Vueroid S1 4K Infinite - Test & Review

[VUEROiD]

Early Morning - Normal vs HDR+IPC

The S1 4K struggles to capture detail when driving close to sunrise or sunset. The dashcam metering appears to select too slow an exposure time to freeze the motion of cars and other moving objects, when it is not yet dark enough for HDR to be effective even though my headlights are turned on. I have observed similar blurring when driving in cloudy conditions.

This video sample was recorded 5-10 minutes after sunrise with mostly clear skies:

Early Morning - Normal vs HDR+IPC
FW V1.3.1 // CPL OFF

Comparing Normal and HDR+IPC:
- HDR+IPC is better for plate capture if the headlights catch the number plate
- Normal has a shorter exposure time and is my preferred option for overall image detail

Comparing the S1 4K to the Viofo A329S
- The S1 has significantly more blur than the Viofo A329S

S1 4K Normal // S1 4K HDR+IPC // Viofo A329S

View attachment 88477

Hi TonyM

Because you always test things objectively, the results drive us in the right direction more aggressively.
We understand that there are still challenges in image quality and license plate capture under certain specific environments, and we have been carrying out intensive tuning recently.
We expect excellent license plate capture performance across all lighting conditions, and we are continuously planning performance updates for the S1 4K, including improvements to the license plate restoration AI feature, which received some disappointing feedback.
There are comments saying it’s unnecessarily expensive compared with similar products (in H/W specification point of view), which is frustrating, but we are confident it will prove to be worth the price.
Our goal is to make sure that anyone who chooses the S1 4K will never regret their decision.

Thank you for the test, and we will get back to you soon~~
Have a good day~

 

[VUEROiD]

I did encounter the same behavior from my S1 4K.
About 30 minutes before sunset, the plate capture of oncoming traffic is near impossible.

I hope Vueroid can look into this.

Very good to see your feed again, Julian23~~!!!
Of course, we've been looking into this~!!
Thank you~!!!

 

[TonyM]

thank for your feedback .
" The S1 has significantly more blur than the Viofo A329S" => We plan to improve it, have found a way, and are testing it. We plan to release it soon.

Because you always test things objectively, the results drive us in the right direction more aggressively.
We understand that there are still challenges in image quality and license plate capture under certain specific environments, and we have been carrying out intensive tuning recently.

I'm pleased to hear the test feedback is useful and it sounds like you are already finding improvements. I look forward to seeing the results.

 

[qusejr2]

I'm pleased to hear the test feedback is useful and it sounds like you are already finding improvements. I look forward to seeing the results.

your feedback is very useful for our team .After seeing your feedback, we decided that additional tuning was needed and did it . Thanks a lot again.

 

[TonyM]

S1 4K - Event Video Protection

The S1 4K has an option called Event Video Protection (EVP) which I have been testing recently. It is located on page 3 of the on-screen camera settings, and the on/off status is shown by the 5th icon across the top row of the on-screen display.

So far I have only tested this feature for parking mode events - I need more driving time to fill up the driving event folder.

Although it sounds like a useful feature, users should be aware of the potential downsides to enabling this option. When EVP is turned on the dashcam does not implement loop recording in the EVENT and PEVENT folders which are used for impact recordings whilst driving and when parked. As stated in the manual, these files are protected from being overwritten (which might be a good thing) but when the folder is full the dashcam will stop saving impact files. Note that it does not save them in the normal video folders either, so the recording is lost. (@Vueroid please can you review this file handling logic so that video files are saved in the normal INF and PARK folders if the EVENT and PEVENT folders are full?)

The S1 4K should inform the driver that the folder is full with both voice and visual alerts. My testing in parking mode found two issues:
- The voice alert only sounds at the moment of impact, at a time when the driver is likely to be away from the car
- There was no visual alert

I normally drive with voice alerts disabled on my dashcams, so in the absence of any pop-up alerts my S1 4K stopped saving parking event recordings 2 weeks ago because I was not aware the folder was full.

This short clip shows the S1 4K entering and exiting parking mode, with a voice alert "Event folder is full - please delete files" at the moment I close the door to simulate an impact.

I have asked @Vueroid to consider changing the alerts to a time when the driver is in the car, perhaps when the dashcam enters parking mode, and also implement the visual alert. They replied to say this will be addressed very soon 👍

 

[qusejr2]

we will consider this point for next release . we are planning to release new version within 1~2 weeks. With upcoming release we can't add this feature , but The next time version will support it.

 

[TonyM]

Night Driving - Urban to Rural Roads

Front and Rear video samples of driving from a junction with streetlights, onto a rural road without lights

FW V1.3.9 (Beta Test)
Front: 4K30, High Bitrate, HDR+IPC
Rear: QHD30, High Bitrate, HDR

Here's a few sample frames from the videos above:

 

[Onetenner]

Excellent - thank you, it's evident the image processing is working hard to resolve the registration plates.

