V1.3 beta firmware for A229Pro/Plus

[Panzer Platform]

I do not see a waterproof cam that works for the A229 Pro.

Soon to be released.

 

[camtalkatnight]

Soon to be released.

Lol. Well regardless, my rear window doesn't get wet in the rain with the louvers, and my backup cam that I have gets covered in grime and rain in one 40 minute drive if its raining or the ground is wet so it wouldn't be of any benefit, the view would be obstructed. Oleophobic or not. :S Trying to see if what I have can be optimized more, thank you for the suggestion <3. Front dashcam is working phenomenal for me though, no complaints.

 

[vvs49]

Daytime no HDR, rear cam.

Everything is there, HDR does not turn off, but only removes the inscription!!So I checked, disabled HDR in the menu(not a stamp) and here is the result!

 

[camtalkatnight]

A few things lol. Interestingly, somehow my rear cam was actually set to ON for HDR beforehand, I had the stamp turned off, which would have told me. I have no idea why this was the case as I am meticulous about things like this and remember double checking. So you can tell from my prior post that it has much more contrast and vibrance, however, I now have white crush, everything is too bright. I could change exposure to bandaid it, but I still think it is fair to have suspicion that the light metering is a tad bit off (louvers maybe throwing it off) which effectively hampers the quality, and is probably running at a slower shutter speed than it should. Would it be normal to need to change exposure for the rear cam in non HDR, CPL is installed on rear cam and tint is ~35%, would it be considered a bandaid or the best I could get without a custom firmware with different light metering? Also, any consensus on PARKING MODE HDR whether to have it turned on or off, it is a simple toggle, no idea if it respects the auto hdr time settings, I would guess it would but not sure. @viofo @VIOFO-Support Thank you in advance.

Video.

 

[Nigel]

Would it be normal to need to change exposure for the rear cam

As I suggested before, try tilting the camera so that the useful bit of image is at about 38% of the image height instead of the current 50%, then the auto exposure may expose better for the useful bit of the image. If you adjust while watching the live view, you can see what you are doing...

Also, any consensus on PARKING MODE HDR whether to have it turned on or off, it is a simple toggle,

I suggest having it off, since that will save a bit of power and give longer battery run time.

 

[camtalkatnight]

As I suggested before, try tilting the camera so that the useful bit of image is at about 38% of the image height instead of the current 50%, then the auto exposure may expose better for the useful bit of the image. If you adjust while watching the live view, you can see what you are doing...


I suggest having it off, since that will save a bit of power and give longer battery run time.

Is the suggestion to have one of the louvers in the middle of the view? Everything I have understood about light metering would make me think that it would only make it worse if that is what you are suggesting, unless there is some special use case light metering custom to dash cam's vs DSLR, etc. Now that we got my prior goof of HDR being on, out of the way, lol yikes :S.

 

[Nigel]

Is the suggestion to have one of the louvers in the middle of the view?

It does appear that that would be the case!

Everything I have understood about light metering would make me think that it would only make it worse if that is what you are suggesting,

Yes... Try it and see, it will either make it better, or make it worse, or possibly make no difference at all!

I'm not sure what the result will be, but I think it is worth a try...

I think personally, I would remove the louvers and fit a manual gearbox, that auto-box ruins the sound of the boxer engine!
But it is your car, not mine.

 

[camtalkatnight]

It does appear that that would be the case!


Yes... Try it and see, it will either make it better, or make it worse, or possibly make no difference at all!

I'm not sure what the result will be, but I think it is worth a try...

I think personally, I would remove the louvers and fit a manual gearbox, that auto-box ruins the sound of the boxer engine!
But it is your car, not mine.

The auto box does not wreck the sound as I drive in full manual mode. I will presume you have no idea how much it actually costs to swap to a manual transmission, nor is there any benefit to that other than towing or if one turbocharges/supercharges the engine. What you are doing if it was your car, would be to swap two differentials out, the driveline, transmission, transmission control module, and possibly a different ecu, which is tied to the instrument panel, ignition, and security system. My car has around 80K miles and is well maintained so whatever used parts went into it would be questionable and also expensive for a non turbo car. I would be much better off getting a new WRX. If you own the same car, feel free to do what you wish lol. I have had my car for 8 years and is meticulously maintained. I have thousands of dollars into the car, while also paving way for people who have an automatic transmission that came without paddle shifters, to actually get them to work, not as easy as just installing parts. I have two car seats in the back and a manual gearbox is not my focus, and is not holding me back either. If you don't have an idea how light metering works, it would make sense that you made a suggestion like that. Clearly you miss some key pieces in this forum as I have seen, no need to get after each other, but dang man keep to yourself some of the stuff if you have no idea, and if its personal/opinionated like that, send it in a DM, or not at all. I am trying to optimize this for what clearly is not an ideal setup in my use case, and reaching for help, not guessing or personal/opinion based stuff.

