V1.3 beta firmware for A229Pro/Plus

[vvs49]

Does your mod exhibit any colour shifts (particularly in the blues of the sky) which the current firmware does (for me)?

No, there’s nothing wrong with the color, or rather the exposure, we're fixing it!!

 

[ogzogz]

In the 1.3 beta version, when I tried it with a power bank or charger without using a parking kit, I think there was a problem with switching to parking mode after waiting for 5 minutes.
Has anyone tried it or encountered a similar situation?

 

[camtalkatnight]

A229 Pro user.

Thank you so much for the 3840x1600 option!
I have a speedometer mounted above my steering wheel on the dash, and had to aim the camera lens upwards a little too high at 3840x2160 beforehand to keep the speedometer out of sight. 3840x1600 allowed the camera to be aimed 60% ground 40% sky without showing the speedometer due to the cropping .

I was truly curious to see if the bitrate changed when set to 3840x1600. Bitrate stayed the same, which is awesome, as it means that the area that was not cropped, has more data applied to it, resulting in much better image stability and clarity. Please consider adding more resolutions that are even more vertically limited to increase the quality as the h264 codec and bitrate is not up to par with the quality of the lens .

Some ideas.
1- It would be nice if it is hardware feasible, to add higher bitrates for the cameras.

2- Label the bitrates by the ~bitrate amount? Still could keep the names like maximum next to the bitrate on that screen.

3- Resolutions that are more cropped vertically, gives more bitrate in the leftover resolution. My rear dashcam I can barely use due to Louvers on my rear window, so if there was a way to severely limit the vertical resolution, the bitrate would be, WAY more effective in retaining what the lens sees. It also means reduced heat (less processor usage). Not sure if h265/av1 encoding is too heavy on the processor/s or even feasible, but that would be great if it does have enough oomph to add it, or even more bitrate would be huge on its own. I do realise that the A229 Pro maintains bitrate with extra cameras added and that very well could be due to it being h264 perhaps, where h265 might be overwhelming as it is more intensive to encode into, especially for multiple cameras. So in short, is there any hardware feasibility to have h.265 aka HEVC/AV1, higher bitrate, or have more vertically limited resolutions to have the current maximum bitrate be more effective per pixel?

4- The beta APK on android, didn't show 3840x1600 in the app, so I had to set it from the dash cam itself. I know it is beta, just making sure it isn't missed if it hasn't been mentioned already. .

5- Let me know if I can help out in any way or test some things out, I would be more than willing to help Viofo take it to another level ;P.

6- Keep being awesome, and keep staying in touch with your user base . It is greatly appreciated.

 

[mentadent]

+1 HEVC

 

[viofo]

A229 Pro user.

Thank you so much for the 3840x1600 option!
I have a speedometer mounted above my steering wheel on the dash, and had to aim the camera lens upwards a little too high at 3840x2160 beforehand to keep the speedometer out of sight. 3840x1600 allowed the camera to be aimed 60% ground 40% sky without showing the speedometer due to the cropping .

I was truly curious to see if the bitrate changed when set to 3840x1600. Bitrate stayed the same, which is awesome, as it means that the area that was not cropped, has more data applied to it, resulting in much better image stability and clarity. Please consider adding more resolutions that are even more vertically limited to increase the quality as the h264 codec and bitrate is not up to par with the quality of the lens .

Some ideas.
1- It would be nice if it is hardware feasible, to add higher bitrates for the cameras.

2- Label the bitrates by the ~bitrate amount? Still could keep the names like maximum next to the bitrate on that screen.

3- Resolutions that are more cropped vertically, gives more bitrate in the leftover resolution. My rear dashcam I can barely use due to Louvers on my rear window, so if there was a way to severely limit the vertical resolution, the bitrate would be, WAY more effective in retaining what the lens sees. It also means reduced heat (less processor usage). Not sure if h265/av1 encoding is too heavy on the processor/s or even feasible, but that would be great if it does have enough oomph to add it, or even more bitrate would be huge on its own. I do realise that the A229 Pro maintains bitrate with extra cameras added and that very well could be due to it being h264 perhaps, where h265 might be overwhelming as it is more intensive to encode into, especially for multiple cameras. So in short, is there any hardware feasibility to have h.265 aka HEVC/AV1, higher bitrate, or have more vertically limited resolutions to have the current maximum bitrate be more effective per pixel?

