MotoComm Camera

[Kinsley]

Does anyone have experience with the MotoComm DSR-100 Camera and Digital Recorder ?

 

I'm looking for something durable I can mount almost anywhere like looking forward from just above the front wheel, a riders view from the helmet, or even a rear view.

 

I'm open to suggestions and I don't know much about what features would be best since I have little experience in video of any sort.

 

Thanks,

 

Ken

[bobbybob]

http://www.vholdr.com/shoot.php

 

Chek this one out

[Sidmariner]

I bought the DSR-100 in San Diego and tried to take some videos on the way home to Victoria BC in August. There were some spectacular places to photograph, like Yosemite park, the Sierras and the road through the Oregon and Washington forests. I was really looking forward to showing off my travels to family back home.

 

First impressions: The camera was a huge disappointment to me. Within seconds of unpacking the recorder from the impressive case full of kit a button popped off the side for the unit and disappeared in the deep pile of the motel carpet, never to be found again. Sitting at the motel desk, I tried to get the camera to function on the AC adapter, but discovered it would only work with the battery pack (8xAAs) attached or if its internal battery was fully charged.

 

The battery arrangement puzzled me. The camera will run for the life of the internal LiOn battery and then quit. Although supposedly good for a couple of hours, mine ran out of steam after about 40 minutes. There seemed to be no way to power the unit directly from the bike, so while I thought I was making lifetime memories, the camera was in fact lying dead in the tankbag. There is an AA battery pack to provide 12V, but the unit got extremely hot and I was not comfortable with it sitting cooking in my tankbag. My suspicion is that the battery pack is only there to recharge the unit, not to drive the recorder or camera directly. I could be wrong. In any case, the result was I would record until the unit went dead and then wait until the evening in the motel to recharge it with the AC adapter. I have written to the company to ask how to wire directly to the bike to keep the camera running. They replied but didn't really answer my question so I'll be writing to them again in the near future for a better explanation.

 

I expected to be able to get several hours of video on a 1 GB SDRAM chip. In fact, I got less than an hour on a 2GB chip, so I ended up buying about three extra chips on my trip north ($$$$). This was despite my precaution to turn off the LCD screen whenever I could. No matter really, as I found the video quality to be really poor and would not show them to anyone anyway. It doesn't look so bad on the small LCD screen, but I wouldn't put the result on You-Tube anytime soon or bother to watch it on a computer monitor.

 

There is a really rudimentary menu, but determining how much memory is remaining and how much more recording you can do is difficult. If you are unfamiliar with the unit as I was, this will cause you to leave a chip in and run out of memory without your knowledge, just when you think you are capturing an awesome stretch of road.

 

The mic is fine and records well and the unit does work well as an MP3 player, but then again, the file management system makes no sense, something which will become clear when you connect to your home computer and try to transfer files across.

 

I will attempt to use the unit again, as I can't help feeling the poor performance might be partially my fault.

 

I have to confess though, that I do not really trust the unit to take the quality of video I want, so rather than risk further disappointment I went to eBay to buy myself a re-pack Sony HC-32 Mini-DV camcorder, and a LANC control and two 520-line resolution bullet cameras from Onboard TV ( http://www.onboard.tv/products.php).

 

The components started arriving last week. My Christmas break project will be to set up the new system and make some winter riding test runs. I'll give the Motocomm unit another try, but I won't count on it for keeper videos.

 

Again, it does make a decent, albeit expensive, MP3 player.

[USAF1]

KINSLEY

 

I've seen videos from this web page and it's very, very good. You can adjust the noise so that you're not getting an hour or two of that while trying to watch what you recorded. Highly recommend it.

 

Pat

[randy]

Ken, unless you have a specific need for something unique, just look at mark davis's set up or Steve Foote. At our last ride smart, Steve set his basic video (mini tape format) just behind his windshield using velcro. It took fantastic video. Mark Davis has his on his front fender. the difference in Steve's set up, Steve could easily control the camera without using a remote. I think the camera cost 299.95, and the battery lasted the whole day. Check in with Steve, he can give you additional feedback.

 

But unless there is a real need for something unique, right now, a basic mini tape camera mounted to your bike works great. if you can mount it, so all the controls are within each, so much the better.

 

On my RT (the windshield comes off with 4 screws) I now have the camera mounted right in the middle of my dash on a RC shelf, and with no windshield, and a UV filter on the camera (protect the lens) I can take great video, and all the camera functions are within my reach.

[DaveRT]

this is what I use.

footage is as good as a real video camera because it is a real video camera.

Ram mounts on a piece of lexan velcroed to a tourtech bag.

[bobbybob]

Mini-tape units do take nice vids and they are quality pieces and cost-effective, compared to most of these compact bullet-cams and recorders. However, if you don't have a reasonably high-speed processor on your computer, it can take days (well hours anyway) to download and then "render" the final product to a movie format like .mpeg, depending on the length and the desired resolution. The newer generation camcorders record directly to memory chips creating the actual final product that you download directly to your computer in a few minutes. Best Buy refers to them as "Point & Shoot" camcorders and the prices are low. see linky--> http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?...id=abcat0403006

The final product is usually 640x480 res @ 30 frames/second. I would check out the reviews on the different models, but this is what I would get, before I bought a purpose-made moto recorder.

[bobbybob]

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8264816&type=product&id=1170290185386

 

Following up to my previous post, here's a "high-end" point & shoot digital camcorder that even has a bullet-cam included, for "extreme shots". Has lots of other bell & whistles like image stabilization. I suspect some less expensive similar models will surface before X-mas!

[Kinsley]

Thanks to all who responded.

 

I'm in no hurry and just checking out the possibilities, but I do want to have multiple mounting places, so that will keep me from the bulkier and fragile units.