V.I.O POV.1.5 Helmet Cam – First Ride
Videos | 198 | March 25, 2009 at 7:25 am
For the first ride with the V.I.O POV.1.5 helmet camera, I went up to Asheville, NC for a run on Bent Creek’s Green’s Lick DH trail. Otherwise known as the Bobsled run…Green’s Lick is also famous for beginners getting in way over their head. Not a very technical dh run by any stretch, but given the right soil conditions…you can really let your speed get pretty high. I took the Ventana El Terremoto up for this stretch of dirt and remembered quickly how much I miss riding in North Carolina.
This is pretty much a rough cut because I am still messing with what format I want to use. With more work on the compression process, I’ll be able to smooth the video out some more and get rid of the little amount of pixelating there is currently. That said, this unit from V.I.O does put out some great quality for its relatively small size. One thing that I did notice was that the field of view of the V.I.O is not as wide as the GoPro Hero Wide Angle.
I was having some issues with the export file out of Adobe Premier Pro and Vimeo. Once I brought that file into iMovie and exported it, it showed up fine. When I find that sweet spot with compression, I will post the exact export settings to get the best picture quality.
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Tags: bent creek, downhill video, gopro hero camera, green's lick, mountain biking video, north carolina mountain biking, vio pov 1.5 helmet cam
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Video looks great…nice run! I kept finding myself lifting my head as I wanted to look more forward…does that make sense? I don’t know if it’s due to the angle your cam was mounted or if it’s the nature of the beast.
ditto on AArons post , Maybe mount the camera back on the helmet a hair? Does this camera have the small lcd screen ??
@ Aaron
Makes perfect sense…because I was feeling the same thing. I think it is kind of the nature of the beast on that go ’round. I am going to experiment with different mounting points to try to get the best of both worlds. I want to try to keep the handlebars in the shot as much as possible because it gives you a focus point, shows how the bike is doing and keeps the point of view out of the trees. The rest of the shooting I did over the course of the weekend used a second camera (GoPro Wide Angle) mounted to the frame, so hopefully that helps bring more the far ahead view into play as it cuts back and forth.
@ Jason
Yes…this unit has a LCD screen on the body. I am finding that the LCD screen does cut down on the trail and error period, but you still are completely sure until you are in a true riding situation because your body positioning varies depending on terrain.
Hi Robb, Thanks for the demo…ditto on the above comments. The problem with the angle is we cannot judge focus or depth of field, the focal point is too close and blurring, jittery-ness results.
I’m not blown away by image quality, but maybe subsequent testing will give a better idea. What’s it rated at (lines, fps)? Do you have any sensor data, lens specs, etc?
Thanks, keep up the great work!
@ Paul Anderews
It is set at 720 and the original looks much better than the compressed. I am still playing with the compression setting to find that nice balance between file size and picture quality.
Nice demo… to show off the trail with the cam it may be a good idea to follow a fellow biker which will give a different perspective.
@ Peter
I am going to play around with the following a rider technique here in the next couple of rides. That should be a fun watch.
I’m going to have to agree with the others. I felt like I was just staring at the ground passing by quickly. You need to have the horizon in the frame. If somebody rode like that, staring at their front tire, they would just crash.
@ Hammerhead
HAHA…yeah I would probably run straight into the ground if I looked at the front tire like that too! Another issue with the VIO vs. other brands is the inability to adjust the angle. The only way you can adjust the camera angle (with the provided mounts) is to move it back father on the helmet. With certain helmets…like the Fox Flux I was wearing…this can get difficult due to the vents.
I am going to experiment with other mounting solutions too…
bought one of these gizmo’s in December and have shot vid on 4 or 5 occassions. My first ride included way too much front wheel and caused me to watch it with my head tilted back (didn’t seem to help though!!!) My second ride I had the angle correct, but I failed to tether the vid cable to the back of my helmet and had some extra camera movement as a result. I’ve found the magic spot on the top of my brain bucket and a velcro strap stopped the extra vib. I’ve tried to “tag” the vid often, but more often than not, the recorder in my camelback fails to get the message from the remote and as a result I end up with long vid segments. Not really an issue, though now I’m on to the second skill with a learning curve, that would be the editing, and the long vid segments just makes it a bit more tedious to weed out the boring. The most challenging issue I’ve had is getting the vid all the way to my editor. I’m using a Mac and this is the first thing that hasn’t been childproof. Have to import to iPhoto, convert with MPEG Streamclip and then import once more to iMovie. All in all, a vid segment 1 hour in length takes about 2 hours to get into the editor…I look forward to the learning curve smoothing out…It’s a great system though, clean setup, long battery life (I’m using Energizer rechargable AA’s and carry a spare set, but have yet to need them), and easy connectivity (hardware wise) to the computer.
@ Jim
If you upgrade your QuickTime to Pro…it will make that process much faster. Thanks for the feedback on your experience with the V.I.O POV.1.5. We are still in the testing phases trying to find the perfect balance with camera angle.