digital camcorder recommendations

Get the Gopro with HD. The new HD unit has rechargeble batteries, the older standard unit like I use you have to replace AAA batteries a couple of times a weekend.
 
Mr G.

I think the Contour HD is awesome... if you go to VholdR.com and search RSTPerformance.com you can see some of the videos we took with our cars. You can get them brand new for $225

Stephen
 
Nicely Priced Alternative to GoPro and vHoldr:

Aiptek HD with Sunpack Wide Angle Lens $114 + $37 = $151 incl shipping

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Aiptek-1080P-Definition-Camcorder-Silver/dp/B0019BPTMI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1272159020&sr=8-1[/ame]

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Sunpak-CAM-2110-MagMount-Wide-Angle-Conversion/dp/B00079REO4/ref=pd_sim_p_3[/ame]


The Aiptek HD (not the HD-GVS)
  • records 1080p @ 30fps or 720p @ 60fps
  • has fixed focus, so no hunting, no vibe issues
  • has no optical zoom, so no vibe issues
  • writes onto SDHC cards
  • the only poss drawbacks are its upright shape and it records in HD-MOV files
  • The HD-MOV files were not compatible with Pinnacle Studio 11, but they are ok with 12 or 14
  • The HD-MOV files work perfectly with Quicktime

We have 3 of these, and they work well, and are cheap. If you are interested, I can
show you the mounting fixtures we made for the camera to roll bar mount, and the
wide angle lens mounting.

Best
Glenn
 
Great information, Glenn. I see they also have an "action" model specifically for sports - with an electronic stabilizer. If that one works well, it should take out the vibrations, worth testing. Besides 16:9, HD and good auto white balance that is a key requirement for onboards for me and the reason why I used a simple tape camcorder so far. So far very few compact race cams those features.
Do they have a standard camera mount/screw for a tripod etc.?
 
Glenn- could you put some pics up of your setup? Also how strong is that magnet mount for the wide angle lens? I was wondering what else you added to it to reinforce if necessary...thx!
 
Here are some pics of the fixture we made to mount an upright
camera to an I/O port rollbar camera mount.


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nice vids Tom!

I am going to have to figure out how to upload YoutubeHD
as I am using the builtin upload routine in Pinnacle Studio 14
and it says that the Youtube and Yahoo video upload limits
are 100MB/10min...so I cut the videos into 9min pieces...and
reduce the resolution until it starts to look crappy.

are there any tricks to the HD upload?

.
 
Hey Glenn - I was disappointed with my Cannon - too many problems. I just ordered the Aiptek setup you recommended.

Thanks for the help - this was a dirt cheap solution for getting HD quality in-car video
 
lawtonglenn said:
nice vids Tom!

I am going to have to figure out how to upload YoutubeHD
as I am using the builtin upload routine in Pinnacle Studio 14
and it says that the Youtube and Yahoo video upload limits
are 100MB/10min...so I cut the videos into 9min pieces...and
reduce the resolution until it starts to look crappy.

are there any tricks to the HD upload?

.
Click to expand...

Convert at 6MB/sec and you're going to be fine. I use Sony Vegas for my encoding. Usually, we don't get more then 9-10 mins of action in a 30 minute race, so just cut the exciting parts into a 10 minute video and upload.

I personally think all the "$100" fake HD "little" cams kinda look bad, and they have pretty poopy output and dynamic range. You can't beat that $250 Samsung for quality. My videos look better then the damn NASCAR broadcasts :shrug:

-Tom
 
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