mark kibort

Ive missed SO much great video due to the darn camera turning off or batteries failing! recently, ive narrowed my issues to one of two cameras, one that works great, as long as rechargeable lithiums or NMHI are used and the other, no matter what I do, what chip, it turns off after 2- 7min.

Im returning it to see what they find and how they deal with it.

mk

ValveFloat

Your getting that audio from a GoPro?
I can't get audio that good from my GoPro with it in the car, all the windows up, and the back of the case open, set on LO or HI.

APKhaos

GoPro have announced a HD version that appears to have a similar [maybe the same] chip set as the Aiptek. MSRP is around $300. Haven't seen video from this camera yet, but I expect it will be similar in quality to the Aiptek. We'll see.

EDIT: Brandon's video above is a classic example fo the dreaded CMOS rolling shutter problem. The waviness you see is due to the camera's inability to deal with the high frequency image motion. That's a very frustrating design problem, and would probably make the GoPro HD a less than good choice for in-car use.

If you are in the market for an HD camera, also take a look at the Contour - http://vholdr.com/contourhd/helmetcam
There's a clip posted at http://vholdr.com/contourhd/videos?vid=12
We have a few users using the Contour, and they are pretty happy with it. There's a simple hack posted that adds an external charger from the car's power to avoid the battery problem that plagues a lot of these helmet cam type products.

SH || NC

+2

smlporsche

I had the opportunity to try the GoPro at my last outing and while the video was OK (it was overcast) the audio was virtually nonexistant...very dissapointing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm7ikMGdgow

RickBetterley

Hi Dave
Below was filmed with my Aiptek HD+ at Calabogie this summer: http://vimeo.com/5628065
I was new to the track, so my line is a bit, shall we say, ragged. Great track, though.

mark kibort

sound is great for rear cam, though it isnt as clear as most higher end cameras.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV-uqnJbAU4

mglobe

I don't know about the other cameras, but generally with the Aipteks, if you have problems with the camera shutting off during a session, it is because the vibrations of the car are causing the battery to break contact with the camera for a moment. If you put a shim in the camera to force the battery to have a more firm contact with the camera (I use small slices of business card folded over), the camera will not shut down on you. I'd try this with the go-pro's as well.

I seem to be always posting about the Aiptek's because it's one of the few things I know anything about. I keep looking for another, better solution, but for now, I remain convinced that Aiptek offers the best solution for the money.

dwe8922

At this point, I'm leaning towards doing the Aiptek. I really like having remote turn on and car power, which is not developed yet on the go pro HD. My car is pretty loud, so I'm wondering if I can get away w/ just the basic 720 w/o external mic. The Bryan Watt video uses that model I think, and sounds like his motor drowns out any wind noise. I may try that in november for my DE, and if it works I'll get another and mount it out the back window for the club race in december. If not, I could get a GVS w/ external mic instead, and point the 720 rearward. Just wondering if this is too much of a hodge podge of stuff

dmilzoff

I use the Go Pro with a Radio Shack transformer hard wired to the car battery. I no longer have battery problems. I have also installed a dash switch to turn the GoPro off when I come into the paddock so I have less useless video.

mark kibort

Brillant Idea!

I will probably do the same next year. lost some great video this year due to the batteries not being fully charged to get at least 30min.