The dreaded no recording... just happened to me :eek:

[DT MI]

...I love the video quality but if it isn't able to be reliable then the quality doesn't mean much...

That's why the three most important features of ANY dashcam are Reliability, Reliability and Reliability.

 

[speeddemon69]

Thank you for the heads-up. I really appreciate it.

I'll keep monitoring it for the coming weeks and see what happens. I did notice several strange things including that "apparent" freeze when AED mode starts recording non stop.

I can confirm the heat generation. Today when I swapped the cards, I could barely touch the DC and we're not even in summer (currently 24C ambient temp). I can only imagine what will happen when it's 43C outside.

In the end, if this card doesn't solve the issue or no new firmware comes out soon to address some of this issues, we do have other options....

I love the video quality but if it isn't able to be reliable then the quality doesn't mean much.

Maybe I'm one of the few who run the DC 24/7. Maybe people don't use parking mode. Maybe they completely shutdown the dashcam at the end of the day. I don't know.

I'll keep you all updated.

Totally agreed i rather get a 1080p at this point. I should of bought this on Amazon that way i would returned it a looooooong time ago. My second unit now freezes when coming off parking mode. The first one didn’t save videos. I guess credit card dispute? Or just downgrade to a lesser but reliable viofo?

 

[mikey94025]

So if everyone that had bought VIOFO A139 PRO would just spend some time investigating the operation of the dash-cam - numbers would definitely be much higher. I am pretty sure of that.

I've been fortunate and not seen any missed video recordings for my A139 Pro (only 1ch, no parking mode, leave wi-fi off, SanDisk 256GB Max Endurance card). Since the reports here I have been periodically spot checking, using the app, for any recording gaps but all my driving periods/days appear covered.

I pulled my card tonight and went through all 629 file timestamps - It's easy to review the sorted list and confirm consecutive 1-minute periods. When there was any gap, I played the video to confirm it was the camera powering off/on (i.e., me just me parked or else leaving parked). Maybe the bug has to do with parking mode?

 

[tchavei]

I've been fortunate and not seen any missed video recordings for my A139 Pro (only 1ch, no parking mode, leave wi-fi off, SanDisk 256GB Max Endurance card). Since the reports here I have been periodically spot checking, using the app, for any recording gaps but all my driving periods/days appear covered.

I pulled my card tonight and went through all 629 file timestamps - It's easy to review the sorted list and confirm consecutive 1-minute periods. When there was any gap, I played the video to confirm it was the camera powering off/on (i.e., me just me parked or else leaving parked). Maybe the bug has to do with parking mode?

Or maybe it's the fact your camera powers down on a daily basis while mine is up 24/7 only switching between parking and driving mode.

None of the failures I reported happened on the first day after a full reboot. It's after 3, 4 or 5 days of continuous use that issues start happening... I think.

Totally agreed i rather get a 1080p at this point. I should of bought this on Amazon that way i would returned it a looooooong time ago. My second unit now freezes when coming off parking mode. The first one didn’t save videos. I guess credit card dispute? Or just downgrade to a lesser but reliable viofo?

There are other options out there. I had a short list of candidates when I chose to buy the A139 Pro.

But let's hope it doesn't come to that. Just the effort to return the stuff not mentioning rewiring the car again... Ugh

 

[VIOFO-Support]

you will be back here sooner than you think.

Been there - done that...

Had the same issues, over and over, used various memory cards from the original VIOFO to SANDISK extreme, various amounts of card memories from 64-256GB, and various apps to format the memory card, even VIOFO send me one, but nothing helped. Many issues including disappearing "protected" videos (like literally disappearing - yesterday was 10x protected videos in the RO folder, today - none. VIOFO suggested that even videos in the RO folder will eventually be overwritten when the capacity of the memory card will reach less than 30% of memory. What on Earth is that kinda news? Since when? I ask you to point it out for me in the official detailed description of that. The issue I have is not even overwritten issue as there are 40GB left out of 256GB (239GB) on the memory card left. Same - 2CH recording - only front camera footage on the card, connected interior camera, the dashcam freezes after few hours of standby (parking mode - auto event). Motion sensitivity on LOW always (ask VIOFO to add 10 more levels of sensitivity, did not apply yet) - have hundreds if not thousands of parking mode video sequences in just 8-12 hours. Just none stopped recording in parking mode.
Was driving a few days without checking the footage, you know - inserted memory card, set up the dash-cam, should be worry-free, setup and forget as they say... One day had a minor incident involving my car. Thankfully, it's just a light bump, nothing to worry about, but love to see the footage from the 3CH VIOFO A139 PRO dashcam. And guess what - there is no footage for half of the day including that incident. Last parking video 6 hours ago.

