The NEW Viofo A129+ Duo - unboxing and specifications

Mtz

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I just received a sample of Viofo A129 Plus Duo and I made a first video which is offering some informations about it:


I will add later more informations about chipsets or maybe @viofo will want to tell us more.
I don't know if my sample have final version of lens so I will wait before making some comparisons with V3 or Pro.

I hope that people which will watch the video to not understand that rear camera is recording and storing the video on its own card and front camera is recording and storing its video on another card. Both videos are stored on the card which is inserted into the main front unit.

enjoy,
Mtz

PS: excuse my english, I am not a vlogger or influencer, just a beta tester. ;)
 
Thanks for the video, and your English is perfectly understandable.
 
The dual camera thing sounds logical. You get the advantages of two cameras, but still have control over both from the driver's seat, including access to cards.
 
Does your A129 Plus' rear cam also writes "A129S rear" underneath the mount? A129 Plus aka A129S?
20200807_160144.jpg
 
(SEE POST BELOW)

Phil
 
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Rear camera is working totally different and also the rear cable is different compared to A129 and A129 Pro. You can not use the rear camera or rear cable from A129 to A129+.
The encoding of rear camera image is done on its own chipset from the rear camera PCB but the rear video will be stored on the SD Card from main camera.
Does your A129 Plus' rear cam also writes "A129S rear" underneath the mount? A129 Plus aka A129S?
Also on my camera is printed A129S, maybe this is only on samples or maybe they were thinking first time to call it A129S and then decided to call A129+. I didn't w ant to show the A129S text on my review to not confuse even more the people. The camera name will be A129+ not A129S.

1. I prefer to write A129+ because search results are better compared to A129 Plus. Just try on Google and see how wrong are now the searches about A129 Plus.
2. Do not show in your review the 4K resolution and 512GB because will be not available in retail version. Officially max 256GB and max 2K 60FPS.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
Rear camera is working totally different and also the rear cable is different compared to A129 and A129 Pro. You can not use the rear camera or rear cable from A129 to A129+.
The encoding of rear camera image is done on its own chipset from the rear camera PCB but the rear video will be stored on the SD Card from main camera.

Also on my camera is printed A129S, maybe this is only on samples or maybe they were thinking first time to call it A129S and then decided to call A129+. I didn't w ant to show the A129S text on my review to not confuse even more the people. The camera name will be A129+ not A129S.

1. I prefer to write A129+ because search results are better compared to A129 Plus. Just try on Google and see how wrong are now the searches about A129 Plus.
2. Do not show in your review the 4K resolution and 512GB because will be not available in retail version. Officially max 256GB and max 2K 60FPS.

enjoy,
Mtz

Hopefully, all these will be changed in the final version firmware coming at the end of the month.
WhatsApp Image 2020-08-08 at 3.04.26 PM.jpeg

Quick question - Does your A129 Plus' rear cam shows the date, time, and GPS info? Mine doesn't.
WhatsApp Image 2020-08-11 at 9.09.31 PM.jpeg

My A129 Plus is using firmware v1.0 build 20200729.
 
Your camera is like mine so the results are the same. I hope will be at least the hour and date on the rear camera image.

enjoy,
Mtz
 
New firmware for A129 Plus. Have to update the firmware for the front cam and rear cam separately.

20200813_171154.jpg
 
How did you do it? 2 cards?

Instructions from Viofo
1. Update the front camera using FWA129S.bin, upgrade like A129 Duo.
2. Update rear camera:
a)copy the RearcamA129FW.bin and RearcamA129FW.update to the sd card
b)power on the camera and connect the rear camera.
c)stop recording and press the WIFI button, the screen will show "Send FW to TX...";wait for 1 minitue, you will see "Tx Start Update FW...", wait until this popup disapper.
d) check the firmware version in the menu, make sure the rear and front cam version is up to date.

But I used 2 micro SD cards so I don't have to take out the card after updating the front cam to copy the rear cam firmware. Updated both cams in about 10 minutes.

The new firmware fixed the rear cam no date & time.
 
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What's the msrp on this, compared to the 129 and 129pro?
 
