VIOFO A229 Pro / Telephoto Camera / Video and Screenshots

Been playing with the new telephoto lens for the A229 Pro. I like it, but I have noticed that videos seem to show the travel speed and movement slightly slower and more sluggish than what is seen with the front lens. Feels like there is some form of compression and video is slightly in slo-mo. Making a slight sharp turn and the image is completely blurred for those few seconds. Still I like the lens.

@VIOFO-Support -- does the above sound normal for this lens? I am using the IR interior camera as well.
I kinda get the same even when running in two channel mode...but on the screen of the A229 pro itself. It has shown it has disconnected too but then a few seconds later it reconnects. Doesn't phase me too much cos it happens few and far between
 
Been playing with the new telephoto lens for the A229 Pro. I like it, but I have noticed that videos seem to show the travel speed and movement slightly slower and more sluggish than what is seen with the front lens. Feels like there is some form of compression and video is slightly in slo-mo. Making a slight sharp turn and the image is completely blurred for those few seconds. Still I like the lens.

@VIOFO-Support -- does the above sound normal for this lens? I am using the IR interior camera as well.
You can see how the telephoto camera shoots to compare with yours using the link below.
 
I have noticed that videos seem to show the travel speed and movement slightly slower and more sluggish than what is seen with the front lens.
The front is also delayed a little, GPS only updates once a second, to display the average speed from the previous second, and the average is filtered over several seconds since GPS tends to be a bit noisy. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a small additional delay for the GPS measurement to reach the rear camera. No dashcam has a GPS reading that is accurate for the video frame you are looking at, but on average they are very accurate as long as you are not changing speed, in which case there is always a delay of a few seconds.

Making a slight sharp turn and the image is completely blurred for those few seconds.
That is normal for a telephoto, you get a lot of motion blur due to the turn panning across the scene, and a telephoto magnifies the pan speed, thus has much worse motion blur. The opposite occurs on the straights, where the magnification reduces the motion across the image, which is why telephotos are very good for reading plates, but only on the straight or when stationary, not in turns.

Not sure what a "slight sharp" turn is, they seem rather opposite concepts?
 
not in turns.
I thought I had an example of that at 2:08 in this telephoto video.
The other car is moving across me, and I I only barley start to turn.
The telephoto still got the plate.

 
I thought I had an example of that at 2:08 in this telephoto video.
The other car is moving across me, and I I only barley start to turn.
The telephoto still got the plate.
When you are using HDR at night, you still get the plate, if it is still light but not sunny then it can become motion blurred on corners.
You don't ever spend much time turning though, all your roads are straight, with right angle turns.
It would be good if you could include a roundabout in your test route 🤔
 

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The front is also delayed a little, GPS only updates once a second, to display the average speed from the previous second, and the average is filtered over several seconds since GPS tends to be a bit noisy. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a small additional delay for the GPS measurement to reach the rear camera. No dashcam has a GPS reading that is accurate for the video frame you are looking at, but on average they are very accurate as long as you are not changing speed, in which case there is always a delay of a few seconds.


That is normal for a telephoto, you get a lot of motion blur due to the turn panning across the scene, and a telephoto magnifies the pan speed, thus has much worse motion blur. The opposite occurs on the straights, where the magnification reduces the motion across the image, which is why telephotos are very good for reading plates, but only on the straight or when stationary, not in turns.

Not sure what a "slight sharp" turn is, they seem rather opposite concepts?

Actually, this is not about the GPS tracking time, but about the image itself. The telephoto video records the view like the car is traveling 20 mph/32 kph when I am actually going much faster than that.

"slight turn" ... that is a fat finger edit on my part. 🙂
 
Actually, this is not about the GPS tracking time, but about the image itself. The telephoto video records the view like the car is traveling 20 mph/32 kph when I am actually going much faster than that.

"slight turn" ... that is a fat finger edit on my part. 🙂
Telephoto lenses have a longer focal length and are suitable for long-distance shots rather than close-ups. If the lens shakes, there will be some blur, especially when turning. Also, because of the difference in focal length, there will be a visual delay when shooting.
 
Telephoto lenses have a longer focal length and are suitable for long-distance shots rather than close-ups. If the lens shakes, there will be some blur, especially when turning. Also, because of the difference in focal length, there will be a visual delay when shooting.

After I made the post, I went back into the old brain cells and worked thru what was happening, it is about the focal length, speed, and covering distance.
 
Noob Here. Can anyone advise me on placement. Is there a wrong or right way as a general rule.....

Bad analogy but for example, large screen TV's. They look great installed higher up ....however, at least 85% of probably what I have seen are installed too high and should be lower for focal POV. Granted a TV is a fixed install and the dashcam/telephoto is adjustable .
 
Noob Here. Can anyone advise me on placement. Is there a wrong or right way as a general rule.....

