In-Pilot Video Recording - Any Suggestions???

[PilotSniper]

Since Santa Claus is right around the corner and I've always wanted to capture video footage of my own riding, I decided to jump in and get the necessary equipment. My question is this: I would like to know of any pitfalls that I should watch out for from someone who has "been there and done that". I'm looking for insight into the type of weatherproof bag that the recording device should be stored in as well as information regarding the recommended field-of-view for this application. Anyone with any recommendations, please chime in!

Here's what I've put together so far:

Here's the recording device. It has a small frame and the necessary video input for the bullet cam, as well as the necessary LANC connection.


This is the stationary mount that will go clamped to the roll-cage tube. It holds the bullet cam firmly and allows for positioning adjustment.


This is the bullet cam. It comes with a 72.5 degree field-of-view, but can be easily changed to any of six lenses allowing for a field-of-view between 24.5 degrees and 92.5 degrees.


This is the LANC assembly. It allows the driver to remotely control the video recording process. You can turn the camera on and off, as well as put the camera in record and stand-by mode, all by touching the button and looking at the LED light's status.


This is the A/V cable. It connects everything together and has an integrated, hi-gain microphone.  


This is the rechargeable battery pack. It has an LED readout to let you know how much charge you still have available, as well as an ON/OFF switch so that you can conserve the battery life when you're not using the camera.


On the suggestion from Odykid (which was a great suggestion, in my opinion), I'm going to hard-wire a waterproof cigarette lighter in a fused circuit directly to the Pilot's battery. I'll cut the alligator clips off of the item shown below and substitute them with the proper waterproof connectors to mate with the battery's screws. I'll also be putting in a waterproof, inline blade fuse holder between the battery and the cigarette receptacle.


From there, I'm going to go into a dual-coiled cigarette lighter splitter in order to power the bullet cam and the recording device without having to worry about battery power for either one of these items.


Just in case, I purchased a little inverter for 110V A/C devices, such as the recording device. After doing a little digging, though, I found a small, 12V connector that will go from the cigarette receptacle right to the camera. This will keep everything on-board at 12V (at least that's the plan so far).



What's left? What am I missing? What else should I know?

Thanks in advance for your help!!!

[Moskito]

You may want to go look into the Motocam setup instead.  I don't know exactly what your pricing will be with all the stuff above, maybe more, maybe less than the motocam, but regardless, you'll end up with a camera.

http://www.themotocam.com

It's a pretty sweet little unit and does a nice job of video recording.

I got 51 minutes out of the unit a couple days ago - video recorder batteries went dead, so I don't know exactly how much time it will allow - the batteries had already been used for a while before the 51 mintue run...

With a 1 gig SD memory card, the 51 minutes used roughly 60% of the recording capacity on the short play setting.  I get better picture quality with the short play setting as opposed to the long play setting - that gets grainy

I purchased the unit set up as follows:
Camera - bullet style, includes an industrial fastener (like velcro) for your helmet
Digital video recorder - little box with a small LCD screen.
Chassis mount - attaches the camera to a 1" bar
Pelican Box - put all the stuff in it and keep it safe.
Battery pack for the camera (inside the Pelican Box)
charger
software (which SUCKS)
and some other stuff.



Got down near the bottom of http://www.yellowdogracing.com and look at the video stuff - most of it's from the helmet cam.

I have more, from inside the Dez - just haven't uploaded it yet.

I found video software called Video Edit Magic on the internet - it does a good job of editing and such of the raw video the unit records.

[PilotSniper]

Skeeter, the site looks great! (I wish I would have seen it sooner!   ) Regarding the digital recording, which form of MPEG does it natively record to? The waterproof box is awesome! It's a very cool concept!!! (no tape, all digital)

Unfortunately, I'm committed to what I've shown you, with the exception of the mount and the recording device's storage bag. The recording device (camcorder) is in my possession since yesterday and the rest of the stuff will be at work tomorrow via UPS.

I'll get it all rigged up after Santa brings it to me! :wink:

Thanks for the info. I'll probably get stuck somewhere along the way, so get ready for the questions!!!

[Moskito]

Skeeter, the site looks great! (I wish I would have seen it sooner!   ) Regarding the digital recording, which form of MPEG does it natively record to? The waterproof box is awesome! It's a very cool concept!!! (no tape, all digital)

It records in ASF format.  I have to change to what ever with the editing software.

I've been saving in WMV format so when you click on any of my web page links, they come up as streaming video.  So far, it seems to work well.

[PilotSniper]

Skeeter, the site looks great! (I wish I would have seen it sooner!   ) Regarding the digital recording, which form of MPEG does it natively record to? The waterproof box is awesome! It's a very cool concept!!! (no tape, all digital)

It records in ASF format.  I have to change to what ever with the editing software.

I've been saving in WMV format so when you click on any of my web page links, they come up as streaming video.  So far, it seems to work well.

Well, the end result looks very good, so the native format must be one superior to those "all digital" cameras on the market today. I was afraid of the "all digital" deals, until I saw what I believe to be MPEG-4, which impressed me. Most of those "all digital" recording cameras exude the "cheese" factor during playback. As you might imagine, since I was not happy with the playback quality, I wanted to stay away from that effect altogether. It looks like the ASF format does just that. Had I seen your post earlier, I would have gone that route instead. Live and learn!