might think what have happened, well it is guess work VS your video of what actually happened.
In Denmark police generally only attend if they need to come and direct traffic around your cars or there have been bodily damage and ambulances are also there.
Otherwise with a small fender bender you are supposed to get your car out of the way on your own, so traffic can proceed.
Do play around with your new system, it can not be damaged by any silly setting, and there is a reset to default settings option in the bottom of the menu.
And remember in here there is no stupid questions, there are many questions asked before, but we can handle that too.
