Sports DV 1080p Helmet Cam

[Joeman]

A week or so ago i ordered a Sports DV camera.. bit of a punt to see if they were any good.

Cost 44quid from eBay, but until tonight i'd not had time to try it out.

So i took the car out for a spin. it was evening, the light wasn't great, and it was raining, and i was holding the camera on the dash with one hand.

I'll post some pics of the camera and the various mounts soon

Not very exciting footage, but hopefully gives an idea of the quality.

Make sure you select 1080p to see the footage in its full glory!!

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All in all, not too bad for 44quid..

Here's a link to the camera on eBay:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111181617297

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Full-HD-1080P-DV-Mini-Waterproof-Sports-Camera-Bike-Helmet-Action-DVR-Video-Cam-/00/s/MTYwMFgxNjAw/z/K1cAAOxy4fVTBqzk/$_12.JPG

Edited May 1, 2014 by Joeman

[Stu]

link to the camera

[Ricky]

That's not bad at all!

Yeah please post a link to where you bought it from please

[Joeman]

link to the camera

All in good time!!

i had a member asking for footage, so i wanted to get the vids up ASAP before everyone went to bed...

Here's a link to the one i bought:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111181617297

[Ricky]

If you could get some footage whilst out on the bike (preferably the s1000rr) I'd be grateful

Tempted to get one as long as the bike footage is decent

[Stu]

I was looking at that one myself you can actually get them cheaper too!!

how long do you expect it to record for before turning off? and can it be wired to the battery/charger constantly whilst riding?

[Joeman]

I was looking at that one myself you can actually get them cheaper too!!

how long do you expect it to record for before turning off? and can it be wired to the battery/charger constantly whilst riding?

 

yes, thats the problem with my spontaneous ebay purchases, i always see it cheaper just after i've paid!

No idea on the record time. Ive downloaded some firmware to make it record on a loop, so i was planning to leave it pointing at a clock recording whilst i goto bed so i can see when it shuts off to get an idea of record time (both battery and memory).

The power goes into it via a very small usb connector but it needs the back cover unscrewing to access the socket, so not ideal as it wont be water tight anymore.

My plan was to drill a hole in the side and hard wire some cables into it.

This is what it looks like inside:

Edited May 1, 2014 by Joeman

[Adam]

Cheers for the footage Joe. How far does the helmet fitting stick out? Can't really tell from the pictures..

[Stu]

yeah the last thing I want is for it not be waterproof even though I dont do rain you never know I might get caught out

I will only be using it to record rides but a good few hours recording would be good

[Lucifah]

This looks like a real steal. Quality is sub par at 1080p, but for that price it's more than good enough! Thanks for sharing!

Are all the different mounts included? Can you tell how long it lasts on its own battery?

[Joeman]

Cheers for the footage Joe. How far does the helmet fitting stick out? Can't really tell from the pictures..

 

it has a couple of mounts with sticky pads on the back. i reckon this one's the best though:

(four pics of the same mount)

[Joeman]

This looks like a real steal. Quality is sub par at 1080p, but for that price it's more than good enough! Thanks for sharing!

Are all the different mounts included? Can you tell how long it lasts on its own battery?

 

yes it comes with a couple of mounting options, including a velcro strap that might be useful:

[Lucifah]

Haha love that one! Will we get some of the "can't be bothered to hunt cats" footage?

[Stu]

talking of dogs.........look on ebay for dog cams

[Joeman]

If you could get some footage whilst out on the bike (preferably the s1000rr) I'd be grateful

Tempted to get one as long as the bike footage is decent

Hoping to get out for a spin on the beemer this weekend, but only if the weather is good as the black bike really shows the dirt, and I hate cleaning bikes!!

I'm going to experiment with one of the other mounting brackets. I want to get some funky camera angles.. Maybe from my foot pegs, or facing backward at the rear wheel?. Any suggestions

[Joeman]

Ok, so the next step is to get this camera hard wired to the bike.

The feature i want are:

1. Record on a loop so it never runs out of memory, and just overwrite the older files.

2. Run from extermnal power supply.

3. Stay waterproof.

4. Start recording when the bike ignition comes on.

5. Stop recording and power off when the bike ignition goes off.

for point 1, Ive downloaded a firmware update that should make it record on a loop - ive yet to test this out.

for point 2 and 3 i cant use the standard usb power socket as this would require the waterproof back to be removed from the camera.

So my plan is to drill a hole in the metal casing to run the power cable directy into the camera. Rather than have an external power supply, i want to run direclty from the bike battery so this will require me to implant some circuitry inside the camera to drop the voltage from 12v down to whaterver the camera needs.

For points 3 and 4, my initial tests have shown that the camera will stop recording and power off when the external power supply is cut, but when external power is restored it doesnt resume recording - i need to verify this as it was late at night!

If that is the case, then my work around is going to be to build a small circuit that fits inside the camera to simulate someone pressing the record button a couple of seconds after it powers up.

There isnt a great deal of space inside the camera, but since its going to be running from the bike, i dont need such a big internal battery.

Im not sure i can completely remove the battery as im concerned that cutting the power wont allow the camera to shut down gracefully, so it might not write its last images to the SD card.

This is something i need to test as removing the battery would free up loads of space for additional circuitry.

So, if the weather is nice this weekend i'll be taking the camera out for a ride to get some bike footage.

If the weather is bad, i'll be butchering the camera and creating Frankensteins Camera!

[Ricky]

If you manage to do all that, expect me popping down with my bike and camera asking for it to be done to my bike

Sounds awesome though!

Keep us informed on how it goes, in going to order one on Monday!

[Tankbag]

The battery issue is it poss to replace with a much much smaller rechargeable 1 so the soft power off still happens ?

[Joeman]

The battery issue is it poss to replace with a much much smaller rechargeable 1 so the soft power off still happens ?

 

Yeah that's exactly what I was thinking. I only need a very small battery just to keep it powered up for the few seconds it takes to write the last images to SD card and shutdown when external power is removed - Maybe even just a big capacitor will do... I will need to try some experiments..

[Stu]

hard wire it to the battery with a quick connect lead in such a way the power is not interrupted when you kill the ignition yet killing the ignition will still shut it down somehow?

this would then give the camera enough time to write the finale images before your off the bike and disconnecting it

[Joeman]

The Camera has a built in Vibration motor. it vibrates three times when starting recording and once when stopping. I thought it was just a gimmick.

Until I just stuck the camera to my lid, and with my head inside, it really vibrates!! the whole helmet buzzes so its pretty obvious that youve pressed the button - useful when wearing gloves. I've also mounted it so that i can see the LED lights with the corner of my eye.

Weather dependant, i'll be taking a ride out tomorrow morning to get some footage.

[Stu]

it sounds a pretty impressive bit of kit for the price

when/if I get one it will be mounted on the bike and not my lid hence me asking about hard wiring etc

[Dynamo_Delboy]

Can an external mic be added to it?

Hate watching vlogs and all ye can hear is wind noise.

Quite like the look of this wee camera

[Joeman]

Can an external mic be added to it?

Hate watching vlogs and all ye can hear is wind noise.

Quite like the look of this wee camera

 

Guess it depends how good your soldering skills are!

Having taken it apart, I Dont think it would be hard to extend the wires to the mic and route it outside the camera. You'd need to drill a hole for the wires to exit though

[Ricky]

Hey joeman!

I'm a newb when it comes to all this camera malarkey!

So would this card fit?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/291077618896