Contour HD vs. Replay XD1080

Splash said:
Ya I noticed that... It's at the end of the review in the comments. Still can't make the changes on the fly. I don't usually carry a laptop or a HDTV (for aiming) with me on day trips.
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You can certainly make changes on the fly, just not to the 'image quality' settings. Generally speaking people find the settings that they like, then stick to them. As to aiming I did it the once, and now know what angle to set the camera to. A degree or two difference doesn't matter, with wide angle.

This camera works for me. If it doesn't work for you then don't buy it, but you're not going to make any headway trying to tell me that it doesn't work for me ;)
 
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Rob MacLennan said:
Thought that I'd post this, on the off chance that anyone was interested. A while back I had both the Contour HD and the Replay XD1080 mounted on my bike during the trip to work in the dark, and the trip home facing into the sun. It makes for an interesting comparison of the video from each camera as you can compare the auto white balance, auto light levelling, barrel distortion, etc.. Ignore the sound, as it's a mash-up of all four videos, and just jump around to whatever scene and lighting combination gives you what you want to see.

[video=youtube;XWCsC3v_Juo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWCsC3v_Juo[/video]
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Thanks for sharing. What software did you use?
 
Rob MacLennan said:
You can certainly make changes on the fly, just not to the 'image quality' settings. Generally speaking people find the settings that they like, then stick to them. As to aiming I did it the once, and now know what angle to set the camera to. A degree or two difference doesn't matter, with wide angle.
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Very true, I spent an hour with the settings, change it all the way around, replaying videos. Settled on one, and probably will not touch it again. As far as the aiming I find it quite easy. The problem is my head doesn't want to stay at constant position ... LOL

I have ordered a stick-on windcutter, because I absolutely dread the sound coming out of any moving camera. I haven't had a chance to test it. I ended up with two, because one got lost in mail, but reappeared weeks later. According reviews these should be pretty efficient in cutting down the wind noise. If you are interested in testing it (not sure if you are still riding on warmer days ... I don't), let me know and you can have a go at it.

The quality and form factor of the ReplayXD has absolutely won me over anything else I have seen out there.
 
mxs said:
Very true, I spent an hour with the settings, change it all the way around, replaying videos. Settled on one, and probably will not touch it again. As far as the aiming I find it quite easy. The problem is my head doesn't want to stay at constant position ... LOL

I have ordered a stick-on windcutter, because I absolutely dread the sound coming out of any moving camera. I haven't had a chance to test it. I ended up with two, because one got lost in mail, but reappeared weeks later. According reviews these should be pretty efficient in cutting down the wind noise. If you are interested in testing it (not sure if you are still riding on warmer days ... I don't), let me know and you can have a go at it.

The quality and form factor of the ReplayXD has absolutely won me over anything else I have seen out there.
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No, I haven't been riding. The bike is still stored.

I've had the power cables, with the external mic connector, sitting in my cart at the Replay site since yesterday, trying to decide if I'll be buying them. An external mic would allow me to limit wind noise, by choosing better placement. Also, external mics are available with noise baffles on them.
 
I realize it, but it's just another wired component to think of. I hope the sticker will just work sufficiently enough ... :-)
 
mxs said:
I realize it, but it's just another wired component to think of. I hope the sticker will just work sufficiently enough ... :-)
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My issue is that I've had the camera run out of juice while I'm stuck in traffic, on the 410 north, so it would be nice to have that power option for the really bad traffic days. Usually it's fine, but that section is probably the most dangerous of my commute. I'd rather have everything running there, even if I get held up by a couple of traffic slow downs.

30-35 minutes to get in to work.

60-75 minutes (90 at the outside) to get home at night.

80 minutes of battery power in the camera.
 
The power cable I see as an important factor in your situation (it doesn't bother me, I'd rather be selective where I record and my daily rides are much shorter than yours anyways). I was strictly commenting on the external mic wiring.

I still admire you for doing the Brampton - TO downtown run daily. I wouldn't last a week. OK maybe I would, for 200K/year job and that would only be for a limited time still. I'd end up moving fast ... :-)
 
mxs said:
The power cable I see as an important factor in your situation (it doesn't bother me, I'd rather be selective where I record and my daily rides are much shorter than yours anyways). I was strictly commenting on the external mic wiring.

