Looking for a dashcam, who can help me out before I go crazy?

[Gerbe321]

The Telephoto will not be available for a few weeks.
When it becomes available I imagine they will offer it ala cart, and in 2-CH, 3-CH configurations just like current configurations.

When you upload your vacation road trip to YouTube, and send the link to your friends, and family they will be impressed when they see the 4K badge on the video description. Lol
No one ever said; “Gee, I wish I bought a lower resolution dash cam”.
LMAO

Wait I'm confused. Is the telephoto a separate standalone kind of device? I thought it would replace your rear camera with the bigger zoom.

Did someone ever say at a good 1440p video, I wish it was 4k? Haha.

I was wondering when you'd show up.
Can you convince your countrymen to get the Pro, instead of the Plus? lol

Hey if you can get me a nice deal I won't complain about the Pro, lol. I'm not sure I can get away with the price tag with my girlfriend lol...

Thanks for the recording time. Sounds like it's not as much as I expected from such a large SD card. But lowering the bit rate might be a good idea. Although I'm not sure if that would diminish the benefit of 4k vs 1440p at higher bitrate?

 

[Nigel]

Although I'm not sure if that would diminish the benefit of 4k vs 1440p at higher bitrate?

4K Vs 2K at the same bitrate will give higher spacial resolution at the expense of temporal resolution and colour resolution.
In other words, the 4K will put more detail in license plate characters, but the colours will be more blotchy and the backgrounds will become more pixelated.

With European size license plates, the 2K will do the job for accidents, if you want to report bad driving to the police, the 4K is worth some extra, assuming it is possible in your country. For movie making, it depends on the size and resolution of the TV that you will use for watching.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Also, if you want longer, you do not need to use Max Bitrate, 2/3rds of that still gives a good image most of the time, at half you will notice some loss of image quality.

@Gerbe321

Nigel, why would you advise someone to buy a dash cam with the best image quality on the market, only to reduce Bitarte and reduce image quality?
Anything less than Max Bitrate would be “uncivilized”, I mean counter productive.
Just get a bigger SD Card.

 

[Gerbe321]

4K Vs 2K at the same bitrate will give higher spacial resolution at the expense of temporal resolution and colour resolution.
In other words, the 4K will put more detail in license plate characters, but the colours will be more blotchy and the backgrounds will become more pixelated.

With European size license plates, the 2K will do the job for accidents, if you want to report bad driving to the police, the 4K is worth some extra, assuming it is possible in your country. For movie making, it depends on the size and resolution of the TV that you will use for watching.

Thanks for the explanation. That sounds good. I think the 4K would be stunning. If we get the footage every day from the SD and make a timelapse of the nice sights that we see on the way. Most people I know have fancy 4K tv's so that should be a nice feature.

How do you people get footage from it? Do you download a certain time window via the app and transfer it? Or put the SD card in a laptop/PC and transfer it that way? I assume you have some kind of timeline in the app right? Where you can scroll through all footage?

 

[Gerbe321]

@Gerbe321

Nigel, why would you advise someone to buy a dash cam with the best image quality on the market, only to reduce Bitarte and reduce image quality?
Anything less than Max Bitrate would be “uncivilized”, I mean counter productive.
Just get a bigger SD Card.

How much $ do you get for when I buy the more expensive one? Just messing with you.

Would the A229 Pro really last me longer? I mean, things are going quick and we're going from 4k to 8k to 16k. Would the 4k version last longer than the 1440p? Because it's 50% more expensive. The 512GB SD does sound good, especially when I've got longer drives that I want to put in a timelapse.

 

[Panzer Platform]

Wait I'm confused. Is the telephoto a separate standalone kind of device? I thought it would replace your rear camera with the bigger zoom.

The Telephoto is basically the same "REAR" camera with a Telephoto lens.
And it might have firmware optimized for the job of telephoting. lol

Hey if you can get me a nice deal I won't complain about the Pro, lol. I'm not sure I can get away with the price tag with my girlfriend lol...

