VIOFO A139 Pro - Testing / Review Info

[Panzer Platform]

That video is about A139 and not A139 Pro

Yes, I understand.
However, his test method for checking the effectiveness of HDR during daytime should be the same.
Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I've been wondering if I should swap out my Nankadf 30V / 10A DC charger for one that supports >10A too

I think the Wanptek I have is the same Nankadf you have. They just have different names.

 

[Panzer Platform]

So none of the Egen batteries have perfectly accurate battery level reporting when they're recharging

I have found this to be true with the PC8 while discharging as well.
Routinely when I run parking mode tests, when the APP reports 0% battery life the camera, and PC8 will continue operation for up to 60 Minutes.

 

[Vortex Radar]

Following up on the IR LED thing, I set them to on and sure enough, that dropped the parking recording time by about 3 hours.

 

[rcg530]

Following up on the IR LED thing, I set them to on and sure enough, that dropped the parking recording time by about 3 hours.

View attachment 63142

I would suspect the 3CH time estimate should also change with the IR LEDs on/off.

 

[Vortex Radar]

I would suspect the 3CH time estimate should also change with the IR LEDs on/off.

Ah good point. I think that was also a daytime test so I can redo that with the LEDs on/off just to doublecheck.

 

[Mtz]

However, his test method for checking the effectiveness of HDR during daytime should be the same.

I consider was a mistake to show only how the HDR is not working. Vortex Radar should show also the situations when HDR is working better than no HDR regarding car license plates. I am sure that during night HDR On is better than HDR Off in 99% cases.
I know for USA is much more difficult compared to EU countries regarding this but I expect also for USA the Clear HDR technology to bring some advantage for car license plates reading, at least during night.
I hope in the new Vortax Radar review about A139 Pro to allow more time for the new HDR technology because this is the breaking news. 4K, HDR, 1.1./8 sensor size, Sony brand, there are already on the market, but no Starvis 2 with its Clear HDR which is different from previous DOL HDR from Starvis and all future dashcams should have Clear HDR technology and not DOL HDR.
So compared to all other dashcams from the planet until now, the A139 is the only dashcam with Starvis 2. Any other feature you can find it in another dashcams models, Viofo or other names.

Following up on the IR LED thing, I set them to on and sure enough, that dropped the parking recording time by about 3 hours.

I would suspect the 3CH time estimate should also change with the IR LEDs on/off.

If the IR are drawing so much power @viofo should turn on IR LEDs only when motion in front of interior lens is detected. So, no matter if Time-lapse or Low bitrate or auto event is set in Parking Mode, the IR LEDs should turn of only when motion was detected and turn off after the motion stopped. During Normal mode IR LEDs should remain as set by the user.

 

[Vortex Radar]

I consider was a mistake to show only how the HDR is not working. Vortex Radar should show also the situations when HDR is working better than no HDR regarding car license plates. I am sure that during night HDR On is better than HDR Off in 99% cases.

In my testing the only real benefit I found was things like seeing the bright clouds in the daytime. I could also see it being helpful when going in and out of tunnels or something too. When it comes to capturing plates, the dashcam did better with HDR off in both daytime and nighttime, as shown in the video. I understand Viofo says that it's most helpful at night and setting the AutoHDR option accordingly, but that hasn't been my experience. If I found situations where HDR on worked better, I would have shown it. That's only my test results though. Others may have seen something different in other situations and it's certainly possible I've missed some tests with other people's results. Can you please elaborate a bit more on how you find that HDR on is better in 99% of cases at night and share your test results demonstrating this to be the case?

I know for USA is much more difficult compared to EU countries regarding this but I expect also for USA the Clear HDR technology to bring some advantage for car license plates reading, at least during night.
I hope in the new Vortax Radar review about A139 Pro to allow more time for the new HDR technology because this is the breaking news. 4K, HDR, 1.1./8 sensor size, Sony brand, there are already on the market, but no Starvis 2 with its Clear HDR which is different from previous DOL HDR from Starvis and all future dashcams should have Clear HDR technology and not DOL HDR.

Yep, that's gonna be one of the focuses since that's one of the biggest benefits of the new Starvis 2 sensor.

Sadly my pre-production A139 Pro doesn't work well at night so for side-by-side testing like I did with the A139 non-Pro, I'm going to be limited to daytime testing.

While I like the HDR on the Starvis 2 sensor, it's not perfect and even Viofo has acknowledged previously that it's not yet fully the way they're wanting and needs further optimization. I have noticed that even with HDR on at night, there's definitely still situations where plates get blown out at night and I still see the shutter dragging on the longer exposure. It doesn't magically lead to reliable plate grabbing at night.