I am losing my doubts that VIOFO would ever fix all issues that particularly this camera has.

So sorry for all the issues. To lower the sensitivity, you can update this special firmware: https://we.tl/t-7Ifa8hfOhj About the space of the card, we may need to make an explanation to you. There is 30% of memory for locked video files and 70% for others. So when the size of locked files reaches the limited space, they will be overwritten automatically. Although there are 40GB left, it may be not the space for the locked files but for the normal files. Hope we have made it clear to you. Again we apologize for all the inconvenience our DC brought, it is better to open a ticket here to get further help: https://support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new Besides, we will also keep optimizing these bugs you may meet.

 

[tchavei]

So sorry for all the issues. To lower the sensitivity, you can update this special firmware: https://we.tl/t-7Ifa8hfOhj About the space of the card, we may need to make an explanation to you. There is 30% of memory for locked video files and 70% for others. So when the size of locked files reaches the limited space, they will be overwritten automatically. Although there are 40GB left, it may be not the space for the locked files but for the normal files. Hope we have made it clear to you. Again we apologize for all the inconvenience our DC brought, it is better to open a ticket here to get further help: https://support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new Besides, we will also keep optimizing these bugs you may meet.

So on a 256GB card, around 77GB are reserved for RO files. If a user keeps adding RO files, eventually those 77GB will run out and start overwriting the oldest RO events regardless of how much card space you have left overall. Is this correct? Or will it wipe all RO files if the 77GB is hit?

Regarding the special firmware, since I do have hundreds of useless parking files every night, I'm willing to test it. Does something change in the app (more sensitivity options) or is "low sensitivity" just lower than the standard "low sensitivity"? I assume that after flashing that firmware, a full factory reset is recommended?

Thank you

Tony

 

[majones]

To lower the sensitivity, you can update this special firmware: https://we.tl/t-7Ifa8hfOhj

Sorry, this makes me more confused. "Lower the sensitivity" to what? Power fluctuations? Temperature? Some aspect of microSD card design such as memory flash structure (MLC, TLC or whatever)? The processor's capacity to write to storage and shift folders at the same time?

My experience has not been that videos are missing, but that on occasion a Front video is locked and the corresponding Rear video isn't. I've raised this via a ticket, and the situation is that Viofo find it difficult to replicate the behaviour.

 

[tchavei]

Sorry, this makes me more confused. "Lower the sensitivity" to what? Power fluctuations? Temperature? Some aspect of microSD card design such as memory flash structure (MLC, TLC or whatever)? The processor's capacity to write to storage and shift folders at the same time?

My experience has not been that videos are missing, but that on occasion a Front video is locked and the corresponding Rear video isn't. I've raised this via a ticket, and the situation is that Viofo find it difficult to replicate the behaviour.

I think they mean motion detection sensitivity.

Basically what I was think is happening is:

Viofo has some sort of algorithm that compares each frame with the previous. If there's, imagine 10% of difference, then it writes the recording to disk. The lower the sensitivity, the more changes have to be seen across frames to trigger a save.


The issue, in my naive view, is that at night, the camera sensor must be compensating light levels which makes the entire image having a faint flicker which then translates into a false positive trigger to start writing files to disk.

At this point, I don't think this will be ever sorted.

I'll be happy if the camera doesn't lock up or stop recording.

I think that I'll probably just chose time-lapse or low bitrate for parking mode and be done with it.

 

[majones]

I think they mean motion detection sensitivity.

Basically what I was think is happening is:

Viofo has some sort of algorithm that compares each frame with the previous. If there's, imagine 10% of difference, then it writes the recording to disk. The lower the sensitivity, the more changes have to be seen across frames to trigger a save.


