newOldUser

Hey Tayter. Welcome.

I had a little more time to screw around with the device today. There is lots of chatter about these cameras on the RCplane site: http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1158837&page=7 They love to put these things in planes. I also saw somewhere on that site that there is another model that looks like a key-fob thingy. It has the same hardware just in a different case. EDIT: found the link, here it is. http://www.chucklohr.com/808/ On my second charge the device recorded video for about 74 minutes. The less movement and sound that the device has to record the less memory it takes, probably a function of the video / audio codecs. I left the device running in an empty room, with just the room light turned on. It recorded for 40 minutes and only took 890 MB of space. I thought something was wrong with it when I came back into the room. I figured the 2 GB memory card would have filled up after 20 minutes, like usual. There was 40 minutes of video (real, real boring video but I've watched worse on Fox). The secret to the device keeping it's time.... Never move the on/off switch to the OFF position. That should really be a run/reset switch. To turn the device off, leave the switch in the ON position and put the video/photo switch in VIDEO. Then press and hold the large button for 3 seconds. All the lights go off and the device is powered down but it will remember the date and time. There seems to be a undocumented function. Voice recorder. If you put it to PHOTO mode and press the large button once to turn it on. Then wait a second or two and press the large button again, this time holding it for three seconds the red light will start to blink. At this point the green light is on solid and the red light is blinking. The device is creating a .WAV file. The characteristics are: 9 minutes of audio took 46 MB of space. Sample rate was 44100 Hz. It's in mono.

Here's a small sample video that I took on my way to lunch. I stuck my hand out the car window for about 10 seconds. I've uploaded the video to some free file sites. It's about 17 MB in size. These free sites should hold it for 30 days or so. Figured you could download it and see the video on your machine much better than youTube. Try this link: http://www.4shared.com/file/210138978/31ba2ce8/SUNP0011.html or this link: http://www.supashare.net/4tx1svf55e4j it's the same video at either link, just used two different hosting sites, not sure which is best. Yes I know the time stamp on the video isn't correct. They have some voodoo way of setting the time on the device that I haven't gotten around to fooling with yet. I'm not sure if the time stamp can be turned off or not. I was able to record anywhere from 17 to 20 minutes of video on one 2 GB memory card. I erased the card and reused it several times and I was able to get about 65 minutes of video total on the first charge. I also took about 10 still shots on that charge too. An 8 GB card would be great for this thing. I figure on average it records video at 100 MB per minute, so 10 minutes of video is about 1 GB of space on your memory card. If a charge lasts for 65 minutes then that would be about 7 GB of space needed. There is no way to delete or see anything from the memory card via the camera. If the memory card fills up the camera stops recording. You need to attach it to a computer and move/delete the media files or put in a different memory card. So far I'm still happy with it....

The camera is the higher res camera, not the lower res that the printed manual states. The manual on the disk seems to be the correct one. Here's some quick info about a snapshot I took: file size: 300,216 dimensions: 1280 X 1024 image size: 3.8 MB file type: image/jpeg Exif info: camera: SunplusMM Spca1528 (V233-00-01) aperture: f/3.2 exposure bias: -2.0 ISO sensitivity: 100 focal lengh: 7.45 mm resolution: 72 X 72 (dot/inch) Some information about an AVI video Video: dimensions: 720 X 480 codec: motion jpeg framerate: 31 frames per second Audio: codec: uncompressed 16-bit PCM audio channels: mono sample rate: 22050 Hz A 56 second video had a file size of 44MB. A 35 second video shows as 45 MB so I'll have to wait till I can take a longer video for more information on minutes/megabyte. I'm not at a location where I can post pictures or videos right now. Will try to do it in future. So far I am very impressed with the camera. Still shots can be blurred because device is small and you need to press a large button on the back of it. Better if you put camera on stable surface for still shots. Video looks good. Sound is good at arms length not sure beyond that. IT IS NOT A LOW LIGHT CAMERA. You need to have at least a normal amount of light in a room for a good picture. This thing is small. About the size of a grown mans thumb. It comes with the camera, a CD with manual and drivers, a USB cable, a small paper manual (that seems to be out of date) and a wall power adapter. You charge it from your PC or you can plug it into the wall. It comes in a brown bag wrapped in bubble-wrap. No pretty box.

