State of the helmet cam

[Paul_E_D]

What's currently the best value in helmet cams?

I don't currently own any DVR equipment, but want to get a set-up for winter and summer sports.

[union]

What's currently the best value in helmet cams?

I don't currently own any DVR equipment, but want to get a set-up for winter and summer sports.

Paul I use the motocomm system. Its complete except for the memory card. Those things are stupid cheap now.

The system comes with various mounts for the camera and you have used it. It was on the back of my R6. The only negative I can think of is the battery pack. Its 8 AA batteries but on the race bike its hard wired with an inline fuse which they supply. I also believe they have upgraded the system over what I have for the same price.

Give me a few min Ill get your vid up.

[union]

Paul here is the video of you.

Finally here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Y-B6WgDUQ4

[Paul_E_D]

OK, I like the simplicity of that unit, but I might want to go with a little higher res. I think the POV.1 might be the next alternative...

p.s. thanks for posting the example. I was in a lot of pain during those laps, and was embarrassed to get them on film, but they don't look as bad as they felt. I guess what feels like being miles off line to me is only a matter of a foot or 2. I was super soft on the throttle as I knew any slide would be too painful to recover from.

[daviid]

www.cedigital.com

use coupon racer for 25 off.

google 2008 roc thunderbike. google killed alot of the clarity though

[union]

www.cedigital.com

use coupon racer for 25 off.

google 2008 roc thunderbike. google killed alot of the clarity though

Pretty much the same as the motocomm but I think this one has better resolution. I might even pull the trigger on this.

Paul Ill give you a redo next time we are both up there.

[seth399]

gopro?

[Awesome]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8130/4.3.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

I use Motocomm it's good but some wires need to be secured better or they come loose and ruin the video.

[a13x]

I think the POV.1 might be the next alternative...
.

I use the POV.1 and it's a slick unit. Little pricer than some of the other ones but it's the choice for most serious helmet cam filmers (including Motorcycleusa.com) It's widescreen and DVD quality before you compress it for YouTube and stuff.

Here's some footage from mine for a idea of what it looks like post-youtube compression.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG5BZCAUdTg[/youtube]

[hatchet]

That's some great riding

[Paul_E_D]

www.cedigital.com

use coupon racer for 25 off.

google 2008 roc thunderbike. google killed alot of the clarity though

That might do it. Thanks for the link!

[OreoGaborio]

Paul, that's the set-up I used at NJMP (Daviid's rig). It's a pretty decent little set-up & you can tape the camera just about anywhere you can run a wire.

[nerijusj]

Yeah, that minox setup from cedigital is pretty sweet. Video quality is pretty damn good and if you can get 25% off, that is a sweet deal. I posted some vids on youtube from that setup that my buddy has. They degrade the quality a bit, but it's still pretty good and is much better on your PC. Type my user name in youtube search if you wanna see them and click on "watch in high quality" under video window.

[Paul_E_D]

Paul, that's the set-up I used at NJMP (Daviid's rig). It's a pretty decent little set-up & you can tape the camera just about anywhere you can run a wire.

Like to my chest hair? Ouch!

[joeswamp]

I bought the cedigital setup last year and I believe it's the best bang for the buck out there, the guy who sells it is also really helpful and a racer. The setup comes with a big AA battery pack (12v) to power the camera but I ran mine right off the battery -- had to then install a filter because I was getting some staticky interference when the bike was running.

The camera plugs into the recorder (which is actually a sort of video ipod knockoff made by this company "Minox") with an RCA headphone jack, and you have to be careful how you mount it so you don't stress the connector. At the end of the season I realized I had stressed it slightly and was having problems with vibration causing the video to drop out as I had bent the contacts inside the Minox unit Took the thing apart to bend the contacts back, will see if I fixed it next season.