 

[TonyM]

If the IR are drawing so much power @viofo should turn on IR LEDs only when motion in front of interior lens is detected.

Surely IR helps the camera to detect motion?

 

[Mtz]

I was not saying that. More simple to explain: No motion > IR Off. Motion > IR On. As you know Motion detect is only because of sensor.

Sadly my pre-production A139 Pro doesn't work well at night so for side-by-side testing like I did with the A139 non-Pro, I'm going to be limited to daytime testing.

The serial number of my first A139 Pro dashcam ends with 003. This means also I have an early sample and maybe I was the first person in the world who received the A139 Pro. Usually I am the first person outside China who is posting original video samples of Viofo dashcams on YouTube. I am not an Youtuber, I just post trusted videos for few people interested. I don't want any fame on Youtube because I don't have the required skills, but you are very professional, I was amazed about your A119 V3 review.
With A139 Pro I didn't posted any video until now on Youtube. The reason is because I am interested only about night footage of reading the car license plates and with the factory sample there were some situations when night video was flickering, as you know. Also I cannot post videos with beta IQ log firmwares.
I consider that nobody in the world tested more than me the capturing of license plates. Not even Viofo, Novatek or Sony. In these 2 months of A139 Pro I made hundreds of snapshots with car license plates, analyzed a lot of videos regarding only this feature.

If I found situations where HDR on worked better, I would have shown it. That's only my test results though. Others may have seen something different in other situations and it's certainly possible I've missed some tests with other people's results. Can you please elaborate a bit more on how you find that HDR on is better in 99% of cases at night and share your test results demonstrating this to be the case?

When driving at night, on european road with cars with european license number there was no situation when HDR Off was better than HDR On. Not a single one. I tested this when I forgot on one dashcam to enable the HDR. I was shocked that one dashcam sample could not capture any single car license number.
If I cannot capture a car license plate with HDR On for sure it was not captured with HDR Off. This is why I wrote 99% but I could write 100% and not to be wrong.
The problem with USA numbers is that with HDR On or HDR Off you cannot capture the numbers like I am doing with european numbers.
But if A139 Pro with HDR enabled cant capture license numbers at night no other dashcam can do this in USA at this moment. Right now the only chance is A139 Pro. In the future will be more. Maybe the only chance to capture license plates in USA is to have Starvis 2 on a telephoto lens.
But your videos are watched also by european people like me and all of them will see that you cant capture american plates and most of them will think they cant capture also european plates.

Here are few pictures from my report of 2022 12 09. Just a small part of the snapshots. Only in that day I made about 40 snapshots, about 4 hours of working on them.
1. In that day I tested 2 firmware versions, both dashcams had HDR enabled. Just imagine what would happen if one dashcam had HDR Off.
2. In that snapshot the speed was exactly 80km/h by car computer, total speed was about 170 km/h. If you want to test in similar conditions for USA my advice is to start with 30 km/h your speed and be sure the incoming cars are near your car, not on a further lane.
In one snapshot from above you will see the 1034 number, the rest of numbers are blurred because firmware is not public. If you will install the firmware (which is not public and should not be public) with that number you will obtain the best results regarding capturing car license plates at night. Any other firmware will not offer the same results.
3. As you can see in the full image snapshots, the car license number must be snapshoted at night more in the center of the image and not on the side of the image. During day it is OK to try capturing a car license number near the side of the video image.
4. In this GIF the video was zoomed at 5x and the position of the car in the video frame can be see in one snapshot from above gallery link.
Even you can consider the snapshot is not exactly at the same position, my experience regarding side by side dashcams comparisons and capturing car license numbers is that the best frame from each dashcam should be captured. During day and general image it is OK to capture exactly the same frame but in my night situation is not correct. Sometimes can be the same frame, sometimes is not.



I will delete later these snapshots.

