VIOFO BTR200 - 3-Button Bluetooth Remote Control

[rcg530]

I found a post by VIOFO on their Facebook page about the new 3-button Bluetooth remote control. I had thought it was going to be a 2-button unit, but it appears it is a 3-button unit. I don't see it listed on their website.

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We're bursting with excitement to unveil the latest upgrade to our Bluetooth remote control! Now features three buttons and more new functions. Here's a sneak peek:
Turn On / Off Microphone

Take a Photo

Turn On / Off WiFi

Power Off

Switch to Timelapse Recording

Turn On / Off HDR

[click picture to expand to full size]

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[Panzer Platform]

Great, now we can help diagnose "loosing pairing" malfunctions posts on two models of Bluetooth Remotes.
Just kidding. lol

 

[Nigel]

Turn On / Off Microphone

Take a Photo

Turn On / Off WiFi

Power Off

Switch to Timelapse Recording

Turn On / Off HDR

No Lock File function on this button?

 

[rcg530]

No Lock File function on this button?

They had that question come up in the comments for their post.

There are three buttons in total and one button for one function. The main button is for locking the video. The functions for the other two buttons can be set in the camera settings.

The large/main button has the dedicated function of locking the video while the other two are user assignable in the dash camera settings.

 

[mentadent]

I would like a button that does a status check. I often press my button just to hear it say recording locked, to test if it is working.

 

[Panzer Platform]

I would like a button that does a status check. I often press my button just to hear it say recording locked, to test if it is working.

I do this to check if the cameras on my rear window are on, except I just say;
"Turn on screen"

 

[Nigel]

I would like a button that does a status check. I often press my button just to hear it say recording locked, to test if it is working.

Yes, with the voice responding :
"Recording: 3 channels. Microphone: On. Wifi: Off. HDR: On. Parking mode: Disabled. GPS: Good Signal, 60Km/h."

 

[Nigel]

Turn On / Off Microphone

I hope that option also does:

On the A229 Pro/Plus, long pressing the microphone button turns the parking mode on/off.
User Manual: Page №6

Or can be configured to do so.

 

[Vortex Radar]

I like the status check idea too. Looking over the current setup, the only new option besides emergency recording I could mayyyybe see myself using is turning WiFi on and off more easily.

On a related note I found that one BT button can be paired to multiple cams at once. I’m currently using one with both an A229 Pro and a VS1 for testing, but I can also see that being useful if you’re running separate front/rear cams and want to do emergency recording on both cams, flick on WiFi on either cam (especially the rear one) to change settings or grab footage.

 

[Karagandinez]

I like the status check idea too. Looking over the current setup, the only new option besides emergency recording I could mayyyybe see myself using is turning WiFi on and off more easily.

There are many who want to be able to turn HDR on and off using a button.

On a related note I found that one BT button can be paired to multiple cams at once.

This is what I really like.

 

[Panzer Platform]

There are many who want to be able to turn HDR on and off using a button.

Yes, I want this along with the Voice Command "Turn On/Off HDR"
It's nice we have the Auto HDR Timer setting, but I don't really like it.
I'm going to program the 3rd button to make Decaf.

 

[Vortex Radar]

There are many who want to be able to turn HDR on and off using a button.

I dunno, I get the idea in theory, but IMO dashcams need to be as hands-off as possible. AutoHDR should let us have HDR off in the daytime and on at night. The less putzing around we have to do with our dashcams to change settings on the fly, the better. You should be able to get in the car and go without having to worry about which setting your dashcam is in or without having to remember if you should change every time you get in the car, or what setting it was in last time you drove. (A timer-based AutoHDR solution technically can work initially, but it become less and less helpful over time the farther away you are from the equator.) If your dashcam is hidden behind the RVM, will you have an audible confirmation to let you know that HDR is on/off? Hopefully that'll be an option, but either way I think we shouldn't have to manually change settings on the fly when the dashcam should be able to do all that for us.

 

[Karagandinez]

I dunno, I get the idea in theory, but IMO dashcams need to be as hands-off as possible. AutoHDR should let us have HDR off in the daytime and on at night. The less putzing around we have to do with our dashcams to change settings on the fly, the better. You should be able to get in the car and go without having to worry about which setting your dashcam is in or without having to remember if you should change every time you get in the car, or what setting it was in last time you drove. (A timer-based AutoHDR solution technically can work initially, but it become less and less helpful over time the farther away you are from the equator.) If your dashcam is hidden behind the RVM, will you have an audible confirmation to let you know that HDR is on/off? Hopefully that'll be an option, but either way I think we shouldn't have to manually change settings on the fly when the dashcam should be able to do all that for us.

Auto HDR turns off HDR during the day and turns it on at night. But sometimes there are situations when we really need to turn on HDR due to a sudden change in weather conditions or something else, and it’s more convenient to do this by pressing a button.
But everyone chooses for themselves what is more important for them to have on the programmable buttons of the new remote control.