This setup records video that's better than youtube (even youtube "high quality") but much lower than a real camcorder IMHO. If you play it back on a TV you definitely notice the quality loss. The camera is 480 lines so I'm not sure if it's the camera itself or if it's the recording device. I've read that solid state video recorders, esp low end ones like the Minox, have to really hack up the video in order to compress and record it real time. Apparently this is an issue even with the current solid state camcorders that record to SD cards -- the video on the ones that run MiniDV tapes have a much higher bit rate and the quality is supposed to be significantly better.

One of these days I'm going to do a back to back test with the helmet cam recording to the Minox unit and also to my camcorder, just kind of curious where most of the quality degradation comes from.

[doctorbossman]

If you can wait until February 2009 Sony is coming out with a full HD quality bullet camera and recording unit. No pricing anounced yet.

The HXR-MC1 camcorder has full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution

Here's a link for a review:
http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messag...81/527751.html

[doctorbossman]

Here a PDF from the Sony website. I'm sure it's not going to be the most economical, but as far as I know it's the 1st 1080 bullet camera.

http://www.sony.ca/hdv/files/Brochur...ers/HXRMC1.pdf

[joeswamp]

If you can wait until February 2009 Sony is coming out with a full HD quality bullet camera and recording unit. No pricing anounced yet.

The HXR-MC1 camcorder has full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution

Here's a link for a review:
http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messag...81/527751.html

That's really cool although I predict the list price to be north of a gazillion dollars.

Also, why on earth did they integrate the microphone into the camera? What you want is a separate mic that you can wrap with a rag and tuck it someplace out of the wind.

The good news here is that Sony will eventually release the guts of this thing onto the open market, and a knockoff will be manufactured by some Chinese factory. At that point you'll be able to pick one up for thirty bucks.

[Kurlon]

Gross, AVCHD format? Leave it to Sony to mini-disc-atize an otherwise useful idea.

[CEO]

Another vote for the cedigital setup. He's a nice guy, too.

One series of bullet cams had a slight issue with the screws holding the CCD in place coming loose but you just needed to loctite them. The issue has since been resolved.

[RandyO]

been watching this thread, my question

is that a camera system out there that has a remote control console that is glove friendly and easily mountable on a RAM mount to take still pics or video from a helmet mounted camera?

as I ride along, I see so many places I want to take a pic but don't have the time to stop or places that I ride where I'd like to do a video, but it's not practical to stop to turn the camera on and off

last winter I would have loved to take a video of my Kanc ride and passing slower cage traffic, but with the road being completely snowcovered I wasn't about to stop and loose my momentum

[ChR1s]

Not a helmet cam per se, but fairly versatile and relatively inexpensive:

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/sho...id=129&pid=896

Bonus: it can easily be affixed to a surfboard!

[ssg]

Not a helmet cam per se, but fairly versatile and relatively inexpensive:

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/sho...id=129&pid=896

Bonus: it can easily be affixed to a surfboard!

EDIT: Correction, I thought this was the ATC2k...so the below statement actually refers to this model:
http://www.atc2k.com/

Can be had at 50$ @ Sam's club right now as well...

I've had one for awhile, the unit is very water resistant and can take a tumble...would make a good 'disposable' unit for dirt or ice riding. I bought mine to see if I wanted an on-bike camera or not...judging by the amount I've used it, I didn't

[RandyO]

Not a helmet cam per se, but fairly versatile and relatively inexpensive:

http://www2.oregonscientific.com/sho...id=129&pid=896

Bonus: it can easily be affixed to a surfboard!

I really liked that until I read this

Using the Remote Control
1. Ensure you are pointing the remote control sensor towards the camera sensor.
Press either the remote control “Movie shutter button” or the “Photo
capture button” .
2. The LED on the camera will change from green to red to show recording has
begun.
3. The remote control has a limited range. We recommend using the remote
control within 4m of the camera if the control is pointed straight. If the control is being pointed at an angle we recommend users stay within a 2m radius and
limit the projection angle to within 20° left/right of the IR receiver.

I'd have to see what it's capable of, sounds like a tv type remote with infrared, might have to put a mirror on the back of my bike facing forward

[a13x]

POV.1 has a remote on/off.