 

[Vortex Radar]

The serial number of my first A139 Pro dashcam ends with 003. This means also I have an early sample and maybe I was the first person in the world who received the A139 Pro. Usually I am the first person outside China who is posting original video samples of Viofo dashcams on YouTube. I am not an Youtuber, I just post trusted videos for few people interested. I don't want any fame on Youtube because I don't have the required skills, but you are very professional, I was amazed about your A119 V3 review.
With A139 Pro I didn't posted any video until now on Youtube. The reason is because I am interested only about night footage of reading the car license plates and with the factory sample there were some situations when night video was flickering, as you know. Also I cannot post videos with beta IQ log firmwares.
I consider that nobody in the world tested more than me the capturing of license plates. Not even Viofo, Novatek or Sony. In these 2 months of A139 Pro I made hundreds of snapshots with car license plates, analyzed a lot of videos regarding only this feature.

oh my goodness, I think you're missing the point... As far as I'm concerned, the point here is how the dashcams behave, not where you post the videos. Whether you post videos or sample images on YouTube, on DCT, on your own website, via PM to manufacturers, on Amazon reviews, to police or insurance, or just keep them for your personal reasons, what matters is how the dashcam performs. Ideally anyone testing and sharing results would be able to do so with the expectation that their results will be representative of others. Otherwise it's pointless and misleading to look at test results if they're not applicable for you.

If results are different, awesome. Let's investigate that further. Why might that be? Different license plate styles? Different driving conditions? Front plates vs. rear? Different firmware versions which have different implementations of HDR? What's important here is understanding how the dashcams behave in different conditions and which settings are optimal for different people in different situations. Where you post the results are irrelevant in the context that they don't change how the dashcam behaves, you know?

When driving at night, on european road with cars with european license number there was no situation when HDR Off was better than HDR On. Not a single one. I tested this when I forgot on one dashcam to enable the HDR. I was shocked that one dashcam sample could not capture any single car license number.

Very interesting! My results with American plates on the A139 non-Pro indicated otherwise so this may be a regional thing. I'm not doubting your results, just wanting to understand what would lead to the opposite conclusions.

If I cannot capture a car license plate with HDR On for sure it was not captured with HDR Off. This is why I wrote 99% but I could write 100% and not to be wrong.
The problem with USA numbers is that with HDR On or HDR Off you cannot capture the numbers like I am doing with european numbers.

Sorry, but that's a little unclear and I'm not completely following. Did you do any head-to-head testing with HDR on vs. off to see if it makes it better or worse, specifically when it comes to freezing plates?

But if A139 Pro with HDR enabled cant capture license numbers at night no other dashcam can do this in USA at this moment. Right now the only chance is A139 Pro. In the future will be more. Maybe the only chance to capture license plates in USA is to have Starvis 2 on a telephoto lens.

In the limited time that I've looked at night time test results, I've found that in certain conditions the A139 Pro can freeze front license plates of oncoming vehicles, but it's pretty uncommon. It seems to work better than the A129 Pro which I've been testing with so far. Looking through clips I'm finding that in most situations, you're right it can't reliably capture American plates. I still need to spend a bunch more time looking at sample results, comparing HDR on vs. off, comparing Starvis 1 HDR vs. Starvis 2 HDR, comparing A129 Pro WDR vs. A139 Pro HDR, etc. I don't have sufficient data on that yet, but I would love to hear your findings along the way. I'm sure you've already posted stuff and I need to go back through this and other threads and I'll do that later once I start dedicating more time to Starvis 2 testing.

But your videos are watched also by european people like me and all of them will see that you cant capture american plates and most of them will think they cant capture also european plates.

If the results are considerably different, I think it would be very helpful to give a disclaimer that results will vary between American and European plates. I'll be happy to reference your tests in my A139 Pro videos, along with other people's too. The more complete our findings can be, the better. As always with any of this stuff, YMMV.

Here are few pictures from my report of 2022 12 09. Just a small part of the snapshots. Only in that day I made about 40 snapshots, about 4 hours of working on them.
1. In that day I tested 2 firmware versions, both dashcams had HDR enabled. Just imagine what would happen if one dashcam had HDR Off.

Why would we need to imagine and speculate? Just get two of the same dashcam, run one with HDR on and the other with it off, compare lots of different sample clips, and let the results speak for themselves. I mean that's what testing is all about, right?

On that note I just bought a third A139 Pro so I can do side-by-side nighttime testing with HDR on and off. (My preproduction unit is only good for daytime testing and I need an additional unit for nighttime testing.)

2. In that snapshot the speed was exactly 80km/h by car computer, total speed was about 170 km/h. If you want to test in similar conditions for USA my advice is to start with 30 km/h your speed and be sure the incoming cars are near your car, not on a further lane.
In one snapshot from above you will see the 1034 number, the rest of numbers are blurred because firmware is not public. If you will install the firmware (which is not public and should not be public) with that number you will obtain the best results regarding capturing car license plates at night. Any other firmware will not offer the same results.

