VIOFO A129 non-IR 1080p Modified Firmware MODs Archive

[BCHobbyist]

Something's not right with the parking mode on MOD-4Uj. I left the camera running off a powerbank when parked. It recorded at 30fps for 5 minutes, then just stopped, even though I had set 2fps timelapse parking. I've used this powerbank before without such issues and it still had plenty of charge left in it.

I also had an issue earlier today when the A129 did not start at all. I have 5sec boot delay set which has usually been enough, and this wasn't even a cold start.

thanks for the report, make sure memory card wasn't full of locked files or just full. I'll test Parking Mode tomorrow and see if issue can be replicated.
what is the MP4 parking-mode-file Mbs? were they tagged with "P"?
remember VIOFO added a 5min delay before Parking Mode starts, once I find that code will change 90 seconds.

 

[TonyM]

what is the MP4 parking-mode-file Mbs?

That's what I was trying to find out!
I have formatted the card and will test parking mode later today.

 

[BCHobbyist]

Hi.
why should I load custom firmware, what is different from the orjinal? Thank you.

great question, simple answer = if you are happy with image quality using original VIOFO firmware keep using that version it is very good for the most advanced dash camera VIOFO makes.

The primary purpose of all Dash Cams is to record accident / theft / vandalism evidence and usually official firmware is perfect for that purpose. My modified firmware is for anyone wanting customized image quality.

 

[BCHobbyist]

Winter daylight testing of MOD-4Uj on country lanes. Bright, but low, sunlight casts long shadows over the road. With earlier FW on standard bitrate this would have been a mess, but the higher 24.6Mbps delivers a cleaner result with much less visible effects of compression. Even in better light the exposure duration allowed noticeable blur. I'll remove the CPL and hope for some more good testing weather later in the week.

A129 MOD-4Uj
1080p+1080p / High bitrate 24.6Mbps / CPL on

Thanks for sharing the Excellent A129Duo 4Uj 24Mbs footage. Cloudy or low sun light in winter can create increased motion blur as you know, was wondering how much the CPL actually causes itself under non-ideal lighting. I hope you don't have EV set to anything but 0 and WDR is off, those can also increase motion blurring. Suggest you raise Lens angle 1 click and see if it reduced motion blurring, I found it helps a lot.

Currently Alpha testing next A129 MOD by normalizing Edge Detection value, it may improve night quality with reduced graininess but daytime quality will lose crisp edges.

If you can do me a favour and compare all your CPL filters to determine if you have all polarizing 3 gradients. The 2 year old originals are the darkest, newest are probably 30% brighter and less motion blur. I just got 2 newer CPLs and doing a side-by-side but the SUN has other ideas.

Another oddity needing confirmation, when in dual camera mode MP4 files are always 30fps correct? no way to set 60fps?
Does your Front camera change to 60fps after you power off and disconnect Rear camera?

 

[BCHobbyist]

Here's some footage from this morning using 4Uj. Links to original files are provided in Youtube video descriptions.

Excellent night 4Uj footage, thanks for sharing looks better than my own test clips made last night, probably have to replace my windshield or car or mount the Rear camera outside on the roof, is that the 140 FOV uncoated Lens or the newer narrower one ?

 

[TonyM]

Some more short MOD-4Uj clips

Front 24.6Mbps / CPL off / EV0 / WDR off
Rear 18.4Mbps/ CPL off / EV0 / WDR off (records through a tinted window)

https://mega.nz/#!zkpXRaAb!byKGs-ywwZ7im6HU9lmq6OLkZnO8mdPmPWGo9K0hv5k

https://mega.nz/#!Xlxn3CQS!Tra8hYG71CLxtDnl1IJGD5EoetgURKbe-ZvBKwnuPjM

https://mega.nz/#!jtgR3K7Q!ySx1co0K7JA4dJ9XIMSeBLchJWnEK9dNfGhPtfc2e4Y

YouTube really struggles with that last clip through the trees, but the original high bitrate video looks rather good considering the low light level

 

[DarthMaul]

Excellent night 4Uj footage, thanks for sharing looks better than my own test clips made last night, probably have to replace my windshield or car or mount the Rear camera outside on the roof, is that the 140 FOV uncoated Lens or the newer narrower one ?

The specs on the box indicate that the lens are 140 degrees and if I remember correctly, they are coated with some purple coating, not green, but i'll check to confirm.

 

[TonyM]

I hope you don't have EV set to anything but 0 and WDR is off, those can also increase motion blurring. Suggest you raise Lens angle 1 click and see if it reduced motion blurring, I found it helps a lot.

If you can do me a favour and compare all your CPL filters to determine if you have all polarizing 3 gradients. The 2 year old originals are the darkest, newest are probably 30% brighter and less motion blur.

Another oddity needing confirmation, when in dual camera mode MP4 files are always 30fps correct? no way to set 60fps?
Does your Front camera change to 60fps after you power off and disconnect Rear camera?

