GoPro HD Hero review - post your videos

[Brent Mills]

Well, I saw a guy with a Lambo a few weeks ago with one of these suckers suctioned to the front of his car and he said it was great, so I figured for less than $300 I would pick one up and give it a whirl.

My impression of it just out of box is that the design is pretty nice, the case being water tight is great, the menu system is...well...a bit antiquated. It took a while to learn what each of the settings were and how to set them, but easy after you’ve learned it. I could imagine a few months from now after not having changed any settings that I will have forgotten most of it and need to relearn.

After trying it out in my living room and playing back the pics and the video, it seemed a bit grainy, which is due to the low light. Outdoors it seems to do ok. Sound quality, for being out in the open air is pretty good considering at times I went pretty fast. There’s two back doors….one for water tight and another that is used for up to 100mph to get more engine noise, but it’s not water tight.

For a short ride, I mounted the camera in two different locations and retraced the steps in each mounting position. Then I used Windows Live Movie Maker (free) to edit the video…I’m not very experienced with it and noticed a typo in the first frame after I published the video, so no laughing at my crappy skillz!

So far, it seems like a good value and comes with many mounts, including the suction mount. I picked up a roll bar mount too, but it's not absolutely necessary as I mounted the suction in numerous locations on my Cobra without difficulty. Below is a quick spin in the GT.

Be sure to watch in HD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjc2OM_gvek

[Tom Wells]

Brent,

I doubt you had this in mind; this GoPro HD video is exciting in a very different way

The fun really starts after the 20 second mark: http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/gopro...rk-experiment/

I just got the Eye of Mine housing so I can try it myself!

I agree fully about the last century workings of the GoPro. There's new firmware due out RSN (Real Soon Now), and I hope it makes the operation less obtuse and tedious.

I tried mine on my Cobra and the resulting video was corrupted - it was over 2GB which apparently is a no-no. I plan to try it again soon...

Enjoy,

Tom

[Silverback51]

Sounds like you had less wind noise in your video.

[Brent Mills]

Originally Posted by Silverback51

Sounds like you had less wind noise in your video.

When it was attached to the front facing back at the driver, the wind noise was a bit more, but I believe that is primarily because I had the open back and it probably is designed to not have the air rushing in to the open spot. Faced the other direction, it seemed pretty good overall.

[Cashburn]

Been on the fence for this one or the Contour HD setup...

[Brent Mills]

Here's one of the Cobra yesterday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk1OT-56x68

[Mdman352]

I love my Go Pro camera

[Mdman352]

I just got mine and love it. I use a rollbar mount and with the open window on the camera, I seem to get more wind noise than I would prefer.

Use the HD setting on your player

Brent,
how do you get the player to go into the post?
David

[SunDude]

Brent, the video quality on your HD GoPro is really excellent. The sound is very good too, when the camera's placed on the rear deck next to the engine and exhaust pipes.

I have the non-HD version of the GoPro. The video quality is pretty good too, but I can't seem to get good sound with it. My camera case doesn't have the panel in the back like yours. I would order a replacement case, but apparently the HD case won't work with the non-HD camera.

I've got a bunch of videos and comments posted on a separate thread: Experimenting with my GoPro camera.

(By the way Brent, is your Cobra's speedo broken or did you just disconnect it to avoid self-incrimination...?)

[BBfangs]

Who has the best deal on GoPro's and who is best to deal with?

[fastraxsg]

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/GoPro-...era,42834.html

GoPro HD

[Mdman352]

I found mine in Glen Burnie, MD for $225.00.

Try Nextag.com

here is one off of Ebay for $239.00:
http://compare.ebay.com/like/1404515...Types&var=sbar

[vipertocobra]

My Widows Movie maker will not let me edit a MP4....How are you guys editing??

[Brent Mills]

Originally Posted by vipertocobra

My Widows Movie maker will not let me edit a MP4....How are you guys editing??

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-movie-maker

[BBfangs]

Thanks for the info everyone. Hopefully I will be able to post my own videos soon.

Mdman352 - Where in Glen Burnie did you get yours? I didn't see anything on Nextag.

[fastraxsg]

Have to be careful which package you get, some dont' include all the brackets, need to buy extra...also, helment cam might be different attachments. And there is a package that is not HD too.

[Tom Wells]

All,

No sooner said than done - the new firmware for the HD Hero GoPro is released. Go here: http://www.goprocamera.com/support/hdheroupdate.php

The new firmware has some great features, including one-button operation (for us ultra-linear types ), Upside Down Mode, Live Feed Out and Live Feed On-Screen Display.

It's a pretty easy update; all you need to do it is on that page.

I've done mine and hope to try it soon.

Tom

[Brent Mills]

I installed that over the weekend and it went fine. Forgot I put it in upside down mode and recorded the cobra video. Luckily it's easy to flip in the Windows Live Movie Maker.

[Mooch]

Here's a clip of autocross with the cockpit video taken with a GoPro HD and the external video with a Flip MinoHD.



Note that I used iMovie stabilization with the Mino clip, so it zooms in on the video and makes it seem to have variably worse resolution.

For the GoPro, it's on a roll bar mount with the open back door at 720px60fps.

I'm very happy with it so far.

[Jamo]

Plan on using it for an upcoming 24 Hours of Lemons race by the Gasholes team...we'll see how it does under stressful conditions mixed in with some minor fender bashing.