Helmet Cam Choices

toyrobot

Myself and some friends are looking into buying a camera set up to take when we go to Glentress etc. We are leaning toward an Archos set up as it's cheap and compact compared to buying the camera etc. We did get feed back from one dealer saying it would crash due to the vibration but we haven't heard this anywhere else. Anyone using an Archos have such problems? The dealer was offering us another package for twice the Archos price so opinions other than his would be great.

Thanks

papasmurf.

As the Archos is a hard drive you can in theory have issues with vibration, but it depends on the buffer times. I'd expect it to be okay in the back of a pack. You may find it skips sometimes,

maybe look at something like this actioncams seem to have one that is made for action cam stuff with more shock resistance, can't vouch for the quality though
http://www.actioncameras.co.uk/acatalog ... 20Gb_.html

toyrobot

Me no understand!

Can you explain what you mean?

Also we would most likely buy a waterproof foam filled box for the device so this would help to some degree wouldn't it?

Thanks though

(also I'm riding a meta 5.5 too)

papasmurf.

in basic terms he device needs to write to disk, while its doing this and it gets shaken, it can skip its place..take an old cd walk man and shake it while playing as an example...or even a record player that gets knocked. Most devices will have some form of protection against this shock, both in terms or casing but also in terms of a buffer time between in this case the capture of data and writting it to disk.

The problem obviously is mostly this is to deal with one offs, but with somehting like nailing it down a rock garden, the shock is repeated.

I don't think it'll be a massive problem, just that there is the potential to be issues, and would the cost of going the CAM with AV in route be worth it for what you want to do..

Plus you'll be able to upload it quicker and you're riding will get smoother!!

Are you able to hire or borrow the kit first, might be worth seeing if it is an issue for you or not.

toyrobot

The group that I'm part of are sure we want to go the £600 plus route of buying the AV camera etc. I'm not really an extreme rider so I think if myself or another less "mental" rider have the camera that should keep problems to a minimum. I think MBR reviewed an Archos system a year or two ago, so I'll see if I can dig that out.
I appreciate your feed back, thanks.

toyrobot

I mean we AREN'T sure we want to spend that much
what a dumbass I am

papasmurf.

just to throw a spanner in the works , having a proper cam as the recording device, wold enable you to do more filming not just POV, like when sessioning some part of the trail.

It also may be cheaper to get a helmet cam (http://www.actioncameras.co.uk/ActionCa ... meras.html) and then get a cheap camcorder from ebay..

Travis_M

I came across this, I don't if this is any good for you..

http://www.chinamtb.com/reviews/reviews.html

T

toyrobot

I'll take a look but either way, thanks for the post. If it was my money it would be easy to buy something but because it's group funds it's impossible to find the perfect solution.

SDK2007

I have a Dogcam sport helmet camera setup using a hard drive recorder and the quality is very good.
Like has already been mentioned about vibration - It's not possible to mount the recorder anywhere on the bike because excessive vibration will cause the unit to stop recording but the camera can be mounted anywhere you want.

In all my package cost £430 which includes 2 extra battery packs for 7 hours of recording time and a helmet and bike camera mount.

My Dogcam helmet package : http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/mtb-bmx-bullet-cameras.htm

Example videos : http://www.ph-digitalphotography-motors ... videos.htm

uTube video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeXL4voBDNc


The Archos works well but battery life, recording capacity and video quality are lower and once you've bought the Archos Video In add on unit (required to record video) the cost isn't far off either.

toyrobot

Looked up your footage SDK, it's good and clear and would certainly suit our needs. Looking at your youtube profile I see mention of macs, does this mean your run mac and have no problems with the device? I also notice that action cameras sell the same device which they call an action camera hard disk recorder. OH, choices choices.

problematiks

These guys have a good solution.The recorder doesn't have a disc drive, so it doesn't skip.
Another option would be aVholdR.No cables & stuff.You can't view what you filmed on the spot, but that's not such a minus.It should be available around new year.
VIO POV still seems to be the best, but it also costs a lot.

Marko

toyrobot

Oh hell!!!

That VholdR looks sweet, if the image and stability quality is better than other single stand alone units it could be a great piece of kit.

I'm never gonna decide.

problematiks

toyrobot wrote:

...I'm never gonna decide.

Glad I could help

Marko

toyrobot

Thanks for everyones help on this. It looks like we might go for the gear that SDK2007 is using. We were impressed by the quality. We are also a bit excited about the VholdR but as it aint really out till next year we're gonna try and put it out of our minds for the time being. But it does look sweet!