Comments on: Bike Commute, Pushing Codecs

By: Vincent

Vincent — Tue, 29 May 2007 17:17:48 +0000

Thats a cool link! thanks

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 29 May 2007 06:13:13 +0000

How a pro helmet-cam guy does it:
http://digave.com/videos/how.htm

By: Vincent

Vincent — Sat, 26 May 2007 23:00:23 +0000

That is true, and having such a device, i suppose would be cumbersome and heavy.

By: shacker

shacker — Sat, 26 May 2007 22:56:45 +0000

Vincent – Heh, that’s pretty funny. I’m trying to figure out: In what universe is constructing a contraption like that easier or more effective than a helmet cam? The body is like the ultimate shock absorber, right? I mean, wow – cool device he’s got there, but seems SO unnecessary…

By: Vincent

Vincent — Sat, 26 May 2007 21:35:21 +0000

Your post peaked my circuitously, and I found this on instructables. http://www.instructables.com/id/EVEHMFL6EMEP287FXN/
It may help reduce your shaky picture problem.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 23 May 2007 02:44:33 +0000

Just set this to some really jerky Talking Heads instead, and you’re golden.

Cream-o-the-crop Bike Messenger vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR2ygFn-yR8

By: shacker

shacker — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:51:01 +0000

Thanks for the tip Daniel. I’ll give Motion JPEG a shot. I think I may also change approaches and try editing down to 5 minutes, rather than speeding it up 5x. Although that will of course not match up with animated GPS tracks.

By: shacker

shacker — Tue, 22 May 2007 21:48:59 +0000

Drives me insane. Other insanity makers: People “waiting at the light” halfway into the crosswalk (I give them a piece of my mind), and peds walking towards oncoming traffic in the LEFT lane, totally oblivious.

Check some of the New York bicycle messenger videos on YouTube to see some helmet-mounted video – it’s much smoother and much less disorienting – which is also due in part to it being real time rather than sped up. But watch those and see if you still think Berkeley riders ride dangerously :)

By: pamitha

pamitha — Tue, 22 May 2007 19:21:50 +0000

Nice effort! I think my favorite part, however, is watching you dodge around pedestrians on the greenway – even though there is a perfectly good Ped path 10 feet to the right! Drives me insane.

This does make your morning commute look dreadful dangerous, which despite your cautious riding skills, supports my impression of riding in Berkeley.

As far as issue #2: once time-compressed, following your head whipping back and forth as you check to the left and right may be even more disorienting than the handlebar cam. But at least the camera won’t be butt-height for the cyclist in front of you, which is hilarious.

By: Daniel Switkin

Daniel Switkin — Tue, 22 May 2007 17:43:54 +0000

Try motion JPEG as a codec. Each frame will be saved separately as a still image. This is obviously larger than codecs which do interframe compression, but still much smaller than uncompressed. Unfortunately that won’t help you publish high quality to the web through YouTube or any other Flash-based site.