tentenths

all excited waiting for HD when 4k is coming in... and as 8k is in development? Will AIM have the foresight?

A day late and a dollar short?...maybe not.

ProCoach

Problem is not 4K (or even resolution, for that matter).

Problem is rendering power real-time, plus storage headaches, plus processing and GPU power in the laptop or desktop rendering in the software for side-by-side. It gets major compression for any sharing upload, too, so tech for that and bandwidth up and down will have to be there.

It's a whole system...

kk2

Great post.. Often wondered about that

ProCoach

Like car mods, it's not just one part that makes a difference.

mglobe

I'll take lap to lap comparison of video like box has over 4K every damn time. Yeah 4K looks great, but HD looks just fine to me.

tentenths

??? tech is here for this and has been for a few years. My 3 year old Mac laptop cuts 4k easy and 5tb drives are under $200. Moore's law applies here too.

Remember when the first smartycam was announced? I was excited until I read is was SD. I couldn't believe it. I guess most folks just proclaimed it was good enough. At that same time others were already putting $80 Aiptek (almost disposable) HD cameras in track cars...HD was working fine...hence Aim was a day late and a dollar short.

Aim is supposedly working on video integration. Processors are always getting faster. Stabilizers both optical and digital even mechanical are now common. Even phones can easily do 4k and the dirty little secret is what you can do down converting to HD.

This is happening now.

Difool

Sure is. But AiM is creating hardware products (multiple) for a relatively tiny consumer market. I'm surprised they have been able to do what they have done.

pmiranda

Full integration into RS matters more to me than what the resolution is. Even scratchy old SD is enough to tell if you're hitting apexes. I have a full HD camera but I usually leave it in 720p so I don't have to swap cards any more often than I swap batteries.
Trying to sync up data with video is enough of a pain that I rarely even look at the video unless I remember something interesting happened. It's a shame that my clunky old Racepak system does it so much better than AIM.

ProCoach

I use these things as tools, not as YouTube content generators! So, I agree. But we've all been sold on HD, now 4K, soon to be more, bigger, better, faster.

RacePak, MoTeC and Traqmate have to be synced within the software after downloading separate files from the logger and from the camera.

Race-Keeper, Race Technology and Racelogic (VVBOX) all record both (separate files) on one chip (SD card or USB stick). The software automatically opens the synced and associated files.

AiM still requires that you adopt a workflow that is best executed by a) reviewing the data-laden video fastest lap immediately after the session, then b) opening the associated data file from the logger which by default opens to the fastest lap. You can see what happened, then dig into WHY it happened.

The reason I am not so righteously indignant about the shortcomings of the AiM setup (right now) is that it's the only ready made solution that records most driver metrics right on the video, which I think is the most important part to review. VBOX is the only other system that does this, and their CAN integration leaves a lot to be desired. However, there are things I can do with R-K and especially VVBOX with side by side that none of the others do. Choices...

If and when AiM does allow for syncing within the analysis window, that will add a functionality that most other systems have, but not a functionality that most people use to it's fullest extent.

It's really about ease of use. And even RacePak users can become so familiar with their systems that they consider them easy to use!

pmiranda

haha... so true! Given time, any system will become familiar... maybe I'm missing some feature but it seems like syncing up a video file of a full session from a 3rd party camera to the data in RS2 is not really possible? I think it can only be done for one lap and to look at another you have to re-sync it again?

ProCoach

No, no third party camera.

You can do that in Race Technology, MoTeC and Traqmate (along with RacePak) only. Still a PITA in all.

tentenths

Believe it or not...a good camera is actually a great "tool" for getting better even without a data recorder.

My hope is that AIM will just let us pick the video file to sync with RSA and if we have the codec and the processing horsepower let us play it without a conversion pass down...don't engineer to the lowest common denominator.

pmiranda

Yeah when I started out almost nobody at the club level was using data, just video. Data can tell you alot but video is still great for context and showing your line. GPS drift is large enough that I don't think you can trust it for knowing where you're leaving some space on the table and it can't show you where the pavement seams, braking markers, and other visual cues are.

tentenths

more pixels...WAAAAAY MORE...

ShakeNBake

That brings up memories, I used an original Racepak G2X unit in my M3 for 5 years. Learned a lot.