Viofo A139 Pro - First Impressions

[Panzer Platform]

So, I know this might be an unpopular statement, but I'm not happy that I bought an A139 Pro. At least with HDR turned on. No matter whether it's day or night, I feel like I'm seeing far too much motion blur in everyday use to justify a 4K HDR camera for those few occasions where another car's number plate is over-exposed, or I'm driving directly towards the sun.

The dynamic range is excellent, colours are accurate, video noise is low, audio is nice and clear. In some situations the combination of 4K and HDR is genuinely useful and it is rather impressive that the dual frame capture and processing can be done in real-time. But I don't feel like I can rely on the A139 Pro with HDR-ON for capturing useful evidence for identification purposes.

When I think of the few occasions that I've actually needed my dashcam footage for evidence, I'm not sure this camera in 4K HDR mode would have been any better than my previous cameras - probably worse based on my observations so far.

I have now turned off HDR to see how well the A139 Pro performs as a regular 4K dashcam.

Motion blur is also my compliant based on what I’m seeing in my testing.
Please forgive my next stupid question.
After reading the spec sheet for the IMX678 it says its capable of 60fps; https://www.sony-semicon.com/files/62/flyer_security/IMX678-AAQR1_Flyer.pdf
Do you think 4K 60fps would help the motion blur?

I have also disabled the HDR setting in my A139 Pro, and set the resolution to 2K60fps for the next time I gather test footage. But the weather is calling for rain for the next week or so.
-Chuck

 

[viofo]

Motion blur is also my compliant based on what I’m seeing in my testing.
Please forgive my next stupid question.
After reading the spec sheet for the IMX678 it says its capable of 60fps; https://www.sony-semicon.com/files/62/flyer_security/IMX678-AAQR1_Flyer.pdf
Do you think 4K 60fps would help the motion blur?

I have also disabled the HDR setting in my A139 Pro, and set the resolution to 2K60fps for the next time I gather test footage. But the weather is calling for rain for the next week or so.
-Chuck

The main chipset can not handle the 4K 60FPS, need a more powerful chipset.
We are trying to optimize the firmware to reduce the motion blur, please kindly wait for us to share more info.

 

[TonyM]

A139 Pro 4K - HDR-OFF - Night

With HDR off, the video what I would expect from a 4K Starvis camera. It's clear, sharp, and has low noise when there's a moderate amount of street lighting.

 

[TonyM]

We are trying to optimize the firmware to reduce the motion blur, please kindly wait for us to share more info.

I understand that Starvis 2 and Clear HDR are new technology, and that it may take a while for you to optimise the performance.

Until you can improve HDR motion blur in the daytime, will you consider adding an HDR timer so that we can have HDR-OFF during the day and HDR-ON at night? I believe this is already available on the regular A139.

 

[Dimson75]

The main chipset can not handle the 4K 60FPS, need a more powerful chipset.
We are trying to optimize the firmware to reduce the motion blur, please kindly wait for us to share more info.

Falsificator involved in optimization?

 

[DoubleDawg]

There is version 1.0_1217 on the Viofo site now that mentions "1. Fix issues when HDR is on" in the change log, so maybe that will offer improvements in HDR performance... or it could just mean fixes for other non-HDR issues that are experienced when HDR is on.

 

[sztruhar.daniel]

Hello
I am really on the edge for the A139 PRO.
I had a 129 and also a 129 PRO and was very happy with them overall. However I am looking for a newer 2CH dashcam. Would you recommend the 139 PRO over the 229 ? Thanks in advance.

 

[Julian23]

A139 Pro 4K - HDR-OFF - Night

With HDR off, the video what I would expect from a 4K Starvis camera. It's clear, sharp, and has low noise when there's a moderate amount of street lighting.

Is it just me or is there flickering across the whole screen at 0:47 when you are turning?

 

[Ontarian]

Is it just me or is there flickering across the whole screen at 0:47 when you are turning?

I didn't notice any flickering, but the light hitting all the rain drops on the windshield as the car turned might have created a similar effect.

 

[reverend]

Is it just me or is there flickering across the whole screen at 0:47 when you are turning?

Yes that's the SoC adjusting for low light in the sensor, technically not sure if gain or exposure changes there but I think probably sensor gain as noise jumps a bit.

I'm not sure if @TonyM has had his candles in the front headlights replaced yet with the new HID bulbs but to be fair a lot of headlights suffer a lot in the wet

 

[TonyM]

No changes to the headlights yet. I'll review the video tomorrow when I'm back at my laptop.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I'm not sure if @TonyM has had his candles in the front headlights replaced yet with the new HID bulbs but to be fair a lot of headlights suffer a lot in the wet

TonyM with his new headlights. lol

 

[Dashmellow]

Carbide lamps. I knew it!

Actually, years ago when I did a lot of back country mountaineering a friend and fellow hiker used to show up with a carbide head lamp exactly like coal miners used to use. I was amazed at how powerful and effective it was and you could go for weeks on a small amount of fuel and no batteries. @TonyM is obviously on to something!

 

[TonyM]

Video Quality : Normal vs Parking Mode (HDR off)

In 1CH normal driving, video is recorded at 4K1600p (3840x1600) at 53Mbps (max bitrate, HDR off)
When parked, it switches to 16:9 1440p at 4Mbps.

Out of curiosity, I decided to compare the video when I had parked, a few seconds before and after switching off the engine.




Viewing both at 100%, the 4K video has higher sharpening and more noise than the 1440p video.




It might be interesting to try higher bitrate 1440p for normal driving, maybe even 1440p60.

 

[kamkar]

We once stole 50 KG of carbide from a local foundry, we only used very little of it,,,,,,,, i wonder where it is now.

The foundry had like 50 of the smaller steel barrels of the stuff.

 

[TonyM]

A139 Pro HDR after Headlight Upgrade
I recently had my 12 year old HID headlight bulbs replaced with one of the brightest HIDs on the market - Osram Nightbreaker

The projector element is cloudy so I'm not getting the full potential of the new bulbs, but they are noticeably brighter - both to my eye and to my dashcams.

I can now read a higher proportion of oncoming car number plates at night.

 

[TonyM]

Auto HDR - Minor Observation
I was stationary in traffic when my A139P automatically switched from normal to HDR recording. On close inspection, I noticed a small pixel shift between HDR-OFF and HDR-ON. The camera appears to be using a slightly different 3840x2160 crop from the overall sensor area. Nothing to worry about, just a curious observation.

 

[TonyM]

Final comment - I sold the A139 Pro in October 2023

 

[Dadi_T]

Final comment - I sold the A139 Pro in October 2023

Hey, why?!

 

[TonyM]

Hey, why?!

I needed the money