Bullet Cam Setup

[Graham88]

I bought this Bullet Cam on eBay with the intention of some decent videos at last. Then realised after I'd won it that it needed a camcorder attached, doh

Anyway, should be able to get better videos with this setup than a wireless cam.

My question is, how would I go about attaching it to a camcorder? I've taken a pic of it all, hopefully someone can point me in the right direction as to what goes where, and what port the camera I buy will need for it to work.

All of it:

https://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/GrahamVFR/Random/bulletcam.jpg

This isn't plugged into anything:

https://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/GrahamVFR/Random/bulletcam2.jpg

Nor this:

https://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/GrahamVFR/Random/bulletcam3.jpg

This must be the external mic?

https://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/GrahamVFR/Random/bulletcam4.jpg

The camera itself, it's tiny!

https://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b112/GrahamVFR/Random/bulletcam5.jpg

Any help appreciated. I went into Currys today to look at some cameras, some decent looking ones for £150 margin, which is fine, some touch near enough £500 and I'd rather I didn't need one of those tbh

[Seb]

You need a recorder of some sort with AV inputs. The yellow plug is video, the Y plug is audio. I'd suggest a decent SD recorder as bike vibrations are not going to do any tape/hdd/dvd units any good.
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2010 Triumph 1050 Sprint ST

[Hetzer]

I've got over £500's worth of gear I used only a handful of times. I went with the dedicated HD recording unit in the end, to avoid the dreaded frame-skipping, and it's worked perfectly well wrapped in a soft cloth in a bum-bag.
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"There's the horizon! Ride hard, ride fast and cut down all who stand in your way!"

[Bendy]

Most video cameras don't have AV in - there are some out there but it's by no means standard so check.

My bullet cam setup was similar, needed a lead with a 3.5 jack (headphone style) at one end and the female yellow, red and white audio and video at the other in order to plug it into the DV cam.

My video camera survived a lot of crashes (it was on the racebike mostly), in fact it still works as a recorder, just not as a camera any more Should probably dig it out and fix/sell/do something with sometime.

[Graham88]

Right so I need a 3.5mm to go into the camera, will this be called an AV port or something?

Do I need 3.5mm to 3.5mm?

Or 3.5mm to L&R audio?

I really don't have a clue

How am I supposed to get a lead to plug into the red lead, as it's already connected to the external mic?

The adaptor on the white plug is one of these? What's the purpose of it?

I was just going to store it in a backpack aswell Hetzer, I would hope that the £150 would be able to keep up mind you, if not I'll just take it back to the shop. What's a decent FPS to be looking at before it's too slow?

Thanks for help

[Hetzer]

[Graham88]

Did you just bring it back when you found it couldn't keep up, and they were fine with that?

I can't see why they wouldn't be as the camera can't serve the purpose it was bought for.

[Hetzer]

[Graham88]

I'll give him a search and see what he says

Any links to videos you've done?

[Bendy]

OK - if you're going DV cam you're looking for something like this.

AV in socket (note, most cameras will have a socket marked AV but that's usually just AV out). That's the one with the black lead going into it.

Red white and yellow... yellow is video, red and white are audio. On your setup it looks like only white is free, that's fine - use that. Pretty sure mine only used one of the audio plugs too.


If you want to borrow my camera for a play with, feel free. It's been sat in a box for at least a year since the bulletcam died in the line of duty. Pretty sure the DV cam still works.

[Graham88]

I'd snap your arm off for that offer, but you're in Berkshire

I collected a few things from there last week too, gay!

Looks pretty easy to figure out really, it's just confusing without having it infront of me.

Would you be able to find the cable I'd need on eBay please? I'm not sure what it's called!

And I presume this cable you're talking about is the last thing I'd need, besides the camcorder itself (which I need to have an AV input for bulletcam, I get that now)

[Bendy]

Gutted, must be a whole hour's ride.

Most suitable cameras will come with that lead included so I wouldn't worry about it just yet.

[Hetzer]

[Graham88]

[Bendy]

No particular hurry.

I'm just charging it up just to make sure it's all still working, it's been sat since about 2006 I think.

[Graham88]

I work in Acton, London, so not too far out my way if it works and it's ok with you.

[Bendy]

[Graham88]

It's not that bad, plus I'm not there for long before I travel off somewhere else, that's just the depot.

[G]

I like my Archos A405.

The bullet cam you get with it isn't amazing, but it does have only one wire (powered from unit) and has an in-line 'remote' control for stopping and starting.
Records to SDHC cards.
By adding an extra battery pack (I made one up with AA batteries), you can probably get 12 hours constant filming or something.
I'm tempted to chop the camera off so I stick a better one on the end (after the remote), maybe with a plug arrangement, so you can move them around.

Personally, I wouldn't spend a lot on a bullet camera system now until HD bullet cameras start appearing; though that'll be a bit of time and of course not much better if you're just going to upload to youtube!

An example of (not very compressed) footage:
https://blip.tv/file/975036
(If it doesn't work, click 'download playing' at the bottom, I did something odd with it when editing, I believe.)

[rotax81]

i use an atc2000 that has been highly modified by me

the mic is under the rear tail piece just above the exhaust.
it runs at 30FPS and a 2gb sd card lasts 80 mins on medium quality.

below is a link to youtube from rockingham in august.

the odd late braking didn't come with the camera

click on 'watch in high quality' below the box. note that youtube destroys image quality but you can get idea.

video whoring time lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPOANzaTWN8
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ZX636C6F road. ZX636C1H track. ZX7R redundant. ZX0.5R minimoto as ornament.
Audi A4 Avant 1.9TDi and VW Transporter 2.5TDi 888 Special (no mot and tax lol)

[G]

ATCs do seem to be very variable in quality. Yours isn't nearly as bad as mine, but still does seem to have a little bit of the wobblyness.
There's a 'ATC3k' version out now too I believe, takes SDHC maybe? But not much else new.

If you're happy with the quality, it's definitely worth a look.

[rotax81]

the ATC needs to be mounted quite firm but must have a little bit of movment.
i had no end of reliability probs with it at first but gutted it and rebuilt it properl. they are very 'chinese quality' inside.
____________________
ZX636C6F road. ZX636C1H track. ZX7R redundant. ZX0.5R minimoto as ornament.
Audi A4 Avant 1.9TDi and VW Transporter 2.5TDi 888 Special (no mot and tax lol)

[Lone-Wolf]

[Graham88]

Both those videos posted look fine for what I want it for. I'm not looking for the type of quality you can see dirt on the road just not laggy etc.

This one boasts 8 hours filming, which is more than enough! I just like the fact how small the cam is. There are some sucker mounts on eBay, not sure if I can trust that if I'm doing high speeds..

[rotax81]

my mate uses the suckers from ebay and they are fine. he does put a bit of ducktape over it though for good measure

i use a mount i made myself thats bolted to the fuel cap housing.
in the pic below



https://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u282/rotax81/636c.jpg
____________________
ZX636C6F road. ZX636C1H track. ZX7R redundant. ZX0.5R minimoto as ornament.
Audi A4 Avant 1.9TDi and VW Transporter 2.5TDi 888 Special (no mot and tax lol)