Yeah, testing with different firmware versions definitely complicates the matter, particularly when things change over time. That's a struggle with testing tech products in general. Something I've found is that as time goes on and manufacturers continue to change and optimize their firmware, older tests and reviews become less and less applicable.

3. As you can see in the full image snapshots, the car license number must be snapshoted at night more in the center of the image and not on the side of the image. During day it is OK to try capturing a car license number near the side of the video image.

I've consistently seen the same thing. You get less motion blur across the frame when the car is farther ahead of you and that's a benefit of having a higher res dashcam... being able to grab plates farther away before motion blur gets too problematic.

4. In this GIF the video was zoomed at 5x and the position of the car in the video frame can be see in one snapshot from above gallery link.
Even you can consider the snapshot is not exactly at the same position, my experience regarding side by side dashcams comparisons and capturing car license numbers is that the best frame from each dashcam should be captured. During day and general image it is OK to capture exactly the same frame but in my night situation is not correct. Sometimes can be the same frame, sometimes is not.

View attachment 63158

I will delete later these snapshots.

I agree. Look at all the frames and pick the best one. Given that the point is to capture license plate data, I figure everyone would do the same thing... look at all the frames and find the one that makes it easiest to read the plate number.

 

[marcusb]

Surely IR helps the camera to detect motion?

I'd think the G-sensor would be best to detect whether to turn the lights on or off.

 

[rcg530]

Yesterday, I spent about 90 minutes during daylight hours and over 2 hours driving at night to gather video footage with my two production A139 Pro 3CH dash cameras. I also had a BlackVue DR900X-2CH Plus (in 1CH mode), Vantrue E1 2560x1440(HDR) 30fps and a VIOFO T130 3CH installed. My car's windows were clean/clear, but the windshield has about 118K miles of use/abuse.

For the nighttime driving I created a test combination chart (but I still ended up with a duplicate in test combinations - long day). Nighttime loop 7 is the same as loop 3. Each of the test loops were along the same route and they each took about 15 minutes to complete the driving and the necessary A139 Pro reconfiguration for the next loop.

• Firmware: 1.0_1115
• Bitrate: Maximum
• Channel Configuration: 3-channel

Definitions: 1=On, 0=Off, C=CPL, H=HDR, 2160=4K 2160P 24fps 3CH, 1600=4K 1600P 30fps 3CH

Daytime:
Loop1 2160_1C1H 2160_1C0H
Loop2 1600_1C1H 1600_1C0H
Loop3 2160_1C1H 1600_1C1H
Loop4 2160_1C0H 1600_1C0H

Nighttime:
Loop1 2160_1C1H 2160_1C0H
Loop2 1600_1C1H 1600_1C0H
Loop3 2160_1C1H 2160_0C0H
Loop4 1600_1C1H 1600_0C0H
Loop5 1600_1C1H 1600_0C1H
Loop6 2160_1C1H 2160_0C1H
Loop7_3 2160_1C1H 2160_0C0H
Loop8 2160_0C1H 2160_0C0H
Loop9 1600_0C1H 1600_0C0H

I've been scouring the footage A139 Pro nighttime footage and I can't come up with one example of being able to see a license plate when the amount of ambient light is low (darker rural road or driving down the freeway). When my car was located in the small town I live in, the street / business lights made it somewhat possible to read plates. The light flares (around headlights / streetlights) were larger than I expected with HDR enabled.

Here's one example from nighttime loop8 where the HDR feature being enabled did not completely obscure the plate (left in pic). With HDR disabled, it was a bit more readable, but still not really usable. The plate illumination lights just above the license plate seem to cause the HDR video version of the license plate to look very blurred.



Here's a frame grab from both A139 Pro dash cameras when my car was at the stop light before the on ramp. There is no frame in the HDR video that has a clear plate image. Please remember this website resizes pics above 1920x1080 to 1920x1080.

HDR Enabled Video Frame

Microsoft OneDrive

1drv.ms

HDR Disabled Video Frame

Microsoft OneDrive

1drv.ms

I'm going to start selecting more examples from the video footage I collected for inclusion into my review video. I was just hoping for HDR examples that allowed the U.S. plate size/shape to be visible.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

I've been scouring the footage A139 Pro nighttime footage and I can't come up with one example of being able to see a license plate when the amount of ambient light is low .

Did the DR900X Plus, the E1 or the T130 capture a plate in the same scenes where the ambient light is low?

 

[rcg530]

Did the DR900X Plus, the E1 or the T130 capture a plate in the same scenes where the ambient light is low?

