Please add cloud functionality

[Panzer Platform]

@acters if you want cloud why don't you get a BlackVue?
They've been doing cloud for years, by now they should have it perfected right?

 

[acters]

@acters if you want cloud why don't you get a BlackVue?
They've been doing cloud for years, by now they should have it perfected right?

Haha, not really but its decent. Its ridiculously expensive for the performance the SD Card causes to be limited to, especially with the fact that you are tied to their cloud storage scheme of a monthly added subscription instead of just throwing the files to a google drive, or my own NAS solution. Also, Blackvue just announced the Starvis 2 sensor upgraded versions recently, and that is the major reason I got the Viofo A139 Pro. I hoped the station mode stuff from Viofo would work enough for me to setup a LTE connection to my home base for custom scripts and secure tunneling to manage the data. However, the SD Card's Half-duplex limitation is just not able to provide reasonable performance to read and write the recordings at the same time. Blackvue has similar limitations in access performance in their products because of the SD Card being half-duplex limited. Which is why it needs both a proper storage upgrade to UFS, which has Full Duplex capabilities. I just need a simple LTE module that I can just tunnel into with a secure connection. I don't want the data to be open to the entire internet.

At the end of the day, a proper in-built solution will be miles cheaper than what I need to buy alongside the Viofo. Compared to the Blackvue implementation, I would need to spend more money upfront that will take 10 years to pay back in "savings" with a custom setup for Viofo vs the Blackvue.

 

[Panzer Platform]

not really but its decent.

Thank you for the explanation.
I’m not fully versed in the Wi-Fi station mode of the A139 Pro.
From my limited understanding it was designed to offload recorded footage at the end of the day when the user returns home.
Not transmit anything live in real time.
Is that a fair description of operation?

By your requirements it almost sounds like you would be better off with a residential / home security system adapted for mobile use.
https://www.youtube.com/@LifeHackster has several videos adapting home security cameras for car / mobile applications.

Asking / waiting Viofo to adopt cloud might be like beating / waiting a dead horse.

 

[acters]

Thank you for the explanation.
I’m not fully versed in the Wi-Fi station mode of the A139 Pro.
From my limited understanding it was designed to offload recorded footage at the end of the day when the user returns home.
Not transmit anything live in real time.
Is that a fair description of operation?

By your requirements it almost sounds like you would be better off with a residential / home security system adapted for mobile use.
https://www.youtube.com/@LifeHackster has several videos adapting home security cameras for car / mobile applications.

Asking / waiting Viofo to adopt cloud might be like beating / waiting a dead horse.

The station mode once it loses the connection with the station will have a 10 minute searching timer, then it will just stop searching. I haven't seen it retry the search after a week of having it on. So in reality, I need to have it constantly connected to be functional. This limits my ability to conserve power or setup the offload station outside the vehicle in a place that acts like a home station the camera system will connect to.
A big problem with this is the security issue of someone pretending to be the station with the same SSID name and password. However, this is unlikely and needs you to be close to the vehicle. Also, the camera limited search time for station mode when disconnected will stop this.
Thus with this limitation, the station has to always be connected to the camera, and that means the station has to be installed in the vehicle and powered on.

Interesting link to the mobile security system, even though the dashcam is marketed as a mobile security device...

I imagine viofo is just not smart enough and don't feel the pressure to be a more competitive player in the dashcam market. Maybe the security system market will offer me the desired results as that market is more competitive and reliable.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I imagine viofo is just not smart enough and don't feel the pressure to be a more competitive player in the dashcam market.

I disagree.
When you visit a general practice doctor, and he refers you to a specialist it’s not for lack of intelligence.
A specialist is an expert in one specific field of study.
In this case Viofo is an image quality specialist, and you’re requesting a different scope of work.

 

[acters]

I disagree.
When you visit a general practice doctor, and he refers you to a specialist it’s not for lack of intelligence.
A specialist is an expert in one specific field of study.
In this case Viofo is an image quality specialist, and you’re requesting a different scope of work.

Huh, then viofo needs to make a dashcam department to make the dashcams instead of just having the camera specialist do it all.

