New video setup

[northwind]

So, after a near-miss at the AR I finally have all the bits for my new camera rig... Fairly pleased with it, I did go for a bit of a budget option but it's worked out well.

In the end I went to Dogcam for their Viosport Adventure Cam pack, which is discounted at ?99.99 including a battery pack, simple mount and integrated mic:

http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/helmet-camera-viosport.htm

I ponied up a little more for a spare mount and their bike-power kit, but it still came in at a healthy ?130. It's a 520 line camera, and seems pretty decent. Annoyingly, it didn't come with one of the cables it was supposed to- the ads and packaging all show it with 2 cables, one for a 3.5mm jack AV (which I wanted) and the other a 2-plug. All I got was the 2-plug. Turns out they're all like that now, the 3.5mm was discontinued. So I wasn't happy, but still, it's a lot of camera for the money so even with that it seemed a good deal. I don't like being stuck with proprietary cabling but they're available to buy seperately, and I can always rewire it.

And for a recorder, I picked up a JXD960. I chose the 960 because it's got 2gb capacity and takes big SD cards (apparently it'll run up to a 16gb if you choose the right card). Also, it has a removable battery which gives it basically all the runtime I'll ever want- I bought a spare. The entire recorder package came to ?80, from Ebay.

It's a lovely wee thing... Quite big as PMPs go but still compact. Very light, it feels a bit fragile. Big clear screen... The camera's absolutely rotten and it's not very good for games apparently. Maybe a smaller player would be better on the bike for ease of storage/fitment, but I just stick it under the seat. I could probably rig it to run off the bike, but I've not looked into that as yet.

The manual is chinese only and the interface is weirdly translated... For instance, the 2 screen layouts are called "pretty" and "lovely", how cute is that? The worst annoyance is that it defaults to 320x240 for vids and a weird format- it'll record avi but you have to change the settings every time. That's just irritating. But still, it's neat.

Lastly, a mounting... I'll do a photo later, but as well as the 2 simple velcro-on mounts- ideal for fairing mount- I wanted a wider mounting showing the wheel. This is a fairly wide angle camera so to do this, it has to be a fair way out. And also, as we know height gives a good view but robs the camera of speed, so for dramatic video you want it as low as it can go. So, I returned to a trick I used with the ATC2K, and pulled a mountainbike quill stem out of my heap-o-parts. It's a nice adjustable one in silver The stem fits into my crash bungs, and the camera's a perfect fit in the handlebar clamp. The downsides are that it's very visible, broadens the bike out a bit, and it's very vulnerable- in a crash, the camera is toast and the bung will probably rip clear off. I have it on the right hand side but I might put it on the left, I always crash on the right But it's quick to fit, would fit to other bikes easily, and gives a good angle.

So, a quick vid, I have a slight oil leak so I didn't want to do a longer or faster run, this is just a bit of my commute:

http://www.youtube.com/my_videos_edi...sq%3D%26dm%3D1

Obviously it's compressed to **** for youtube, which does slightly defeat the point of a better cam But starting from a good picture gives a much better compressed pic. This is, incidentally, compressed to the exact same standard as the ATC vids I have on youtube, to give you a comparison. The image is absolutely rock solid, no interference. I'll do a higher quality vid later

I think I may have to get back some ground clearance! I could probably scrape the mounting where it is just now. That might call for a narrower angle lens too, this one's great as it sees all but in most mounts I get left with lots of fairing in.

I'm surprised at the mic, it works not badly at all- it was just thrown under the rear seat here. It comes with a wee wind shield. I'll be working on the mic options further.

But, yeah, quite pleased. I'll keep the ATC and wire up second positions- rearview, rider view maybe. But this is nice. And not too expensive

the video link doesn't work. you need to change it to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kSN8R5EG14

Sounds like a pretty nice setup! But just to warn you it does get addictive, I started off with a £250 setup and now I'm on ~£600 setup.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by erik

the video link doesn't work. you need to change it to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kSN8R5EG14

No I don't, luckily you took care of it

Seggons, yep, this is my second attempt so I can see how that works. I'm still on the lookout for a cheap mini-dv camcorder, since the JXD does seem to limit the quality slightly. And if I do that, I'll probably buy a cheap camera, old Dogsport 480 or something, to give a second angle. And so the madness spreads!

But, one thing that holds me back is that I'm not all that fast or exciting to watch, if I was scalping people in trackdays I'd want a really good rig but most of my vids are just trundling around...

Pick of it mounted on the bike plz