Viofo A129 Pro Dual Dashcam - 4K Front + 1080 Rear

[Airborne]

Fair amount of CA there, but acceptable.

Photoshop it out, Hahah!

(Not really)...

CA.? What is that? Don’t forget new guy trying to learn

 

[Nigel]

The movies look good to me, I hope soon all the questions about heat and how large of a card it will take for the parking mode. I am sure in the coming months these questions will be answered

Note that the low bitrate parking mode is approximately the same bitrate as on the A129 Duo, it doesn't need a super large card for parking mode.

The heat is OK in normal climates, given a year or so of testing we will know about the hotter climates, but it is definitely more capable than most of the "4K" competition.

 

[Nigel]

CA.? What is that? Don’t forget new guy trying to learn

Chromatic Aberration, where the different colours focus in different places, normally near the corners of a lens often resulting in magenta edges along tree branches. You get this to some extent on nearly all lenses, even Canon DSLR lenses.

 

[jokiin]

but it is definitely more capable than most of the "4K" competition.

most?

 

[Nigel]

most?

Well somebody might be reading this in 2 years time, and by then the competition might have caught up

 

[jokiin]

Well somebody might be reading this in 2 years time, and by then the competition might have caught up

to date I think there is only the Blackvue that is comparable (on paper) and that struggles, Thinkware have a 4K camera coming, their 1080p and 1440p models are both pretty ordinary so I wouldn't hold my breath for anything much from them, Nextbase is only single channel but again a bit mediocre, that's it as far as I've seen, the brand snobs will keep buying Korean even if they suck

 

[Nigel]

to date I think there is only the Blackvue that is comparable (on paper) and that struggles, Thinkware have a 4K camera coming, their 1080p and 1440p models are both pretty ordinary so I wouldn't hold my breath for anything much from them, Nextbase is only single channel but again a bit mediocre, that's it as far as I've seen, the brand snobs will keep buying Korean even if they suck

From what I've seen of Blackvue it should really be classified as 1080 quality!

To claim 4K you should need lens, sensor, processor, and firmware all able to perform, and maybe Wi-Fi too.

The A129 Pro even performs better in the dark, which I wasn't expecting, I thought it would be trying to keep up. Although at dusk the A119 V3 is often slightly better on plates with its 1440 Starvis sensor.

 

[jokiin]

can't get fantastic results in very low light, still it's better than expected, and way ahead of the Blackvue, still haven't worked out why people keep buying those

 

[Nath]

No.

Not sure that is true in all circumstances, but running H265 at 51 Front + 14 Mb/s Rear doesn't see a change in bitrate when turning Wi-Fi on/off.
The live display appears to have about a 0.3 second delay.
Wi-Fi to my computer can manage around 10MBytes per second for file download.

@viofo

From what I've seen of Blackvue it should really be classified as 1080 quality!

To claim 4K you should need lens, sensor, processor, and firmware all able to perform, and maybe Wi-Fi too.

It’s not that bad. There is pretty clear difference and even the crappy sensor they used, it does the job. But WHY THE FRICK THEY FORGOT THE HEATSINK..?! That makes my headspin.
Btw: About 1/3 of the sensor of my DR900S third replaced unit is dying.

 

[Nigel]

It’s not that bad. There is pretty clear difference and even the crappy sensor they used, it does the job. But WHY THE FRICK THEY FORGOT THE HEATSINK..?! That makes my headspin.

Seems to need sunshine before the difference is clear, and living in the UK, that is no good to me!

Btw: About 1/3 of the sensor of my DR900S third replaced unit is dying.

That's a pretty bad record, certainly for eastern Europe where it is not exactly hot!

 

[gabilondo77]

A129 Pro 4K - High Quality Lens

@viofo took a long time to develop the high quality 4K lens for the A129 Pro (the same sensor and lens combination can also be found in the new GitUp F1C action camera). It shows good depth of field, excellent edge-to-edge sharpness, low distortion and only a little chromatic aberration at the edge of the frame.

This sample video was recorded at 59Mbps with a CPL filter.
Note: The A129 Pro uses the same CPL as the A129 Duo and A119 series cameras
Note: Sound removed since my car has an annoying noise that needs to be fixed!

422MB Original File : https://mega.nz/#!e4Q13IBR!Zd6r3f0lAlJb22ui5U746lryMpuU6-JAOMQRlc9sH_s


https://mega.nz/#!qpJxiQpY!alq_ZbfV5KvrA5RtULiNztG74cWnuXTrcy7bur2DkCk

Great quality.I watched the footage on my 4K 55" TV,and the quality is amazing.I have also checked every frame of both videos with virtualdub2,and on the front camera there is only one frame duplicated(frame 812).On the rear camera 3 frames are duplicated(frames 191,999 and 1691).I can definitely live with that,very good job.Now I only hope they release soon this model as I want to swap the A129 Duo to my old car..Hope they will keep same cables/connectors..

 

[Airborne]

Curious, what program is on the camera??? Will this camera update differently then the regular A129 duo, or is it being presented with the 1.9

 

[TonyM]

Curious, what program is on the camera??? Will this camera update differently then the regular A129 duo, or is it being presented with the 1.9

The A129 Pro has its own FW, separate from the Duo. The sensors are different resolutions, and the Novatek processors are different too. Most of the menu structure is exactly the same.

The firmware I currently have for the Pro is version V1.0, so I chose to add that to the OSD using the custom text option in the menu

 

[Airborne]

So the A129 with 1.9, did that first come with 1.0, meaning there has been many updates for the 129. I am learning so bare with me. (I understand the pro comes with 1.0)

 

[jokiin]

I have also checked every frame of both videos with virtualdub2,and on the front camera there is only one frame duplicated(frame 812).On the rear camera 3 frames are duplicated(frames 191,999 and 1691).

sounds like a tedious job

 

[jokiin]

So the A129 with 1.9, did that first come with 1.0, meaning there has been many updates for the 129. I am learning so bare with me. (I understand the pro comes with 1.0)

1.0 is the first build, anything after that is subsequent versions, you may not see every number is a release, eg the next release could be 1.2 or 1.3 etc

 

[Airborne]

OK Thanks,,, Understanding.... I started a folder

 

[Airborne]

What is going to be the largest SD card for the Pro?

 

[Paul Iddon]

Another example showing you can zoom in a good amount...

 

[TonyM]

A129 Pro 4K vs A129 Duo 1080p

Brief comparison between the Pro and the Duo
Pro: 4K 30fps 59Mbps
Duo: 1080p 30fps 15.6Mbps (I have the uncoated 140deg lens)
Both cameras: EV 0, WDR off, CPL on

Parked
Field of View on the Duo is slightly wider
The Pro has far greater detail, but also better exposure and more accurate colours, perhaps a touch over-saturated

Driving
(video compiled in 1080p)

Comparison frames:

Again, the Pro shows better colour, exposure and detail.

The Duo sometimes has less motion blur at the very edge of the frame, but generally the Pro can match the same level of detail a few frames earlier from a greater distance, thanks to its higher resolution. This is an extract from the comparison frame above (Pro on top, Duo on bottom), followed by a comparison from 6 frames earlier.

Spoiler: Full frame comparison