Better Video Equipment?

[skiri251]

Went camping again.
Was going to take Angeles Crest Hwy to Angeles Forest Hwy to Mojave Desert.
Went through LA downtown in a traffic jam caused by a traffic accident and found that Angeles Crest Hwy was closed!
Read a map, found alternate route via Little Tujunga Canyon Rd.

Anyway, I have been trying to take good enough onboard movie of my sidecar rig. I use ordinary compact digital camera but wind noise is really bothering. It muffles stereo and engine sound. This time I put 5"x7" clear plastic plate in front of the camera but it didn't work.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6pLsXHTvHU

Does any one have experience in this area?
I guess buying high end equipment with external mic input is a solution but I am not into it that much.
I see GoPro Hero camera ad. https://gopro.com/products/?gclid=CIeQkIPl7KgCFYXu7Qod-2tUDQ

It also got just a built-in mic but it says they really thought about reducing wind noise. Is this just a sales pitch?

 

[dan filipi]

I think the only solutions would be editing the audio track like chas said or if you locate the camera behind the windshield but the higher view like you have is cool. Edit the audio then all the bike sounds are gone though.
I would like to see a pic of the mount.

 

[skiri251]

Thanks!

I want to somehow preserve the sound I hear while I am riding (at least engine sound, stereo music yes I can add something later) but I guess that is difficult.

So maybe buying a sound recorder and put a mic in my helmet or somewhere out of wind will do it? But then I need to worry about audio/video sync. Or try this GoPro Hero thing.. It got 30day money back.

The mount is fairly crude. It's just a regular tripod attached in front of the trunk with bangee cord. I attached L shape brackets where the stock accessary pocket(?) goes. Of course it was long gone when I bought the bike.

 

[scdmarx]

The smaller PIP is the GoPro Wide. The new one is HD, but not mine. The audio I used was from the GoPro. It was mounted on the bottom of the trunk and set to take video in upside down mode. Not sure how well it does against the wind, but give me a couple days and I can let you know. (raining here this week) I find the GoPro very dificult to use. Tiny buttons, have to remember to wear my glasses to read the menue, hard to tell when it's recording or not, etc. Also it doesn't allow you to make any adjustments for lighting and such. It's all "auto".

I've been thinking about useing a wired mic plugged into my Sony and taped out of the wind near the center of the handlebars. Just ain't got a round tuit yet.

 

[skiri251]

Very good video and audio. Nice road too. CA-229, eh.

I was googling GoPro and saw the initial 3M pix version got terrible audio quality reviews but this Wide Angle version is not bad at all. You mounted the camera under the trunk? How can you get un-obstructed front view from there? Oh, GoPro was used for rearward view only?

I prefer motorcycle (and possibly the sidecar) in view so I either wear the camera on my chest or mount it somewhere aft. (With high fairing, forward view from the chest level on GL is limited.) I guess that doesn't help the sound because of so much buffetting.

Can't wait for your experiment with GoPro HD. If possible, could you try similar mounting position as I did?

 

[scdmarx]

Found some old stock from about a year ago.

This is GoPro Wide SD. You can hear the different audios under different conditions. You'll need to really turn up your speakers. I usually edit my own audio.
Youtube will delete the audio if you don't own the rights to it. I have had to remove several "silent" vidoes from youtube after they deleted my audio.
[flv]https://img573.imageshack.us/img573/8335/wsgy.mp4[/flv]

GoPro's latest version is HD format and has it's own rechargable battery. My older one uses AA batteries.

 

[skiri251]

Thanks again.

I like the last one the best. It's really cool. I will try that one.
I notice that helmet position suffers from wind noise. Considering my camera position, maybe no camera can capture decent enough audio. So maybe I really need external mic mounted to somewhere out of the wind..

I see webBikeWorld got reviews for GoProSD, SD wide, and HD.

https://www.webbikeworld.com/r4/gopro-hd/

I haven't had time to read them yet but they also reviewed Drift 170X and though it's SD, it seems to be a good one also.

 

[slabghost]

I've no idea if it will work but you can try putting the camera inside a small cardboard box with just the lens sticking out. Cardboard should delete a lot of the wind noise.

 

[scdmarx]

I have thought about building a small box out of plexiglass. Mostly just to protect the camera.
The GoPro comes in a plastic water proof case. Maybe they should have put the mic on the back side?

 

[skiri251]

I have thought about building a small box out of plexiglass. Mostly just to protect the camera.
The GoPro comes in a plastic water proof case. Maybe they should have put the mic on the back side?

I am thinking about the same thing. Apparently 5"x7" plexiglass plate in front of the camera was not enough so why not a box. And I will put rubber sheet between the box and the camera to isolate it from the vibration.