4- The beta APK on android, didn't show 3840x1600 in the app, so I had to set it from the dash cam itself. I know it is beta, just making sure it isn't missed if it hasn't been mentioned already. .

5- Let me know if I can help out in any way or test some things out, I would be more than willing to help Viofo take it to another level ;P.

6- Keep being awesome, and keep staying in touch with your user base . It is greatly appreciated.

The V1.3 version will be released soon, we will also update the app to the app store.

The bitrate is hard to improve in A229 Pro series, our new model will support higher bitrate.

 

[camtalkatnight]

The V1.3 version will be released soon, we will also update the app to the app store.

The bitrate is hard to improve in A229 Pro series, our new model will support higher bitrate.

Looking forward to the official release . So then the only way to get more efficiency out of the bitrate would be to crop out whatever isn't useful in the vertical resolution before it is saved into its video container, which would mean an even wider aspect ratio than 21:9. I would reach out and see if people would be interested in that, I for sure do not need the sky for any reason whatsoever (it will however change the angle that we would run the lens at to be aimed downwards more and may affect the exposure?). Is there official word on what the new model is named or when it could release? I got my A229 Pro just a few days ago. H265 is far superior in fast movement, so hoping it would be on the new model.

 

[joshuaho96]

The V1.3 version will be released soon, we will also update the app to the app store.

The bitrate is hard to improve in A229 Pro series, our new model will support higher bitrate.

57 Mbps is already quite high, especially for 4K 30 fps where 30 Mbps is sufficient. I think adding HEVC encoding to the A229 Pro in a final firmware update would make more sense. I find it hard to believe new hardware would be required to support this.

 

[camtalkatnight]

57 Mbps is already quite high, especially for 4K 30 fps where 30 Mbps is sufficient. I think adding HEVC encoding to the A229 Pro in a final firmware update would make more sense. I find it hard to believe new hardware would be required to support this.

I have a feeling the A229 Pro didn't use h.265 to save processing power to be able to record 3 channels at a great bitrate. Prior I used my phone with an ultra wide lens, and can record somewhere around 85 Mbps in h.265. I have a feeling that h265 will not be added due to my prior guess. Is there any confirmation of a yes or no that Viofo can share on here as to whether it will get h265 encoding support, or that its hardware even can encode in it? Thank you in advance Viofo <3.

 

[Panzer Platform]

where h265 might be overwhelming as it is more intensive to encode

H265 is far superior in fast movement, so hoping it would be on the new model.

I have a feeling that h265 will not be added due to my prior guess. Is there any confirmation of a yes or no that Viofo can share on here as to whether it will get h265 encoding support,

Welcome to the club.
Viofo have tried H.265 HEVC in the past on certain models like the A139 Pro & WM1.
In short it did not work out.
I tested the effectiveness of H.265 on the A139 Pro & WM1.
It resulted in only “saving” 11% more data to the SD Card.
It also increased heat generation because the processor “works” harder.
H.265 also requires a license fee to be paid for “official” use.
That’s why they added it “in secret”.
It may be removed at any time with a firmware update.
Here is a link to my testing of the A139 Pro, (the H.265 test is somewhere in there I can’t find it right now).
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a139-pro-test-review-pp.48049/
-Chuck

 

[Panzer Platform]

@camtalkatnight

Additional Note:
The Achilles Heel of the A229 Pro is the 60 Mbps Bitrate of the Front 4K camera is cut in "half" to 36 Mbps when the IR Interior camera is connected AND recording.
The rear camera does not affect the front camera's Bitrate because it has it's own processor to "share" the work load.
This is why Viofo added the new IR Interior setting to let users choose when the IR Interior camera records, (driving vs. parking).
In parking mode all camera’s Bitrate drops to 4 Mbps.
-Chuck

 

