Sport-Cam HDPro 1080p

I got the opportunity to try my new bike cam out last weekend and I've got to say I'm very pleased with the results.

It's a Sport-Cam HDPro 1080p which in reality is a Huashi AT26. You can get these on eBay for £299 + £8.50 P&P but with free P&P (it was next day) from Sport-Cam the difference of having a company you could go back to with any issues was well worth the extra £12.49 IMHO.

There are a couple of minor disappointments with the camera though certainly not deal-breakers especially give the quality of the footage it produces.

• The remote is IR rather than RF so it's line of sight only, this makes it far less useful as having the recorder part inside a tank bag takes it out of reach of the remote. Having it in the map pocket works but having it there it's just as easy to use the rec button on the unit itself. Added to which you can see if it's recording or not which isn't possible from the remote.
• The cable that joins the camera head to the recorder is one piece and fixed at either end. This makes mounting the camera head semi permanently on the bike impossible without leaving the recorder attached. Having an in-line socket would be useful here.

The mounting issue is made easier by the sturdy mounts included in the kit that allow easy removal of the camera head. This is something that I'll need to do at the end of each day, my previous bullet cam unplugged from the recorder and stayed on the bike.

The camera head is relatively large in comparison to my previous bullet cam (more a cannon shell than a bullet) so discreet mounting is harder. I've mounted mine on the right mirror stem which is attached to my bike's fairing. This point is solid, doesn't vibrate and gives a good view-point IMHO.

Menus are fairly basic, but do what's required, with the main functions controlled by one of the individual buttons on the recorder. The small screen on the recorder is very useful for getting everything lined up and level as well as checking that the unit is recording and what resolution is in use. It will also give you running time available on your SD card for the currently selected resolution and whilst recording the length of the current recording thus far.

The system will record in the following modes: 1080p (1920x1080) @30fps with fixed angle of view of 120º, 720p (1280x720) @30fps with an angle of view of 140º and digital zoom and 480p (848x480) @60fps with an angle of view of 120º and digital zoom. The digital zoom does degrade the quality slightly though I haven't experimented with it too much as yet. It records in the Quicktime MOV format.

There's a microphone built into the recorder that does an OK job but also included is a separate clip on mic that can be placed where you like.

The camera comes complete with two batteries (about 2.5 hours recoding time a piece), the IR remote, separate mic, mains to mini USB charger (can be used directly in the camera or with the battery dock), car cigarette socket to mini USB power lead (powers camera and charges battery), AV lead to connect to TV, USB lead, lens cap, two mounts (one for bar mounting the other flat base with 1/4 tripod bush) as well as cable ties, sticky pads and velcro. This all comes in a zip up ballistic nylon case.

No SD card is included, I purchased a 32GB class 10 card from 7 Day Shop for £27.

The 1080p mode, whilst impressive, uses quite a bit of card space, requires considerably longer to process a upload to YouTube. I've decided to predominantly shoot in 720p as a good compromise.

An empty 32GB card will give about 8 hours 40 minutes at 1080p, almost 14 hours at 720p and about 23 hours at 480p.

<object width="800" height="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xD_AZHS3rv4?fs=1&hd=1&hl=en_US&rel=0"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xD_AZHS3rv4?fs=1&hd=1&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="800" height="480"></embed></object>

Thank you fort the review and the video. No offense, but why did you feel compelled to add this - sorry - terrible music? You don't like the sound of your motorcycle engine? Or the camera mic is so bad that it only picks up wind noise, as do many others? Also, how and where did you attach the camera?

Nice quality mate.

Think carefully about removing this from you tube though as you are clearly over the solid line. Many folks have shopped themselves this way.

I would delete it and make another where you are riding within the law.

Your riding is safe, but its illegal and you are on you tube doing it.

Al.

Since when has it been illegal to cross a white line...... how would you turn right into a road where there's a solid white line ???

I'm impressed with the cyclists though....

I can vouch for Bumpkins riding... Following him round Wales quite a few years ago really helped bring my riding on..

Good vid ,great bits of kit they are i mount mine on the side of my helmet , I think he was referring to the bit at 1.18 were he went over the solid white line on the corner to pass the bikes

I hate to be a highway code nobber.... but you are allowed to cross a double white or solid white on your side, to overtake a pushbike...

Enough distraction from this camera review...

I’ve been looking into getting something like this.

A friend has been using the gopro for the last two years and although the picture quality is great, I don’t like the wind noise and lack of screen.

Anyone have any experience of these ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110675654976&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

There seems to be a few sellers with them on ebay with a wide range of prices for what seems like the same item.

.

C-J said:

I hate to be a highway code nobber.... but you are allowed to cross a double white or solid white on your side, to overtake a pushbike...

Enough distraction from this camera review...

Click to expand...

If that's the case then I retract my statement, As I said, there is nothing wrong with the standard of riding at all, was just attempting to save the gentlemen some possible nastys. Great review of the cam.

Al.

Thanks for comments chaps. Sorry if the music isn't to your taste... The mic works well but I'm still experimenting. On that ride it was the 2nd time out with the kit and was using the external mic for the first time. This was inside, and at the bottom of, my tank bag, I now have a wind sock for the mic and will be trying it outside the bag on Thursday.

Admittedly the cyclist overtake is marginally dodgy as it's probably in excess of 10mph which is where the crossing a solid white to overtake a cyclist is legal or not. I did have clear line of sight on the first and the speed and attitude of the bikes on the 2nd assured me that they weren't going to do a right into the small lay-by.

I prefer the separate recorder camera/head approach with a screen etc. A friend has just ordered one direct from HUASHI in China, apparently costing him about £225 delivered and duty paid on a three day delivery. Should be here next week. We'll see if his costings work as he's calculated...

Hammam said:

how and where did you attach the camera?

Click to expand...

On the mirror stem

Don't buy from sports-cam direct - no delivery or refund in my experience (250 quid lost unless Giles steps up and does the necessary.....not a legal statement, just my problem..)

Pacer said:

Don't buy from sports-cam direct - no delivery or refund in my experience (250 quid lost unless Giles steps up and does the necessary.....not a legal statement, just my problem..)

Click to expand...

Agree with that, I am in dispute with them at the moment, I ordered the camera talked about in this thread. Ended up getting messed about. They agreed to a refund but still fighting for it. Have passed it to the credit card company and they are trying to sort it out.