bullet camera questions (atc2k oregon scientific)

[zeroice]

So I got an el cheapo bullet camera and 2GB SD memory card. Actually I got 2; one for forward viewing and one for backwards viewing. Got one off ebay for $85 shipped. Paid another $20 for the 2gig card shipped.

Anyone got this camera? is it worth the money? What do you think about it?

I tried it out on the road (on a touring harley bike) and it sounds like crap... Sound is saturated? Don't know how to describe it, it sounds very static like, like its clipping. Anyways, I also found some footage on the internet of some track riders using the same camera, it too sounds poor.

I thought about covering up the microphone hole, maybe it will improve sound quality? Anyone got any ideas on how much I should "cover" the mic hole? maybe tape a piece of ear plug memory foam to it? Or will a simple piece of duct tape work?

[loc_dogg]

What do expect for $80? I got one used a few times and don't know where it is and don't care. The thing SUX! If you want good vid/aud quality then you have to spend some money. I honestly don't think you can do much to make it  "better". Just put on some bad ass sound tracks and it will be cool!

[DavidV]

use jbweld over the mic
also, make sure you format the card with fat16, any other file system will fuck it up

also, screw the cap on very tight.  otherwise the card will vibrate out and you will lose all of your video

change batteries twice a day too. you will get 2 or 3 sessions per sd card

[zeroice]

wow, JB weld it? are u kidding? I wonder if the batteries will last for 2hrs straight for the solo challenge

[Garywc]

wow, JB weld it? are u kidding? I wonder if the batteries will last for 2hrs straight for the solo challenge

maybe when you pit in for fuel you can change batteries
does it have a quick change battery?

[DavidV]

no i'm not kidding. It muffles the mic.  Ryan Nelson was the one who told me about it. He is basically the dude that started using the ATC line of cameras on race bikes.

They are good cameras for the money. You just need to be aware of their faults. Make sure the cap on your camera, has foam in it (a recently added feature by Oregon Scientific). This is to press against the SD card to keep it in. That's why I told you to tighten your cap very tight. The SD card ejects easily

Don't forget to format your SD card with FAT16 file system. Also, older PC's have trouble reading the 2gb cards. Just be advised

http://www.29dreamsracing.com/videos.htm

[DavidV]

Your batteries will last 2 hours
Your SD card may not. It will be close

One IMPORTANT THING to remember. TURN OFF THE CAMERA before ejecting the card or batteries. If you yank the batteries out or eject the card without stopping, you will lose your video.

[Spooner427]

I use the same camera and have no problems. The sound is not the best but the camera is sealed to be water proof so the microphone doesn't have great sound quality. If you goto youtube and search spooner427 you can see a bunch of video I have put up there using the ATC-2000.

Spooner

[zeroice]

Word up DaveV!

I read the manual cover to cover. And I did format it to FAT16.

I'm a little hesitant to put jb weld on it but... I guess it's not hard to remove.

Thanks for the help.

Gary, I might make a custom quick disconnect battery magazine... Do the battery change in 2 seconds.... hehhehehe, j/k.

Gary, you going to BHF? Ivan gonna fly in while you transport his bike? its a 12~14 hr drive for me... how bout you?

[Garywc]

not sure if Ivan is flying or riding out with me
I am going to pick up paul on the way and i am bringing Bills team challenge SV and this week when i am at louden for the pro school i am going to pick up his other sv so he can do some sprints.
so i am bringing 5 bikes out there.
think i may do the GTO just to play with Ivan some more before the solo challenge
you going to do any sprints or the track day?

[zeroice]

gary:
gto & gtu, no trackday...

[Garywc]

your not doing the track day?

[zeroice]

no trackday... I'd like to but don't have the vacation days...

Essentially I'll leave friday at noon and get there late, probably around 1am. hope the gates stay open...

Do the MW & HW practice, GTO, GTU races (as practice) and maybe I'll get lucky and win (hehe). Sunday do the TC and then pack up and hit the road ASAP. Gonna get to work monday at noon. It will be rough but do-able

[zeroice]

What a crazy bummer weekend it was at BHF. I crashed in all 3 of my races... But everyone was super helpful in getting me back on the track, so thanks a lot guys!


Ok, so I tested out the camera in BHF this past weekend. I had one mounted on the front and rear. I got most of the footage from the GTU and GTO but it didn't record the entire length of the TC.

I was running in the TC for about 1.25 hrs before I crashed. I installed new batteries 10 minutes before the race in both front and rear cameras.

Rear camera recorded only 38 minutes then got cut short. Wierd...

Front camera didn't record at all, although I remember looking at it while pitting in for gas and saw that the display was still counting up, so I knew it was on. Today I checked the card out on my card reader. It has 2 avi files. I don't see any hidden files ("show hidden files" is enabled). I checked the properties of the "drive" and it says that 703mb are used and 1.2gb are free. But the 2 avi files that are on the card only add up to 260mb.... What happened to the other 340mb? any thoughts?

[DavidV]

My guess is that during the TC, the memory card ejected and thus ...........you lost all video it had taken of THAT race.

