Viofo Sync

Viofo Sync is a tool for synchronizing recordings from a Viofo dashcam (tested with A229 Pro) over Wi-Fi to a local directory.

It is designed to be run as a Docker container on a NAS or similar device.

This project is based on the great BlackVue Sync by Alessandro Colomba (https://github.com/acolomba) and uses GPX extraction from https://sergei.nz/extracting-gps-data-from-viofo-a119-and-other-novatek-powered-cameras/

GPS Extraction

If you have a use for GPX files, they can be extracted from the video using the GPS_EXTRACT option detailed below.

Hardware and Firmware Requirements

The dashcam must remain powered on and connected to Wi-Fi. It is recommended to use a hardwire kit, such as the Viofo HK4, and ideally, a dedicated dashcam battery to prevent draining the car battery.

The dashcam should be connected to the LAN using Wi-Fi station mode.

As of September 2024, the official A229 Pro firmware does not retain the previous Wi-Fi state after a reboot. However, Viofo support has provided special firmware upon request that retains this state. This feature may be officially released in the near future and is recommended to make downloads fully automated.

Using the Docker Container

To use Viofo Sync as a Docker container, follow these steps:

1. Install Docker:

   Download from https://www.docker.com/ if you don't have it already.

2. Run the Docker Container:

   docker run -it --rm \
       -e ADDRESS=<DASHCAM_IP> \
       -e PUID=$(id -u) \
       -e PGID=$(id -g) \
       -e TZ="Europe/London" \
       -e KEEP=2w \
       -e GROUPING=daily
       -v /path/to/local/directory:/recordings \
       --name viofosync \
       robxyz/viofosync

   Replace <DASHCAM_IP> with the IP address of your dashcam and /path/to/local/directory with the path to your local directory where recordings will be stored.

Configuration Options

The following environment variables can be set to configure the behavior of the Viofo Sync Docker container:

Variable	Description	Default
ADDRESS	IP address or hostname of the dashcam	(required)
PUID	User ID for file permissions
PGID	Group ID for file permissions
TZ	Timezone (e.g. Europe/London)
KEEP	Retention period — recordings older than this are deleted. Accepts <number>[d|w] for days or weeks (e.g. 30d, 4w)
GROUPING	Group recordings into subdirectories: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, or none	none
PRIORITY	Download order: date (oldest first) or rdate (newest first)	date
MAX_USED_DISK	Stop downloading if disk usage exceeds this percentage (5-98)	90
TIMEOUT	Connection timeout in seconds	30
DOWNLOAD_ATTEMPTS	Number of attempts for each download (must be >= 1)	1
VERBOSE	Logging verbosity level (0 = normal, 1+ = debug)	0
QUIET	Set to any value to only log errors
CRON	Set to any value for reduced cron-mode logging	1
GPS_EXTRACT	Set to any value to extract GPS data and create .gpx files alongside recordings
READ_ONLY	Set to any value to only sync read-only (locked) recordings
HTML	Set to any value to use alternative HTML scraping instead of the XML API. Recommended for cameras that are slow or timeout responding to the XML file listing request
DRY_RUN	Set to any value to show what would happen without downloading or deleting anything
RUN_ONCE	Set to any value to sync once and exit instead of running on a cron schedule

XML vs HTML Mode

By default, Viofo Sync uses the camera's XML API (/?custom=1&cmd=3015&par=1) to get the file listing. For some reason on my camera this started running very slowly so setting HTML=1 switches to scraping the camera's HTTP directory listings (/DCIM/Movie, /DCIM/Movie/Parking, /DCIM/Movie/RO), which seem to load faster.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the COPYING file for details.