 

[JardaB]

Please add cloud functionality or open source the firmware so we can build our own.

If it requires the cloud, you should have taken that into account when selecting !! and not requested it "ex post".

 

[Jeffan.yy]

Its actually funny how you think this is a great idea and Viofo actually gave a like to...

Problem 1: Where are you going to power this router from? If only when the car is on/running, then how fast do you need to wait for the router to boot fully? usually a few 2-3 minutes, which I think is unacceptable. Also this would need you to reset the station mode on the Viofo camera as it stops searching for the station after 10 or so minutes which will require a reset on the station mode setting to start the search again. This means you need the camera to always be connected to the router, and brings the power issue to be a huge headache. You will need the most efficient router in the world. searching then buying it is extremely not user friendly. You will need deep technical skills in purchasing the right router with the right features AND not sip power like crazy. Also needs to be able to run on 12 volts. Your car battery can barely run the Viofo cam for more than 24 hours in parking mode.

Problem 2: You will need proficiency in multiple technologies, including writing applications on the router and client device of your choosing to make this work. Writing code that has to communicate over cellular signals is a pain, and will be rife with bugs unless you are a god programmer. Bringing back the infeasibility of this to more than 99.9999% of the entire population of people in this world AND that is a higher number of people who own one of these a139 pro cameras. Unless someone who open sources their project with extremely high quality details and low cost parts will make this more feasible but that is a big IF on someone ever doing that.

Problem 3: Extreme temperatures will kill the router/force a shutdown, that brings back the problem of needing to reset the station mode as mentioned in problem 1. In extreme heat, the camera will likely shut down, and will require you to blast AC in the vehicle to cool down the router and camera, and thus reinitiating the entire cloud system you built along with redoing the station mode. In extreme cold, there is more of a leniency but your router should be rated for outdoor usage as condensation could ultimately kill the electronics.

Problem 4: putting this router and battery required to power it in a location that is easily accessible for any problems that may occur, and not take up too much room that will reduce the amount of useful cargo space. I imagine this to be a small problem, but there are cars that are compact that offer enough space for most people and this will make it worse for them. Also, will need to route the wires/cables throughout the vehicle that can either be expensive AF or ruin an multiple weekends simply because it is likely to make a mistake with adding more complexities to the system. You are human, and some people will make mistakes that can cost them hours to multiple days depending on how much time they can spend on the project.

Problem 5: As mentioned, this is exceedingly time consuming. Your optimism on "...put a router..." and "...write your own application..." as if this can happen in a reasonable amount of time is laughable. Solving all the previously mentioned problems and implementing it will take literally months, maybe years for a fully functional cloud system that has all the features you wanted and reliably work.

I can keep going. I am displeased with comments like these that pretend that the user base are being lazy on implementing cloud features, when the best option is to quite literally not do it ourselves and just buy a product that implements cloud functions in the camera system.

You can eliminate the station mode issues if the camera had external storage solution instead of the worst "standard" known, SD Cards. It is laughable how much these companies need to push the fact that we need to use the right SD CARD. Its literally brain dead on how bad the SD Card standard is when the implementations on readers and storage cards differ enough to cause fundamental issues in dashcam functionality. Heck UFS storage would be miles better but nope, SD Card it is for the extra bucks these manufacturers make from consumers that have almost no other options than deal with SD Card limitations.

/end rant

1.Normal mode could also get the camera data, the camera static ip is 192.168.1.254

2.My car is PHEV, and I can remote start it, so I don't worry about the power

3.I'm using an industry router, can work well in high temp

4.I won't pay money for cloud function

 

[JardaB]

1.Normal mode could also get the camera data, the camera static ip is 192.168.1.254

2.My car is PHEV, and I can remote start it, so I don't worry about the power

3.I'm using an industry router, can work well in high temp

4.I won't pay money for cloud function

Do you dont pay for SIM card mobil data ??

 

[Müller]

Hello acters.

acters: "The station mode once it loses the connection with the station will have a 10 minute searching timer, then it will just stop searching."

Since August 2023, i am using a firmware which doesn´t have that default 10min.-timer. Reliable functionality, no colletral problems showing up in using this firmware/Wifi constantly ON.