Front cam changelog:

date: 2020-08-07
ver :A129S.V1.00
/************************************************* ************************************
1. After Live Video Source sets the display source, it will be restored after restarting, and the settings cannot be saved. Can it be changed to display dual channels at boot, and then display the corresponding screen according to customer settings
2. WiFi is turned on, WIFI should not be turned on automatically after the machine restarts.
3. Solve the problem of 2K 60FPS, APP code stream comparison card
4. When connected to a third-party car charger, there is serious background noise
5. Optimize the speed from parking monitoring mode to normal recording mode.
6. Solve the problem of incomplete watermark after pulling the date.
7. Increase the Bluetooth pairing function.
/************************************************* ************************************
date: 2020-07-31
ver :A129S.V1.00
/************************************************* ************************************
1. Increase the pre-recording function.
2. APP version information adds the back version number.
3. The resolution of single and double channels is the same, avoiding the problem that the resolution needs to be synchronized after insertion.
4. Pre-recorded files are stored in the Movie directory.
5. Added notification interface for notifying APP to insert and unplug the back road.


Rear cam changelog:

date: 2020-08-07
ver: Rear.V1.0
/************************************************* ************************************
1. In the parking monitoring, enter the menu and switch the processing of parking monitoring mode.
/************************************************* ************************************
date: 2020-07-31
ver: Rear.V1.0
/************************************************* ************************************
1. After the bit rate is changed, save the parameters immediately.
2. Increase the mechanism of switching mode on the back road.
 
The Rear camera with IMX307 sensor is HDR enabled by default, please check how it performs.

Front and rear camera videos are saved in the same card, just need to update the rear cam separately.
But not like A129 Duo, if the rear camera connected while the front camera recording, the front camera can keep recording.
 
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A129 Plus bitrate settings

H.264 Low bit rate
Front cam: 2560x1440 60fps – Overall bit rate: 19.1 Mb/s. 136MB per 1min file.
Rear cam: 1920×1080 30fps – Overall bit rate: 17.0 Mb/s. 121MB per 1min file.

H.264 Medium bit rate
Front cam: 2560x1440 60fps – Overall bit rate: 25.3 Mb/s. 181MB per 1min file.
Rear cam: 1920×1080 30fps – Overall bit rate: 19.0 Mb/s. 136MB per 1min file.

H.264 High bitrate
Front cam: 2560x1440 60fps – Overall bit rate: 27.4 Mb/s. 196MB per 1min file.
Rear cam: 1920×1080 30fps – Overall bit rate: 23.2 Mb/s. 166MB per 1min file.


H.265 Low bit rate
Front cam: 2560x1440 60fps – Overall bit rate: 14.9 Mb/s. 106MB per 1min file.
Rear cam recorded in H.264: 1920×1080 30fps – Overall bit rate: 17.0 Mb/s. 121MB per 1min file.

H.265 Medium bit rate
Front cam: 2560x1440 60fps – Overall bit rate: 21.1 Mb/s. 151MB per 1min file.
Rear cam recorded in H.264: 1920×1080 30fps – Overall bit rate: 19.0 Mb/s. 136MB per 1min file.

H.265 High bitrate
Front cam: 2560x1440 60fps – Overall bit rate: 25.3 Mb/s. 181MB per 1min file.
Rear cam recorded in H.264: 1920×1080 30fps – Overall bit rate: 23.2 Mb/s. 166MB per 1min file.
 
It doesn't look like H.265 gives you much advantage at the highest bitrates, but it does at lower bitrates. I never really looked at the exact numbers until now- thanks for posting them (y) I am still not 'sold' on H.265 yet, but it does make some difference.

Phil
 
It doesn't look like H.265 gives you much advantage at the highest bitrates, but it does at lower bitrates. I never really looked at the exact numbers until now- thanks for posting them (y) I am still not 'sold' on H.265 yet, but it does make some difference.

Phil
The high bitrates for the front are lower than they should be, especially the H264.

I guess because the processor has run out of processing power, it is the A119 V3 single channel processor, running 2 channels at high bitrate must be a challenge even if encoding the rear is done by the rear camera, it still has to be written to the memory card by the front.
 
I guess because the processor has run out of processing power, it is the A119 V3 single channel processor, running 2 channels at high bitrate must be a challenge even if encoding the rear is done by the rear camera, it still has to be written to the memory card by the front.
the processor is 3 channel capable, it's not a single channel processor
 
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