From what I've checked so far, not really. I was hoping the IMX678 would be better in some way. I have a lot of video footage to review, so it will take me a couple of days to fully check all of it.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

From what I've checked so far, not really. I was hoping the IMX678 would be better in some way. I have a lot of video footage to review, so it will take me a couple of days to fully check all of it.

It might be better. You've proven it is not worse.

Semantics, I know, but that's an important distinction.

 

[rcg530]

I have a TACKLife MDC02 power supply with a max rated amp output of 10A, but the range setting allows it to go 11A. This is in fact a problem for me right now. When I first reviewed the PowerCell 8 (Nov 2021), I found that when configured for "9 amp" charging mode, it would draw up to 13 amps. The only way I could get that amp draw level to be supported was to install the PC8 into my car and run the engine to get the system voltage level in the 14+ volt range. The PC8 that I had in my review was swapped out in January 2022 due to a parasitic draw on the battery charge level when no load was present from a dash camera (no camera connected). The "Charging Amps" setting in the app would not match what I was observing (when in "Low" mode or with the max value set to 7.5 or lower) with my power supply amp value nor a multimeter inline amp draw test nor an amp clamp.

BlackboxMyCar was kind enough to send me a second refurbished PC8 for my comparison testing with the BlackVue B-130X. Thinkware stated they don't have any more marketing units to send out to me for testing. I wanted to retest the amp draw issue with the second PC8 that I just received. It seems to follow very closely the "Charging Amps" max amp setting. I still have a problem when the "Charging Amps" setting is set to 9. When the charge cycle begins (I have an A229 Duo connected as the "load"), the inrush amp draw exceeds the 10/11 amp max for my TACKLife MDC02 and the MDC02 goes into overload protection mode and turns off the output power. The PC8 then fails to start charging (beeps letting me know it failed to start charging). @Panzer Platform (Chuck) has been using a different DC power supply and it has successfully been charging his PC8.

Over the weekend, I decided to order the same DC power supply Chuck is using along with a somewhat more expensive DC power supply. I want to see if it's a problem with my TACKLife MDC02 DC power supply or not since Chuck's seems to be working (so far).

WANPTEK 30V max / 10A max DC Power Supply
View attachment 63085

The more expensive DC power supply is that I purchased is a RD6018. This DC power supply should be able to handle max inrush amp draw with amps to spare.

• Output voltage current range: 0-44V 1-18A ,44-60V 0-(13.5-18.000A)(800W Max)
• Output voltage current measurement resolution: 0.01V， 0.001A

View attachment 63086

The DC power supplies are scheduled to arrive the middle of this week. I hope I finally have a way of reliably charging the PC8 (or any) dash camera battery pack when high charging mode is enabled.

So far, the two power supplies that I purchased work with the PowerCell 8 battery pack. My TACKLife MDC02 DC power supply appears to have a problem in the manner in which the PC8 [at times] starts its charging cycle.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Yesterday, I spent about 90 minutes during daylight hours and over 2 hours driving at night to gather video footage with my two production A139 Pro 3CH dash cameras.

My TACKLife MDC02 DC power supply appears to have a problem in the manner in which the PC8 [at times] starts its charging cycle.

I just got back myself after gathering 2 hours of night time test footage.
I think I got the exact type of footage you are looking for that we talked about.
I had the A139 Pro, A129 Pro, A229, and A119 Mini filming, (Mini was on rear window).
If we lived closer we could play chicken, and try to capture each other's front & rear plates. lol
Now I just need to review all the footage.

I'm glad you figured out the MDC02 was the issue.
I think you should keep the WANPTEK 3010H, and return the 18A one.
That way I can say I have the same variable power supply as you, and Ariel. lol

 

[Mtz]

oh my goodness, I think you're missing the point...

For me is not a problem to be the horrible man, I already accepted this long time ago just because I believe in what I say. I like to fight for the truth.

what matters is how the dashcam performs.

Yes!
Here are 2 original untouched videos directly from the card of A139 with HDR On and with HDR Off, speed is visible.
There is not a single incoming car when HDR Off is better. There are about 63 incoming cars. Maybe somebody can spot a single car when HDR Off is better, I couldn't find. There are many cars with license numbers not visible but the weather was bad and most of the cars are dirty. This is why you can see car license numbers on some cars and on some not, even are consecutive cars.
Now lets look at 2 snapshots of A139 (not Pro!) to see how big is the difference between HDR On and HDR Off. The original image quality is downgraded when creating the GIF but you have the original videos.



It is a difference like night and day and not hmmm... maybe the HDR is a little better, for sure the HDR On dashcam was lucky in this snapshot. Very not!