The issue, in my naive view, is that at night, the camera sensor must be compensating light levels which makes the entire image having a faint flicker which then translates into a false positive trigger to start writing files to disk.

At this point, I don't think this will be ever sorted.

I'll be happy if the camera doesn't lock up or stop recording.

I think that I'll probably just chose time-lapse or low bitrate for parking mode and be done with it.

Ah! Makes sense. I was drifting away into fairyland so thanks for pulling me back to your OP!

As I understand it, when set for event mode in Parking Mode, the camera must be continuously recording so that it has captured the 15s before the event is triggered, and then it supplements that with 45s after the event. So the Parking Mode files should each be 1 minute. The "event" is motion, and that isn't a big deal for modern processors to deal with (universal on home security cameras). I see in firmware v1.1_0424 that there is a Parking Mode Detection sensitivity setting, so I assume that is the "sensitivity" Viofo refer to. Presumably if the car has a shock then the video is moved to the locked folder. (I'm guessing.)

I can't run event mode overnight as it drains the battery, so I have tried time-lapse to see if that uses less power. But then I discovered I seem to get a weird problem whereby regular driving videos occasionally don't get moved to the locked folder as a pair - the Front gets moved but the Rear doesn't. I may have an imagined correlation there, but, whatever, the Viofo algorithm for populating the locked video folder has a problem. BUT, the videos are always there, if sometimes in the wrong folder.

I have my fingers crossed for your new card.

 

[majones]

One more thought. Your car park has lighting running at 50Hz, but your camera is set to 60Hz. Might that be a problem is the lighting is non-incandescent (LED)?

 

[tchavei]

Ah! Makes sense. I was drifting away into fairyland so thanks for pulling me back to your OP!

As I understand it, when set for event mode in Parking Mode, the camera must be continuously recording so that it has captured the 15s before the event is triggered, and then it supplements that with 45s after the event. So the Parking Mode files should each be 1 minute. The "event" is motion, and that isn't a big deal for modern processors to deal with (universal on home security cameras). I see in firmware v1.1_0424 that there is a Parking Mode Detection sensitivity setting, so I assume that is the "sensitivity" Viofo refer to. Presumably if the car has a shock then the video is moved to the locked folder. (I'm guessing.)

I can't run event mode overnight as it drains the battery, so I have tried time-lapse to see if that uses less power. But then I discovered I seem to get a weird problem whereby regular driving videos occasionally don't get moved to the locked folder as a pair - the Front gets moved but the Rear doesn't. I may have an imagined correlation there, but, whatever, the Viofo algorithm for populating the locked video folder has a problem. BUT, the videos are always there, if sometimes in the wrong folder.

I have my fingers crossed for your new card.

All firmwares (321, 424 and 517) have motion sensitivity and g sensor sensitivity for parking mode.

Usually, for parking mode, I set motion detection to low and g sensor to high

Unfortunately, even in 517, the low motion detection still triggers almost continuously. So you end up with continuous recording.


I'm pondering between low bitrate mode (little less Battery hungry than AED mode) or 5fps time-lapse which doesn't have sound but uses even less space.

I mean, I tested TLM and you can still see perfectly any license plate by stepping frame by frame. Could be enough to be honest.

Regarding the RO folder, I've tested a bit with it today and it always saved both front and back. On occasions it would even save two files of each. I guess it depends at what point the recording is at when you tap that button.

I did notice a 1 sec difference on some of my recordings between front and back. Not sure where you fix that.

 

[tchavei]

One more thought. Your car park has lighting running at 50Hz, but your camera is set to 60Hz. Might that be a problem is the lighting is non-incandescent (LED)?

Oh

That's interesting

My car park is running leds

I should try 50hz maybe. Good catch!



Definitely should use 50hz

 

[DaCerne]

So sorry for all the issues. To lower the sensitivity, you can update this special firmware: https://we.tl/t-7Ifa8hfOhj About the space of the card, we may need to make an explanation to you. There is 30% of memory for locked video files and 70% for others. So when the size of locked files reaches the limited space, they will be overwritten automatically. Although there are 40GB left, it may be not the space for the locked files but for the normal files. Hope we have made it clear to you. Again we apologize for all the inconvenience our DC brought, it is better to open a ticket here to get further help: https://support.viofo.com/support/tickets/new Besides, we will also keep optimizing these bugs you may meet.

