Helmet Camera Questions

[fastrnrik]

I see some of you guys posting video's pretty often so I have a few questions

I've been looking around for a helmet cam and have determined on the GoPro brand. I was at our local Honda shop today and they have the 960HD for $169 and the WIDE angle version for $299. My question is: Is it worth the extra money for the wide angle? I could see where, the way we use them, a wide angle could be handy to get more "racing action" around you. But if the regular model works fine, then I'm all for saving $130.


Also, I figure you guys are using some kind of movie software to edit video, add music, text, etc? What is a good, user friendly one to get? I say "user friendly" because I am not a computer ace so simple is better for me. Are these available at Staple's, Office Depot,etc?

Any info would be appreciated

[EthansDad]

I'm sure Bruce will chime in, he's mr. Wizard on editing. We use the hd wide- it was the moto sports package with all the mounting kits. We don't use hd mode, just highest SD mode wide at 60 fps. IMO, it's the 60 fps that makes it, plus the as videos are easier to edit.

For editing, I don't do much, but a good free tool is mpeg stream cut. It allows you to crop video (my big head at start, long ride back to Rv at end) very quickly and without encoding-so it's crop then save as with out your pc crunching on the video for an hour.

Beyond that for adv editing, I'll let Bruce take it. I will say though it might be worth getting your kid on hookit and applying for sponsorship. We did and saved some real cash. Can see our hookit page in my sig below.

[RCR_531]

We love our GoPro HD wide and use it all the time. I have some great videos of my son in the pool with it too.

[thequadfather+2]

Ethansdad actually had the best advice. Look at the difference between my helmet cam and his both taken on the same day on the same gate drop. The quality using the HD with 60 frames per second setting is a big difference. Both are the wide angle or "fish eye" lens. your only going to buy one but its going to record tons of racing....Stuff you will probably want to watch when your old and grey. Just spend the few extra coins, its worth it. (link below) Both cameras are GoPro, mine is not the HD version and will not capture 60 frames per second.

Editing, again he is right.Unless you enjoy that kind of stuff its not necessary. You want something simple that you can chop out the unwanted stuff and it wont take all night. I would use mpeg stream cut as mentioned. editing software is fun until its time to render your project. Thats when the computer encodes your work and turns it into a CD, DVD, mpeg, ect....That takes forever. If you want to dabble in it look on your computer and see if you have "windows movie maker". Chances are your computer has it. If it does try that before spending the money on software you will rarely ever use.


http://www.exriders.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=464021

[fastrnrik]

OK Thank you. That's exactly the kind of stuff I was wanting to know.