 

[mentadent]

If they open sourced the firmware, oh who cares

 

[ogzogz]

I dunno, I get the idea in theory, but IMO dashcams need to be as hands-off as possible. AutoHDR should let us have HDR off in the daytime and on at night. The less putzing around we have to do with our dashcams to change settings on the fly, the better. You should be able to get in the car and go without having to worry about which setting your dashcam is in or without having to remember if you should change every time you get in the car, or what setting it was in last time you drove. (A timer-based AutoHDR solution technically can work initially, but it become less and less helpful over time the farther away you are from the equator.) If your dashcam is hidden behind the RVM, will you have an audible confirmation to let you know that HDR is on/off? Hopefully that'll be an option, but either way I think we shouldn't have to manually change settings on the fly when the dashcam should be able to do all that for us.

Auto HDR turns off HDR during the day and turns it on at night. But sometimes there are situations when we really need to turn on HDR due to a sudden change in weather conditions or something else, and it’s more convenient to do this by pressing a button.
But everyone chooses for themselves what is more important for them to have on the programmable buttons of the new remote control.

@Vortex Radar @Karagandinez
Judging by what is written, it would be good and functional if the front camera automatically turns on HDR thanks to the light sensor on the main camera or the interior camera light sensor in the future. The current automatic HDR clock setting should not necessarily remain constant throughout the year. It may be better to turn it on and off with the help of a sensor.
Thus, HDR can be activated when passing through a tunnel during daytime driving and can be turned off again thanks to the light sensor at the tunnel exit.
@viofo

 

[Vortex Radar]

@Vortex Radar @Karagandinez
Judging by what is written, it would be good and functional if the front camera automatically turns on HDR thanks to the light sensor on the main camera or the interior camera light sensor in the future. The current automatic HDR clock setting should not necessarily remain constant throughout the year. It may be better to turn it on and off with the help of a sensor.
Thus, HDR can be activated when passing through a tunnel during daytime driving and can be turned off again thanks to the light sensor at the tunnel exit.
@viofo

So I've noticed from radar detectors is that they all stink when it comes to automatically adjusting the display brightness for day/night, tunnels, etc. In one of my conversations with a RD manufacturer, they went off on a rant about how bad the current ambient light sensor tech is, lol, but hopefully a dashcam manufacturer that's using a full on image sensor and dynamically adjusting sensitivity and exposure on the fly could come up with a solution that is more capable than what a simple light sensing diode can do. Time-based adjustments using GPS is a simple solution, but you quickly run into limitations when trying to use this in real life.

 

[Nigel]

but hopefully a dashcam manufacturer that's using a full on image sensor and dynamically adjusting sensitivity and exposure on the fly could come up with a solution that is more capable than what a simple light sensing diode can do. Time-based adjustments using GPS is a simple solution, but you quickly run into limitations when trying to use this in real life.

The real answer is to make the HDR work well day and night, then nobody would want to turn it off, manually or automatically!

 

[ogzogz]

So I've noticed from radar detectors is that they all stink when it comes to automatically adjusting the display brightness for day/night, tunnels, etc. In one of my conversations with a RD manufacturer, they went off on a rant about how bad the current ambient light sensor tech is, lol, but hopefully a dashcam manufacturer that's using a full on image sensor and dynamically adjusting sensitivity and exposure on the fly could come up with a solution that is more capable than what a simple light sensing diode can do. Time-based adjustments using GPS is a simple solution, but you quickly run into limitations when trying to use this in real life.

I also believe that it can be functional with combinations of GPS or date and time zone. But there will still be people who are not happy with this.
Because some cloudy days will cause HDR to be turned on for some time and with this delay, the license plate cannot be read. Likewise, it will not be able to benefit from HDR outside the set time zone during tunnel passage.

Turning it on and off with the remote means thinking about continuous camera recording, as you mentioned above. Turning HDR on or off with the help of a button may be useful for those who will test it, but it will be a feature that the real user will never use.

 

[Vortex Radar]

I also believe that it can be functional with combinations of GPS or date and time zone. But there will still be people who are not happy with this.
Because some cloudy days will cause HDR to be turned on for some time and with this delay, the license plate cannot be read. Likewise, it will not be able to benefit from HDR outside the set time zone during tunnel passage.

Speaking of which, is it more challenging than you'd think to automatically set the time of a device based on location? With GPS info, you should be able to determine location, time zone, and even daylight savings time changes as needed, and then automatically set that within the device. Rarely do I see anything do that. Cell phones can do it, but I believe they usually do it using cellular data from the tower, not via GPS.

I can understand the concern of crossing a time zone, changing the resulting filenames of video files that include time info, and potentially conflicting with videos recorded an hour ago, sure, but I'm not sure why there isn't a straightforward way of automatically setting the time of a device using GPS.

I suppose we're starting to go OT beyond just a new BT button, lol, but yeah.

 

[Nigel]

Speaking of which, is it more challenging than you'd think to automatically set the time of a device based on location?

It is fairly easy to calculate sunset and sunrise time from the GPS coordinates and GPS time, which is what you want for your HDR On and Off if you are not going to use light level.

It gets difficult if you want to deal with timezones and DST, which don't have much to do with light levels or solar time. They are controlled by political decisions!