Maybe the stuff you are seeing on the card (front camera), is left over from the GTO and GTU?
Rear camera may have run out of batteries or space (was the card filled up?)

Remember to screw that cap on TIGHT.  I found that I have to reformat the card everytime I want to clean it. Simply cutting and pasting from it does NOT remove the data on there. You really need to reformat each time, I learned the hard way.

[DavidV]

By the way, did the camera record the crashes? Do post!

[gixxer188]

http://www.29dreamsracing.com/videos.htm

Where do you have the camera mounted on the bike?
What compression are you using on the finished video?

[DavidV]

It's actually not my website, that is Ryan Nelson. He mounts his to his fairing though with zip ties

I use the small or medium compression settings myself. Really a great camera if you are aware of it's faults.

[zeroice]

I used the 320x240 @ 15fps to capture the duration of the Solo challenge

For all the races, GTO, GTU and Solo Challenge, the rear camera was mounted on the tail section, right on top, ziptied to the fiberglass. the tail section did bounce a bit.

The front camera was mounted in the nose for the GTU. I cut a hole out and screwed on cut piece of safety glasses as a shield.
But for the Solo challenge, since I didnt run with bodywork, I ziptied the front camera to the forks between the top and bottom triple clamp.


David:
I didn't do a cut and past or delete from the computer. I always deleted "all" files using the camera. So the front camera still had recordings from the GTU and the short test recording before the GTU. But it didn't capture solo...

I have too check all the footage of the front camera and see if it captured my GTU T1 crash...

BTW, I did screw it on TIGHT. And the batteries were fresh out of a new package that had an expiration date in 2010. The front camera card was not full. The 2GB card has 2 files totaling to 200something MB but the used space info reads that 700mb is used... where is the rest of the 400MB?

I'll definitly post the footage later!!!

But if any of you have an idea on salvaging or recovering the missing footage, please do let me know!!!

thanks

[DavidV]

hmm, you formatted the card with FAT16?   I have had similar problems.  I had a 1gig card in with only 200meg used. The batteries were new. I pulled in after a practice session and it was off (meaning everything was lost from the last session!)

I think you really need to reformat the card after EVERY recording (Regardless of available space). This is the route I went and no problems so far.

I lost video of a GTU race and was kicking myself since then. I almost broke the camera because I wanted to break it. This camera is really picky.

Use fresh batteries
Format with FAT16
Reformat and change batteries after EVERY race

pain in the ass I know, but it's a great camera for $80. If you can, use multiple SD cards or bring a laptop to the track so you can download the vids after every session.

[PaulV]

I have an ATC2K as well and have had all of the same issues metioned here...as well as the missing video...
My take is that there is also a power issue which develops over time where due to vibration the batteries may lose contact and power is momentarilyy lost...causing the video to stop and the file becomes incomplete (corrupt) and unaccessable. You may see and ERR message in the LCD scrn or it may just go blank depending on how much time passes between the err and your recovery attempt. 
Haven't tried to address this issue yet, but the foam/tight cap solution may help.

Paul
Polar-Optics
MW Ex 79

[zeroice]

Maybe increase the spring force on the batteries? Say, put some foam between the leaf spring and its base?

[DavidV]

Paul,
I think the vibration causes the SD card to eject. There is not much room for the batteries to move around.  If you look in your cap, the hard foam will be in there. Screw the cap on tight, then remove the cap and look at it. There should be an indentation in it, indicating that the memory card is snug against the foam.

The vibrating battery thing is something I have never heard of, but it's not impossible for it to be happening. I have had good luck though with my above methods.   I use two zip ties to mount my camera, I'm assuming everyone else uses the mount that came with it? (the one it "slides" into)

I have the camera mounted on my fork leg, video is very stable

[PaulV]

Hey David,

Thanks, I'll check the foam and make sure there is proper indentation.
More than likely you are right on the SD card.  I have been mounting on top of the tripple clamp with the std. mount and zip ties, on top of a rubber mount fashioned from an old r6 cush drive piece..:).


Paul
Polar-Optics
MW Ex 79

[DavidV]

One thing I just forgot fellas:

Always always always, press the "STOP" button directly after your race. Then hold the power button to turn the camera off. I found that if you do not do this, you lose your last race you recorded.

So to recap:

Always use fresh batteries for every race
Always reformat your SD card after every race (FAT16 file system) after you copy your video
Always tighten your cap very tight
Always press stop after your race is done. Then immediately power down the camera

NEVER eject the card while the camera is on
NEVER take out the batteries, without pressing STOP first
NEVER hold the power button down without pressing STOP first

A good indication that the camera recorded, is if you pull in the pits after the checkered, and the camera is still on. If it's off, it is usually bad news. 

[zeroice]

I think the one recording session that got cut short but wasnt corrupted, the Team Challenge rear view, may have got cut short cuz the recording was "stopped" by the zip tie. I think I zip tied right in front of the circular holder, right were the button was. It may have caused the buttor to get pressed....

So don't zip tie near the buttons!!! :)

[surftheasphalt]

So I got an el cheapo bullet camera and 2GB SD memory card. Actually I got 2; one for forward viewing and one for backwards viewing. Got one off ebay for $85 shipped. Paid another $20 for the 2gig card shipped.

