WatchGuard Video released a new version of programming for VISTA and VISTA WiFi body-worn cameras. VISTA firmware version 2.0 adds new features and system enhancements, in addition to lowering the camera’s power consumption to increase battery life by over 20 percent.
Battery Life Increased More than Twenty Percent
WatchGuard’s engineering staff invested over 30,000 engineering hours fine-tuning and optimizing the VISTA cameras to eliminate the consumption of unnecessary power. This optimization resulted in an improvement in battery life and recording time of over 20 percent and stand-by time has been doubled. The previous versions recorded video for nine hours at HD resolution (VISTA extended capacity version). After the 2.0 update, the same camera now records in HD for over 11 hours, at 480p resolution for nearly 13 hours, and powered-on standby time has increased to 39 hours.
New Sleep Mode Feature Added
Version 2.0 provides a number of new features specifically designed to enhance the user experience and make VISTA even more customizable. A new “sleep mode” can dramatically increase battery life by temporarily disabling pre-event buffering when the internal accelerometers have detected that the officer has been stationary (i.e. sitting at a desk). The moment the officer moves, VISTA automatically wakes up and resumes pre-event buffering within milliseconds.
New Device Health Monitoring
Numerous improvements were made to monitor system and memory performance. A data logging system now tracks the usage history of the battery and the memory card. VISTA’s new device health monitoring will work in conjunction with new administrator tools coming in future versions of WatchGuard’s proprietary evidence management platform, Evidence Library.
“We remain focused on creating the absolute best law enforcement video systems in the world,” explained Robert Vanman, founder and CEO of WatchGuard. “With our version 2.0 upgrade, VISTA incorporates full shift battery life in the same platform that continues to lead the industry in audio and video quality.”
