chopperzz

I have a major interest in this post considering that I'm poised buy a system myself. I've got it narrowed down to 2 units. Race-Keeper and Traqmate....
As i see it, the current race-keeper is very easy to use, but lacks in data levels compared to Traqmate. That said Traqmate is difficult to use and has to many options that are not needed.
The past few days I've been speaking with a couple people at Race-keeper and understand that they are releasing a software update in the next 2 weeks.
I can't wait to see the results.

Circuit Motorsports

I've found the Traqmate is the easiest to use out of all the software out there and has been the easiest to teach people as well. I havne't spent a lot of time with RK but IMO the Traqmate is still an easier interface for 95% of the people out there.

PedroNole

I gotta say that, although my old system was expensive, it worked and worked very well. Two ChaseCam Cameras, the DVR and the DaVid system. NEVER had a problem and the video overlay was VERY nice. New Cup Car no longer has Aim so you can't use the DaVid with MoTec. So, sell the ChaseCams and Aim and got the SmartyCam which has a ECU bridge to do the data overlay. Only can do one camera but not such a big deal.

Well, the video this weekend started very good and by the end of the weekend had deteriorated into something that looked like it was floating/melting and the sound had a nasty ticking noise. At this point, I think calling it "Smarty"Cam is a bit of a stretch...

The problem with the VLC Codec is that Aim was trying to save money by not doing the work to make the SmartyCam compatible with NINETY-NINE percent of what everyone else uses. So, have to now hunt some new program (Thanks Gary, I will try it). Wait until you see the video I post....

Why the hell couldn't Aim just make the DaVid compatible with MoTec?????????????????????????????????????????????

AC coupe

Traqmate and ContourHD or GoPros work quite well for an HD alternative to the convenient but oh so dated Chasecam picture...

Gary R.

To Peter - "Why the hell couldn't AIM make"... you nailed it! It's like they lose something in the translation from Italian, it's so close that you think "it must be that i'm just missing something" but it isn't. At least the Race Studio updates of late just seem to fix things instead of screwing everything up!

To Chopperzz - If you think Traqmate is difficult to use then forget about AIM, ICQ, or any other good data system. While I agree that they all should have a "Wizard" approach I have found the Traqmate the most instinctive to use with no prior knowledge of it. I also see it's limitations, but with the addition of sensors (something I have yet to see anyone do) I think it would be a very capable Data system.

chopperzz

Thanks Gary

kgorman

Video on computers can be frustrating stuff. The orig issue here has little to do with AiM vs MoTeC vs Traqmate or whatever. It has everything to-do with video on computers. Video editing, which is more than just playing the software, requires some expertise alone as Joe is pointing out. But I understand it's frustrating when all you need is some simple data and/or video it takes all this futzing around. It's a common complaint. We could debate that forever because each persons requirements seem to differ a bit. It's a tradeoff like anything else.

Bottom line is if you can't read the data quickly and get feedback from it, and use that to create a plan to get faster then it's a waste of time. Sure dash products have shift lights, alarms, user conditions and other very cool and needed features, but they don't help much for driver improvement. The good news is with any system once you get down the basic workflow you can tend to get productive and things get easier.

People rightly so just want the answer, not futzing with the application/computer forever.

To be quite honest, no data acquisition solution is that much easier than any other one. They all take some level of dedication and time and a commitment. A lot of it is just computer stuff in general. They are a pain in the ***.

John, dude, no one is like you, and you are for sure not human! ;-). See you at the club race or are you at Laguna?

SH || NC

I've done a couple quick S/C test vids recently and have pulled the raw avi into Windows Movie Maker and it can edit it. I then re-encode it (?) to avi and upload to vimeo with pretty good results.

One of the biggest pluses IMO with the setup is less post-processing. No data and video to synch; just clip the dead space at either end and upload.

Linked via the ECU bridge, it powers up on ignition. You can specify auto power off, I think its 6 hours, and there is the 'auto record pause' feature which will stop recording when you reach a movement threshold; i.e. during a pit stop.

The only time I do a power down is when I pull the SD card to pull off the video.

HTH

Gofishracing

Youtube has been having uploading problems for weeks to complicate things. I've started uploading to vimeo. There is a codec needed for movie maker also to handle VLC uploads. I can't figure it out . One of my computers will upload- one won't.

AC coupe

The apparent neverending number of different codecs = suck. If you are a mac guy I recomend installing Perian an extension which sorts out a number of formats automatically.... For format conversion there is a program called VisualHub that converts almost everything very well and easily. It's not supported anymore unfortunately.

mooty

some of what you say about computer prowess is correct. though i was quite good with that, and was actually a coder for years.

i WAS an architect. i did ACAD from release 9 to present. i can do some pretty amazing things with it in 2 or 3D. but it's kludge. i am working AROUND the program. as a market leader and dominant product in its segment it's really a fking POS. i am just hoping that one day, another non human smarter than i can fix the data system.

i wont be at TH. i was at LS today practicing tailgating. i'll be there again from 16-19. it's too bad that PCA and PRC have the same weekend. i really would like to do both. but as crazy as i am, i dont think i can drive up and down b/n LS and TH b/n run sessions ;-) have fun. and dont let potter dive bomb ya... and make sure his NOS bottle is empty this time.

Coochas

Haha.
I've been reading the operating manuals of many of these devices for a while trying to figure out which one to buy. I'm left scratching my head on much of it.

mooty

^good. i feel better now. at least i am not COMPLETELY brain dead.

Carrera51

Like Joe and Gary said, Traqmate is pretty simple to use. The first time I used one in a loaner car, I was able to get it to work and record my data without reading the manual, I am far from a computer expert. For simplicity and what you get, Traqmate is a good easy to use solution.

kgorman

Totally agreed. I wasn't speaking to you directly, more in general. It's not so much they are too hard, it's that it's too time consuming to get to the answers you need. We are working hard to remedy that exact problem.

Have fun at LS, see you next time.