Rear camera video rotation issue

[markus]

Am I correct in saying that there isn't a specific way to orientate the rear camera? For example, if standing at the back of the car, looking into it, cable comes in to the cam from the left, and the "foot" of the cam is therefore on the left too.

The reason I am asking is that for some reason the video from the cam is upside down, the text overlay is at the bottom still. I've tried changing the rotation option in the settings, both via the front cam settings menu, and also from the VIOFO app (iOS) and it seems to change it, but when I power off the cam and power it back on, the rear is back to being upside down.

I've done a reset on the cam, issue seems to persist. I'm on firmware front: V1.0_231123 and rear V1.0_231116

Anyone else seeing this, or any ideas what I'm doing incorrectly? I can safely downgrade the firmware to the prior version(s) that I have, correct?

 

[forcefed]

I noticed this too, i rotate the rear cam in the settings and it works but then it changes back. So i just physically rotated the camera so i don't have to worry with this bug.

 

[markus]

When you say you rotated it, do you mean turning the barrel of the camera, or rotating the cam as in changing the mounting point ie; the “foot” rotating from being on the left to the right.

I will try the barrel rotate tomorrow anyway. If I have to re-mount the cam it’s not a massive problem

However this does sound like a probable bug so I think I will report it

 

[forcefed]

Yes the mounting point i flipped around.

 

[markus]

Yes the mounting point i flipped around.

Ok thanks

 

[Nigel]

I noticed this too, i rotate the rear cam in the settings and it works but then it changes back. So i just physically rotated the camera so i don't have to worry with this bug.

Has anybody notified @VIOFO-Support about the bug?

 

[markus]

Has anybody notified @VIOFO-Support about the bug?

I'm shall be doing so in a moment. I pulled footage from before upgrading to the latest firmware (mentioned above) and rear cam didn't seem to do this,
I was trying to downgrade firmware, but seem unable to do so.

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Am I correct in saying that there isn't a specific way to orientate the rear camera? For example, if standing at the back of the car, looking into it, cable comes in to the cam from the left, and the "foot" of the cam is therefore on the left too.

The reason I am asking is that for some reason the video from the cam is upside down, the text overlay is at the bottom still. I've tried changing the rotation option in the settings, both via the front cam settings menu, and also from the VIOFO app (iOS) and it seems to change it, but when I power off the cam and power it back on, the rear is back to being upside down.

I've done a reset on the cam, issue seems to persist. I'm on firmware front: V1.0_231123 and rear V1.0_231116

Anyone else seeing this, or any ideas what I'm doing incorrectly? I can safely downgrade the firmware to the prior version(s) that I have, correct?

It seems that you have installed the rear camera in the opposite orientation according to this description:

If you stand at the back of the car and look into it, the cable should come into the camera from the right. If you sit in the car, then the cable should come from the left as the follow picture shows:

About the issue to keep the rotate setting with new firmware(V1.0-1123). We will reproduce the issue and find a solution soon. Thank you so much for your reminder!

 

[markus]

Thank you for the response. Very much appreciated. So to confirm there IS a specific orientation, as you mention above, that the rear dashcam should be installed?
I have it the opposite of that, ie standing at back of the car, cable comes in from the left, and sitting in the car the cable comes from the right. I would assume that is one reason for the rotate setting, which as said seems not to be retained.
Please let me know if you are able to reproduce the issue, and if there is a test firmware to check the issue is addressed I would be more than happy to try it and let you know the results.

 

[markus]

I downgraded the firmware on the front camera to V1.0_230928 and the rear camera to V1.0_23092 and enabled the "Rear Image Rotate" and "Rear Image Mirror" options and, turned the camera off, then back on, and the image for the rear camera was preserved as expected, so I think there might be an issue with the newer firmware and it using the options that have set for "Rear Image Rotate" and "Rear Image Mirror"

Edited to add here as well:
I was able to downgrade by following @Karagandinez's advice of formatting a card as FAT32. I didn't have anything smaller than 64GB, so I used that and was able to successfully downgrade the firmware.