Got mine yesterday in the mail. Didn't get a chance to play with it yet. I let it charge overnight. Different things I've read on the web says it's best to do a 5 hour charge and full discharge the first 3-5 times that you use it to "condition" the rechargable battery. I was a little upset because the manual that comes with it says that it's 640x480 at 15fps. The manual that is included on the disk says it's 30fps at a greater resolution. So I'll be interested to see what it does. I don't plan on using it as a camera for my pc but I do remember there was something in the manual on the disk about using that way.

Here's another vote for www.dealnews.com good collection site for all the deals around. Plus I signed up for the www.meritline.com email newsletter because you just can't have too much stuff.

I'm more of a slow and straight cruiser guy but I was wondering if any of you had gone through Ft. Ancient on OH-350? Map Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ft+ancient,+ohio&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=32.059939,56.425781&ie=UTF8&hq=ft+ancient,&hnear=Ohio&ll=39.406655,-84.099827&spn=0.015253,0.027552&t=p&z=15 It's not a long ride but there are some hairpin turns with elevation changes. I've been through it but now go out of my way to avoid it. Cars coming from the other direction tend to cross the middle line on the turns.

I'm looking for some inexpensive (less than $50/unit) bike-to-bike communication devices for occasional use. It looks like bluetooth might be the way to go since I only need to communicate at 50 feet or less. I've always wondered why one bluetooth headset couldn't directly connect to another bluetooth headset. This is the only product I've ever seen that does it (they call it D2D): http://www.n1wireless.com/Jawbone_Bluetooth-callpod_Dragon_dual_mic_Bluetooth_Headset.html There's a version 1 of the product that seems to have some problems that are fixed in the version 2. http://www.callpod.com/products/dragon Anyone have experience with the Dragon units?

It will be a nice addition to the laser pointers and 12 inch cell phone antenna I have duct taped to the top of my helmet. I just ordered one myself. Remember they don't come with any memory so you'll have to spend another $10 or so to pick up a tiny memory card. The site that sells the camera has some but I think other places like micro center have them at a better price.

next date I can think of for this year will be Oct 1st. 100110 I don't think many people care about binary, octal, and hex any more. I really haven't had much to do with it since my days working with mainframes ( the old joke, what's a S0C4? Answer:To keep your feet warm.)

Nice run. Just had to add the "Cruisers Suck" text didn't you I never want to own a bike where there's a chance that the knee of my pants will wear out before the seat of my pants. The video quality was better than I expected from the way you described your setup. I've ordered other stuff from that led shoppe place before and had pretty good luck so I might just give it a go.

Has anyone used one of the new super small (gum package size) video cameras to record a motorcycle ride? Do they hold up to vibration? Is the video and audio any good? I was looking at this one on the web: http://www.ledshoppe.com/Product/com/CA4059.htm It's small enough to mount just about anywhere on the bike, including the helmet. The price is low enough that if it gets trashed it wouldn't ruin my day. I found a website with a video from an RC airplane that might be using the same camera. http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1160852 Every once in a while, during a ride, I wish I had something at my fingertips to take a picture or video.

For five geek bonus points.... Today is 01/10/10 without using a calculator, who will be the first to post the decimal value of the binary number 011010? extra credit geek point: What's the hex value?

<beep> === a little off topic ==== Just my 2 cents about linux... If you haven't tried Linux in a couple years you might want to give it another look. Two (of the many good distributions) are: Ubuntu Linux: http://www.ubuntu.com/ and Linux Mint: http://linuxmint.com/ Both versions can be downloaded (600+ MB) for free, burned to a CD and then booted from. It will allow you to see how Linux works with your hardware before installing it on your machine. Both come with Firefox installed so you can browse the internet. I'm pretty sure both come with Open Office which allows you to read and write most MS Office documents. These are two versions I've used. There are many fine distributions out there. Distrowatch http://distrowatch.com/ is a good place to read about the pros and cons of each. ===== return to topic ==== <beep>

Kathy's Kitchen 35 West Center Street Germantown, Oh. It can get crowded at lunch time. They always seem to have a good special. It's hard to beat their "hot shot" sandwich when it's on special. They're one of the few places I've found that serve fried green tomatos. Worth the ride. map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=kathy%27s+kitchen,+35+west+center+street,+germantown,+oh&sll=39.625993,-84.371258&sspn=0.066902,0.125313&ie=UTF8&hq=kathy%27s+kitchen,&hnear=35+W+Center+St,+Germantown,+OH+45327&ll=39.625993,-84.371258&spn=0.008363,0.015664&z=16

