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These cameras are very easy to use, very small, very light and record in HD.
I don't think you can find a better quality camera for this incredible price of $299.99
These are the smallest HD cameras out there and they are simple and I mean simple to operate. I saw another bullet style camera over the weekend that a lot of people use and Ill tell you these are half the size.
Also have the billet roll bar mounts which are very good quality mounts and again small and light nothing huge to hand out in the wind.
The SD version is even smaller and will work well to mount down by your feet or anywhere in the driver compartment.
These are the smallest HD cameras out there and they are simple and I mean simple to operate.
Mark
The biggest problem I see with operating it is if you don't have crew and it's mounted on the roll bar there is no way you can reach or operate those little buttons once you are belted in. I would have to turn it on then get in the car and belt in and drive to grid which would be a lot of wasted video time.
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Crossle 32F, Swift DB-1 049-84, Piper DF5 #032
They have a new remote power pack with a remote LED config for status same as on the camera.. it is being released soon. Will also have a button on it for controlling the camera.
I saw a prototype of it and it looks awesome !
this camera is defintely the camera to have for a formula car.
The remote is great, but Replay is also releasing (soon, I hope..) a cable that'll hook up to some data systems and start recording at the same time as the logger.
I've heard very good things about these cameras, If my gopro ever craps out, I'm picking one up.
I have seen those cables in the flesh and they do look good. I am very impressed with my camera thus far (and have owned GoPro, SmartyCam, Chasecam, Contour, and VIO.)
The biggest problem I see with operating it is if you don't have crew and it's mounted on the roll bar there is no way you can reach or operate those little buttons once you are belted in. I would have to turn it on then get in the car and belt in and drive to grid which would be a lot of wasted video time.
CTRL-T in quicktime solves that.
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'Stay Hungry'
JK 1964-1996 #25
How does that solve it? Isn't it still taking space in memory? Plus you mentioned the Q word. I hate Quicktime.
A 32GB card is $25. You can record the entire weekend without re-formating the card. Memory is cheap and the space on it is easily disposable with the effect of two keystrokes.
And no, it does not take space in memory, it takes memory on disk (RAM disk, but still disk). No video display or editing program is holding an entire video in memory.
If you don't like Quicktime, then use a more bloated tool that likely mimics the same CTRL-T keyboard accelerators.
My point being, your point is moot and the camera will and does work fine.
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'Stay Hungry'
JK 1964-1996 #25
Replay has an in car remote control cable with in car power now. It isn't up on the website yet, but you can call and get it.
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Chris Ross
09 NovaKBS F600 #36 Powered by '09 600 Suzuki GSX-R
"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error." John Kenneth Galbraith
Replay is releasing a cable with on/off remote button with in car power in the next 3 weeks and they are still working on a cable with on/off linked to Data systems but this is still in progress. I just got off the phone with them and neither of these cables are available yet. I will have a dozen the day they are. The on/off remote button with in car power will retail for around $90 and the one with date will be little more.
I do have the in car power cable that is available now
The way most people do it now is once they are in the car and driving to the grid they just ask someone to push the button. These cameras are not complicated to operate like some others it's a simple power button and a record button. The just chop off the part sitting in on the grid and or in impound. Hey sometimes you can catch some good stuff on video
There is a little shake in your mount still. What are you using for a mount? It looks like it is the lowboy with VHB on the flat area near the hoop cover?
Are you guys using the small clear tape pieces that are supplied to go over the mic for wind noise cancellation? I put one on mine as I assume it's going to need it, but have not had the car out yet at speed on the track.
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-Will Velkoff
Crossle 30F
#30 NARRC Club Ford
Jim: I'm using the mount that comes with it that has the little red release lever. It's stuck to the flat area just over/behind my left shoulder. (Right above where most people put their name on the side of the cockpit.) I've found that the vibrations make the round camera spin in the holder, so I put a little racer's tape over the top to keep it from spinning. I think the rest of the vibration is just because the fiberglass flexes/vibrates. I do like having the point of view near my eye level, and I also like being able to reach over with my right hand to start the video right before I put on the arm restraints, but maybe on top of the roll hoop wouldn't be as bad because the fiberglass wouldn't be able to flex as much in a curved area.
Will: Yes, I'm using the little clear tape thing to cut down on the wind noise. Without that on there things sound great while you're on the grid, but quickly are overwhelmed by wind when you start moving.
I will be mounting a XD1080 on my helmet this weekend and post up some footage. I will also try to mount a regular SDxd somewhere to compare. I was not aware we now can mount cameras on helmets. If any camera is small enough and light enough to mount right to your helmet it's this one. Mounting on your helmet solves a lot of problems for some of us. You can feel the camera vibrate when recording which will elimate having someone else to turn it on.
I will also try to take footage in the different recording modes. We may even get some rain on Sunday so maybe some rain footage or at least cloudy low light.
They are working on an Aim interface that will allow auto start-stop but as of right now, they are not building data overlay. For that, you are still best looking at SmartyCam from Aim.
