GO PRO HD...Ultimate In Car Video System?

[Swiftmotoring]

I need to upgrade my in car video system and want the opinion of fellow Pelicans! Most have told me the system of choice is the GO PRO HD system, do you find that to be the case from personal experiance? From a user friendly point of view it seems very handy and the film quality is unbelievable. I searched for a similar thread on Pelican but to no avail...sorry if this is a duplicate.
Thanks in advance!
Marvin

[ppickerell]

In-car Gopro HD from our 66 Belvedere 24 hrs of Lemons


Great camera

[ClickClickBoom]

HEy,
I have the regular non HD model, takes about 15 minutes of reading to get the operating instructions memorized, superb quality regular video, HD must be off the hook!
Buy it you won't be disappointed!
eric

[arrowSC]

I've recently bought one, but with snow & ice here I haven't had a chance to test it in the car.
The kids on their trampoline is all I've managed so far....

One feature I liked is that at 720 resolution, you can run slo-mo and that looks great in edited movies

[t6dpilot]

Absolutely fantastic camera. Easy to setup, use, and view. Outstanding HD quality. I have used it on the outside of a race car and in cockpit. It is just like being there. The best $300 you can spend for action video recording equipment.

[shinrai]

Amazing camera and nothing will beat it for the price. The only fault I've found is that there's no upside-down or 90 degree function on it so you'll have to be creative on mounting it in certain places. Wide angle HD quality is amazing. Default settings work very well.

[ErVikingo]

I think that they are great (have one) but no the ultimate. I prefer my Chase Cam dual cam better since it has auto start/stop, basic data and interfaces with various data adquisition systems. Non HD though a new one is being developed.

There is also the Smarty Cam from AIM which has data built in.

[cjpani]

I've just recently used one in this year's Carrera Panamericana.
being a newbie in video cameras I had some issues, like pressing REC at a convenient time (right before buckling up), but sometimes the waiting periods for the speed stages would use a LOT of memory, which got to waste...
also, the upside down issue, because I mounted the camera that way, and then had to find someone to help me rotate the video...

Here is the only video I have managed to upload to youtube due to lenght issues:
be gentle

YouTube - Carrera Panamericana 2010 onboard Porsche 911 #303 Carlos J Pani

regards

cj

[TechnoViking]

The "ultimate" camera must have a button I can push to start/stop recording while strapped in. All my race videos start with 5-20 minutes of staring at the back of the car in front of me while sitting on the grid

[JP911]

Originally Posted by shinrai

Amazing camera and nothing will beat it for the price. The only fault I've found is that there's no upside-down or 90 degree function on it so you'll have to be creative on mounting it in certain places. Wide angle HD quality is amazing. Default settings work very well.

There is an upside-down setting. Press the shutter button to toggle between UP and UPd and then press the power button to save the setting.

[porschenut]

Originally Posted by JP911

There is an upside-down setting. Press the shutter button to toggle between UP and UPd and then press the power button to save the setting.

The upside down mode was made available as a recent firmware upgrade. Those who bought their cameras a few months back need to upgrade:

GoPro Official Store: Wearable Digital Cameras for Sports

[Winter]

Originally Posted by TechnoViking

The "ultimate" camera must have a button I can push to start/stop recording while strapped in. All my race videos start with 5-20 minutes of staring at the back of the car in front of me while sitting on the grid

Check out the Drift Innovation HD camera, it has a remote that might work for you.

I like the Go Pro product line up. For car applications, the Drift might be an option for folks here to consider. You can see my review of both of them here:

Point of View

Regardless of what camera you choose, I'd suggest that you invest in software like Final Cut Express to edit your videos. The drag and drop editing format is easy and you can add music, etc easily.

Note, I have no affiliation with any of the brands/products I listed above. I just use this kind of stuff a lot in my work environment.

Happy Holidays, all!

[ErVikingo]

Originally Posted by TechnoViking

The "ultimate" camera must have a button I can push to start/stop recording while strapped in. All my race videos start with 5-20 minutes of staring at the back of the car in front of me while sitting on the grid

ChaseCam starts and stops automatically and saves each run separately. On long runs, it splits the files.

[jmitro]

Originally Posted by TechnoViking

The "ultimate" camera must have a button I can push to start/stop recording while strapped in. All my race videos start with 5-20 minutes of staring at the back of the car in front of me while sitting on the grid

Agreed! for this reason the Go Pro is not the ultimate. When I'm tightly strapped in with a HANS device, Head restraint seat, and right side in-car net, it's virtually impossible to reach the camera.

Also, the GoPro HD uses ALOT of memory. Most of my short 20 minute races got cut off before the end even with a 1GB memory card. And this is using the lowest HD setting.

For the price and flexibility, its a great camera with wide angle and high definition. But if you're willing to spend some extra money, I think the ChaseCam is a much better camera.

[MH911]

1GB SD card is a bit small. You can get 8, 16 or 32 gig for a pretty reasonable price. That should help you get past 20 minutes.

[dicklague]

for the price it is impossible to beat. We run a pro motorsports production company and we have replaced all our SD units with GoPro. They have some limitations, but overall are great for the money.....and just work very well. Get a big memory card