Video Cameras For Motorsport Use

[BunsenBurna]

i bought a Contour HD 1080p about 6 months ago for about $350 with a suction mount

great camera minus the audio, wind noise really kills it and in my car it has a horrible buzzing noise so i have to turn the mic sensitivity way down, isn't a issue in my brothers car, think it would be the hatch on my 180sx vibrates a lot compared to the rear window on a silvia

bunch of video's on my youtube channel, tho it kinda kills the quality

http://www.youtube.com/user/equoowe

all looks and sounds pretty good to me, thanks nick!

[BunsenBurna]

Where did that one come from? Link ?

Well guys it arrived today, 1 week door to door from the USA. Very impressed with the postal side of things, albeit a little exxy at $55 odd AU.

Unit itself looks great, no idea if it works yet, but all the bits are here. And the suction cup mount thingo feels quite robust. I'm pumped!

Maybe someone should think about organising a group buy for these little bad boys?

I'll post my initial thoughts on functionality asap

[Roy]

Very surprised by the quality of the Go-Pro...audio struggles in an open top car....but swings and roundabouts.

Anyone know a program that will allow me to edit and play with mp4 videos?

[Pezhead]

Roy, as long as you are using the most current firmware on the GoPro most any software editing program will work. I use Corel VideoStudio Pro X4. Is about $150 but will do just about anything you would want to do.

I highly recommend having a read of this Flip Video. The GoPro shoots in a nonstandard 60 FPS (no industry standard for full frame 60p HD video yet). So StreamClip allows you to do simple things like trim and rotate the video without losing quality. An that software is freeware.

[benm]

I use mpeg_streamclip

[BunsenBurna]

Contour GPS - initial reports

Received by me yesterday, my initial thoughts are that this is a great bit of kit.

I think it is fair to say it is a tad more fiddly than say the GoPro in terms of installing battery and sim card, but nothing a semi tech savvy person would struggle with.

The onboard bluetooth and link to my android phone to get an actual LCD view of what the camera is pointing at is very nifty. The camera itself projects 2 laser pointer beams to also give you an idea of what it is pointing at.

Also via the bluetooth connection, you can adjust the cameras settings - what quality/resolution it records in, you can adjust settings to enhance light, turn on/off the gps etc. You can also do these things very easily with the Contour software on the PC when the camera is connect via the supplied USB cable.

Image quality - I've recorded only at night so far with resolution set to 720p, quality set to medium and light enhancement set to 'dusk' (one of the default settings) - I'm very happy with the result and I'm sure in daylight it will be on par with other cameras in its class.

As for having a GPS inbuilt - awesome! I did a quick burn around town last night with the camera mounted to the bonnet of my VW Golf - the suction cap systems is very sturdy although footage does suffer a bit from vibration. Mind you this is on suburban roads with copious amounts of potholes and speed bumps. Back to the GPS - once home I imported the clip into DASHWARE (which I read about earlier in this thread) and I wondered 'where is the GPS data'? Well it was there somehow and DASHWARE did a lovely job by default of putting a number of 'gauges' on the top left corner of the video - speed and altitude, a map of the route travelled and what looked to me to be G force meter. Speed, altitude and map are very accurate - I was a bit dumbfounded by the whole idea of Gforce so I'll have to look into that more over the weekend.

All up I'm pumped about it, can't wait to hit the track with it. For just less than $320 AU delivered within a week with a suction cup mount I'm delighted. I will also be purchasing Dashware ($50 US) as it just seems too good/easy to pass up!

See youse at WTA tomorrow!

[PHaT MR30]

Nice work the development Rolf and team are putting into Dashware is great!

[Beer Baron]

LOL, just one of those things. I have found a place 35kms from Zandvoort that sell GoPro HDs so will swing by and grab one in the morning...fark missing footage of Zandvoort. No footage from Stelvio etc as the camera went on the blink on the way up LAst year at Spa and Ring...lol has not been a happy relationship

can we please cable tie it to a firework when you get back and launch it into space? I fking hate it.

[Marlin]

I'll just bring mine... it's great. haha

[billywhiz]

Anyone interested in Gopro HD Hero or the LCD backpack should check out http://www.torpedo7.com.au weekly specials $270 incl helmet mount and $70 respectively.

I'm also cyclist so I get their email notifications.

[PHaT MR30]

Has anyone had a problem with their Radcam where the light strobes bright then dim, bright then dim etc, but the unit wont power on? In a bind and hoping its something simple

Troy, just out of interest a mate of mine did a rally down here over the weekend (in an R30 skyline!), he borrowed my rad cam and also savman's.

Mine lasted all day on the one battery (and only used about half power), plus didn't give any problems whatsoever.

Yet savman's battery didn't last even half as long, unit played up etc etc

Dar I say there might be an issue with some units??

[Marlin]

Interesting.

[Snowman]

Another interesting little fact for people who like camera thingies.

The Vbox guys told me last week that early in the new year they will (finally) have a HD, 16:9 camera available for the Vbox / VBox lite.

The other little bit of info is that this will be the first ever CCD HD camera available (as opposed to all the other ones out there which are CMOS).

Anyhoo...

[Roy]

Troy, just out of interest a mate of mine did a rally down here over the weekend (in an R30 skyline!), he borrowed my rad cam and also savman's.

Mine lasted all day on the one battery (and only used about half power), plus didn't give any problems whatsoever.

Yet savman's battery didn't last even half as long, unit played up etc etc

Dar I say there might be an issue with some units??

I think there are enough of the units out there being used with no problems its only natural that perhaps a few have issues. Who knows, I am confident mine hasnt been knocked around but vibration in cars etc, handling etc could be a prob on some...who knows

[PHaT MR30]

Mine has been in two big crashed (one of which the camera head got completely ripped off the mount by the drivers err arm ...

[wahick]

So it's looking like work might have a use for a rugged camera with built in GPS capability.

I know contour has the GPS camera. Any others that anyone knows of? i have to put a proposal to the boss to see if i can't get a new toy to play with.

Of course it'd be a shame if it was a unit that is able to be used in a race car on weekends.

[cobbadan]

Do any of you contour users have a htc legend by any chance ?

Have you had any problems getting the mobile bluetooth viewfinder to work ?

[martyboy26]

Do any of you contour users have a htc legend by any chance ?

Have you had any problems getting the mobile bluetooth viewfinder to work ?

The Blutooth card for the Contour will only work with Ipod or Iphone.

[BunsenBurna]

Do any of you contour users have a htc legend by any chance ?

Have you had any problems getting the mobile bluetooth viewfinder to work ?

Cobbadan I have an HTC Desire and the viewfinder works perfectly with the Contour GPS, WITHOUT the need for any additional bluetooth hardware.

Martyboy you are correct - the bluetooth card only works with Ipod/IPhone, but is not needed for Android powered phones. Absolutely one of the perks as far as I am concerned. I am able to mount the camera in all sorts of weird and wonderful places and get a 'point of view' through the phone before recording anything. Awesome.

[cobbadan]

Good to hear yours is working Bunsen,, seems to work with all sorts of phones except mine,, I almost bought a desire too.

I've found a few other people with the htc legend with the same problem as me ,, and haven't come across anyone with it working correctly on a legend as yet.

Im in talks with contour support, so hopefully it will work at some stage.