Here's a link to a lap at High Plains Raceway It was the Std Definition version of the camera (not HD). I was using the back cover (over the mic) with the small hole. This year I'm going to use the back cover with no hole to see if the sound is more to my liking.
Used my own camera mount.
The data on the video was "layered" in later. Data is from a RacePak G2X system. The merged data/video was done with a a nice little cheap (but very effective) piece of software called RaceRender. Takes some learning, but.... can be done with ease once you learn the software. It would be nice to be able to integrate data real time into the video, but.... that's asking a lot.
Having someone start the camera on the grid is easy. No big deal. And then easy to chop out what you don't need. Available memory on the chip means no real need to "conserve" files space on the chip. I might spring for a remote cable, but .... not sure it's needed.
My Non-HD camera holds does 2 1/2 hours of video on the chip on one battery charge which will also last about 2 1/2 hours. Biggest trick is to remember to stop the recording when back in the pits. But bring the charge/transfer USB cable and a laptop with you to the track and you can easily cut/paste the video files to the laptop (to work on later) jsut as you would cut/paste any file from a thumbnail USB memory unit. After a weekend I routinely transfer the video files to my PC and delete them from the camera chip. So, never run out of "disk space" on the camera. That Cable will also let you charge the battery at night for peace of mind. But who get's more than 2 1/2 hours of track time per day? Or a weekend, for that matter.
Yes, the RaceRender was nice (and cheap). Plus, when I had an issue figuring something out, they guy was great on the phone. Turned out to be in my backyard in Ft. Collins, CO
Merging data to someone else's video is a bit of a pain. Takes some learning. But once you do it, it's not that bad. For instance, the precise timing on data stream and video stream are not necessarily identical. Thus even after you sync the data to the video at the beginning, after 20 minutes they might be off. Who'd have thunk it. But RaceRender software allows you to put in an adjustment factor so that they are in perfect sync. Usually always the same factor so it just becomes a final step in the process.
The nice thing was I was able to take my existing data system and for not much additional money buy a camera (Replay less than $200) and software (RaceRender less than $50) and integrate them into a pretty nifty video.
I spoke to the manufacturer after I saw the Star Mazda announcement as I wanted the fin mount for my Pro Mazda. He confirmed the data acquisition cable and promised to get back. After several reminders they keep ignoring me and do not answer mails. Not really a promising sign of customer service. Both ChaseCam and GoPro are good at getting back to customers.
The sound is really bad on all videos I have seen and the videos in this thread just confirm that.
The GoPro's are big and clumsy and I lost a few both in karting and formula car racing due to horrible cheap plastic mounts and they do not have the data acquisition interface either.
The "having someone push a button" to turn it on does not work for me. I had the ChaseCam setup prior. Sound and controls was awesome but the picture quality looked like something from 1984
They have come up with a new version but it is very expensive and does only support 1 camera in HD.
I have taken data from both by MoTec system and Karting data as well and overlaid it with Dashware. Very easy to do and no reason to waste $1,000 on a Smartycam. I owned two of those as well and had to get both replaced and finally I got a full refund.
Bottom line is that in my view there is not a really good solution out there right now in my view. If Replay comes out with the data/remote kit and some good (shark fin) mounts and they get the sound (and customer service) improved, it might be the next winner...
I can say I have only been impressed with the support this far. I have had an answer right away each time I have had to call and trackside was awesome support.
You can get the remote microphone cable to improve sound if that is critical.
Jim
no-I don't work for the company. Just impressed thus far versus the other six cameras that I have owned. GoPro wouldn't ever return a call after the fourth failed unit I asked them to replace in two months...
I spoke to the manufacturer after I saw the Star Mazda announcement as I wanted the fin mount for my Pro Mazda. He confirmed the data acquisition cable and promised to get back. After several reminders they keep ignoring me and do not answer mails. Not really a promising sign of customer service. Both ChaseCam and GoPro are good at getting back to customers.
Wow that is shocking to me I have never heard anything about customer service they have been one of the easiest companies to work with.
I have had a number of not so happy GoPro moments.
I have not used ChaseCam
GoPro was always really bad at getting back to my questions and the reason was because the company started out really small and got really huge really quick. GoPro promised us backpack remotes and LCD backpack accessories for what 19 months. Then they finally release the LCD only and I had that for a entire race season and they still do not have the wireless remote there site now says summer 2012 and I'm willing to bet we wont see it this season either they came out with a new camera before we can get the remote they promised when the HD came out. I know you were told about the Data cable but the new stuff that Replay is coming out with such as the XD720 are not advertised on there site because they had some things to work out. I think they should be giving a chance to come out with these new products before they get negative feedback, GoPro has been promising stuff for years.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Eriksen
The sound is really bad on all videos I have seen and the videos in this thread just confirm that.
Are you using a SD or XD1080? I have great results with the XD1080 and the windbreakers decals that come with the camera.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Eriksen
The GoPro's are big and clumsy and I lost a few both in karting and formula car racing due to horrible cheap plastic mounts and they do not have the data acquisition interface either.
GoPros seem to be good at flight I have never lost one but heard many stories.
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