Thank you for your reply, but could you add more information on which exact version of firmware you offering to try? I might have that tested already.

Next - "locked" files. I ask the VIOFO support team already to point out where this information regarding the allocation of memory is stated in your descriptions or manuals.
If I read it before ordering this product, I would have second doubts and would not choose VIOFO company just for this nonsense.

In my 5months of experience with VIOFO A139 PRO, "protected" files were always on the memory card. They started to disappear with recent firmware versions (321 or 424).
It is a major issue if the dashcam can override files which are placed in the RO folder (RO = READ ONLY!!).

Example - I am using a 64GB memory card. On a long few days journey, I had an incident. I know that the incident is recorded and protected in the RO folder. Now I continue my journey. Returning home just to find out that the file which should be "protected" was overwritten?! And I lost all evidence.

Protected videos SHOULD NEVER BE OVERWRITTEN OR DISAPPEARING FROM MEMORY CARD! NEVER!! Even when the memory is full. The dash-cam should inform that there is not enough memory for recordings but do not by any means overwrite or delete the protected videos. It's just NONSENSE!


Now in my case, "locked" and "protected" videos just disappear from the memory card overnight. I have a good video document of this behaviour and already sent it to VIOFO support.
Now that is a HUGE issue when you have a freshly formatted 256GB memory card inserted in the evening, for the TESTING purpose left like 5x videos "protected" on the memory card (used yellow triangle button, used Bluetooth button). I just to find out in the morning that all my protected videos are gone! SO INDEED - A HUGE ISSUE.

Day after downgrading the firmware to 1.1_206 and guess what - run TEST for a couple of days with the 64GB memory card (so it is easier to fill it up).
None of the "protected videos" disappeared or was overwritten by the lack of memory. And I had exactly 66 "locked" videos. I counted each time. All videos documented.
All there after a couple of days, when the memory card was overwritten almost twice during this period.

So no, you do not explain to me ... about memory locations. And please - point me to the technical description of how the memory card is managed and when and why the "protected videos" will be overwritten. PLEASE!

If it is your NEW strategy (to delete files which by design should not be deleted) - I am already packing my rods and returning your product immediately for FULL REFUND!

PARKING mode in Autodetect mode - it's another joke. With the latest V1.1_0524 firmware, it's even worst. Now autodetect event mode records parking videos non-stop in 15min intervals. Like streaming 24/7. Why bother then? Just say that this camera has "LOW BIT RATE" and "TIMELAPSE" mode recordings in parking mode. Autodetect mode never work as described in 5 months.

Glitches after glitch after glitch.

Sometimes all this situation reminds me of "Cyber Punk 2077" - a game that all players was waiting for for more than ten years. And it came out unfinished with lots of bugs. It is unfinished by this day 3 years later. Still full of bugs and glitches. And in my opinion, it will never be ... finished.

Same here. With the new patch, VIOFO tries to patch one hole but opens another. And this is endless.

Losing hope.

 

[speeddemon69]

Thank you for your reply, but could you add more information on which exact version of firmware you offering to try? I might have that tested already.

Next - "locked" files. I ask the VIOFO support team already to point out where this information regarding the allocation of memory is stated in your descriptions or manuals.
If I read it before ordering this product, I would have second doubts and would not choose VIOFO company just for this nonsense.

In my 5months of experience with VIOFO A139 PRO, "protected" files were always on the memory card. They started to disappear with recent firmware versions (321 or 424).
It is a major issue if the dashcam can override files which are placed in the RO folder (RO = READ ONLY!!).

Example - I am using a 64GB memory card. On a long few days journey, I had an incident. I know that the incident is recorded and protected in the RO folder. Now I continue my journey. Returning home just to find out that the file which should be "protected" was overwritten?! And I lost all evidence.

Protected videos SHOULD NEVER BE OVERWRITTEN OR DISAPPEARING FROM MEMORY CARD! NEVER!! Even when the memory is full. The dash-cam should inform that there is not enough memory for recordings but do not by any means overwrite or delete the protected videos. It's just NONSENSE!


