Snapperhead

My Feedback: (1)

Well, it's has been about 6 months since I've been to these forums and I particularly remember seeing fubar's videos and was amazed that this was actually being done!! Great videos by the way fubar keep up the good work!! It looks like your research (and others) is helping alot of people get up and running with their video systems!!

Here's my deal: I just purchased a helmet cam about a month ago for capturing video on the ski slopes and was wondering if it would work well for aerial videos? Here's some info on it [link=http://www.sportzshot.com/helmet_cameras.htm]here[/link]. They essentially have 2 models, one at 380 lines of resolution and the other at 480. I purchased the higher resolution one and think that this would make a great camera for in flight video. I have only used it once on the slopes and only captured a little bit of video by connecting it directly to a camcorder. What little video I did capture looks excellent though. Would I just need to purchase a TX and RX and away I go? How much video quality is lost from hooking a camera directly up to a camcorder versus running it wireless? I noticed that alot of people are leaning towards the Black widow systems...is this the way to go as far as the TX and RX are concerned? Thanks for your help!

Jeff

xvwdvw01

I may be misunderstanding your post, but the advantage of wireless is not quality, it is weight. To record directly to your camcorder it will have to be in the plane. If it is in the plane you don't need another camera to hook to it, just use the one you already have up there. The quality should be better than wireless, but you will need a pretty big plane to carry a 1-3lb camcorder. The other thing is cost. A good wireless system costs about the same as a cheap camcorder but the chances of the wireless system surviving a crash would seem much better. Even if part of it was destroyed you can replace one component at a time.

Snapperhead

My Feedback: (1)

I intend to use the helmet cam in the plane and run the signal wireless to a camcorder..I was just wondering how much, if any, picture quality is lost by going wireless. Is it worth it to use a high resolution camera if the signal is going to degrade it anyways? Otherwise I would rather use a cheaper camera for this experiment in case something unforseen occurs such as me parking my plane nose first

CenTexFlyer

Your wireless CCD camera should transmit video that is of the same quality of a camcorder with the comparable type of CCD. If you have a strong signal at the receiver then you will recieve the video at 380/400/etc lines of the camera. What you may get though is some interference or occasional signal loss. These occurences can be minimized by using a good transmitter with a good receiver/antenna combination. After that it's all location, location, location! [8D]

CTF

Rj-TailSpin

Hey Tex!
I just wrote a big explanation and you summed it up in three sentences-grin. The main factor is getting your antenne pointed in the right direction and using a good quality camera. Capturing, copying, and presenting/burning the videos after editing will cause most of the quality losses. The wireless link takes a little work, but after you get it perfected... it will be the last thing to worry about when it comes to quality aerials. I have asked the very same question you are asked about the quality losses due to RF etc... I never got a good answer either. I say, put your helmut cam in a plane and let her rip! At least it's protected-grin!
Rob

Snapperhead

My Feedback: (1)

Cool I'll give it a shot...even if the plane goes down in flames I'll have it on tape to watch over and over I guess I just need to pick out the tx/rx.....are the blackwidow systems the way to go?

CenTexFlyer

With the disclaimer "I have no affiliation with BWAV or its' owner".......

Yes.

Bill will give you exactly what you need, just tell him what your budget is and he will fill the bill. You won't be disappointed, and you won't have to do all the research to find something else that might or might not work.

CTF

billmi

I always thought the big advantage was that you weren't dragging that long cable behind the plane.

Plus if you try to d 3d pattern flying you end up tying the cable in knots.