Testing The Av500 For Helmet Camera Systems

[DVCake]

Howdy all,

My new company designs builds durable helmet camera systems for rental in the US. Currently I use Mini DV cams for recording  I'm starting to test and catalogue all my findings on PVR's . My first is the AV500.

MY first gripe is what technical support told me "you dont need the TV pod to record" That was a lie as most of you know.   There is no way to record tv by just plugging in the A/V cable. I've seen the travel adapter on a previous post but now I have to order it and for what? $50 or more? That thing should come with the unit. Has anyone bought one and tried it yet?

My first test was connecting a DVD to it and recording some content. I set up the video to record @ 2500K but it would not let me change it to VGA resolution it just said optimal, does the av00 know my source is DVD so it only allows lower resolution?After recording about 10 minutes I decided to try playback on a TV.  I could play back all the sample videos to the tv but as soon as I started playback of my recorded clip it jumped back the the av500 LCD. First under settings I tried all the ratio settings then playback, same thing, only on LCD. So why can I not playback on TV?

I have not tried an connection to PC yet, tomorrow i'll test one of my camera rigs using the stupid tv pod just to get some quality samples.

Thanks,

DVCake

[DVCake]

Answered my own questions

The travel adapter for recording has no ETA on availability anywhere, US or overseas.

The problem with TV playback is that the file is protected coming from a DVD player and macrovision so no TV playback.

I can't test my systems without that travel adapter so this thing is going back, shame =[

~DC

[tat2sailor]

Hi,

The travel adapter works. The optical resolution happens to all protected DVDs.


Cheers!

[DVCake]

Hi,

The travel adapter works. The optical resolution happens to all protected DVDs.


Cheers!
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Found it listed on Walmart of all places. Ordered it today so I'll have it next week. I'll hold on to it another few weeks, have 30 days to return =]

[Steadi]

Hi DV Cake

Im working on a similar system for use with a Steadicam and thought we could perhaps share information.

I bought an AV500 about 6 months ago but returned it as I found a couple of snags, one being the daft docking pod.  At the moment I'm stillousing an RCA lyra which is very clunky and crashy.

I've wasted 6 months waiting for Cyberhome to come out with their PMP4000 (12V ideal for my rig) and have now baught the archos again as it seems to be the best available.

Picture quality is great but I cant seem to find a way to record a true 16 by 9 picture, it seems to cut off the headroom to fit the wider tft screen and this seems to happen on output to a tv.

Also have a problem with the record function as I need to use the archos as a monitor and of course the picture reduces to the size of a postage stamp when in record to make room for the unnecessarry bargraphs etc.

I'll post elseware on the site in the hope that someone may have some software cheats.

I also have the problem of having to buy the travel adapter which is annoying as the docking pod connector seems much neater.  I really cant see the advantage of the fancy docking pod when a simple AV in out cable does the same job.

I hope to cut the docking pod cable and then re join it using a couple of hirose or lemo multi connectors.  I can then plug up with whatever feeds I need to/from the camera system and still use the docking pod at home.

Please let me know how you are getting on

Best regards

Mike

[Paris7]

Hi DV Cake

Im working on a similar system for use with a Steadicam and thought we could perhaps share information.

I bought an AV500 about 6 months ago but returned it as I found a couple of snags, one being the daft docking pod.  At the moment I'm stillousing an RCA lyra which is very clunky and crashy.

I've wasted 6 months waiting for Cyberhome to come out with their PMP4000 (12V ideal for my rig) and have now baught the archos again as it seems to be the best available.

Picture quality is great but I cant seem to find a way to record a true 16 by 9 picture, it seems to cut off the headroom to fit the wider tft screen and this seems to happen on output to a tv.

Also have a problem with the record function as I need to use the archos as a monitor and of course the picture reduces to the size of a postage stamp when in record to make room for the unnecessarry bargraphs etc.

I'll post elseware on the site in the hope that someone may have some software cheats.

I also have the problem of having to buy the travel adapter which is annoying as the docking pod connector seems much neater.  I really cant see the advantage of the fancy docking pod when a simple AV in out cable does the same job.

I hope to cut the docking pod cable and then re join it using a couple of hirose or lemo multi connectors.  I can then plug up with whatever feeds I need to/from the camera system and still use the docking pod at home.

Please let me know how you are getting on

Best regards

Mike
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Umm, I'm in the same game. The AV500 inability to record 16x9 is very sad. I wonder if Archos will address this in a future firmware up grade.  The Travel kit is very useful if only it didn't poke up like some Christmas tree!   I'd be very interested to here or see a Lemo adaptation.    Have either of you used the PAL Archos camera with it yet, is it any good?

Finally, beware framing using the AV500 as a monitor, you can increase the size of the image in record mode but it's not accurate