Cheap 720p HD Camera

[BSRU]

I have just tried for the first time a cheap 720p HD camera. A Poseidon 720p HD waterproof camera from China via EBay, for just £66 which includes delivery, it arrived very quickly.
The video quality looks very good for the price, in fact for just £66 it is excellent.
The only draw back is when compared to my ContourHD it is bigger and a little heavier, probably due to the waterproof housing.

It comes with a helmet mount, handlebar mount, car mount and a standard camera mount.
It records in 720p format 1280x720 at 30 fps, it encodes in MPEG-4 format, saving as .AVI type file.
It saves the file every 5 minutes and uses approximately 0.5Gig per 10 minutes, recording rate is 6.63M per second.
It uses SD cards not micro-SD cards, timestamp can be turned on or off.

From the description.
1、Primary Function: Waterproof Sports Action Video Camera
2、Lens: 120 Degree Wide Angle Lens (F 2.0, f=3.4mm)
3、Video Capture Resolution: 1280x720 (30FPS); 640x480 (50FPS)
4、Recording Format: AVI
5、Timestamp: On/Off
6、Microphone: Yes
7、Viewing Angle: 120 degrees (Wide angle)
8、Sensor: 5MP CMOS
9、Internal Memory: Built-in 46MB
10、External Memory: SD card (32 GB Max.)
11、Power: 1700mAH high-capacity rechargable battery
12、Water-Proof: YES, up to 10M underwater (IP68)
13 Buttons: Power ON/OFF; Record; Menu;Laser Light ON/OFF
14、Laser Light Distance: 20 meters
15、Laser Light Color: Red
16、Remote Control: Yes (10m operating distance)
17、Interface: Mini USB port (USB 2.0)
18、Output: 3.5mm A/V OUT & HDMI OUTPUT
19、Dimensions (mm): 80 (L) 40 (W) 50 (D)
20、Certifications: CE, RoHS, FCC

I will sort out a video showing it's picture quality later.

 

[BSRU]

To add:-
You can also delete files from the memory card without removing the card from the camera.

 

[PaulSecteur]

Sounds good... Got a link?

 

[HLaB]

Sounds good BSRU, like said have you got a link

 

[BSRU]

Link to Ebay

 

[ColinJ]

Something isn't right with your numbers - 6.63 MB per second would be nearly 4 GB for 10 minutes!

I'd be interested in seeing some test videos. I'd want to see if the picture 'tears' when panning quickly, or stutters when writing to the card. I'd like to see how quickly and how well it copes with changing light conditions.

I'd also be interested in the sound quality, especially in windy conditions. I assume that there isn't a socket for an external microphone?

 

[SportMonkey]

Something isn't right with your numbers - 6.63 MB per second would be nearly 4 GB for 10 minutes!

I'd be interested in seeing some test videos. I'd want to see if the picture 'tears' when panning quickly, or stutters when writing to the card. I'd like to see how quickly and how well it copes with changing light conditions.

I'd also be interested in the sound quality, especially in windy conditions. I assume that there isn't a socket for an external microphone?

It depends if it's VBR and the algorithm.

Anyway, what should matter is quality, and how much space we'd need for an hour of footage.

If it's any cop I may bag myself one.

 

[BSRU]

Some footage loaded directly upto YouTube.

[media]
]View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxicGaPIzLE[/media]



Or the direct link

 

[HLaB]

It looks ATC'ish build but the video quality is much better and its about a 3rd of the price. A bit dearer but I also like the look of this US cam on the same page (now where do I find £120) ;-)

 

[ColinJ]

Hmm ... it's a pretty clear picture, but there is a very obvious fish-eye lens effect going on there!

 

[BSRU]

Hmm ... it's a pretty clear picture, but there is a very obvious fish-eye lens effect going on there!

Yes there is, since it is an avi I should be able to use virtualDub to reduce the effect.

 

[Jezston]

That's not bad at all! CMOS wobble shows it's deficiencies compared to the likes of the Countour, but overall picture quality quite fair and ACTUALLY HD, where some of the cheap 'HD' cameras just look like upscaled SD.

Any chance of getting some nighttime footage? If that camera handles low light tolerably I might just get one!

 

[BSRU]

That's not bad at all! CMOS wobble shows it's deficiencies compared to the likes of the Countour, but overall picture quality quite fair and ACTUALLY HD, where some of the cheap 'HD' cameras just look like upscaled SD.

Any chance of getting some nighttime footage? If that camera handles low light tolerably I might just get one!

If you search on YouTube someone has uploaded a night time test of the camera, although it is from a car and halogen car lights are very good for CMOS camera's.

 

[Hamilton]

I am desperately trying to find the instruction manual for the Poseidon 720P HD camera listed here. I have mislaid mine. Can anyone help, please?