 

[TheSpanishInq]

I do not think the suggestion of @Nigel regarding your transmission was meant to be taken literally, I think it was a perfect example of dry English humor, which made me smile.
Sorry to see it struck a nerve for you . May I suggest to, if that happens again, wait a few hours before posting. I often is not necessary to get personal...

And it is up to you whether or not you want to do anything with his suggestion regarding the tilting of the rear-cam, does it hurt to try?

 

[VIOFO-Support]

no idea if it respects the auto hdr time settings, I would guess it would but not sure. @viofo @VIOFO-Support Thank you in advance.

Video.

Yes, it will follow the 'Auto' setting of the front camera.

 

[camtalkatnight]

No response for options for other light metering methods. I know that my scenario is not ideal, blocks much of the sensor, causing the light level to be read incorrectly for the center of the image, resulting in white crush. I found that full time HDR in an 8-bit format, was keeping the white crush minimalized much better. The default exposure was causing all of this due to the light metering. Changing the exposure on the rear cam to -1.3 brought back a decent amount of color vibrance during daytime, without the image having blacks as a gray for most of the recording now, which is also a good improvement. The lens was pulling too much light in for even HDR beforehand as I thought might have been the case, for what was causing the color vibrancy to diminish. Anybody else using louvers that have this happen, this "may" help get you in a better position. Night time recording may take a hit but it might be more of a correct exposure so it is possible that it works better at night to diminish overblown lights, etc. Either way at least it is at an acceptable level for daytime. Results with louvers in my scenario, are definitely not ideal if recording clarity is your primary concern, there is a massive hit in how useful the camera is clarity wise, and how it behaves. I have it acceptable now .

 

[Vortex Radar]

The exposure compensation idea sounds like a reasonable workaround for daytime recording. This specific use case makes me wish we had dashcams with alternative metering modes like exclusively using the center of the image for exposure. I’m not sure if there’s any dashcams that offer that though.

 

[Dashmellow]

The exposure compensation idea sounds like a reasonable workaround for daytime recording. This specific use case makes me wish we had dashcams with alternative metering modes like exclusively using the center of the image for exposure. I’m not sure if there’s any dashcams that offer that though.

A couple of the Street Guardian Models had a form of this where you could choose which exposure table to use - upper, lower, center or full frame.

The now discontinued Mobius 2 camera had the full version, much like a DSLR which I wish all dash cameras had. In fact, I wish all dash cameras had the advanced photographic imaging controls that Mobius is known for, such as contrast, exposure, sharpness, saturation, color balance, etc., etc. but we are never likely to see this in a general mass market dash cam product.

 

[Dashmellow]

BTW, I just remembered something funny that happened when Jokiin introduced the exposure table choices, originally on the SG9665GC camera. The function that blocked the lowest portion of the frame from contributing to the exposure was called, "LOW CUT". As you can see above Mobius used more typical camera terms like "UPPER-WEIGHTED" and "LOWER-WEIGHTED".

I had some fun teasing Jokiin about that choice of words at the time after my girlfriend commented that "LOW CUT" sounded like the styling of some of her sweaters and blouses!

 

[joe384]

Is there any chance of some of these features making their way to other cameras in the viofo range?

Things like 21:9 and the ability to turn off/on channels when in parking mode would be great (I tend to back into car bays so the front camera gets the best view while in parking mode, making the rear camera redundant)

 

[Mark65]

Hi, can we downgrade back to the previous firmware?, image qaulity on my front camera is not as good as the previous firmware.
If so where can I get the previous firmware?.
Thanks

 

[ltmikepowell]

Hi, can we downgrade back to the previous firmware?, image qaulity on my front camera is not as good as the previous firmware.
If so where can I get the previous firmware?.
Thanks

You might not want to do it. Because when I was on the v1.3 beta, I downgraded to the official v1.2 (front), and v1.0 (rear). In the process it bricked the rear cam completely, and I had to get a replacement from Viofo.

@Demo he has the same experience.

 

[Mark65]

Oh bugger,

 

[ltmikepowell]

Oh bugger,

Because if the front is v1.2, there will be compatible issue with the rear cam running v1.3

 

[vvs49]

Hi, can we downgrade back to the previous firmware?

V1.3_240516
Is this what you meant?