Bad analogy but for example, large screen TV's. They look great installed higher up ....however, at least 85% of probably what I have seen are installed too high and should be lower for focal POV. Granted a TV is a fixed install and the dashcam/telephoto is adjustable .
Horizontally, you want it fairly close the the centre, if it is off centre, then because of the longer lens and curvature of the windshield glass, it will point a little to the side. Some people prefer it a little to the driver's side so that it is pointing towards the oncoming traffic at the best point for reading plates. You probably do not want it on the passenger side.

Vertically, I don't think it matters much, it will affect the view a little, higher tends to help with exposure during daylight because you get less sky in the image, however lower is better for the HDR to read reflective plates at night, the plates will be brighter lower down, but I think for the telephoto, any height up the windscreen is OK. You do want to make sure you miss any windscreen reflections, which is normally quite easy with a telephoto, and if you have none then you don't need the CPL, which definitely helps with motion blur, so check the live view for reflections, without the CPL fitted, before you stick it to the glass.
 
A little about the operation of the GPS modules in my A329 and A229 Pro...
A229 Pro 2CH was purchased at the end of August and was installed in another car.
At the beginning of winter, I installed A329 1CH and A229 Pro 2CH in the main car.
The models are on the windshield at the same level and about 25 cm from each other.
Since a lot has already been written here about detecting a GPS signal on these models,
I decided to check how the GPS modules behave on my models.
Both models have the latest available firmware. After viewing the memory cards from both models,
I found that the speed stamp after starting recording appears faster on the A229 Pro 2CH than on the A329 1CH.
This happens with every cold start.

Over several days of monitoring, the longest time from the start of recording until the speed stamp
appeared on the video was 60 seconds for the A229 Pro versus 70 seconds for the A329.

A229 Pro is connected via HK3-C.
A329 is connected via HK4.
Power to HK3-C and HK4 is disconnected during long-term parking / overnight near the house.

A229P_A329.webp
 
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I call motorcycle racing " knee scraping "
And while i am not certified for a vehicle like that, on a track given a chance,,,,,, O i would so go for it.
Fair warning, do NOT lend me your favorite bike, CUZ chance are very big ill go sliding on my fat wrinkly old ass.

I miss Kevin Schwantz laying down rubber in every GD corner on the POS Suzuki he drove back then.
Him and maybe a few group B rally drivers, probably to blame for not very many people brave enough to go driving with me, even if i have only made one scream like a little girl and beg for me to get off the gas.

I did not, and that sprint record for a BMW 320I, probably still stand to this day.

I never trashed or crashed a car, that BMW 320 I was fully functional when i left it. Okay the suspension after that mid " stage " flight,,,,, maybe a little worse off. TBH i thought i was going to die too, the forrest very dark at night and i saw 0 road for a while.
 
My son went on a cruise by car. He has a Viofo A229 Pro + Telephoto.
Before the trip, he installed a 1TB memory card from Vantrue in the A229 Pro.
At the moment, the A229 Pro has worked for 72 hours without a break and there are no comments on its operation.
Just in case, I will remind you:
Viofo A229 Pro claims to support memory cards up to 512GB.
 
My son went on a cruise by car. He has a Viofo A229 Pro + Telephoto.
Before the trip, he installed a 1TB memory card from Vantrue in the A229 Pro.
At the moment, the A229 Pro has worked for 72 hours without a break and there are no comments on its operation.
Just in case, I will remind you:
Viofo A229 Pro claims to support memory cards up to 512GB.
There's a probability that 1TB Micro SD cards weren't out yet during the development of the A229 Pro. This happens to mobile phones too. Phones would usually say it will support "up to 256GB micro SD card" because when the phone was manufactured, 512gb sd cards weren't out yet.

I didn't know Vantrue has 1tb micro sd cards now. Last I checked, which is probably a month ago, their max is 512gb.

UPDATE: I just checked. They do have 1tb now.
 
I didn't know Vantrue has 1tb micro sd cards now. Last I checked, which is probably a month ago, their max is 512gb.
 
They write a lot about A229 Pro overheating.
I have A229 Pro + Telephoto installed in 2 cars, which work without problems and have not had a single shutdown due to heating.
I remember writing about observations of this model in the heat, but I did not find it in my thread. It turns out I wrote about this in another thread.


 
They write a lot about A229 Pro overheating.
I have A229 Pro + Telephoto installed in 2 cars, which work without problems and have not had a single shutdown due to heating.
I remember writing about observations of this model in the heat, but I did not find it in my thread. It turns out I wrote about this in another thread.


My A229 Pro never overheated while the car is running. But there are times where it shuts down on Parking Mode when the car is left out in the sun. 2-3 hours parked in the sun and when I get back to my car, the dashcam is already turned off.
 
My A229 Pro never overheated while the car is running. But there are times where it shuts down on Parking Mode when the car is left out in the sun. 2-3 hours parked in the sun and when I get back to my car, the dashcam is already turned off.
My 2 pieces A229 Pro + Telephoto have never turned off due to heating in parking mode.
If at 20:49 outside the car it was +30.5 degrees Celsius, then you can imagine what the temperature was outside at 14:57, when the car was parked.
And how many degrees the temperature inside the car rose during the parking, I can't even imagine.
 
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