Schrock Family Restaurant 1015 South Main Street Miamisburg, OH I've had lunch here a couple times. They usually have several 'Specials' to pick from and I always go with one. Always been happy with it. map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=schrocks+restaurant,+franklin,+oh.&sll=39.366687,-84.367104&sspn=0.066621,0.125313&ie=UTF8&hq=schrocks+restaurant,&hnear=Franklin,+OH&ll=39.664914,-84.294662&spn=0.278557,0.501251&z=11&iwloc=A

You bet.... I've walked into some places feeling hungry and after looking around I only ordered coffee and left.

The Lodge at Deer Creek State Park. If you're just looking for a nice ride on a cool day. Head to the Lodge at Deer Creek State Park and get a cup of coffee from the gift shop. Take it out on the patio and sit in the warm sunshine while you look at the lake. Very nice. map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=deer+creek+state+park,+ohio&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.642161,64.160156&ie=UTF8&hq=Deer+Creek+State+Park&hnear=Deer+Creek+State+Park,+Mount+Sterling,+OH+43143&ll=39.679712,-83.239975&spn=0.278497,0.501251&z=11&iwloc=A

Log Cabin Inn (Diner) 322 Madison Pike Covington, KY 41017 Description / Recommendation: Okay, I know this is in Kentucky but it's not far over the river and it can be a nice meeting place for an ride. I've only had breakfast there and that was very good. It's been so long since I walked into a restaurant and was asked "Smoking or non-smoking" that it took me a minute to figure out what the hostess was asking. The food was worth the stop. Map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=log+cabin+inn,+covington,+ky.&sll=39.86627,-83.855209&sspn=0.132284,0.250626&ie=UTF8&hq=log+cabin+inn,&hnear=Covington,+KY&ll=39.03732,-84.533272&spn=0.133869,0.250626&z=12&iwloc=A

M&M Diner 6373 U.S. 22 Morrow, OH 45152 Description / Recommendation: Good food at a good price. 1950's diner style to the place. Usually some bikes in the parking lot, everyone welcome. The place seems to come up on you quick as you're going along US 22. Look for the PEPSI sign on the east bound side of the road. Map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=MM+diner,+US+22,+morrow,+ohio&sll=39.453161,-84.208059&sspn=0.033269,0.062656&ie=UTF8&hq=MM+diner,&hnear=U.S.+22,+Morrow,+OH+45152&ll=39.366554,-84.093475&spn=0.067152,0.125313&z=13

Track Kitchen (Diner) 665 North Broadway Street Lebanon, OH 45036 Description / Recommendation: I went by this place lots of times thinking it was a place that only track employees could eat at. It's inside the fence of the Lebanon Race Track and it's open to anyone. It's worth a try, good food at good prices. Map Link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lebanon+race+track,+lebanon,+ohio&sll=39.391632,-84.353027&sspn=1.065556,2.005005&ie=UTF8&hq=lebanon+race+track,&hnear=Lebanon,+OH&ll=39.453161,-84.208059&spn=0.033269,0.062656&z=14&iwloc=A

Mammaw's Kitchen (Diner) 3291 US 42, Spring Valley, OH. Description / Recommendation: Little yellow building on the southbound side of US 42. Maybe 10 tables in the entire place. I've only had breakfast here but each time was good. Try a side of fried mush with some honey or syrup on it. Breakfast with coffee is $5-7. They only serve breakfast and lunch. They close by 2pm. Map link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=mammaw%27s+kitchen,+waynesville,+oh.&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.778911,64.160156&ie=UTF8&hq=mammaw%27s+kitchen,&hnear=Waynesville,+OH&ll=39.615739,-84.026184&spn=0.139907,0.250626&z=12&iwloc=A

When I go out for a ride I try to find a mom and pop diner, drive-in or dive to stop at for breakfast or lunch. I usually avoid the chains like TGI Fridays or Micky D's, just to find something different. I've had some pretty good luck but I'm always looking for new places in and around the southwest quarter of Ohio. If you know of any good ones please add it to the list.

Nope, there's no room for the walker with the guide dog straped in, so I just bring the cane. Those three-wheel machines are looking better and better every day.

While riding through Kiser Lake State Park we meet this couple with their dog. Nice people, nice dog, nice bike but it looks a little strange when you first see them.