I bought 2 new CPLs for the A129. My older A119 CPL is now disassembled and mounted on another camera so I can't compare.
I have EV 0 and WDR off.
Correct - there's no way to set 60fps with both cameras running. The A129 does automatically switch to 1080p60 when you unplug the rear camera.

 

[TonyM]

thanks for the report, make sure memory card wasn't full of locked files or just full. I'll test Parking Mode tomorrow and see if issue can be replicated.
what is the MP4 parking-mode-file Mbs? were they tagged with "P"?
remember VIOFO added a 5min delay before Parking Mode starts, once I find that code will change 90 seconds.

Reformatted the card last night. Parking mode still not working (I'm using a powerbank, not a HW kit).

Parked at 08:58. Checked card for 4Uj footage from this morning, then went back out and plugged in the powerbank at 11:18. The A129 recorded 5No 1min files then stopped. When I went out to the car at 13:20 the red lights were both on. I pressed a button to wake up the screen and it looked like it was recording in parking mode, but I can't find any files after 11:22. Also I'm not sure why the file numbering restarted at 039F.

 

[BCHobbyist]

Some more short MOD-4Uj clips

Front 24.6Mbps / CPL off / EV0 / WDR off
Rear 18.4Mbps/ CPL off / EV0 / WDR off (records through a tinted window)

https://mega.nz/#!zkpXRaAb!byKGs-ywwZ7im6HU9lmq6OLkZnO8mdPmPWGo9K0hv5k

https://mega.nz/#!Xlxn3CQS!Tra8hYG71CLxtDnl1IJGD5EoetgURKbe-ZvBKwnuPjM

https://mega.nz/#!jtgR3K7Q!ySx1co0K7JA4dJ9XIMSeBLchJWnEK9dNfGhPtfc2e4Y

YouTube really struggles with that last clip through the trees, but the original high bitrate video looks rather good considering the low light level

Great clear footage, can you record short clip on same route using stock FW1.50 vs 4Uj, many have emailed for samples but its still raining here after 10 days. It can take YouTube 8 hours to render 1080P or higher video, most only see 720P and some browsers don't even support higher than 720P for YouTube viewer.

Which Lens version do you use on A129 Front?

 

[BCHobbyist]

I bought 2 new CPLs for the A129. My older A119 CPL is now disassembled and mounted on another camera so I can't compare.
I have EV 0 and WDR off.
Correct - there's no way to set 60fps with both cameras running. The A129 does automatically switch to 1080p60 when you unplug the rear camera.

Thanks for confirmation, figured I owned a lemon but its only default value loading to override my own selection.
The Lens angle is probably very under rated but massively important for image quality. Each vehicle windshield slope and hood length and slope and DVR mount height will affect best Lens angle. For my small car Lens angled just to see sliver of hood from washer nozzles down produces best quality video. For yours its between the previous angle and current angle, try half a click lower to caught the hood.

Although my old notes are gone I did measurements of Lens angles to automatic exposure level adjustment and the higher the Lens in daytime the less exposure meaning less motion blur. Lower the angle in cloudy daytime will produce brighter image by increasing exposure to combine frames and brighten image which can increase motion blurring depending on light levels. At night it depends greatly on street lights and effect wanted since all footage is motion blurred already, many owners lower Lens 1/2 click to brighten road with bad results for plate readability, too bright. I don't bother lowering Lens at night and too lazy to remove CPL so all night footage is motion blurred more than it could be.

 

[BCHobbyist]

Reformatted the card last night. Parking mode still not working (I'm using a powerbank, not a HW kit).

Parked at 08:58. Checked card for 4Uj footage from this morning, then went back out and plugged in the powerbank at 11:18. The A129 recorded 5No 1min files then stopped. When I went out to the car at 13:20 the red lights were both on. I pressed a button to wake up the screen and it looked like it was recording in parking mode, but I can't find any files after 11:22. Also I'm not sure why the file numbering restarted at 039F.

View attachment 43571

I'll try to replicate today but again its continuous rain so underground I go.
Check other memory card folders for the parking clips, they will be easy to spot be their reduced file sizes.
Its also possible stock FW1.50 is specific to enable Parking Mode only on VIOFO Hardwire Kits. Will try indoor demo and verify, forgot to do it last week.

 

[TonyM]

Great clear footage, can you record short clip on same route using stock FW1.50 vs 4Uj, many have emailed for samples but its still raining here after 10 days. It can take YouTube 8 hours to render 1080P or higher video, most only see 720P and some browsers don't even support higher than 720P for YouTube viewer.

Which Lens version do you use on A129 Front?

I can't (easily) record side-by-side any more if that's what you are asking for? I moved my second A129 to side-facing duties and installed a different wide-angle lens. The A129 lens is now in a GitUp F1
My A129 front and rear have the 140deg uncoated lenses

 

[TonyM]

I'll try to replicate today but again its continuous rain so underground I go.
Check other memory card folders for the parking clips, they will be easy to spot be their reduced file sizes.
Its also possible stock FW1.50 is specific to enable Parking Mode only on VIOFO Hardwire Kits. Will try indoor demo and verify, forgot to do it last week.

