Review : 4K + 4K - Vantrue S1 Pro Max

jsmith said:
So does the S1 Pro Max suffer from dupe frames... Not Noticing any Stuttering on my Video with latest firmware? Any issues on N4 Pro S? What about N4S? I hadn't gotten that far yet on video. I am checking cameras for stability and reliability per my other responses in threads.
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Vantrue has released test firmware for the S1 Pro Max and N4S.
No frame duplication was observed when shooting video on the test firmware on both models.
Waiting for the official release.
I haven't even unpacked the N4 Pro S yet...😎
 
TonyM said:
I am seeing duplicate frames on the latest public firmware. I do not have the test FW that @Karagandinez is testing, which appears to have fixed the problem.
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Hmmm.. I am watching a video from the lastest firmware (non test) on S1 Pro Max and don't notice any stuttering or dupe frames. How do you test for dupe frames?

I watched in capcut and another video editor and I'm not seeing repeat frames.

@Karagandinez can you post a video and show the dupe frame issue with screenshots, etc?
 
jsmith said:
@Karagandinez can you post a video and show the dupe frame issue with screenshots, etc?
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There is no frame duplication on test firmware.
jsmith said:
Hmmm.. I am watching a video from the lastest firmware (non test) and don't notice any stuttering. How do you test for dupe frames?

I watched in capcut and another video editor and I'm not seeing repeat frames.
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Try watching frame by frame in a video player. I use: MPC-BE x64.
 
jsmith said:
How do you test for dupe frames?
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With an earlier camera, I was noticing a non-smooth video - it seemed to jump here and there. I loaded that video into a free version of “CapCut” and then stepped through the video frame by frame. This makes a duplicate or missing frame issue really obvious, but it takes a while to manually inspect a video.
 
Karagandinez said:
Vantrue has released test firmware for the S1 Pro Max and N4S.
No frame duplication was observed when shooting video on the test firmware on both models.
Waiting for the official release.
I haven't even unpacked the N4 Pro S yet...😎
Click to expand...
I can confirm this observation.
The new test firmware does not produce duplicated frames anymore.
I only checked a few clips but so far so good.
 
Karagandinez said:
Vantrue has released test firmware for the S1 Pro Max and N4S.
No frame duplication was observed when shooting video on the test firmware on both models.
Waiting for the official release.
I haven't even unpacked the N4 Pro S yet...😎
Click to expand...

Weird. I'm doing a frame by frame of the S1 Pro Max Video and still not seeing it. Is it the front feed, rear feed, or both front and rear video feed duping frames? After how many seconds are you seeing a duped frame?

Here's a raw 5 second clip from the S1 Pro Max. I can't find any dupe frames?

https://sprend.com/download?C=db3cedc3b0d9407ca2efe3fd5139d640
 
EricSan said:
With an earlier camera, I was noticing a non-smooth video - it seemed to jump here and there. I loaded that video into a free version of “CapCut” and then stepped through the video frame by frame. This makes a duplicate or missing frame issue really obvious, but it takes a while to manually inspect a video.
Click to expand...

How do you frame by frame in Capcut? in VLC frame by frame is the "E" key.
 
Karagandinez said:
Didn't see any duplicates. There's something strange at the end of the file. Probably damage due to cropping...
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Ya strange. I can't grab any other videos right now. Happened to have that one on my phone. Sick with Covid (just feel blah nothing major) and it's in a family members vehicle. Only so much room in mine for all the cameras.

How often are you seeing duplicate frames? Every how many seconds? Or is it random?
 
Night Video - PlatePix On vs Off

For a while I have been trying to decide whether I prefer PlatePix on or off at night. So a few days ago I recorded the same route with different settings so I could compare them:

HDR + PlatePix

HDR Only

Comparison - PlatePix On vs Off

Enabling PlatePix seems to give sharper images and more accurate colours, but there is more visible noise and anything outside the headlight zone becomes very dark.

Disabling PlatePix reveals more information about the surroundings (footpath, buildings) and shows more of the cars, although there is a colour cast.

Regarding licence plate capture I found PlatePix ON was better than OFF in most examples.

100% Samples: Left (PlatePix ON) / Right (PlatePix OFF)

1753830408071.webp
1753830510179.webp


1753830609735.webp
1753830642975.webp


1753830265595.webp
1753830332569.webp


1753831214510.webp
1753831270998.webp


Summary
I think keeping PlatePix enabled at night has the best chance of capturing important details such as licence plates and accurate colours
 
@TonyM

I would suggest repeating this test on a road, and at night, with other vehicles and headlights passing by. This gives a more accurate test of how the camera fares and whether you get significant motion blur, how well you can see surroundings, and if plates are able to be captured with HDR on + PlatePix off. HDR On + PlatePix On. etc.
 
