Viofo A119 Mini - Single channel 2K mini dashcam with Wi-Fi

[Karagandinez]

Video Codec

H.264 / H.265

So it's fake here?

 

[ogzogz]

The a119 mini locks videos at high music with medium sensitivity. looks good at low sensitivity. On average, the midrange setting for the a129 series is close to the low range for the a119 mini.

 

[Nigel]

So it's fake here?

No, just out of date, I think.

I have used H265 on the Mini, but that doesn’t mean that it is enabled in the production version.

As you are probably aware, it has always been a hidden and unofficial feature on VIOFO cameras, and if the H265 authorities want to police their license then…

 

[Karagandinez]

No, just out of date, I think.

I have used H265 on the Mini, but that doesn’t mean that it is enabled in the production version.

As you are probably aware, it has always been a hidden and unofficial feature on VIOFO cameras, and if the H265 authorities want to police their license then…

Let's wait for a response from Viofo's representative.

 

[Kremmen]

Just an observation.

I've been following the threads on Viofo's new dashcams and I'm very surprised at the faults and problems the testers are having.

The A119 series has been rock solid, what's going on ?

 

[mariomart]

I purchased the A119 Mini via pre-order and it's been despatched and should arrive in Oz very soon.

Can I assume that all the hardware kinks have been ironed out and it's now just the long process of refining the firmware? Or am I in for a round of pain having purchased from the first production run?

 

[runtohell121]

I purchased the A119 Mini via pre-order and it's been despatched and should arrive in Oz very soon.

Can I assume that all the hardware kinks have been ironed out and it's now just the long process of refining the firmware? Or am I in for a round of pain having purchased from the first production run?

I would say hardwire kits should be fine - same kit as Viofo A139 and T130; can use HK4 or HK3.

 

[mariomart]

I would say hardwire kits should be fine - same kit as Viofo A139 and T130; can use HK4 or HK3.

Thanks for the reply, but I wasn't referring to the "hardwire kits", but rather to "hardware kinks" (problems with hardware eg. the mainboard). Cheers.

 

[Karagandinez]

Just an observation.

I've been following the threads on Viofo's new dashcams and I'm very surprised at the faults and problems the testers are having.

The A119 series has been rock solid, what's going on ?

What are the bugs and problems?
On all models, for the first time, some errors are being eliminated and the operation of the DVR itself is being improved.
Even the popular A119v3 had problems with the parking mode on early firmware.
So time heals.

 

[runtohell121]

Thanks for the reply, but I wasn't referring to the "hardwire kits", but rather to "hardware kinks" (problems with hardware eg. the mainboard). Cheers.

Sorry, read it wrong. It's too early to tell, as the A119 Mini is still fairly new and most units out there might have been pre-production units - but if it's anything like the A119v3, it'll improve over time.

 

[Karagandinez]

I purchased the A119 Mini via pre-order and it's been despatched and should arrive in Oz very soon.

Can I assume that all the hardware kinks have been ironed out and it's now just the long process of refining the firmware? Or am I in for a round of pain having purchased from the first production run?

In any case, you have a minimum of 12 months warranty.

 

[Nigel]

I purchased the A119 Mini via pre-order and it's been despatched and should arrive in Oz very soon.

Can I assume that all the hardware kinks have been ironed out and it's now just the long process of refining the firmware? Or am I in for a round of pain having purchased from the first production run?

They don't get sent out to purchasers until Viofo are fairly certain that the hardware is free of significant issues. There are always a few issues left with the firmware, which are then fixed via firmware updates over the next maybe 6 months. You can expect a few hardware improvements over the first few production batches, sorting out production issues and refining production quality, but it is unlikely that they will be noticeable to the owners. In the unlikely event that there is a functional or reliability issue with the first production batch, Viofo will replace units on request. The production numbers for the first few batches are kept low so that this is not a problem, but it doesn't often happen so there is no need to worry; I have quite a few pre-production or prototype Viofo cameras and nearly all of them still work perfectly well.

 

[Nigel]

Just an observation.

I've been following the threads on Viofo's new dashcams and I'm very surprised at the faults and problems the testers are having.

The A119 series has been rock solid, what's going on ?

I think these will be rock solid too, once the initial firmware issues are sorted.

The A119 Mini is not an A119 V3 update. It is using new firmware, with many functions from the A139/T130 mixed in with functions from the A119 V3, plus new stuff to handle the new hardware, such as the extra pin on the GPS mount. There are inevitably going to be a few initial issues. You could argue that it has been released a little early, before everything is sorted, but the early release is a way of getting feedback from the customers, plus getting it thoroughly tested, so it is just part of the process. If you pre-order the very first production units then this is what happens - you get to provide feedback and you are listened to, whereas if you order a model that has been out for a year or two then it is very hard to get anything changed. It does operate fine as a dashcam from the start, but you might have to wait for some refinements.