Now in my case, "locked" and "protected" videos just disappear from the memory card overnight. I have a good video document of this behaviour and already sent it to VIOFO support.
Now that is a HUGE issue when you have a freshly formatted 256GB memory card inserted in the evening, for the TESTING purpose left like 5x videos "protected" on the memory card (used yellow triangle button, used Bluetooth button). I just to find out in the morning that all my protected videos are gone! SO INDEED - A HUGE ISSUE.

Day after downgrading the firmware to 1.1_206 and guess what - run TEST for a couple of days with the 64GB memory card (so it is easier to fill it up).
None of the "protected videos" disappeared or was overwritten by the lack of memory. And I had exactly 66 "locked" videos. I counted each time. All videos documented.
All there after a couple of days, when the memory card was overwritten almost twice during this period.

So no, you do not explain to me ... about memory locations. And please - point me to the technical description of how the memory card is managed and when and why the "protected videos" will be overwritten. PLEASE!

If it is your NEW strategy (to delete files which by design should not be deleted) - I am already packing my rods and returning your product immediately for FULL REFUND!

PARKING mode in Autodetect mode - it's another joke. With the latest V1.1_0524 firmware, it's even worst. Now autodetect event mode records parking videos non-stop in 15min intervals. Like streaming 24/7. Why bother then? Just say that this camera has "LOW BIT RATE" and "TIMELAPSE" mode recordings in parking mode. Autodetect mode never work as described in 5 months.

Glitches after glitch after glitch.

Sometimes all this situation reminds me of "Cyber Punk 2077" - a game that all players was waiting for for more than ten years. And it came out unfinished with lots of bugs. It is unfinished by this day 3 years later. Still full of bugs and glitches. And in my opinion, it will never be ... finished.

Same here. With the new patch, VIOFO tries to patch one hole but opens another. And this is endless.

Losing hope.

I feel your pain i will ask for a refund if not i will do a charge back on my card. I did not pay $300 to beta test. I failed by not buying it on Amazon.

 

[tchavei]

PARKING mode in Autodetect mode - it's another joke. With the latest V1.1_0524 firmware, it's even worst.

You mean 517 which was posted a bit above, right? Or you got another beta firmware?

 

[DaCerne]

You mean 517 which was posted a bit above, right? Or you got another beta firmware?

Not really, I had already version V1.1_0524T tested over the past three days. The update offered by VIOFO support on this page (just a few replies back) is V1.1_0517 (it's already outdated). But this morning for the peace of mind, I put 517 on my DC. Will see. The first impression so far (short TEST) - the camera did not yet go to parking mode at all, or the parking mode video files are not in the Parking folder. Still testing.

But all this situation seems to me like we all are BETA or even ALPHA testers at the moment. In my experience, there was no stable firmware so far. So it looks like the product was pushed to the market without even proper software, though we all here chatting about previous and new issues with this product. IMAO

 

[tchavei]

Not really, I had already version V1.1_0524T tested over the past three days. The update offered by VIOFO support on this page (just a few replies back) is V1.1_0517 (it's already outdated). But this morning for the peace of mind, I put 517 on my DC. Will see. The first impression so far (short TEST) - the camera did not yet go to parking mode at all, or the parking mode video files are not in the Parking folder. Still testing.

But all this situation seems to me like we all are BETA or even ALPHA testers at the moment. In my experience, there was no stable firmware so far. So it looks like the product was pushed to the market without even proper software, though we all here chatting about previous and new issues with this product. IMAO

Well the "T" at the end of your version probably stands for Test.

I've been running 517 for... I don't know 1-2 days now.

So far the sandisk extreme 256 seems to work fine. The card filled up and it still is recording fine. I just checked. Let's hope it stays that way. I'll be checking daily.

Regarding parking mode, yeah, it pretty much sucks in AED. I did notice gaps so apparently it's not recording 24/7 anymore which is an improvement but still very sensitive.

Right now, in my opinion, there are different categories of improvements / fixes needed @VIOFO-Support

Security / Structural fixes and improvements:

- change voice notification to reflect true state of recordings. Implement some kind of internal check that files are being written to disk. Do not ever let the DC say it's recording when it's not.