I made a spreadsheet to track my priorities against the two dashcams I purchased after the U3000 Pro debacle. I've added in the S1 - 4k based upon publicly available information on the Vueroid website, product manual and reviews / videos on this site. The videos & screenshots above have helped me a lot, unfortunately the form factor and lack of screen are high number priorities for me. Until Vueroid come up with a D20-like form factor, I'll have to decide which of the two I presently own will be kept on as an interim solution.

The above is very much 'for my priorities' and reflects the current position - not everyone will agree with my weighting or scoring, after all, it's mainly opinion.

 

[Onetenner]

I've noticed from Tony's screenshots & videos above that the edge distortion varies with mode, it's not a problem as it is to be expected with such a wide angle lens
These two screenshots from Tony's videos show the HDR + IPC to give less edge distortion - look at the black Freelander 2 on the left

Oddly though. on these screenshots, the HDR + IPC mode appears to distort the geometry of the vehicles more - even though they're closer to the centre of the image. In both cases, Left=HDR+IPC, Right=Normal

If you run the videos. you can see artefacts on the left particularly (probably due to camera placement) getting thinner & taller as they get more towards the edge of the frame - the dog jumping on the wall made me smile!

 

[TonyM]

These two screenshots from Tony's videos show the HDR + IPC to give less edge distortion - look at the black Freelander 2 on the left

The difference is the dashcam placement - the HDR+IPC camera is on the left side of the rear view mirror, the Normal camera is on the right side.

When I have cycled through the different settings on the same camera there is no change in the edge distortion.

 

[Onetenner]

The stills you posted (and I reproduced above) where the vehicles are more towards the centre of the frame show distortion - more than I'd expect for a lens positional difference of, say, 300mm on screen?
It doesn't change anything materially, it just looks a bit 'jarring' - like watching a 16:9 film on a 4:3 screen.

 

[TonyM]

Night Parking - Unlit Car Park - Normal / HDR / Premium Night Vision

A short video clip comparing the three video enhancing options for parking mode, in an unlit car park at night.

Screenshots showing the three settings, with a pedestrian walking by in Normal and PNV modes:



In each mode I added a bit of light by turning on my car's sidelights whilst parked. These 100% crops show the effect of minor illumination on the cars parked opposite:

Normal

HDR

Premium Night Vision

 

[Onetenner]

I very much like the work done by Vueroid in getting the PNV mode to that level of detail.

 

[TonyM]

S1 4K : Event-Only Audio

The S1 4K has three options for recording audio: Always On, Always Off, and Event Only. This is the first dashcam I've used that has an event-only option - are there others which can do this?

I can see this option having appeal to users who do not want to record audio during their day-to-day driving, such as recording conversations with family etc, but do want audio for any important impact videos.

This is how it works:
- The S1 records 1-minute files without audio up to the moment of impact. These are saved as usual in the INF folder.
- At the point of impact, the S1 records a 30-second video file with audio, capturing 10 seconds prior to the impact and 20 seconds after. This file is saved in the EVENT folder.
- The S1 then resumes recording 1-minute video files without audio.

I was pleased to find that the 10 seconds prior to the impact are recorded with audio, even though the normal video during those same 10 seconds is recorded without audio.

I turned the driving event sensitivity to High to test this feature, so the S1 g-sensor would be triggered by a bump in the road.

 

[Onetenner]

I think that's a really good feature, I don't want conversations recorded in the car but reactions to 'events' can be useful if they're (for example) descriptive of happenings out of camerashot.
Turning the audio recording on or off is always something I'm quite conflicted about, this functionality is another of those 'I didn't know I needed it until it existed' moments.

 

[TonyM]

Comparing Firmware V1.3.11 vs 1.3.1 at Sunset

A while ago I reported to @VUEROiD that motion blur on the S1 4K seemed rather high around dusk and dawn, close to sunrise and sunset - when the ambient light level is low but it's not dark enough for HDR to be as effective as it is at night because ambient light is still the primary light source rather than headlights. The amount of blur was noticeably greater than the Viofo A329S which I also have in my car for a long-term test.

Vueroid accepted my observations and promptly got to work on refining the dashcam parameters for video capture in these in-between conditions. The results of this can be seen in the latest firmware, V1.3.11.

This example was recorded on a pair of S1 4K cameras in my car, one with the initial public release firmware V1.3.1, and the other with the latest V1.3.11.
Both cameras have HDR+IPC enabled, and no CPL fitted.

Observations from this video:
- Motion blur is significantly reduced, producing sharper details
- The sky and foreground are darker which might be a downside for some users
- No visible increase in noise or other artefacts

My general observations on V1.3.11 vs V1.3.1 include:
- Motion blur greatly reduced in the hours close to sunrise and sunset
- Motion blur is now similar to or better than the A329S
- No visible difference to the dashcam performance at night
- No obvious differences during the daytime so far, but I want to compare more examples

 

[HPKA]

Must say I like this very welcome live-blog of camera improvements seemingly happening in real time. Plus it's a roam round home for the Yorkshire expats amongst us.