And now a bonus with added A139 Pro HDR On snapshot. This bonus video is included in above link to check my snapshots. In the first GIF you can see even the second car license number from A139 Pro snapshot.


Just looking at above snapshots I hope people will understand how amazing is the HDR feature and its value should not be lowered by some very rare and unlucky snapshot. A snapshot with a clear car license number can save your money and maybe your freedom. No matter if the grass is green or not, if the sky and clouds are nice or not, in dashcam world the only important thing is the proof. And in my country the proof can be only with a clear car license number or some witnesses who spotted the car license number and can declare to the police what they saw. In my country most of the people don't want to be witness because police and judges make their lives complicated during the trial. So the best option is to capture the license plate also during night not only during day. And, now, this is much much more possible because of Sony in a way that was never before.

Another bonus (original snapshots here) to see that Starvis 2 Clear HDR is better than Starvis DOL HDR and I expect no Starvis snapshot to be better than a Starvis 2 snapshot. First GIF is at total speed of about 120 MPH (180 Km/h).

I've been scouring the footage A139 Pro nighttime footage and I can't come up with one example of being able to see a license plate when the amount of ambient light is low (darker rural road or driving down the freeway).

People, please understand this:
HDR is not Night Vision!
HDR is only about overexposure. HDR is reducing the overexposure, when there is too much light and the brightness just explodes. Look at above GIFs at the incoming cars headlights and of course at license plates.
HDR will not add brightness in the dark or under ambient light. Brightness is added only by the Starvis (2) technology.
No matter if HDR is on or off, at twilight, at dawn, sunset, sunrise, the car license plates will be not visible if the cars are moving. For sure there will be some situations when will be visible but nobody should put their hopes in this.
HDR needs a lot of light, needs overexposing, needs your car headlights pointed to the incoming car license plates. If the incoming car is close to the dashcam car, if the speed is under 60-80KM/h, if the incoming license plates are not dirty, any EU user with A139 Pro and HDR enabled should expect to read the incoming license plates. With HDR Off, at night, there is 0,000% chance to read a car license plate if speed is higher than even 50 km/h. In normal situation of night, over 20 KM/H HDR Off is useless.

If somebody wants to put snapshots from my videos on this forum or on another places he can do. I don't want any copyright about that videos, anybody can use them and should not to mention me as source. I want to remain an unknown (and horrible) guy. You can take even better snapshots than me, I didn't insisted too much on that videos because main subject was now A139 and not A139 Pro. If you can find a poor situation for A139 Pro compared to A139 please post it with snapshots so Viofo can look and maybe improve it. Sony IMX678 can do even better HDR On videos.

If for USA the Clear HDR is useless, sorry for them. At least one time the EU wins!

 

[rcg530]

View attachment 63189


People, please understand this:
HDR is not Night Vision!
HDR is only about overexposure. HDR is reducing the overexposure, when there is too much light and the brightness just explodes. Look at above GIFs at the incoming cars headlights and of course at license plates.
HDR will not add brightness in the dark or under ambient light. Brightness is added only by the Starvis (2) technology.
No matter if HDR is on or off, at twilight, at dawn, sunset, sunrise, the car license plates will be not visible if the cars are moving. For sure there will be some situations when will be visible but nobody should put their hopes in this.
HDR needs a lot of light, needs overexposing, needs your car headlights pointed to the incoming car license plates. If the incoming car is close to the dashcam car, if the speed is under 60-80KM/h, if the incoming license plates are not dirty, any EU user with A139 Pro and HDR enabled should expect to read the incoming license plates. With HDR Off, at night, there is 0,000% chance to read a car license plate if speed is higher than even 50 km/h. In normal situation of night, over 20 KM/H HDR Off is useless.

If somebody wants to put snapshots from my videos on this forum or on another places he can do. I don't want any copyright about that videos, anybody can use them and should not to mention me as source. I want to remain an unknown (and horrible) guy. You can take even better snapshots than me, I didn't insisted too much on that videos because main subject was now A139 and not A139 Pro. If you can find a poor situation for A139 Pro compared to A139 please post it with snapshots so Viofo can look and maybe improve it. Sony IMX678 can do even better HDR On videos.

If for USA the Clear HDR is useless, sorry for them. At least one time the EU wins!

I'm totally aware that HDR is "not night vision". You're stating the obvious.

The plates there were visible to my eyes while driving are the ones I was hoping the A139 Pro with or without HDR enabled might be able to catch.