It really seems challenging to determine which settings (HDR, PlatePix, combo) to enable at different times. It seems to vary from situation to situation. I haven't really been able to reach a strong and consistent conclusion about which one is better for day vs night time.

In your first two comparison images, there seems to be more noise with PP on. In the last two comparisons, there seems to be more noise with PP off. Though, my perception of this might be driven by the higher levels of brightness with PP off in the last two comparisons.
 
Collision Detection Parking Mode - Quick Start ?

What startup times are you seeing in collision detection parking mode with quick start enabled? I did some testing this week and the time from impact to video start was 17 seconds,

@EricSan @jsmith @Julian23 @Karagandinez @Jeff_Vantrue

My setup is:
2CH 4K+4K
FW version VT-EEF243
512GB Vantrue microSD card
Connected to LTE module


- Dashcam is waiting in collision detection parking mode. The recording indicator is off.
- Dashcam wakes up instantly when I close the car door. Recording indicator is on (solid)
- After 17 seconds at 14:02:19, the screen turns on, the video timer starts and the indicator is flashing. Photo auto saved has 14:02:19 time stamp.
- The dashcam records for 30 seconds, then appears to go into standby mode (the indicator light is solid). I get an instant notification of the Event on my phone and paired smartwatch. I think the dashcam is now uploading the video to the Vantrue Cloud over the LTE module. However whilst the green light remains on, the dashcam did not respond to a further impact test a minute later.
 
I'm wondering if we are dealing with different firmware versions for the S1PM - I have to check mine again. I didn't note the firmware version when I made my table of times and power consumption. I can pull it out of my car and test the collision detection modes again, but my first iteration of testing produced wake up times that are much lower than what you are reporting here. 17s in quick start mode seems quite long. Given that the S1PM and the N4PS seem to share the same upgraded (and super sensitive) g-force impact sensor, I was expecting very similar "Wake up" times for these two units.

Here is the data from my initial tests:
S1PM Quick-Start: ~2.3s
S1PM Power Save: ~17s

N4PS Quick-Start: ~7s
N4PS Power Save: ~17s

EDIT: Jeff noted elsewhere that the wake up times can be dependent upon the size of the SD card being used and how full that card is. These measurements were made with an empty 128GB card in the S1PM and a 512GB card that is partially full in the N4PS. When I retested the S1PM, the card was mostly full and the Quick Start time changed to about 6s.
 
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17 seconds, thats a long time.
I have abandoned using power save for the moment, though more due to my LTE connection issues, also ditched the screen saver but i still have flaky LTE connections.

I have noticed when i want to LTE into the system and it do seem to happen, the data rate on the botton it will for a second spike to 2 digit speeds but then go back to like 6 Kb/s.
And it is not like i am living in a 4G black hole, i get very good indications for perfect 4G connection.

It is like the setup exchange info that is not much, then it will say connected and i get the full experience even recording dot flashing ASO, but no video feed and not much in the way of data speed / use indicated.
And somehow it is by far worst at night, but even in the daytime a LTE connection are far from given for me.

I have submitted a LOG file for the guys to have a look at.

Compared to the 70mai products, a 4G connection to this vantrue camera, on a good day / attempt, well it take at least 5 X longer time to achieve. So very slow compared.
 
EricSan said:
Here is the data from my initial tests:
S1PM Quick-Start: ~2.3s
S1PM Power Save: ~17s
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. Perhaps my dashcam is in power save mode, even though I have quick start selected.

UPDATE:
I went back out to the car and did more tests, after confirming that I had 'quick start' selected in the menu.
First test it was still 17s startup, which is the same as a full startup after the dashcam has been turned off overnight.
I toggled to power save, then back to quick start. I then did 4 more impact detection tests. All 4 of them were 12 seconds from impact to recording start.
 
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I just noticed during a LTE connection attempt, before i was thrown off there was a txt at the bottom of the screen saying " the number of cameras have changed "
I have not noticed that before.

So did a screen recorder session, first recording my 4G speeds on mt toilet and i had like 300 Mbit DL and 25 Mbit UL, but then of course 3 LTE connection attempts in a row was a success.
 
@TonyM

Can't chime in yet. I haven't begun testing the S1 Pro Max beyond cursory checks to verified it works. Focusing on the N4 Pro S reliability this second before moving on to the S1 Pro Max.
 
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