Here's a 5% off promo code for Amazon US;
Exp 6/30/24: PANZERA229P ($263 2-CH Rear)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B0CKYGLT5M

I'm not sure I can get away with the price tag with my girlfriend

Send me her email, and I'll beg on your behalf. lol

 

[Gerbe321]

Thanks but sadly:

This item cannot be shipped to your selected delivery location. Please choose a different delivery location.

So that won't work. I'll let it settle for a bit and think it over and see if I can convince myself and my girlfriend. Maybe buy it quickly before we buy our new house, lol. Priorities, right?

 

[Panzer Platform]

How much $ do you get for when I buy the more expensive one? Just messing with you.

Disclosure;
My YouTube Channel is not monetized. I am NOT an Amazon Affiliate, I make no commissions of any kind. I make these videos for fun.

Would the A229 Pro really last me longer? I mean, things are going quick and we're going from 4k to 8k to 16k. Would the 4k version last longer than the 1440p? Because it's 50% more expensive.

OK, forget everything I said.
We might get a new 4K model in 90 days. lol

 

[Gerbe321]

OK, forget everything I said.
We might get a new 4K model in 90 days. lol

I hate you for this. I live with this fear all the time when I buy a new CPU for my PC. I get the point, you can always wait for the next new thing.

 

[Nigel]

Nigel, why would you advise someone to buy a dash cam with the best image quality on the market, only to reduce Bitarte and reduce image quality?

If I am going on a long and generally boring journey, then I will reduce the bitrate to get a longer record time, but I will put it back up for the scenic bits!

A Viofo 512GB card is currently over $100, if you normally only do 10 Km per day then the expense is hardly justified. If the money isn't an issue then just treat it as an investment, but clearly there is a money issue here, so I would rather save $50 on the card, and spend it on the resolution.

How do you people get footage from it? Do you download a certain time window via the app and transfer it? Or put the SD card in a laptop/PC and transfer it that way? I assume you have some kind of timeline in the app right? Where you can scroll through all footage?

Dashcams record files in short segments, typically 1 or 3 minutes long. In the Viofo App, these are treated individually, unfortunately not aranged in journeys, but in a normal file list.

If I want a single file, I will normally download it to my phone via the app.

If I am recording a movie, I will put the memory card in the PC and copy all the files off. Then you need an editor of some sort to stick them all together in sequence, that subject is for another thread!

OK, forget everything I said.
We might get a new 4K model in 90 days. lol

Hmm, isn't that always the case!

But I don't think Gerbe would change his choice, so I wont recommend waiting.

Would the A229 Pro really last me longer? I mean, things are going quick and we're going from 4k to 8k to 16k. Would the 4k version last longer than the 1440p? Because it's 50% more expensive. The 512GB SD does sound good, especially when I've got longer drives that I want to put in a timelapse.

I can see you wanting to upgrade in a year or two if you go for the 2K now. If you go for the 4K then you will probably keep it for longer.
But used dashcams have a value, they always get reused, passed to the wife, or sold.

Yes, a few years ago we had FHD dashcams, then 2K, now 4K, so next year should be 8K , and 16K in ????

Except, I think for most people 2K is sufficient, 4K is excellent, and it will probably stay that way, since it is unlikely that license plates will get harder to read. So the 8K dashcams should only be for the people who like to make 4K movies, and want to zoom in during editing. Having said that, the upcoming telephoto does make license plate reading a lot easier, so people will want 8K for reading license plates as a premium option, as long as memory cards get bigger!

If you intend to make nice movies, then the ability to zoom in on things without loosing detail is nice to have. With 2K you don't have that, with 4K you can, but it is limited, 8K would be very nice.

 

[TheSpanishInq]

How much $ do you get for when I buy the more expensive one?

It did say 'Farmhands' fee included' on my invoice, now you mention it... (sorry, running gag with @Panzer Platform )

Yes, a few years ago we had FHD dashcams, then 2K, now 4K, so next year should be 8K , and 16K in ????