[camtalkatnight]

Welcome to the club.
Viofo have tried H.265 HEVC in the past on curtain models like the A139 Pro & WM1.
In short it did not work out.
I tested the effectiveness of H.265 on the A139 Pro & WM1.
It resulted in only “saving” 11% more data to the SD Card.
It also increased heat generation because the processor “works” harder.
H.265 also requires a license fee to be paid for “official” use.
That’s why they added it “in secret”.
It may be removed at any time with a firmware update.
Here is a link to my testing of the A139 Pro, (the H.265 test is somewhere in there I can’t find it right now).
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a139-pro-test-review-pp.48049/
-Chuck

Yes you are very correct on so many points there, heat, saving space, licensing, etc. I would not use it to save space, but to have better motion clarity. I have used h.264 and h.265 and av1 for video editing and recording gaming, also gaming through a cloud (h.264 vs h.265 for the latter), which with easy defined pixels to the eyes, is super easy to tell differences in codecs compared to movies or real footage. There is a huge difference in h.265 and h.264 when it comes to motion at the same bitrate, not so much in stable frames unless it is at a really low bitrate comparison of both codecs at low bitrate. Great job on the hardcore testing, that is gold! h.265 helps more on the lower bitrate in comparison to h.264 at a higher bitrate, but the clarity of things in fast motion is a big difference when using h.265. h.264 will quickly become a pixelated mess of equal sized squares over the entire video . Oh I did read somewhere about what you mentioned of the bitrate being lower when the interior cam is on, and that is a super slick add in feature after the fact, that Viofo added so mad props to them on that!

Also, I did notice, after I switched to the 3840x1600, the rear cam has a new aspect ratio and resolution as well. It dropped from 2560x1440 to 2560x1080. Bitrate stayed the same. That is a big help for my use (louvers blocking most of the camera view), and the pixels that are shown are more accurate from having the bitrate used there more instead of blocked areas by the louvers. I love it. Thank you Viofo!

 

[joshuaho96]

Welcome to the club.
Viofo have tried H.265 HEVC in the past on curtain models like the A139 Pro & WM1.
In short it did not work out.
I tested the effectiveness of H.265 on the A139 Pro & WM1.
It resulted in only “saving” 11% more data to the SD Card.
It also increased heat generation because the processor “works” harder.
H.265 also requires a license fee to be paid for “official” use.
That’s why they added it “in secret”.
It may be removed at any time with a firmware update.
Here is a link to my testing of the A139 Pro, (the H.265 test is somewhere in there I can’t find it right now).
https://dashcamtalk.com/forum/threads/a139-pro-test-review-pp.48049/
-Chuck

I find it hard to believe considering Vantrue ships HEVC with the same chipset and CMOS sensor just fine. There is quite an art to tuning encoders. Same with tuning the ISP settings. It really depends on where the bottleneck is. If the chipset simply cannot move that much data from DRAM to NAND but compute is otherwise sitting idle there is an opportunity to extract more image quality with HEVC. It also depends on whether the device is already thermally throttling. If there's not enough thermal margin then yes there's nothing to be done but again, find it hard to believe this when 1-channel and 2-channel recording are much lower power than 3-channel recording. The cost of licensing after the first 100k devices sold is 0.20 USD per device. Even at 5x margin that's an extra dollar at retail cost.

I would be cautious of making broad statements about what is and isn't going to work here. I personally would like to see HEVC if it is possible, clear HDR implementation as well but it's also possible Viofo can't be bothered and 1.3 will be the last firmware update.

 

[Paul Iddon]

New model numbers are usually not revealed until testing is underway but you might be able to work it out...

 

[ogzogz]

@VIOFO-Support

I think the distribution below will be good for displaying the image on the screen. red, current reflection. It would be better if there was a reflection like green color.

Just like mirror type cameras, it would be good to add a setting to reflect the rear camera with a mirror effect and record normally. Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Nigel]

So in short, is there any hardware feasibility to have h.265 aka HEVC/AV1, higher bitrate, or have more vertically limited resolutions to have the current maximum bitrate be more effective per pixel?

