Dogcam 480 & what dvr?

[snowfruit]

Ok, I got my battery pack today. Turns out the AV cable that comes with the Archos DVR adapter is fine for hooking everything up together. I havent plugged the archos into the 5v out of the battery pack yet, but I have played around with it some in my office. The sound levels are a little quiet but the picture quality is more than adequate for my needs. I upped the the archos recorder up to 2500 from the 1500 default (why is the default so low?). I also plugged the single output form the mic into both sound inputs of the adapter with the splitter adapter that came with the mic, so now I'm recording on both sound channels - not stereo I guess, but better than listening with one ear

What frame size would you recommend - options are 4:3 5:3 16:9 2.35 - not sure whats what to be honest and there is also a widescreen option - which i thought was the same as 16:9, so now I'm even more confused

As soon as I get some footage outside I'll post it for you all to check the quality.

 

[snowfruit]

Oh and question, has any one tried any of the replacement lenses, 6mm, 8mm or higher and what difference does it make in the video?

 

[BentMikey]

Can't wait to see your videos, snowfruit!

 

[magnatom]

Excellent! I have mine set for 4:3. I think this is best and is certainly the format that youtube uses.

Actually, when I saw how much the 405's were going for I put a couple of bids on ebay and I am now awaiting my own 405! I've been wanting to convert from hard disk to solid state for some time. If ever I was unfortunate enough to have an accident it is more likely to keep folming and to survive in a readable form.

Oh and yes the bit rate is a bit low to start with, I use 2500 as well.

 

[snowfruit]

hey congrats on the ebay success! now we'll be able to compare camera quality

 

[snowfruit]

I've been away for the past week so haven't taken the camera out yet. But, weather permitting, I'll be out on the weekend. I'll post some footage ASAP.

Oh and mangnatom, have you noticed any difference between the 404 and the 405?

 

[magnatom]

I only started using the 405 yesterday. My old DVR travel adapter works fine .

The video quality looks exactly the same to me. I think that is what I expected, as it uses the same compression algorithms as far as I can make out, and has the same resolution.

However, there are two big differences for me. First, it is solid state, so no more (hopefully) corruption of the data, which happened occasionally, and no more worrying about the hard disk crashing.

Secondly the 405 has the ability to lock the keys, which I couldn't do on the 404. That prevents it accidentally being switched off etc whilst I am riding!

The build quality isn't quite as good on the 405 as it is on the 404, and I was sent a player that has a purple tinge to it (and not the silver one I expected), but that doesn't really bother me.

I'm glad I bought the 405. Including postage it cost me £34.29. Not bad!

 

[snowfruit]

Heh I saw on the box there are two colours for the 405, the silver one and a pink one i think - that must be what you've got. I paid about the same for mine, couple pounds less i think.
I've also picked up a Transcend 16GB SD card from ebay which together with the battery pack from Dogcam should allow for looooong videos.

I haven't been out on the bike with it yet - blame the weather - but I got a short video in the car the other day - raw footage here (22MB): http://www.twisted-design.net/video/20-Oct-08.avi

* sorry if anyone tried to view that in the last half hour - took a while to upload - should be fine now *

 

[magnatom]

It's purple not pink!


I've just got a hold of a Transend 8Gb, which should be plenty for me.

The footage looks pretty good, (although at a slightly funny angle!). The real test will come on the bike. You could be waiting a long while for good weather...

 

[snowfruit]

Yeah i had the camera sitting on the dash and didnt realise it wasnt the right way up till i got home

I'm not waiting for good weather - not sure when I saw that last - just not gale force wind and horizontal rain Bank holiday this weekend, surely there must be one good day to go out :/

 

[BentMikey]

No sound mate?

 

[snowfruit]

Yeah I noticed that. I did have sound on other videos I took, so either the microphone was on the floor and muffled, or it got unplugged for this vid.

Hopefully the weather won't be too bad this weekend and I can go out and actually put this camera to good use. If so I'll post the result ASAP.

 

[snowfruit]

Ok - I'm having major trouble with the battery pack. I leave it on to recharge for hours but as soon as I plug the camera into it all power is lost. does any one else on here have the Anypower 12v 8400mah Li-ion power pack that could shed some light? I've emailed the guys at dogcam but I got an auto reply saying they're at some show and won't be around for a few days...

 

[magnatom]

Ok - I'm having major trouble with the battery pack. I leave it on to recharge for hours but as soon as I plug the camera into it all power is lost. does any one else on here have the Anypower 12v 8400mah Li-ion power pack that could shed some light? I've emailed the guys at dogcam but I got an auto reply saying they're at some show and won't be around for a few days...

Sorry, I have the viosports batter pack.

I'm sure as soon as they are back they will be willing to help. They have for me before.

 

[snowfruit]

Yeah I have the battery pack also, but I dont have 8 AA batteries to put in it