I heard somewhere AI is coming to dashcams very very soon

 

[Nigel]

I heard somewhere AI is coming to dashcams very very soon

Novatek are making AI processors for our dashcams, Sony are not making 8K Starvis sensors, yet I predict an 8K dashcam will arrive before any really useful AI dashcam

 

[Gerbe321]

Okay so I am convinced about the 4k, especially for scenic drives that I do. I'll discuss it with the boss at home to see what's possible, haha.

So about that telephoto again, sorry for keep coming back at it, is it a separate unit that replaces the rear camera? Because I don't want to lose the rear camera in case obviously, otherwise I'd just as well buy the 1CH version, although zooming in for scenic rides it nice! So would a 3CH then be needed, or buy a new camera (like the mini 2) for the rear again?

Dashcams record files in short segments, typically 1 or 3 minutes long. In the Viofo App, these are treated individually, unfortunately not aranged in journeys, but in a normal file list.

Right. That's how my outdoor cameras also save their files on my house. That's fine. Although it sucks the app doesn't have a timeline. The 70mai app looked fancy with that. Any word from Viofo if that's ever supported?

A Viofo 512GB card is currently over $100, if you normally only do 10 Km per day then the expense is hardly justified. If the money isn't an issue then just treat it as an investment, but clearly there is a money issue here, so I would rather save $50 on the card, and spend it on the resolution.

The Sandisk Max Endurance 256GB (sadly no 512GB?) is at around 52 euro here, so that's acceptable. But I'd rather go for 512GB ofcourse. Lookd like I can get a Viofo 512GB from our eastern neighbours for 95 euro.

 

[Panzer Platform]

It did say 'Farmhands' fee included' on my invoice, now you mention it...

Knecht Ruprecht

 

[Panzer Platform]

So about that telephoto again, sorry for keep coming back at it, is it a separate unit that replaces the rear camera? Because I don't want to lose the rear camera in case obviously, otherwise I'd just as well buy the 1CH version, although zooming in for scenic rides it nice! So would a 3CH then be needed, or buy a new camera (like the mini 2) for the rear again?

Mtz’s suggestion is to use the A229 Pro 3-CH in this configuration;
A229 Pro Main / Front camera on front windshield.
A229 Pro Telephoto next to the Front camera.
A229 Pro Interior camera on the rear window looking out with optional 6 Meter cable.
This would be good if you only wanted to maintain one SD Card.

However, there are some drawbacks.
When the Interior camera is connected, the Front camera’s Bitrate drops from 60Mbps down to 36Mbps.
Also the Interior camera is only 1080p.
The Rear, and Telephoto cameras do not lower the Main / Front camera’s Bitrate when connected.
That’s why I suggested an A119 Mini 2 just for the rear window.

 

[Nigel]

Right. That's how my outdoor cameras also save their files on my house. That's fine. Although it sucks the app doesn't have a timeline. The 70mai app looked fancy with that. Any word from Viofo if that's ever supported?

I didn't find the timeline in the 70mai app very useful. Might be because I am used to a normal file list, sorted into date/time order.

There is supposed to be a new Viofo App in the pipeline, a useful timeline may appear, but no timeline on it arriving at the moment.

 

[Mtz]

That’s why I suggested an A119 Mini 2 just for the rear window.

Yeah, this can be a good idea to put Mini 2 on rear window and A229 Pro TeleQuad on front. Another advantage for Mini 2 on rear is that you can use a much cheaper card, the SanDisk Extreme which is OK for 2K dashcams 1CH.
This is the best option in theory, but the OP is low on money and his best option like now for him is A229 Plus 2CH.

Another advantage on separate unit on the rear like Mini2 is that if you can find a power source on the back of the car you will avoid to install the cable from the main unit to the rear window.

The most expensive situation is to buy separately the secondary cameras for A229 Pro or A229 Plus.

Mtz’s suggestion is to use the A229 Pro 3-CH in this configuration;

this will be the configuration in my car because I want just one card, one power source and the most important camera in this setup is the TeleQuad camera, for me. I have no problems with lower bitrate on 4K because also other dashcams are using as default such lower bitrate and for the rear, a Full HD camera is enough in my opinion. I would not buy a 2CH dashcam because it has a better rear camera than others if the front camera is not better.