No other folders on the card, just Movie. No RO or Photo folder yet - the camera creates them when it needs to from what I can see.

 

[BCHobbyist]

A129Duo with firmware v1.50 does have a confirmed problem with Parking Mode even using the newest 3-wire Hardwire kit. This explains all the recent failures to record, my guess > someone at VIOFO changed values for Beta version during ACC voltage trigger testing and didn't reset them to standard for official FW 1.50 release. Nothing can be done until next version.
Suggest trying all 4 other Parking Mode options for one that works with Power Bank reliably, testing now indoors.

update: After testing A129 in Parking Mode using official FW v1.42 , v1.50 and MOD-4Uj differences in activation were witnessed.
The good news, Parking Mode still works with Power Banks just not the same as v1.42.

Indoor test pointed A129 at me while working at desk with some small and large motions.
Vehicle test on city street as cars passed on left side and pedestrians walking down sidewalk on right side. Without using a grid it seems like FW 1.42 is more sensitive to smaller visual movements. FW 1.50 & 4Uj at 24Mbs require much greater motion from larger objects to trigger the time lapse recording, the "fails" recorded nothing even with cars driving by and people walking past.

A129 Parking Mode Visual Motion Test using Power Bank
            indoor 5fps        vehicle 5fps
            test1    test2     test1    test2
FW 1.42     pass     pass      pass     pass     = 5fps timelapse created in 2min loop clips (no "P" tag)
FW 1.50     pass     pass      pass     fail     = works when motion at center, ignores top bottom and sides
FW 4Uj      pass     pass      fail     pass     = works when motion at center, ignores top bottom and sides

 

[CaptureYourAction]

A129Duo with firmware v1.50 does have a confirmed problem with Parking Mode even using the newest 3-wire Hardwire kit. This explains all the recent failures to record, someone at VIOFO changed values for Beta version during ACC voltage trigger testing and didn't reset them to standard for official FW 1.50 release. Nothing can be done until next version.
Suggest trying all 4 other Parking Mode options for one that works with Power Bank reliably, testing now indoors.

Can you elaborate on what the issue is? How do the "changed values" affect the parking mode? I assume Viofo is aware of this?

 

[BCHobbyist]

Can you elaborate on what the issue is? How do the "changed values" affect the parking mode? I assume Viofo is aware of this?

thanks for the query, my statement is a guess, which I'll add to my post, but after testing directly there is a noticeable change in v1.50 and not favorable. see my appended update to comment above.
Like others my A129 recorded zero clips when in Parking Mode using a Power Bank in the vehicle . I have no idea if the continuous voltage affects the sensitivity scale, but for visual motion there is a difference in captures.

My understanding of VIOFO Parking Mode by using it on all 4 models is as follows :
Parking Mode enabled >
If vehicle is stopped for (T)ime with no significant (G)-sensor event > call user selected option (P).
(P) is triggered to record when visual (M)otion exceeds (S)ensitivity level in Gri(D).
FW v1.42 has lower (T) and either higher (S) or (D) or both compared to FW 1.50 which requires more action to trigger the (M) event. I have no direct code or algorithm data to reference, only observation.

Does the Hardwire Kit affect the detection, I doubt it but have no idea.

Not once during the 12 tests did the A129 ever restart on its own to activate Parking Mode after (T)imer, although FW 1.42 did a quick double beep as it entered parking mode after 90sec - 2mins once normal 2min clip was done.
The most unpredictable behaviour of FW 1.50 failure to record Parking Mode clips was on two tests in pouring rain while parked and I highly doubt the (G)-sensor event could detect rain as vehicle in motion to cancel Parking Mode.
If Parking Mode works for some and not others possible its hard differences, again I have no data. I seldom ever use Parking Mode only trying to determine or at least narrow the possible causes.

 

[TonyM]

Mine seems to be counting the 5 min Timer ok, but then fails to enter parking timelapse recording which is not dependent upon either motion detection or G sensor.

I'll try to sit in the car and record what happens when it gets to the 5 minute mark.

 

[BCHobbyist]

Mine seems to be counting the 5 min Timer ok, but then fails to enter parking timelapse recording which is not dependent upon either motion detection or G sensor.

I'll try to sit in the car and record what happens when it gets to the 5 minute mark.

Also try all 6 other Parking Mode options, I only tried 5fps due to time issues. Can also repeat indoors with camera 2-4meters away. None of my tests generated RO clips even when I touched the camera.

My next guess based on observational information is the Parking Mode algorithm waits the correct (T)ime index then may also check for a specific voltage drop from ignition off and hardwire kit which isn't present but waits for it anyway. That's one possible reason for the failures to record, its obviously waiting for some other input before recording.

 

[DarthMaul]

More 4Uj footage - this time during the day.

Links to original files:
Front: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnJW_37kwnALngUJoStN7csHEjM9
Rear: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnJW_37kwnALngSKUrPfj1bb4YC2