Been watching the You Tube... Thinking about getting a GoPro. Any advice. Is it worth the $. What model should I get. Any comps. How to optimize sound. etc....

Ask them here: http://goproforums.com/

if you figure out the sound let us know
last time I looked (I hope they upgraded by now) there was no provision for an external mic. and the built in mic was not friendly to wind.

brant

The new HD Hero2 has an external mic input. I've been thinking about picking one up.

I used Rob's GoPro at the last autocross and was happy with the simplicity and picture quality.

I have a standing discount at a vendor that was saving 60.00 on these shipped to your door. If enough of you are interested I can touch base with said vendor and see if he is still honoring our special rate.

If you really want a cool setup for in the car the Contour GPS unit is very good. Live position, speed etc can be overlayed on video and also the option to use your smart phone as a viewfinder and remote if you have the camera mounted out of arms reach.
Same video capability as the gopro but in a nicer package i think. Doesnt have the option for external mic like the hero2 tho but the mic is on the underside and seems good for noise.

For soundihave found it best to kill the audio track from the camera and add music instead. There are lots of accessories for these cameras. I love the water proof case. I have submerged mine several time whe kayaking. Also bounced it off rocks, trees, and other river obsticals.

Battery life is on the short side. For a weekend bring Extra batteries. They are proprietary of course...

I bought mine for my 914 and have yet to use it on a car. It's been a bike and kayak toy for me and I a slowly getting better at video editing because of my interest in this camera.

Hopefully they will come out with a back upgrade to add better sound to the standard HD Hero. I'm not sure I'd use it though...

Zach

I like mine very much. I upgraded to a chase cam for ease of use . Although the chase came is a much better unit it was alot more expensive. The picture with the go pro was better but the sound was not as good. What i dont like about the go pro is the all functions on one button . I wish there was an external record option. All in All its a killer camera and well worth every penny

I ordered one last night, Amazon and Target are out of the Hero2, I had to order from West Marine.

When the Hero2 came out, the original HeroHD dropped to the reduced price we paid last year. Bet you could get the original for under well under $200 now.

I did some screen grabs of high def video from the HeroHD and the quality is amazing. To overcome the sound issues, I mount mine inside the car on the windshield.

Also consider vio-pov.com:

- HD
- runs on AA or can plug into cig lighter
- edit on various 3rd party software
- ext mic input
- lotsa cam settings - wide angle, rate, etc.
- lotsa different mounts - helmet, tripod, etc
- bullet cam tethered to separate recorder stowed in backpack. Control remotely with wristband. If worn on helmet and you crash you only lose cam head, not the whole enchilada.
-recorder has 2" screen so you can view what you're recording and make sure cam is aimed so you don't get home and find it was pointed off into space and miss everything.

downside - more expensive, wind noise still problem, have to allow for movement to not bind cam cable if worn on helmet. HD looks nice but file transfer and editing slow. Need kick ass computer. But this is not a camera problem; you can take the chip out of the recorder and put it in your pc/laptop.

With the mic feature, I might just need an H2 or two.

I can't say for certain, but we might be looking at another group buy discount.

I just got one during the 'cyber week' on eBay $149 shipped. It is the HERO HD (so last years model).

I made a quick edit the other day and here is what I got...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-7532hQyDw&feature=g-upl

half is messing around with water and half is car stuff (sorry no Porsche content, only have my subaru at school) but it gives a good overall idea of what it can do.

as stated above, the sound quality for the exhaust note isn't that great unless you mount it on the rear bumper looking at the exhaust (less wind because of the high pressure zone right behind a car and a stagnant point). But I would imagine with an external mic on the HERO2 would be sweet.

I plan to use this mostly while shredding the powder at Tahoe this year and some cool shots with the car with music dubbed over.

it does take VERY cool pictures though... 5 megapixel camera.. every 3 seconds...

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nuther...

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