 

[Nigel]

So to confirm there IS a specific orientation,

I think it is designed for use either way around, depending on which side it is better to have the cable in your vehicle.
The reason it has rotation settings is so that you can use it the other way around, there is no other good reason to be able to rotate the image!
I'm sure they will fix it, the bug may be causing other issues if it is saving the wrong things, or saving them in the wrong place!

 

[markus]

I think it is designed for use either way around, depending on which side it is better to have the cable in your vehicle.
The reason it has rotation settings is so that you can use it the other way around, there is no other good reason to be able to rotate the image!
I'm sure they will fix it, the bug may be causing other issues if it is saving the wrong things, or saving them in the wrong place!

Yeah, that's my thought too, and why I was a bit miffed because I was pretty certain it had been working as expected on the original firmware with the rotation and mirror options enabled.
Anyway, back on original fw and will wait and see when there is a fix, and I'm a patient chap as I know what it's like to develop and test things, specifically testing as that's what I do, so I can sympathize when a bug gets out into the wild.

 

[Karagandinez]

I downgraded the firmware on the front camera to V1.0_230928 and the rear camera to V1.0_23092

You forgot to share how you managed to downgrade the firmware.
Before this, you complained that the firmware could not be downgraded.

 

[markus]

You forgot to share how you managed to downgrade the firmware.
Before this, you complained that the firmware could not be downgraded.

Whoops! Sorry about that! (I edited my post to clarify what I did too) I followed your advice by formatting a card as FAT32. I didn't have anything smaller than 64GB, so I used that and was able to successfully downgrade the firmware. Thanks for the advice on how to get it to work.

It's probably not this, but I did wonder if it would not downgrade as the partitioning scheme on the had been changed to exFAT after being formatted post upgrade to the new firmware, so putting the old firmware on the card did not allow it to downgrade?

 

[Nigel]

It's probably not this, but I did wonder if it would not downgrade as the partitioning scheme on the had been changed to exFAT after being formatted post upgrade to the new firmware, so putting the old firmware on the card did not allow it to downgrade?

Most of the dashcams do require FAT32 format for firmware installation, and I think Viofo recently confirmed that the A229 Pro/Plus do too.
Nearly all of them appear to work fine with exFAT other than for firmware installation, but Viofo are still recommending use of FAT32 for recording.

 

[markus]

I thought the latest firmware would use exFAT when you formatted the card using the option on the cam after upgrading, or am I wrong on that point (I'm not trying to be argumentative, just asking )

 

[Nigel]

I thought the latest firmware would use exFAT when you formatted the card using the option on the cam after upgrading, or am I wrong on that point (I'm not trying to be argumentative, just asking )

Good point:

The A229 Pro new version support exFat file format. Please notice if you upgrade the firmware, it still requires to use the FAT32.
If you want to connect the dashcam with the iPhone 15 series, it requires to use the exFat file format.

when you format it within the camera it now defaults to exFAT instead of FAT32

So, A229 Pro does convert the card to exFAT if you format it in the camera, but it can use either.

but Viofo are still recommending use of FAT32 for recording.

Not sure which they recommend for the A229 Pro now, but I think my statement is probably still correct for all the other cameras, and may be for the A229 Pro too?!

I would expect the exFAT to be a little better for large cards, but there doesn't seem to be good testing evidence either way, so I don't worry about it, my cards are probably mainly exFAT format and have been for years without problems.

 

[VIOFO-Support]

Good point:



So, A229 Pro does convert the card to exFAT if you format it in the camera, but it can use either.


Not sure which they recommend for the A229 Pro now, but I think my statement is probably still correct for all the other cameras, and may be for the A229 Pro too?!

I would expect the exFAT to be a little better for large cards, but there doesn't seem to be good testing evidence either way, so I don't worry about it, my cards are probably mainly exFAT format and have been for years without problems.

This has been answered in this post already: https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a229-pro-plus-new-firmware.50126/

 

[SeanK_]

Mine is doing it too after the camera is off then turned back on with this latest version. It even shows the option to rotate image is enable, but it’s upside down still.

 

[JardaB]

In my opinion, if I'm not mistaken, the problem is caused by the placement of the rear camera cable in the internal camera slot. The other factor is to set the camera image rotation correctly in the settings