After I read Drift X170 review on webBikeWorld, I am completely sold to it and ordered one. Video/Audio quality is not as good as GoProHD but it comes with LCD live monitor, better menu system, and wireless remote! You can attach it to your wrist or handlebar and start/stop recording while riding. They have Drift HD170 which is HD and naturally older X170 price is dropping. It's $150 now.

If the box idea doesn't work, maybe I will try cheapo digital voice recorder. $40 gives you 150 hours or so of continuous voice recording and option for external mic. Sync will be a problem though..

 

[scdmarx]

Here is another alternative. I use a Sony Handycam. It has a mic jack for a wire mic that you could mount remotely, which I've been meaning to try, but haven't got to it yet. I'm thinking of useing the mic from the kids kareoke set for a trial.

 

[skiri251]

Here is another alternative. I use a Sony Handycam. It has a mic jack for a wire mic that you could mount remotely, which I've been meaning to try, but haven't got to it yet. I'm thinking of useing the mic from the kids kareoke set for a trial.

Actually my Panasonic camcorder got wired remote with mic. So after all this, I should just mount the Panasonic on the tripod and attach wired remote/mic somewhere in the fairing out of the wind? I feel stupid now..

Only consolation is that the Panosonic is a miniDV so not vibration-proof and built-in MPEG4 movie capture is very limited.

 

[OldWrench]

I use Adobe Premier for video editing and what I like about it I can edit both sound tracks so if I wanted real world noise, plus clean audio you can put the real world on one track adjust the volume level and the audio on the other. Not only that you can do voice over on either. It also has some neat filtering features to it.

 

[skiri251]

I use Adobe Premier for video editing and what I like about it I can edit both sound tracks so if I wanted real world noise, plus clean audio you can put the real world on one track adjust the volume level and the audio on the other. Not only that you can do voice over on either. It also has some neat filtering features to it.

It's a de facto movie editor, isn't it?
Unfortunately I don't have one. I guess it costs a few hundred dollars. So unless "Elements" stripped-down version bundled with the hardware, I will use Windows Live Movie Maker came with Win7 for now.

 

[scdmarx]

I'm useing Pinnacle Studio. It has a lot of bang for the buck, much easier learning curve than Adobe, and if you look around you can get into the basic software for not much over a hundred dollars. If you are familiar with Windows Movie Maker, the transition to Studio will be pretty self explanitory.

Mine is an older version (v10?), but it has 2 video tracks, each with their audios, and 2 more audio tracks to add audio. Each track has fully adjustable volume controls. You saw the PIP (fully adjustable) and can also do chroma key (green screen). A lot of "Canned Tools". And lot's of "plug-ins" if you want to pull out your credit card.
Don't be intimidated. They make it easy for you these days. And if you're into it, you'll have fun.

 

[skiri251]

I'm useing Pinnacle Studio. It has a lot of bang for the buck, much easier learning curve than Adobe, and if you look around you can get into the basic software for not much over a hundred dollars. If you are familiar with Windows Movie Maker, the transition to Studio will be pretty self explanitory.

Mine is an older version (v10?), but it has 2 video tracks, each with their audios, and 2 more audio tracks to add audio. Each track has fully adjustable volume controls. You saw the PIP (fully adjustable) and can also do chroma key (green screen). A lot of "Canned Tools". And lot's of "plug-ins" if you want to pull out your credit card.
Don't be intimidated. They make it easy for you these days. And if you're into it, you'll have fun.

Ah, yes, Pinnacle, heard of that one too.
Long time ago I was developing console games and content people used Adobe Premier or Pinnacle. Unfortunately I am a programmer so almost zero content editing experience.

 

[OldWrench]

It's a de facto movie editor, isn't it?

Yes it is. I got into it several years ago through our church. We have live broadcasts every Sunday and shoot a lot of our outreach programs. You can get the student version relatively cheap I believe. There is a considerable learning curve but since you are smart enough to be a programmer it shouldn’t be that hard, I’m a truck mechanic and I finally caught on. I also use Photoshop, and Elements but I'm still on the learning curve big time with them.

 

[toytender01]

For those of you who are intrested; Cheap Cycle Parts has a sale on GOPRO wide lense vid cam $239.99 (go to cheapcycleparts.com)

 

[danf]

I am going to try something on my little camera to block the wind noise from the microphone , I'll let you know if it works...I want the sound of the bike, I don't want any wind noise either...

 

[skiri251]

Thanks.
I will try my 7-year-old camcorder with external mic this weekend. Unfortunately MPEG4 can go only up to 320x240 but that's a good size for YouTube.