RESOLVED Issue with DashCam Viewer GPS

Ant

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RESOLVED

I went to http://www.viofo.com/home/30-a119-1080p-60fps-dash-cam.html a

Clicked on the " Support Tab "

1. Clicked on the "Download" link for the latest firmware ( A119.20160829.V1.1 ) from August 28, 2016.

2. Unzip the file using available unzip programs, e.g. WinZip or 7-Zip

3. Open the file and copy the .bin file directly onto the MicroSD card root file(use a 32GB maximum card, FAT32 format.)

4. Insert the MicroSD card into the cam and power it on via a 5V/1A power source, e.g. cigarette lighter or power bank, it will start upgrade automatically.

5. While upgrading the front REC red LED starts blinking(the light blinking slowly at the beginning, then blinking quickly), after the light stop blinking, it means upgrade is finished, the firmware will be deleted automatically after upgrade.

6. You will need to RE-configure your dashcam settings since they will be lost during the upgrade



====================

The next part is to download and install DashCam viewer from https://dashcamviewer.com/

I installed :

Current Version: v2.2.0
Release Date: September 4, 2016

You can read the Version Changelog by going to https://dashcamviewer.com/blog/ or https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25150850/history.pdf

You can also download the User Manual at https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/25150850/Dashcam Viewer Users Manual.pdf

You can see a Video Tutorial at


============

FYI -


Windows Requirements:

Windows 10 is recommended but Dashcam Viewer might still run on earlier OS’s (Windows 7 and 8). 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.

Low-end Windows PCs with poor video performance and limited screen resolution are not recommended.

FYI -


Also there are times where IF your device did not start logging the GPS early into the movie, it might not display in the Dashcam Viewer software.

This might also happen if you are playing multiple movies sequentially.

FYI -


Interestingly, even though my A119 had the current firmware installed from the factory , I had to download and install the exact same version to get it to work with the DashCam viewer software.


=============

If you want to UN-install the Dashcam Viewer software...


Windows:


    • Right-click on the Dashcam Viewer icon on the Desktop
    • Select "Open file location" from the menu.
    • In the Dashcam Viewer folder, select and run "unins000.exe"
    • Dashcam Viewer will be removed from your system.

Mac OS X:


    • Open your Applications folder.
    • Select the Dashcam Viewer application and drag it to the trash
    • Dashcam Viewer is now removed from your system
================

Let me know if this helped.


Feel free to "like" this post .


 
I tried the above and was not successful. The A119 I purchased also had the current firmware but I reflashed as per above. I am using the trial version of Dashcam Viewer waiting to see if it works before paying for to unlock it. When I load a single movie file (mp4 - 2560x1440 @30fps). I can see that Dashcam Viewer (DCV) recognizes the file as the Map populates my route, the Dashboard shows my heading, the Graphs are also populated. However when I click on the movie to play it I only get a black screen and the movie does not play. If I use the scrubber bars I can move through the 3 minute movie file, the Map routing and Graphs are all synced to the movie file but the movie window is black screen only, no picture. The movie file plays back fine in Windows 10 default player. I read elsewhere a post by the author of DCV saying that the A119 current firmware has a known bug that is causing DCM not to play nice with A119 movie files.

#Ant - What resolution are you recording your files in on your A119?
 
My recordings are 2560 x 1440 @30fps

As for the black screen, my best guess is that this is either a PC Hardware or a Windows version issue.

My videos play great with Dashcam Viewer on my laptop which has Windows 10 installled.

BUT....

I get the exact same issue that you are having on my Desktop PC which is running Windows 7

=============

Also keep in mind that on www.dashcamviewer.com it says,


" Windows Requirements:

Windows 10 is recommended but Dashcam Viewer might still run on earlier OS’s (Windows 7 and 8). 32-bit and 64-bit versions are available.

Low-end Windows PCs with poor video performance and limited screen resolution are not recommended. "

=============

So it very well could be a RAM or video card issue .

Hope this helps some .
 
@Ant - Thanks for the reply! You and I are both recording at the same resolution. I am running a Windows 10 system, with 16GB or RAM an NVidia GeForce GTX460. As per the FAQ on Dashcam Viewers' (DCV) website: I tried running it on the Main Monitor, still black screen. I have confirmed the video card exceeds the OpenGL spec of 2.1 as the GTX460 is OpenGL 4.1 spec. I am downloading the most current drivers for the GTX460 now. If that doesn't work I will try downloading the K-Lite Codec pack as recommended on DCV FAQ page and report back.
 
@Ant - Thanks for the reply! You and I are both recording at the same resolution. I am running a Windows 10 system, with 16GB or RAM an NVidia GeForce GTX460. As per the FAQ on Dashcam Viewers' (DCV) website: I tried running it on the Main Monitor, still black screen. I have confirmed the video card exceeds the OpenGL spec of 2.1 as the GTX460 is OpenGL 4.1 spec. I am downloading the most current drivers for the GTX460 now. If that doesn't work I will try downloading the K-Lite Codec pack as recommended on DCV FAQ page and report back.

Updated video card drivers and installed K-Lite Codec. No change, still black screen in Dashcam Viewer (DCV). Tomorrow I will try a lower resolution and see if that fixes it. The files play back normally in the default Windows 10 media player but not in DCV?
 