- Change the logic of space management on the card:

- Never delete RO files ever. This is critical. Do whatever management you want (reserve space on card, whatever) but don't delete RO files.

- overwrite policy: seems there's a different policy regarding normal recording vs parking mode. Can you explain the workings? I don't think the DC is just deleting the oldest recording when overwriting.

The more we know about how things work, the better for the community and better for Viofo to avoid problems and surprises in the future.

Regarding testing, I don't really mind. Keep sending those beta firmwares. At least it shows the company is trying to tackle some of the issues.

Thank you.

 

[DaCerne]

Well the "T" at the end of your version probably stands for Test.

I've been running 517 for... I don't know 1-2 days now.

So far the sandisk extreme 256 seems to work fine. The card filled up and it still is recording fine. I just checked. Let's hope it stays that way. I'll be checking daily.

Regarding parking mode, yeah, it pretty much sucks in AED. I did notice gaps so apparently it's not recording 24/7 anymore which is an improvement but still very sensitive.

Right now, in my opinion, there are different categories of improvements / fixes needed @VIOFO-Support

Security / Structural fixes and improvements:

- change voice notification to reflect true state of recordings. Implement some kind of internal check that files are being written to disk. Do not ever let the DC say it's recording when it's not.

- Change the logic of space management on the card:

- Never delete RO files ever. This is critical. Do whatever management you want (reserve space on card, whatever) but don't delete RO files.

- overwrite policy: seems there's a different policy regarding normal recording vs parking mode. Can you explain the workings? I don't think the DC is just deleting the oldest recording when overwriting.

The more we know about how things work, the better for the community and better for Viofo to avoid problems and surprises in the future.

Regarding testing, I don't really mind. Keep sending those beta firmwares. At least it shows the company is trying to tackle some of the issues.

Thank you.

Good points, hope VIOFO is reading them!

Agree 100%, RO files should be left alone no matter what.
Other points are bullseye too!

But, ... regarding the support. It is great, have almost no issue with that, but there is one but...

When you read the online manual and description of the DC, and it says that it is 4K, 3CH with advanced 3 modes of parking surveillance, you have ordered and paid a ransom amount of money (my order was over £425, you wanna get a product that matches the description! I don't wanna become a beta-tester. It should be done in the factory before mass production!

If VIOFO would provide me with DC without charge - for testing purposes, I would not mind testing as many firmware updates as I could get.

But when I paid in full - I wanna have a product as it was described.

Now, in the past 5monts, since I had DC, I already had a minor incident on the road (wasn't my fault). I was pretty sure the camera would have video footage of it. It wasn't even in parking mode!

To my biggest surprise - when I check the recordings later at home, I realised that the dash am stopped recording new videos 6 hours ago.
So no footage of the incident.

What for I bought this DC then?

Now imagine yourself in a similar situation: on the road, accident, not your fault, the other party run away, and you find out that there is no video due to a minor glitch in the firmware.

Would you be happy then?
Would you be happy to test countless new firmware then?
Would you be happy having great support, but also have issues and accidents/damages/losses??

I don't think so.

Yeah, customer service is great, but what it is for me anyway. Dashcam is not working as described after 5/6 months. Never!!

 

[tchavei]

Good points, hope VIOFO is reading them!

Agree 100%, RO files should be left alone no matter what.
Other points are bullseye too!

But, ... regarding the support. It is great, have almost no issue with that, but there is one but...

When you read the online manual and description of the DC, and it says that it is 4K, 3CH with advanced 3 modes of parking surveillance, you have ordered and paid a ransom amount of money (my order was over £425, you wanna get a product that matches the description! I don't wanna become a beta-tester. It should be done in the factory before mass production!

If VIOFO would provide me with DC without charge - for testing purposes, I would not mind testing as many firmware updates as I could get.

But when I paid in full - I wanna have a product as it was described.

Now, in the past 5monts, since I had DC, I already had a minor incident on the road (wasn't my fault). I was pretty sure the camera would have video footage of it. It wasn't even in parking mode!