Anyone got this camera? is it worth the money? What do you think about it?

I tried it out on the road (on a touring Harley bike) and it sounds like crap... Sound is saturated?

maybe that is the sound of the Harley?

great cam ,I use one on mid-Ohio and vid is very clear and crisp,no wires,no problem,
was mounted inside front faring and sound and vid is very good
worth the money for sure

[eightonezero]

I recorded a race at Summit this past weekend. I put the cap on REAL tight and had no problems.  Well, one problem. I was using a 2gb card. It recorded the entire race except for the last few minutes. The 2gb card was not formatted and I had some pictures on there, but nothing that would affect it from filling up the card.

Oh well.

[magicrat]

I do quite a bit of on-bike video.  I use mini-DV camcorders ... but, I have used solid-state recording devices like you have, too.

I think you should just keep recording like you are, but then use an "editor" to mute the sound after you download it to your computer.

Movie Maker 2.0 comes free with Windows XP.  All you gotta do is import the raw .avi file and then mute the sound.  You can then add music, do slow-mo on portions, overdub narration, etc.

The video I posted here is done with movie maker:  http://www.ccsforum.com/index.php/topic,18332.0.html

You can see more videos here:  http://flandersland.tzo.com/public.htm

... and my "thoughts" on bike video here:  http://flandersland.tzo.com/CameraTips.htm

... and the best guys in the business ... that I have EVER met making bike video are here:  http://www.linesthemovie.com/linesforum.htm

-- Magic-Rat

[tstruyk]

the Rat has spoken!!!

whats up pat!   

[magicrat]

the Rat has spoken!!!

whats up pat!  

LOL.

Hey man!

I miss you guys .. and those roads out to Pitosi.

Hooah!

[tstruyk]

i was thinking we need someone to get married... the bus is gettin dusty and the ladies out east are lonely!!   

need to grab some beers your next trip back.  you still here somewhat regularily?

oh and so as not to totally thread jack... listen to the rat, he's got onboard pretty much figured out! 

timmay

[zeroice]

So last week during labor day weekend a friend and myself took a 1500mi trip through the Tennessy & N. Carolina Smokey Mtn twisties. We hit up Cherohalla Skyway, Deal's Gap, Smokey Mtn National Park (waaayy too many cars and traffic), and finally we rode the blueridge parkway for 100miles both ways (200mi). And also we hit up NC rt 151 into Canton, NC from the Blueridge parkway, and man that road is more twisty than Deal's Gap!!!

I took a Harley 07 Dyna Super Glide Cusom with a lowered P&A rear suspenssion. Don't be hatin' on us Harley riders now!!! That Harley was really nice to ride, great handling and awesome power from the 96cuin engine. And not a damn person, including sportbikes, passed us. In fact we passed some sport bikes!!!

Anyways, I recorded most of the trip and (over 7 hrs of footage) and figured out a few things about that camera.
Here's what I discovered:
1. Never use cheap wal-mart brand batteries, they die too fast. Get Duracel or Energizer or use some good rechargeables. Good new batteries will last over 2hrs. El cheopo lasts only 30 minutes.
2. make sure the battery flap is "snapped" shut. It needs to "Slide" all the way in. Otherwise it may bounce around and loose contact.
3. When you buy a new card, and even though you read it on the computer and the "properties" says that it's already formated w/ FAT16, re-format it.
4. Noise isn't saturated even if its lound. Noise is only saturated when the camera is ridgidly mounted to the frame such as the fork. In other words, the vibration transfers into sound noise on the camera. Sort of like listening to an engine with a mechanic's stethoscope.
5. And lastly, don't aim the camera too high thinking that you're climbing a hill and taking sharp turns. You just end up not seeing any of the road so really it doesn't look right. And also, the image gets really dark because it gets too much light exposure from above.

[eightonezero]

Zeroice: What is the biggest size file you have successfully recorded so far? How many minutes was it?  I'm happy with the camera, quality is actually pretty decent for $80

I too, have also found that it is better to point the camera slightly down, vs slightly up. I mount mine on the fork leg and get decent results

[magicrat]

Pointing the camera down helps capture the feeling of speed, too.  I purposely point my cams down a bit ... especially on street rides to make them "feel fast."  It's the same effect as looking at the road right in front of you instead of looking "out".

[zeroice]

Zeroice: What is the biggest size file you have successfully recorded so far? How many minutes was it?  I'm happy with the camera, quality is actually pretty decent for $80

I too, have also found that it is better to point the camera slightly down, vs slightly up. I mount mine on the fork leg and get decent results

Ok, sorry for the delay...


A week and a half ago I recorded the entire length of the VIR solo/team challenge. Everything went well. Used fresh batteries and formatted card before starting. Also made sure everything was secure. I'll post footage shortly. I AM VERY PLEASE WITH THE QUALITY!!!

Biggest file size was 90minutes. recordign did not stop but dumped over into a 2nd file; total record time if you add the 2 files together is over 2 hrs. I haven't tried long recording w/ higher resolution (currently using 320x240 @15fps); got a file size of 854MB.