@Ant - Thanks for the reply! You and I are both recording at the same resolution. I am running a Windows 10 system, with 16GB or RAM an NVidia GeForce GTX460. As per the FAQ on Dashcam Viewers' (DCV) website: I tried running it on the Main Monitor, still black screen. I have confirmed the video card exceeds the OpenGL spec of 2.1 as the GTX460 is OpenGL 4.1 spec. I am downloading the most current drivers for the GTX460 now. If that doesn't work I will try downloading the K-Lite Codec pack as recommended on DCV FAQ page and report back.

Update: First I tried changing the video card settings from multiple displays to single display. No difference. Then I decreased the resolution from 2560 x 1440 @30fps to the lowest resolution offered on the A119 (1280 x 720 x 30 fps) and now Dashcam Viewer plays the movie files correctly and the map and graphs are updating in real time. So it would appear it is a hardware issue with my video card. Now as I type this I am thinking that perhaps it is because the movie being recorded is higher resolution than my monitor is set to? The highest my nvidia GTX460 supports is 1900 x 1080. But that still leaves the question ... If my assumption is correct then why do the high resolution movies (2560 x 1440 @ 30 fps) play ok in the Windows 10 default movie viewer and not in Dashcam Viewer?
 
Mac OS X:

    • Open your Applications folder.
    • Select the Dashcam Viewer application and drag it to the trash
    • Dashcam Viewer is now removed from your system

Not a good method to remove/uninstall applications, leaves a lot of junk files. Use an app cleaner/remover.
 
why do the high resolution movies (2560 x 1440 @ 30 fps) play ok in the Windows 10 default movie viewer and not in Dashcam Viewer?

think this was mentioned as a limitation in Dashcam Viewer previously, @traveler would be able to confirm and give you the reason why
 
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... If my assumption is correct then why do the high resolution movies (2560 x 1440 @ 30 fps) play ok in the Windows 10 default movie viewer and not in Dashcam Viewer?
it's not a hardware. it's not the camera, it's not your video adapter, it's not your monitor. it's the .mp4 player (Dashcam Viewer in your case) and the audio/video codecs/renderer/splitter it's using. most likely. i almost returned one of my two cameras because of those codecs. somehow sometimes those codecs get corrupted and you get all kind of problems with the video viewing. :)
 
it's not a hardware. it's not the camera, it's not your video adapter, it's not your monitor. it's the .mp4 player (Dashcam Viewer in your case) and the audio/video codecs/renderer/splitter it's using. most likely. i almost returned one of my two cameras because of those codecs. somehow sometimes those codecs get corrupted and you get all kind of problems with the video viewing. :)
I can back you up on this one. Have no issues at all playing 2K and 4K footage on my laptop and when in Dashcam Viewer whenever I zoom in it goes to a black screen until I press pause then play again. Very much an implementation of codecs issue. This can be fixed, just whether they have the technical expertise or if someone can assist them, that's all...
 
[QUOTE="... Very much an implementation of codecs issue. This can be fixed, just whether they have the technical expertise or if someone can assist them, that's all...[/QUOTE]

Thanks @borik and @Agie for your replies. I set the A119 to a resolution that matched my monitor. 1920 x 1080 @ 30fps and that resolution also plays back fine. I have purchased a license for Dashcam Viewer as it is working at the lower resolution. So not being a expert a video codecs I suspect that when I playback mp4 files in the Windows 10 default media player it downscales them 1920 x 1080. If that suspicion is correct then I also suspect that Dashcam Viewer is unable to downscale the higher resolution files? I installed the K-Lite codec's as suggested on the Dashcam Viewer website FAQ but that didn't resolve the issue. Perhaps the K-Lite Codec pack didn't install correctly if that was supposed to fix this issue where Dashcam Viewer won't playback any files higher that the resolution of my monitor?
 
when I playback mp4 files in the Windows 10 default media player it downscales them 1920 x 1080.
I have 24" 16x9 monitor with a resolution 1920x1200, and the full size 2560x1440 picture doesn't fit the screen, so I resize it in half or any other size I like. All I want is to make sure I have the video (and sound). In a case of an accident your video will (might) be reviewed by the professionals and on a big monitor. Just have one when you need it. :) For the player: I still use Windows XP, and the only player that plays all A119 resolutions on my WinXP is "Datakam Player / Registrator Viewer". The player has 3 settings for a "Playback" / "Renderer", 1st is "simple", 2nd is for WinXP, and 3rd is for other Windows, like 7, "Vista", etc. If I choose the wrong setting I may see no video. If I hear no sound in my video I check the sound codec output - should be set to "stereo". If QuickTime Player plays your video with sound, your video is good.
 
Not as simple as installed the codec packs unfortunately in this case but you did try the right thing. It is either it works or it doesn't in these instances when it comes to codecs. Unfortunately the work will have to be done by the developer of the program Dashcam Viewer on this one.
 
I just picked up an A129 and I used nvtk_mp42gpx.py to export the GPS data for several contiguous videos and then merged the video with ffmpeg. I named the .gpx file and the merged mp4 file with the same name. When I open this video in Dashcam Viewer I see the GPS position on the map but I don't get speed. The speed is infact in the gpx file. Is it not possible to get speed from a loose gpx file?
 
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