 

[mariomart]

They don't get sent out to purchasers until Viofo are fairly certain that the hardware is free of significant issues. There are always a few issues left with the firmware, which are then fixed via firmware updates over the next maybe 6 months. You can expect a few hardware improvements over the first few production batches, sorting out production issues and refining production quality, but it is unlikely that they will be noticeable to the owners. In the unlikely event that there is a functional or reliability issue with the first production batch, Viofo will replace units on request. The production numbers for the first few batches are kept low so that this is not a problem, but it doesn't often happen so there is no need to worry; I have quite a few pre-production or prototype Viofo cameras and nearly all of them still work perfectly well.

Cheers Nigel, as always you are a font of knowledge and truly appreciated.

 

[Lothar]

I don't believe that Viofo supports H265 any more.

The advantages of H265 are not worth the licensing cost!
I'm still looking forward to the free licenced AV1 codec arriving... no sign of it yet though.

Did they actually have to pay for the licensing cost though the method that they implemented? I assumed that they did not.
I thought H265 was a hidden/unadvertised feature through pressing some random combination of buttons or holding some button?

If they advertise it "front and center" everywhere(manual, website, visible option settings) as a feature of the product, or make it a toggle option that is clearly visible and selectable by the user in the settings then they will have to pay licensing cost for sure.

 

[Nigel]

Did they actually have to pay for the licensing cost though the method that they implemented? I assumed that they did not.
I thought H265 was a hidden/unadvertised feature through pressing some random combination of buttons or holding some button?

If they advertise it "front and center" everywhere(manual, website, visible option settings) as a feature of the product, or make it a toggle option that is clearly visible and selectable by the user in the settings then they will have to pay licensing cost for sure.

There are very good reasons for the massive effort in development of the AV1 codec as a license free video codec - H265 has been a licensing nightmare! If Viofo could provide H265 at sensible cost and at reasonable risk to themselves then they would, if they remove it then it is because of the H265 owners!

It doesn't actually help with the image quality or memory use anyway, the only advantage I have seen is that some Apple products seem to handle H265 better than H264, maybe because Apple makes money from selling H265 licenses?

Turning H265 on in the A119 V3 does reduce the memory used, but only by reducing bitrate, and that bitrate reduction also reduces image quality. If you want to reduce memory use with H264 then you can turn down the bitrate setting a step, the results are very similar to enabling H265. The extra optimisations provided by H265 are of very little use on dashcam video when operating at a fixed bitrate, as our dashcams do. There will be some small differences, but it is really not worth extra cost.

It is impossible to license H265 correctly:

The HEVC IP Mess is Worse than you Think - Streaming Learning Center

A recent article in IPWatchdog analyzed HEVC-related patent ownership and found that

streaminglearningcenter.com

 

[Karagandinez]

I never use the H.265 codec and don't need it. But yesterday I asked a question about switching codecs, because you have it listed in the specifications. And people on other forums ask me how to switch between codecs.

 

[Lothar]

It doesn't actually help with the image quality or memory use anyway, the only advantage I have seen is that some Apple products seem to handle H265 better than H264, maybe because Apple makes money from selling H265 licenses?

Turning H265 on in the A119 V3 does reduce the memory used, but only by reducing bitrate, and that bitrate reduction also reduces image quality. If you want to reduce memory use with H264 then you can turn down the bitrate setting a step, the results are very similar to enabling H265. The extra optimisations provided by H265 are of very little use on dashcam video when operating at a fixed bitrate, as our dashcams do. There will be some small differences, but it is really not worth extra cost.

It is impossible to license H265 correctly:

The HEVC IP Mess is Worse than you Think - Streaming Learning Center

A recent article in IPWatchdog analyzed HEVC-related patent ownership and found that

streaminglearningcenter.com

At the same bitrate, shouldn't it?
In the case of Viofo however, it does not because the maximum bitrate is set lower via firmware when using H265 vs H264. If it were the same maximum bitrate, I'm assuming that one would likely see a difference?

I don't record in H265 because my laptop is older and does not support it as a fixed function via hardware. I'm waiting on new technologies to emerge (AV1 decode/encode among others like you mentioned) before upgrading anything.

 

[Karagandinez]

Today I received a response from a Viofo representative:

H.265 support is disabled, and will not support in the future.

 

[CA50]

Hello everyone, I purchased a VIOFO A119Mini yesterday.
It is recording video with correct speed and co-ordinates, but when I playback the video in Dashcam Viewer; it doesn't show any location.

Can inputs ?