 

[Panzer Platform]

OP is low on money

OP is not low on money, he’s buying his girlfriend a new house before their 5000km Croation Summer Vacation.
I have a feeling he could afford TWO A229 Pro 2-CH Telephoto units, one for front, one for rear. lol

I'll let it settle for a bit and think it over and see if I can convince myself and my girlfriend. Maybe buy it quickly before we buy our new house, lol. Priorities, right?

 

[Panzer Platform]

How do you people get footage from it? Do you download a certain time window via the app and transfer it? Or put the SD card in a laptop/PC and transfer it that way? I assume you have some kind of timeline in the app right? Where you can scroll through all footage?

I tested the DDPAI Mini5 that also uses a timeline to download clips to your smartphone.
It was a pain in the neck because you had to bring up the the footage you want to download, and then press a record button, and then you have to wait / watch until the event is over, and then press stop recording.
So if you want to download a 5 minutes clip, you have to sit there, and babysit the 5 minute process.

Viofo’s procedure is much easier, you find the clip you want, and just press download.
Here is a link to my VIOFO Wi-Fi Speed Test Database;

VIOFO Wi-Fi Speed Test Database

The purpose of this thread is to document how long it takes to download a 1 Minute video clip over Wi-Fi from Viofo dash cams, (past, present, and future). In an effort to standardize my test method I chose 1 Minute clips with the maximum file size, (highest Bitrate). The newest smartphone I...

dashcamtalk.com

The first post has a summary of all the transfer speeds over Wi-Fi, and compares them with using a $12 SD Card reader for iPhone’s with lighting connector.
If you get an A229 Pro I recommend getting a similar SD Card reader, and leaving it in your glove box along with your spare SD Card so you can download clips out in the field to your smartphone twice as fast, and more importantly not rely on Wi-Fi or the an APP.

 

[Gerbe321]

Mtz’s suggestion is to use the A229 Pro 3-CH in this configuration;
A229 Pro Main / Front camera on front windshield.
A229 Pro Telephoto next to the Front camera.
A229 Pro Interior camera on the rear window looking out with optional 6 Meter cable.
This would be good if you only wanted to maintain one SD Card.

However, there are some drawbacks.
When the Interior camera is connected, the Front camera’s Bitrate drops from 60Mbps down to 36Mbps.
Also the Interior camera is only 1080p.
The Rear, and Telephoto cameras do not lower the Main / Front camera’s Bitrate when connected.
That’s why I suggested an A119 Mini 2 just for the rear window.

Lower bitrate doesn't really sound ideal at all. Sounds like a 2ch cam would be best and then add a new one to the rear if I ever wanted the telephoto.

I didn't find the timeline in the 70mai app very useful. Might be because I am used to a normal file list, sorted into date/time order.

There is supposed to be a new Viofo App in the pipeline, a useful timeline may appear, but no timeline on it arriving at the moment.

Ah right. I didn't actually use it, so I can't talk out of experience. But I won't miss anything then. No timeline for the timeline, lol.

OP is not low on money, he’s buying his girlfriend a new house before their 5000km Croation Summer Vacation.
I have a feeling he could afford TWO A229 Pro 2-CH Telephoto units, one for front, one for rear. lol

Haha right. In theory I could buy the A229 pro front and rear with both telephoto and a few 512gb SD cards, but I'm looking for a good balance between quality and price. I do lean towards the pro (single one lol) , I'll have to check complete prices with the 512gb SD card.

If you get an A229 Pro I recommend getting a similar SD Card reader, and leaving it in your glove box along with your spare SD Card so you can download clips out in the field to your smartphone twice as fast, and more importantly not rely on Wi-Fi or the an APP.

Good idea! That's what I was wondering already. I bring my phone and laptop with my, also to offload photos from my DSLR towards my home server if the wifi allows it. But if I have a long day of driving I can't keep offloading 512gb of data, unless I bring an external drive with me. I'll have to think about how I will process that. Maybe make a few time-lapse clips and keep the shots of nice scenic routes, and delete the rest. Not sure if I can also re-encode stuff for it to take less space. But now I'm going a little off topic.