VIOFO A229 Duo Review

rcg530

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I received a pre-production VIOFO A229 Duo dash cam. I've been testing various firmware versions over the past month or so. I found an issue with Auto Event Detection parking mode not working correctly for the first motion event and that has been fixed in V1.0_0516 firmware.


In the review video, I discuss the addition of the 5th pin on the connection between the GPS module and the dash camera. I have seen statements that the GPS module will go into a sleep mode while in parking mode. I've checked with VIOFO Marketing and they checked with VIOFO engineering and the statement back to me is that the 5-Pin GPS logger module will only fully power down when the HK4 is connected to the GPS logger and the A229 is powered off. Currently, there is no support for the GPS module to power down during parking mode.

When the video "Bitrate" setting is set to "Maximum" or "High", I've observed that stuttering video would be generated by the A229 Duo. VIOFO confirmed that the raw video has 1 to 3 frames being dropped every 2 seconds at those bitrate settings. VIOFO is seeing if they can optimize the video generation process at those bitrate settings. VIOFO may also adjust the generated video bitrate for those "Bitrate" settings since VIOFO dash cam video is recorded at a much higher bitrate than many other dash cam products on the market, so they could reduce the generated video bitrate and still produce excellent quality dash cam video.

VIOFO A229 Duo Firmware Settings


VIOFO A229 Duo Video Samples


VIOFO A229 Front Camera CPL Videos

 
I have firmware V1.0_0601 installed in my A229 Duo. I noted in my review that High and Maximum video bitrate settings would generate stuttering video. I set the bitrate setting to Normal for my weekly shopping trip route. Friday afternoon, I found the "Normal" bitrate video and even the low bitrate parking mode video had dropped video frames causing the video to stutter during playback.

I reviewed video footage from my VIOFO T130 (bitrate Maximum) and there was no stuttering during video playback. I've uploaded the raw video files (A229 Duo and T130) for VIOFO to review.
 
I have firmware V1.0_0601 installed in my A229 Duo. I noted in my review that High and Maximum video bitrate settings would generate stuttering video. I set the bitrate setting to Normal for my weekly shopping trip route. Friday afternoon, I found the "Normal" bitrate video and even the low bitrate parking mode video had dropped video frames causing the video to stutter during playback.

I reviewed video footage from my VIOFO T130 (bitrate Maximum) and there was no stuttering during video playback. I've uploaded the raw video files (A229 Duo and T130) for VIOFO to review.
The T130 also has this problem and was resolved with firmware.
 
Tomorrow, I'll be testing a new firmware version for the A229 Duo that might resolve the video stuttering issue. I've left the video bitrate setting at the default of "Normal" to see how that video looks since I observed the dropped frames (stuttering) issue with that video bitrate.
 
I ran a test of the A229 Duo V1.0_0615 firmware. I set the A229 video bitrate setting to Normal for one test loop, High for the second test loop and Maximum for the third test loop.

The video looks good now! I cannot detect any stuttering in the video playback.

Unfortunately, there now appears to be an audio issue at the end of each file. The audio in the front and rear video files stops (goes to a level of zero) at about 50 frames (@ 30 fps) before the end of each video file.

In the attached picture, I show the three V1.0_0615 generated front camera video files all with the audio level dropping to zero at about 1.67 seconds before the end of the video file. I included a video file created on 14-Jun-2022 with firmware V1.0_0601 and it has audio until the end (minus 1 frame at the very end). The red arrows show which video track corresponds to which audio track in this screen shot from Adobe Premiere Pro.

a229_duo_v1.0_0615_audio.png

I've reported my findings to VIOFO.
 
I just received firmware V1.0_0618 to test for the "no audio at the end of each video file" issue.

It was stated the the audio being out of sync by one frame between front and rear video files was deemed acceptable by VIOFO.
 
It was stated the the audio being out of sync by one frame between front and rear video files was deemed acceptable by VIOFO.
Of course they are out of sync between front and rear, at the speed of sound it will take one frame to travel from the front to the back of the car :unsure:, at least if you are using 60fps and have a longish car...

How far out of sync with the video are they?
 
I've never owned a dash came before. Is this normal? I very close to pull the trigger on A229, but now I'm a bit concerned.
 
The V1.0_0618 firmware now places audio in the front file to the last frame. The rear file has 1 to 3 frames with no audio at the end of each file. I've submitted my findings to VIOFO.
 
I've never owned a dash came before. Is this normal? I very close to pull the trigger on A229, but now I'm a bit concerned.
Most every dash camera on the market had some number of issues when they are first released. I'm very pleased with VIOFO's responsiveness to any issues I and others have reported.
 
Most every dash camera on the market had some number of issues when they are first released. I'm very pleased with VIOFO's responsiveness to any issues I and others have reported.
That's good to know. The frequent firmware update certainly is a good indication the manufacture is actively improving thing!
 
Well the sound should work and of course be where it need to be, but it is not a deal-breaker for me as most often i dont use the sound, or have to remove it in post as otherwise youtube would have a copyright tantrum.
BUT ! in the case of a accident, and its aftermath i would want the microphone and camera in general capture as much as possible, so this should work and i will do my best to have any exchanges of words near my car so it can pick up evidence.

Also a thing for newcomers is, any new system from any brand, always have some quirks to be ironed out, so the people getting new cameras well if they feel a little like beta testers it is not completely wrong.
BUT ! in general the new systems i have tested over the years have mostly been okay in general, and any quirks have just been minor,,,,,, though say a missing frame,,,, you can be in a situation where just 1 frame are a good plate capture, and so loosing just that particular frame to a not yet perfect camera would suck big time.
But again your timing would have to be horrible bad for any not yet fixed quirk to nail you like that.
 
As the saying go, being a early adopter are not always a dance on rose petals, some times there may be a thorny stem in there too.

For instance in computer hardware, something i worked a lot with in my younger days as a tech writer on a local computer / hardware site, well i have never gotten a new motherboard on release day or a GFX card, but i have gotten both pretty early none the less, and i have never had any major problems in this regard.
But it is still something some people would advise against, and sure a matured thing are often the safest bet, but in some cases that dont just mean you get last years model, it might also be a significant lesser level of technology you are buying into.
Then again as a oldie i have also been there thru the frowned upon windows Me and vista operating systems, and i used both, and was also pushing my computers doing overclocking ASO, and those 2 OS was okay to me while i used them, so i do not hate on them even if being a grumpy hateful old guy come pretty natural to me.
 
That's good to know. The frequent firmware update certainly is a good indication the manufacture is actively improving thing!
@viofo is very active on this forum and attempts to resolve any issues that are raised.
You're on the right forum for help if you decide to purchase a Viofo product.
Of course they also have the normal warranty but have been seen on this forum helping after the warranty.
 
I ran an audio sync test last night with the V1.0_0618 firmware. The video and audio are in sync with each other.

According to VIOFO, the front and rear video file transitions are not guaranteed to be at the same frame to have the audio 100 percent in sync in the front and rear video files.

The small 0 to 3 frames of no audio at the end of the A229 Duo files is similar to or better than the T130 video files where there are 3 frames at the end of all three channel's video files without audio.

Of course they are out of sync between front and rear, at the speed of sound it will take one frame to travel from the front to the back of the car :unsure:, at least if you are using 60fps and have a longish car...

How far out of sync with the video are they?

I confirmed with VIOFO that the A229 Duo only has one microphone and it is located in the front camera. Also, the A229 Duo only records at 30 fps.
 
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