Dogcam 480 & what dvr?

[magnatom]

Heh I did just that They all know you by name now

I've just ordered the 12v 6000mAh 12v/5v pack which according to Dogcam sport should power the camera and recorder for up to 8 hours. That can't be bad.

So my kit so far is:
- Dogcam 480 Pro + microphone (£70 on ebay)
- Archos 405 2GB SD + DV travel adapter (£24 for archos, £30 for adapter)
- 6000mAh 12v/5v Battery (£60 - 10% discount)
- suction mount, double hook & loop mount, right angled hook&loop mount (suction included with camera, other 2 @ £6.99 - 10% each)
- AV cable (£5)

I can wait for all this to arrive and try it out

I just hope my wife never finds the credit card statement

I'm sure you will get some great footage with that!

Soon you will be wanting to upgrade........

 

[snowfruit]

Oh dear hope not - I'm broke now

As soon as I get it all here and assembled i'll post some footage

 

[LordoftheTeapot]

I got an hours worth of recording yesterday from my 405.

 

[snowfruit]

Yes thats what I was worried about - Last sunday I went for an average ride which lasted 3 and a half hours. One hours worth of battry time wouldnt do me. Hopefully this battery kit from dogcam will be the solution to that if it does power both camera and recorder for up to hours I would say thats £60 (- 10% dicount for cyclechat members) very well spent.

Out of interest how many Energiser Lithiums would £60 get you?

 

[BentMikey]

This is the thing I really like about my VIO POV.1 - only one cable, one DVR, and one camera. Carrying all that extra kit and cables must be a right pain!

 

[magnatom]

This is the thing I really like about my VIO POV.1 - only one cable, one DVR, and one camera. Carrying all that extra kit and cables must be a right pain!

Aye, in an ideal world one cable would be nice, but not having £500 to spend all at once means beggars can't be choosers.

However, I must admit, now that I know what I am doing, it is fairly straight forward. All of the cables are connected in my rucksack. All I have to to is put the headband on, switch the battery on and plug the Archos in. The archos also has the added advantage of being a music player, for watching videos etc!

 

[snowfruit]

I looked at the POV but as magnatom said - £500 is a lot harder to justify.
besides i needed a new mp3 anyway

I've managed to piece together what i hope will be a good middle the road setup for marginally more than a basic all in one camera and much less than half of the POV price.

 

[Perfect Virgo]

An excellent thread on video capture, thanks. I am a motorcyclist and soon-to-be cyclist as well. I haven't used my video gear on my motorcycle for a couple of years and your thoughts made me dig my gear out. For recording I have an Archos AV500 with travel adaptor. I bought this "bullet camera" kit online from Sports-Camera which included a Sony Clearview Camera, mic and an AA battery pack that powers both. The results are really pretty good on my setup and provide a great record of your ride as well as POV evidence should it ever be needed.

Reading your posts reminded me of the soul-searching I went through to make sure I had all I needed! I can't add anything to the sound technical advice already given but do agree the untidy wires can easily be tucked in a small rucksack along with the DVR and battery pack.

Positioning the mic needs some trial and error. I hide it in an external pocket of my rucksack to shield it from the exhaust note of my bike but even wind roar can be intrusive. One of those soft spongy balls slipped over the mic helps reduce noise.

Finally, if you use velcro mounting on helmet or bars it may be a good idea to mark your cyclindrical camera with a small piece of tape to make it easier to set the camera in the right horizontal attitude each time. When your DVR is tucked in your rucksack and recording you can't check the picture is still horizontally level so it's nice to see a small reassuring mark on your camera and the velcro.

Now I just need to decide which road bike to go for!

 

[snowfruit]

Thats a good idea of marking the camera with some tape. I'll remember that when I'm setting it up. I can just imagine coming home after several hours of exhilarating MTBing only to find the camera was pointing at the sky or ground.

How much does your mic record inside the rucksack? Most of the time in my case there won't be much need for a mic, but occasionally it would be nice to have (like when my mate stepped into a boggy ditch and came out with no shoes the howling laughter would have made a great sound track) - preferably without annnoying wind noise

 

[magnatom]

Hi PV!

Welcome to Cyclechat and welcome (back) to the world of POV videoing!

Good advice about marking the camera. My commutes are short so I can check the orientation using my archos at the start and it should still be fine at the end, however, I might give the mark a go as this might speed up putting the kit on.

I need to get my mic replaced as it has packed in for some reason, and I must admit I still haven't worked out the best place for it. When I get the replacement I will try out placing it in various pockets to see what it picks up. I probably need to keep it reasonably dry anyway (it rains a lot here in Glasgow!)

 

[BentMikey]

The VIO camera comes with a mark. All of the camera and recorder kit is like that, with plenty of ease of use, reliability, and care put into the design. I really can't imagine having to schlep around so much cable and battery crap in such a Heath Robinson setup.

 

[Perfect Virgo]

snowfruit – I find the “mic in a rucksack” system works pretty well for me. It still picked up ambient sound while reducing the howl of my Yamaha R1 to an acceptable recording level. Using the sponge ball from my PC headset certainly reduced wind noise but the rear pocket of the rucksack does a better job.

I also found the way to stop a loose but live mic from recording itself “scratching” the inside of the rucksack fabric was to duct tape it in place. My footage has been shot on a fairly fast moving motorcycle so I haven’t tried the set up for conversation detail.

I’m returning to the UK in a few weeks and my two sons there are sure to drag their old man out on long rides so I can test it for the first time on a bicycle then.

magnatom – Hi and thanks for the welcome. I found marking the camera invaluable as I didn’t want to keep fishing the DVR out of the bag. The supplied Velcro fastening is surprisingly strong though and once in place the camera didn’t seem to budge. I mounted the camera on a small home-made metal platform I screwed to the filler cap boltholes on my tank.

I also have a headband with a tight elastic tube which I haven’t even tried yet. Once I get back onto a roadbike I will be doing some experimenting with that as I have never yet shot footage from a bicycle. I emigrated to Canada a couple of years ago and sold my bikes and motorcycle. I regret that now but when I am home again I will be on a shopping spree for sure. Due to the heavy snow you can’t ride any two-wheeled vehicles for at least 5 months of the year here so I have been reduced to a boring fat old Chrysler!

 

[snowfruit]

Does any one know how much video approx I can record per megabyte of SD card? Looking at some large capacity ones on eBay, but cant decide whether 16GB is worth it or if 8GB will be enough

 

[snowfruit]

Yay, things are getting delivered
Today I received my Dogcam 480, Archos 405 and the DVR addon. All I need now is my battery pack and the A/V cable so that I can start testing this.

The Archos is a lovely piece of kit. Dont know what it records like yet, but as a media player its a delight to use and not bad picture and sound quality either

 

[magnatom]

Yay, things are getting delivered
Today I received my Dogcam 480, Archos 405 and the DVR addon. All I need now is my battery pack and the A/V cable so that I can start testing this.

The Archos is a lovely piece of kit. Dont know what it records like yet, but as a media player its a delight to use and not bad picture and sound quality either

Just keep an eye on 405's battery. Mine started trying to bulge out of my 404 recently and I had to replace it! Although, you can't officially change the battery, there is always a way...