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Post by fauxmaha on May 21, 2019 18:45:39 GMT -5
Somewhere over the last couple of years, I discovered the "motovlog" genre.
Basically, a guy puts a camera on his helmet, stuffs a microphone inside, then rides around blathering about whatever he wants to blather about.
Sounded like fun.
The technical challenges are interesting. The audio part is (at least for me) the toughest. Trying to get understandable speech from inside a helmet at 75 MPH with the motor thumping away and all the rest is a bit of a trick.
Been playing around with this for a few weeks now. Still very much a work in progress, but I'm having fun.
Over the weekend, I took a road trip to Texas and did some "vlogging" along the way. The most time consuming part is the editing. You end up with hours and hours of mostly nothing, and have to try to sift a little wheat from a mountain of chaff.
Anyway, that's what's up with that.
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Post by Marty on May 21, 2019 18:49:08 GMT -5
22 now. Audio is fine for the situation.
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Post by Chesapeake on May 21, 2019 19:05:23 GMT -5
I love this.
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Post by theevan on May 21, 2019 20:10:41 GMT -5
You are the person I know most able to put a 3D printer to good use.
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Post by billhammond on May 21, 2019 20:10:41 GMT -5
I totally loved this, in so many ways! Great job! Was this a bicycle or a motor scooter or what?
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Post by fauxmaha on May 21, 2019 20:31:53 GMT -5
I totally loved this, in so many ways! Great job! Was this a bicycle or a motor scooter or what?I was peddling furiously the whole way. My calves are really something to behold by now.
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Post by billhammond on May 21, 2019 20:35:08 GMT -5
I totally loved this, in so many ways! Great job! Was this a bicycle or a motor scooter or what?I was peddling furiously the whole way. My calves are really something to behold by now. Of course you were peddling. You're a salesman -- that's what you do! Wow, man, that is one fantastic accomplishment, the video, the commentary, the hilarious little interjections, be proud.
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Post by Village Idiot on May 21, 2019 20:44:43 GMT -5
When it is not storming outside making out internet crawl, I am going to watch this.
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Post by Marty on May 21, 2019 22:14:06 GMT -5
Episode 3 did not have the same audio quality.
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Post by epaul on May 21, 2019 23:05:07 GMT -5
Pretty Cool!
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Dub
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Post by Dub on May 21, 2019 23:47:09 GMT -5
Jeff, I loved that. Great job.
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Post by dradtke on May 22, 2019 8:30:45 GMT -5
Interesting, but why did you leave out the part where the officer tried to pull you over and you took off across the fields?
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Post by Marshall on May 22, 2019 8:30:59 GMT -5
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Post by fauxmaha on May 22, 2019 8:46:31 GMT -5
Episode 3 did not have the same audio quality. Yep. FWIW, this all started with an email to Howard and some back and forth on "action camera" selection. That culminated in the good people at B&H sending me an SJCAM model SJ8. Something of an entry-level model, but adequate (video wise) for my needs. It came with a whole pile of mounts and doodads, one of which worked out to hang it on the side of the helmet. Audio is recorded separately. For that, I got a Sony stereo lavalier microphone which is connected to a little Tascam recorder that goes into my shirt pocket. One nice feature on the Tascam is the "lock" slider on the side, which disables the on and off buttons. Learned that one the hard way. Most of the trial and error has revolved around finding the right place inside the helmet for the mic and the right settings on the recorder. The big leap forward was when I read an article from a guy who said to put some little foam windscreens on the mic. Those screens, plus careful positioning, plus learning that the input level on the recorder needs to be turned all the way down to "6" (it goes from 0 to 100), pretty much brought it together. On this trip, the battery life differential came into play. The Tascam has two AA batteries. For all practical purposes those last forever. The SJCAM has its internal battery, and that's good for something like an hour and a half at full charge. I got an external battery charger that I used on the trip. Pretty cool doodad right there. Something like twice the size of a cell phone, and its all battery. After draining the camera, I'd plug it into the external battery and stuff it into the saddle bags. The only problem is it takes way longer to charge than discharge. I've considered keeping the camera plugged into the external battery during use, which would effectively give me unlimited range (limited only by the memory card in the camera). After I turn on the camera and the Tascam, I snap my fingers three times in front of the lens for a sync reference. Once ready, I load all the files into Premiere. The only (minor) headache there is that the camera records in maximum chunks of 10 minutes, so you end up with a bunch of files you have to string together. Premiere handles that fairly well. From there, its just a matter of positioning the audio file as needed for sync, then start chopping out all the dead space. As I continue to refine this setup, I think the next step is to add cameras. I'd like to get a higher-end model for the helmet, and then possibly re-purpose the SJCAM onto the handlebars facing back at me. Having multiple angles would make for a more interesting result. I'm going to wait on that to see if Sony releases an update to their X3000 model. GoPro is the big player in the $$$$$$ end of the market. Their setup uses software based stabilization. The Sony actually has a miniature, physical gimble mount built in. To my eye, even though the current X3000 is an older design, I think it gives a better result than the new GoPros. Anyway, all that can wait for a while. Mostly this is just about having fun and screwing around.
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Post by fauxmaha on May 22, 2019 8:51:40 GMT -5
Interesting, but why did you leave out the part where the officer tried to pull you over and you took off across the fields? Coincidentally, one of the guys I met up with in Texas was talking about that very thing. Back in 1988, he bought a high-performance ignition module for his bike that was rated for "off road use only". In the intervening years, he has put over 100k miles on it...all "off road", nudge nudge wink wink.
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Post by epaul on May 22, 2019 9:21:26 GMT -5
...I'm going to wait on that to see if Sony releases an update to their X3000 model. GoPro is the big player in the $$$$$$ end of the market. Their setup uses software based stabilization. The Sony actually has a miniature, physical gimble mount built in. To my eye, even though the current X3000 is an older design, I think it gives a better result than the new GoPros... A simpler approach to the camera shake issue would be to just trade in that Harley for Honda Goldwing. Plus, your voice wouldn't keep getting higher the longer you ride.
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Post by RickW on May 22, 2019 11:13:29 GMT -5
...I'm going to wait on that to see if Sony releases an update to their X3000 model. GoPro is the big player in the $$$$$$ end of the market. Their setup uses software based stabilization. The Sony actually has a miniature, physical gimble mount built in. To my eye, even though the current X3000 is an older design, I think it gives a better result than the new GoPros... A simpler approach to the camera shake issue would be to just trade in that Harley for Honda Goldwing. Plus, your voice wouldn't keep getting higher the longer you ride. However, the Harley is much better for hemorhoids. They get pounded right out.
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