I still admire you for doing the Brampton - TO downtown run daily. I wouldn't last a week. OK maybe I would, for 200K/year job and that would only be for a limited time still. I'd end up moving fast ... :-)
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I get to work 2 hours before I start, because every minute later that I leave the house turns into 2 minutes longer on the trip. I can do the trip in, in 27 minutes. No issue with battery power there. When I started here, in 1998, the trip home from work took roughly 45 minutes. Back then I would even hit a couple of ramps, just for the fun of it. Now you can't even find a clear ramp at 5:30am. It can take me a half an hour to get from Yonge and Dundas, down to Lakeshore, on a bad day. On those days I'm really tempted to split, but don't.
 
It's a hard reality of the urban sprawl and the public transit, or lack of it. I can see the huge temptation to split on your part, but I wouldn't either. Not worth the penalty if caught and not the safest thing to do either with the envious and subpar drivers around.

I remember how 410 south looked between 8-9 am in 1999 when we moved in ... what a lovely road without any congestions ... LOL ... I think it lasted only a couple of years or so ....

You have to really love your gig, don't you? ... to do the commute every day.
 
mxs said:
It's a hard reality of the urban sprawl and the public transit, or lack of it. I can see the huge temptation to split on your part, but I wouldn't either. Not worth the penalty if caught and not the safest thing to do either with the envious and subpar drivers around.

I remember how 410 south looked between 8-9 am in 1999 when we moved in ... what a lovely road without any congestions ... LOL ... I think it lasted only a couple of years or so ....

You have to really love your gig, don't you? ... to do the commute every day.
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I get to dress like a student and have a challenging position that presents me with something a little different, every day, and for which I receive reasonable compensation. Yup, I love my job.

Unfortunately the City of Brampton got greedy for tax revenues and the subsequent increase in housing costs forced people to go further north. Also, unfortunately, they didn't put that tax money into roads nor did the Province properly consider what the layout, on Highway 410, would do to traffic congestion.

I don't know if you've seen this, but it's a few choice bits from my commute, over the span of one week. Not all, but a few idiots.

[video=youtube;ETa07-Wcsw0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETa07-Wcsw0[/video]
 
Taken with a Flip HD in Quebec close to Mont Tremblant. To bad they are not making them anymore, they are cheap and produce great quality video

[video=youtube;pK3ZQTwzFpo]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pK3ZQTwzFpo&context=C3d36955ADOEgsToPD skKPQtTtFua0zcZPVfyeYjp[/video]
 
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ZX600 said:
Taken with a Flip HD in Quebec close to Mont Tremblant. To bad they are not making them anymore, they are cheap and produce great quality video
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The flip is not made anymore but others are still available. I just bought a ZX5 and like it a lot.
 
I don't know how people can use a helmet mounted camera. Tried it yesterday and found that I move my head around so much, while riding, that anyone watching the video would likely get motion sick. Check mirrors... shoulder check.... left.... right.... ahead.... repeat.
 
Rob MacLennan said:
I don't know how people can use a helmet mounted camera. Tried it yesterday and found that I move my head around so much, while riding, that anyone watching the video would likely get motion sick. Check mirrors... shoulder check.... left.... right.... ahead.... repeat.
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+1 on that - I tried a few times to mount a camera on my helmet, but always the results were like you say - all over the place.
 
Have you tried mounting it under the nose of your bike? I put my GoPro there regularly and the video is good as long as I keep the RPM's up over 4K (1125cc v-twin sportbike).
 
Bigevildoer said:
Have you tried mounting it under the nose of your bike? I put my GoPro there regularly and the video is good as long as I keep the RPM's up over 4K (1125cc v-twin sportbike).
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I've got a billet aluminum bracket that I use to mount it on the right mirror stem. It worked great last year. I just thought I'd move it to my helmet, so that I could better video people around me who are out of the camera's arc, but it seems pointless. My head moves like a Chihuahua Bobblehead in the back of a low rider.
 
with the replay xd1080 can you have it plugged in to a cigarette socket while recording? i already have a cigarette socket with a usb adapter installed on my bike, so im hoping i could just plug in the camera to make up for the crappy battery life
 
smackenz said:
with the replay xd1080 can you have it plugged in to a cigarette socket while recording? i already have a cigarette socket with a usb adapter installed on my bike, so im hoping i could just plug in the camera to make up for the crappy battery life
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Yup, there's a lighter power adapter cable that's available as an accessory. I bought one for each camera and use them in my car, but haven't installed my dual socket on the bike yet.
 
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