So then the only way to get more efficiency out of the bitrate would be to crop out whatever isn't useful in the vertical resolution before it is saved into its video container, which would mean an even wider aspect ratio than 21:9. I would reach out and see if people would be interested in that,

H265 is far superior in fast movement, so hoping it would be on the new model.

H265 is a minefield in licensing issues. It is only worth paying extra for it if it does something useful. It is basically the same as H264 with some extra compression features, unfortunately all the extra compression features are targeted at saving bitrate in areas of the image that are either not moving, or moving very slowly, while the time we need to save bitrate in our dashcams is when we are driving fast and the image is moving fast. H265 really does nothing useful over H264 when used in a fixed bitrate dashcam with real time encoding. The A139 Pro does have an H265 option, Viofo have chosen to operate it with 11% less bitrate, so it does actually save 11% on file size, but image quality is in my view a little reduced over the H264 setting, so for best quality on the A139 Pro I choose H264. In my view, H265 is not worth having on a dashcam when moving; for low bitrate parking mode it does have advantages, although the time you really need the low bitrate parking mode is also the time when things suddenly start moving fast, and H265 loses its advantage!

AV1 is a completely different codec, made with different design decisions, and appears to me to do a rather better job with dashcam video than H264/H265. It requires significantly more processing, so implementing high bitrate and high frame rate AV1 in a dashcam, where everything must be encoded in real time, is a big challenge. It is being worked on, and has potential to give significant improvements, but when it arrives, and how good the first version will be, is currently uncertain. When it does arrive, it will probably bring HDR10 video, so the bitrate savings will likely get canceled out by the extra detail and dynamic range being recorded in the video. It will not appear on the next dashcam to be released.

I quite like 24:9 aspect ratio for 4K front dashcam video, but Viofo have stuck to 21:9 so that high level traffic lights do not get missed, also 21:9 is a standard format used for cinema, you can buy screens that shape. High level traffic lights only exist in a few countries, but I think we wont be seeing a wider aspect ratio until we get higher resolution than 4K.

Is there official word on what the new model is named or when it could release?

It will be released when it is ready, and until then will only have a codename, which may change at any time, and which may or may not get used when released! If Viofo actually answered that question now, it would be wise not to believe the answer!

 

[LateralNW]

After updating the rear camera, you will be prompted again to format the memory card.

I have just updated my A229 Pro to the beta 1.3 so sorry for the late input.
When I updated the front dashcam I was prompted to format the card.
When I updated the rear camera it just rebooted and started to work. No prompt.

 

[LateralNW]

I have just updated my A229 Pro to the beta 1.3 so sorry for the late input.
When I updated the front dashcam I was prompted to format the card.
When I updated the rear camera it just rebooted and started to work. No prompt.

I use an iphone 8 and after updating the firmware on the A229Pro I was no longer able to access the camera via the app ver 4.2.2
I see votex discovered this early on in this thread.

Viofo mentioned they need to release a new app for the iphone for this beta update to work.

As I have just done the update I don't have much to add except
The IR camera didn't start up after the update.
The app won't work but still works fine on the VS1.
After recycling the power the VS1 started but the A229Pro didn't or at least the lights and screen on it didn't work until I touched a button on it. Might be a one off.

It is encouraging to see Viofo working to improve their product.

 

[Paul Iddon]

I have just updated my A229 Pro to the beta 1.3 so sorry for the late input.
When I updated the front dashcam I was prompted to format the card.
When I updated the rear camera it just rebooted and started to work. No prompt.

Yeah, you'll have to put the rear one back onto the card with nothing else and that will then update it.

 

[LateralNW]

Yeah, you'll have to put the rear one back onto the card with nothing else and that will then update it.

?
I did do that. I always do that.
Sure its a pain but that's what is required.

 

[Karagandinez]

I have just updated my A229 Pro to the beta 1.3 so sorry for the late input.
When I updated the front dashcam I was prompted to format the card.
When I updated the rear camera it just rebooted and started to work. No prompt.

Did you download both firmware onto one memory card and flash both cameras without removing the memory card?