Mark in Baltimore

Tom,

Okay, I guess I'm confused by the technology. How is your camcorder different from the Sony HDR-CX7, other than the Sony having high definition video? Sony touts their HDR-CX7 as being the first camera to record high definition directly to Memory Stick PRO Duo® media. Is this just a proprietary version of an SD card?

How does the JVC deal with the shakes and bumps of a car? Have you had any shut-off issues? Any gripes with the DVD burnability or software?

I looked at one of the JVC's at Best Buy but was told, apparently incorrectly, that these could only record still photos to the SD cards. From JVC's website (http://camcorder.jvc.com/product.jsp...Id=119&page=10), it looks like the camera can record video to the card. We don;t have any high def tv'sand are not likely to buy any in the near future, so I'm concerned about paying a boatload of money for technology that we're not going to need, only to sacrifice other features that may be more useful than high def capability.

Thanks for any info you can provide, Tom.

BTW, if anyone is looking for wide-angle lenses, this website seems to offer a plethora of them: http://www.newworldvideodirect.com/ I spoke to Charlie who said that one can attach a wide-angle lens to most camcorders via the internal threaded screw mount.

No affilation, of course.

My apologies for the numerous noob questions.

rmag

Mark - Just an FYI with www.newworldvideodirect.com. That's where I originally ordered my wide angle lens from. Great prices, but could never deliver a product. After 6 weeks, canceled order, and got lens from somewhere else (a little more expensive, but received it in 3 days). Just make sure they have it actually in stock.

Bull

Mark, this is similar to the JVC that I have from Best Buy, except mine is 20GB, and it sounds like they continue to give out bad information! Like Tom, I ended up using mine to record to SD cards, where i have had no problems with shake and vibration. If you have the big battery and the large SD cards, these work fine.

mglobe

I can confirm that there is an AV input on the camera. I tried hooking up an external microphone to it, and it blanked out the picture, so I assume that if the input was full AV (like coming from a bullet camera), that you would be able to record sound and picture from external input. Frankly though I think if I was going to go to that end, I'd probably just buy something built for in-car video.
For the cost though, the Aiptek seems like a quite good low-end solution.

The camera records the video to a .mov file. Didn't want to upload the entire boring sequence of me turning the thing on, backing out of my craptacular garage,... So I pulled it into Moviemaker, selected a sequence, and then output it as WMV (because that's what Moviemaker wanted to do). So there's multiple conversions here, and still it looks pretty good I think.

Here's a link to someone who's done some mods to the camera, including a wide angle lens.

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...14&forum_id=92

The lens might be worth looking into.

Hope you guys find this helpful. Later this month I'm most likely going to the track (TWS). I'll shoot & post some video with the camera so you can see how it works under those conditions.

Mark in Baltimore

Thanks, Ryan. I'll PM you when I need to get a WA lens.

Thanks for the great info, Bob. Have you had any challenges with burning to a DVD or with files? What kind of files does it record? Lastly, have you been happy with the quality of the recordings?

Bull

No problem with files, but i haven't burned any DVDs yet. They are MOD files. The quality of the recording is very good.

Mark in Baltimore

Thanks, Bob. You mean MOV files, I suppose?

Bull

Yes, sorry.

RonCT

I've used the camera on the track many times and it's never shut down. You just have to be careful to make sure you turn it on correctly (meaning turn on, press the shutter button to make sure it's recording).

It's a fairly wide angle so I get everything I'm interested in. Not perfect, but I had the camera so the investment of $75 into the mount was cheap and I figured if the SD700IS didn't do the trick, I'd buy something else to put on that mount.

Yes, sport seats with hard back. I can adjust quite a few ways by positioning the seat.

Attached is a screen shot from my set up... 145 heading toward the bus stop at WGI.

Mark in Baltimore

Ron, thanks for the information.

Tom N

Mark,

I agree with Bull above. The camera has never shut off with vibration issues when using the SD cards.

The 16:9 mode looks fine on a regular TV (letterbox format) or on a HDTV, even though this is not an HiDef camera. It costs much less than an HD camera as well.

The HD (hard drive) function works well when NOT in the car, and it also takes reasonably good still photos.

Whatever you choose, I think if the lens gives you the field of view you want, you are far better off than using a wide angle adapter.

My 2 cents.

ninjabones

Thanks for the great thread. I have the JVC Everio hard disc camera. It would shut down immediately when attached to my roll bar with IO Port mount. I guess I can cross "new video camera" off my b-day wish list to the wife. I never thought of recording to the SD card. Thanks again.

Mark in Baltimore

Tom, thanks for taking the time to post your feedback.

APKhaos

Thanks to Mike [mglobe] who provided some raw output video from the Aiptek AHD720p camera, I've had a chance to look at its native output video format. There's no doubt that this is an impressive little camera, and its the FIRST we've seen that produces genuine 720p HD format at this price point.

If you're willing to do some tweaking to get external audio, this is an great low-cost solution.
The short test video clip is HERE

bk12

I just picked up an Aiptek camera (AHD 720p) for $138 at Circuit City....anxious to get it mounted up and taken to the track! It is a pretty cool toy for the money.

Let me know if you figure out how to tweak the audio. The mic is very easily overdriven based on the little testing I have done, I am going to try to put some things over the input to tone it down. If anyone figures out a more technical method of fixing the mic on this type of unit, please let me know.