bb69

I just bought the Aiptek A+ 1080P capable camcorder at Bestbuy for $136. This unit has received pretty good reviews from what I can find. I tried it briefly last night and I can say that it does not have any flashy type features. It basically has record and that's it. It does have multiple HD settings (1080P at 30 fps, 720p at 60fps, etc). It also records to SD cards and has the capability to use the high capacity SD cards as well. For the price, I think it makes a perfect track day camera. I can't wait to try it out. Combined with the the new HD capability of Youtube, I expect to be posting some nice high quality video this coming season.

Link to camera (by the way, Bestbuy will match the online price in the store): http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1204332008907

Here is a sample video someone posted from another Aiptek camera. It looks like the exact same camera except the one I bought has a 4x optical zoom.

http://www.vimeo.com/1058752

As soon as I can post some actual videos from it, I will.

Ken

sperkins

Sweet. Here is a track video from the same guy. The quality is very very good IMO. I'll be interested to hear if this camera can withstand the vibrations that makes my hard drive camera shut off before I even get off the grid.

http://www.vimeo.com/1087688

AU N EGL

Keep the focus on infinity, not auto zoom. auto zoom goes in and out too much and you get motion sickness just watching

have a point of reference helps too. something from in the car, part of the cockpit seams to work very well

sperkins

Ken - Does it have a 1/4" threaded insert on the bottom to bolt to a camera mount?

bb69

Yes it does. The camera itself is pretty light as well, so I hope it won't bounce around much.

Ken

burners

Wow, that sounds like a good deal. How is the wide angle? Can you mount it on a harness bar and get the driver in picture? Does it have threads on the lens for an additional filter/lens to thread on it?

bb69

I will try to get some video, but the links posted above show the wide angle. I believe the camera only has two zoom settings, infinite and macro. I will double check tonight.

It does not have threads for a different lens, but I did run across someone that had managed to put a wide angle lens on it. The basic thought is that most people have no problems modifying a $136 camera. I am still looking for the details, but it has been done. Here is a link to a very active forum discussing these type cameras, and this one in particular.

http://forums.steves-digicams.com/fo...71&forum_id=92

I'd love to give you guys more information, but I just bought this thing last night. It's normally priced at $169, so I wanted to get it out there while it's still on sale.

Ken

c4cruiser

Just ordered one online to be picked up at the local Best Buy store.

I had been using a Sony Hi-8 camera for autocross and track days and it was a PITA to convert the tapes to a suitable format. The heavy camera eventually caused the plastic body where the attaching threaded hole was and I could no longer get the camera stable.

What's a reasonable-sized SD card to go with the camera that will handle about an hour of HD video recording?

bb69

According to the manual, an hour of 1080P/30fps or 720P/60fps will require a 4GB SD card. I took a one minute video, and it was 50MB.

Ken

jwt1603

Thanks for the info Ken. I've been wanting to try an in car camera but didn't want to spend 5 or 6 hundred on one.

c4cruiser

BB has Kingston and PNY 4GB High density cards for under $30. The PNY card is on sale for $25 and it's a 2-card package. Linky

bb69

jwt1603,
I know what you mean. I was really unhappy with the video quality of my current one, but I didn't want to ruin an expensive HD camera. My standard camera already took a spill, and if that happened to an expensive one I would not be happy.

I am learning to use the editing software that comes with the camera. I have a lot to figure out, but here is a very brief clip of my backyard taken tonight. The sun was set already, so there wasn't much light. Make sure you clink on "Watch in HD" at the bottom right of the video window. This first file was saved as a MOV file. I am also uploading some other file formats of the same clip to see what the difference is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEqm4fbiiEU

Here is the MPEG 4 format. It took Youtube much longer to process this, and it actually had to buffer a few times when I played it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRp6QrPJ8e0

Ken

bb69

Just make sure that your computer will read a high capacity card. If not, you also need to buy a reader, which I believe BB sells as well. They probably have a sale on a card/reader combo if you look.

Ken

c4cruiser

Big difference in HD vs. the normal view.

davidfarmer

I bought the Sanyo VPC-HD100, also 1080, at WalMart for $199. I've had Sanyo Xactis before, and really like them.

Only problem is that it does not offer any digital stabilization, so it is pretty shaky, especially when zoomed in.

Also, it has a 1/4" mount, but it's plastic. I've used my SD Xacti (also plastic) with no problems, but I'm not sure about this one.

I may save up for the higher end Sanyo........ btw, I have some great conversion software if anybody wants to try it. Not free, but it is worth the money for converting H264 video to other formats.

here's a couple of HD clips.

****click the "watch in HD" button under the video for HD....you no longer have to at the &fmt=22 to get HD******

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5letaKzqaY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53QjHgScDjs


Obviously, it looks better locally, as even Youtube HD is only 640x350 res

davidfarmer

btw, officemax has 4gig SD cards for $14 this week!

BEZ06

A 4GB card will get you 60 min of video at 1080P 30fps /HD 720P 60fps resolution.

If you drop down to a lower resolution, HD 30fps /D1 60fps will get you 120 min on a 4GB card.

The problem with the HD is the big file size. It's not bad if you're only going to use it on you computer with your data-logger to analyze your track days. However, it can take an hour or two to upload a 7 or 8 minute video to youtube unless you've got a real high speed DSL or a T1 link.

I've got an older version of the Aiptek that records at a max of VGA resolution (640x480). It's a great little camera, and I'm sure the HD version will be even better!!

Also, I use a bullet cam with it. You can mount the small little bullet cam anywhere and run the cord to plug it into the Aiptek. I keep the Aiptek in the glove compartment or console - that way it's very easy to turn on/off or to access the SD card or battery to swap it out for a fresh one.

Bob



Here's a picture of my bullet cam. I got a great view of the track with it mounted there and ran the cord down to the Aiptek in the glove compartment. But I wanted to see my steering/control inputs, so I moved it back where it views the cockpit better. Now I keep the camera in the console.






.

c4cruiser

Not having the camera in hand, how does a bullet cam attach to the Aiptek camera??

NemesisC5

Look at the picture of the camera in the first post, it shows the lens pointing upwards at an angle. I saw this in BB but was concerned that when mounted it would point up, I wish I would have realized that I would just need to tilt my camera mount

I ended up purchasing a $99 Aiptek at Target and returned it because the sound quality was terrible (static), may have just been a defective unit though. I'm curious how well you camera works

BEZ06

Here's a picture from the Aiptek site:




You can see there's a connection for AV In/Out. Mine came with a cable with a mini jack for that connector on the camera and RCA connections on the other end, and I'm sure this one must come with a couple cables also. You can hook the camcorder to your TV to replay your videos, or you can record from a TV, DVD, or a bullet cam.

HOWEVER, I read the specs for the HD recorder that is being discussed in this thread, and it says that if you're recording from an external source that the max resolution you can record is VGA (640x480), so you apparently can't record in the HD resolution with a bullet cam.

Bob