To my biggest surprise - when I check the recordings later at home, I realised that the dash am stopped recording new videos 6 hours ago.
So no footage of the incident.

What for I bought this DC then?

Now imagine yourself in a similar situation: on the road, accident, not your fault, the other party run away, and you find out that there is no video due to a minor glitch in the firmware.

Would you be happy then?
Would you be happy to test countless new firmware then?
Would you be happy having great support, but also have issues and accidents/damages/losses??

I don't think so.

Yeah, customer service is great, but what it is for me anyway. Dashcam is not working as described after 5/6 months. Never!!

As I stated in the first post in this thread, I was terrified to learn that I had no footage whatsoever of my morning school drop off routine (which is where traditionally I get hit once a year for the last 5 years lol).

I also agree that this product is way too expensive for us to play beta testing.

I have two options right now:

a) give viofo some slack for a few weeks, see if they're committed to fix issues and implement some of the things I already suggested (I don't think any of them is specific to myself but rather global and everyone would appreciate the changes I suggest)


b) Give up, remove the dashcam, dismount the car trims again to remove all the wiring, return everything to viofo Benelux for a refund and move to another brand and go through the entire hardware install again and cross my fingers I don't get disappointed again.

Note that none of my suggestion is talking about improving parking modes etc. I'm asking for basic global security improvements like not giving false recording messages or deleting ro files for example. If those are guaranteed than they can work on all the other fixes.

There can be nothing worse than starting a car, hearing "recording started" when in fact nothing is being recorded. That's plain dangerous. At least say "unknown error. Video might not be recorded" or something so at least we can cold reboot the DC. Not saying this is a solution ie the lockups should be solved but at least warn the user there's a problem.

 

[DaCerne]

As I stated in the first post in this thread, I was terrified to learn that I had no footage whatsoever of my morning school drop off routine (which is where traditionally I get hit once a year for the last 5 years lol).

I also agree that this product is way too expensive for us to play beta testing.

I have two options right now:

a) give viofo some slack for a few weeks, see if they're committed to fix issues and implement some of the things I already suggested (I don't think any of them is specific to myself but rather global and everyone would appreciate the changes I suggest)


b) Give up, remove the dashcam, dismount the car trims again to remove all the wiring, return everything to viofo Benelux for a refund and move to another brand and go through the entire hardware install again and cross my fingers I don't get disappointed again.

Note that none of my suggestion is talking about improving parking modes etc. I'm asking for basic global security improvements like not giving false recording messages or deleting ro files for example. If those are guaranteed than they can work on all the other fixes.

There can be nothing worse than starting a car, hearing "recording started" when in fact nothing is being recorded. That's plain dangerous. At least say "unknown error. Video might not be recorded" or something so at least we can cold reboot the DC. Not saying this is a solution ie the lockups should be solved but at least warn the user there's a problem.

Agree again, what could be the worst than assuming that the DC works as normal, announcing how many channels and that recordings started, LED lights are On, yeah, how could you tell that the dashcam actually is recording and saving video files?

I experienced every issue as this forum is talking about and more...

Had videos missing from live footage, had snow effect on my videos, no visibility just “snow” as there would be no signal, had experience purple haze on FRONT camera footage during the parking mode at night, seem like somehow DC messed up with the channels, DC freezes, lags, time synchronization does not work anymore, have to adjust manually, disappearing “protected” videos and much much more...

VIOFO already sent me replacement DC. Was better for a week, till I connected 3rd Channel, when the DC went nuts again. G-sensor was in 20-30% more sensitive comparing my original DC (same road same bumps you get a point), so 1st week was more sensitive, after a week (3Ch), few days without even one G-event (usually I get about 10 or more per day when I drive). And now after 4weejs with replacement camera - G-sensibity went down by 50% comparing DC that I purchase. But then locked videos started disappear, VIOFO says it's ok, like Read Only files meant to be overwritten...

So yeah, point 1 is done already, chatting with VIOFO on daily basis (annoying that they ask same questions over and over: what card using, what format software using, did you tried low bit parking mode? Why should I use low bit mode, when I like auto-event mode??)

Anyways, I am one step closer to take out the trims, take out all the wiring, pack the stuff and send it back where it belongs.