Mini Pocket DV with Sporty Cam

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PrettyboyTim

New Member
Location
Brighton
It looks good - probably not as rugged as the ATC2K, but then the main camera itself will be in your backpack or pannier. If you want to search for reviews, apparently the camera itself is the Aiptek 8900.

One advantage it has over the ATC2K is that it has a built-in LCD, so you can review footage without needing a computer. The video resolution looks the same, at 640x480 @ 30fps, which is more than adequate for capturing number plates. The package basically comes with two cameras - one built in to the unit and a 'bullet cam' you could put on your helmet which you'd use when riding. I'm not sure how good the quality of the bullet cam will be, but you could always upgrade it with a different bullet cam later if you wanted to. I guess the other advantage is that when the bullet cam isn't connected, you can use it as a small video camera/ stills camera anyway.

According to the Aiptek website, it saves video in mpeg4 format, but it doesn't give the bitrate, so I don't know how much footage you could squeeze onto a 2Gb SD card. I'm guessing it would be at least as good as the ATC2K though. It also doesn't say anything about battery life. It's got a lithium battery, but it's only 700mAH, which isn't very much.

In short, I'd be mighty tempted by that camera, but I guess unlike the ATC2K, there isn't a wealth of current owners to give you an opinion on it, so it's a little more of a risk.

There's a bit of footage up on Youtube of the sporty cam - just do a search for 'aiptek sporty cam' - and it looks okay.

This review suggests the battery life is about 90 minutes, which isn't that great. The video clip he shows is 31 seconds long and weighs 13.4 Mb. That would give you about 77 minutes of footage on a single 2Gb SD card.

I think you should get one just so that the rest of us can get a review of it :biggrin:
 
Things to check before you buy:

How long is the connector from the camera to the recorder. It looks very short in the picture, but I am sure it will be longer than that! Just make sure it will reach to where you want to put it.

How waterproof is the camera? The one I got with the Archos seems fine (although I don't think it is rated as such). The Aiptek camera looks like it might have a button on it, so it might not be very waterprrof.

It's light sensitivity is 10 lux. My camera is 1 lux and so is more sensitive. Look at my videos since August last year(see my signature) to see what 1 lux sensitivity produces.

However, for the price it looks pretty good if you take all these things into account.

Let us know if you go for it!
 
For what it's worth... I'd leave the Aiptek 'brand' on the shelf. Cheap and nasty I have found.

I settled for the Archos 504 and 404. Yet to post anything worth while.
 
Lord of the Teapot said:
For what it's worth... I'd leave the Aiptek 'brand' on the shelf. Cheap and nasty I have found.

I settled for the Archos 504 and 404. Yet to post anything worth while.

Which did you settle for? The 504 or the 404 or both?:wacko:
 

PrettyboyTim

New Member
Location
Brighton
magnatom said:
How waterproof is the camera? The one I got with the Archos seems fine (although I don't think it is rated as such). The Aiptek camera looks like it might have a button on it, so it might not be very waterprrof.

I notice from the French Aiptek site that the strap for it comes with a partial housing that covers the button:

img3.jpg
img2.jpg


I'm very tempted to pop into Maplins at lunchtime and have a look at it.

Must... resist...
 
I must admit the poor low light capability would put me off. The archos is passable, with 1 lux, but I think 10 lux wouldn't be great.

I'd save my money and save up for one of the archos 405/helmet cameras (it's solid state now).

But I suppose it might be worth a look.....:wacko:
 

PrettyboyTim

New Member
Location
Brighton
I wonder if you can switch between the built-in camera and the bullet camera while recording? It'd be neat to have the main camera face backwards, and have some kind of switch set off by you turning your head to look behind ;-)
 
PrettyboyTim said:
I wonder if you can switch between the built-in camera and the bullet camera while recording? It'd be neat to have the main camera face backwards, and have some kind of switch set off by you turning your head to look behind ;-)

Now that would be useful! Your a programming genius, are you not? Surely you could hack the recorders code.......:wacko:
 
Lord of the Teapot said:
Both.

Will the Archos cam work on both?

Obviously too much money to burn! :tongue:;)

I think as long as they are from the same generation (which the 404 and 504 are) the camera should work with both.
 
I think I'm one of the only people in the world that doesn't like the ATC2K and thinks that he should have saved up for longer and gone bullet cam and HD recorder.

Any time you build up speed / the road gets bumpy the images wobbles all over the show. Even road buzz shakes the darn thing all over the place.

The buttons are incredibly hard to use with cold / gloved hands.

Its light sensitivity seriously weak. You might think it would work under full on streetlighting, but you would be wrong.

Its HUGE and really heavy.

The clip is too small for oversized handlebars, but the velcro strap is too long.
 

PrettyboyTim

New Member
Location
Brighton
I think you're right on all those points, Jacomus. However, it's also pretty much the only camera you can get for £80. Certainly I miss mine, despite all its flaws.

It'll be interested to see what a successor to an ATC2K would look like. Stick in a Li-poly battery, reduce the size a bit and improve the quality of the sensor, and you'd have a really pretty neat little system.
 
magnatom said:
Obviously too much money to burn! :biggrin:;)

I think as long as they are from the same generation (which the 404 and 504 are) the camera should work with both.

Ooops! I should of said (typed) 504 and the 405. Thats how/why I have both, I got confused with the numbers.
 
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