Discussion "Chewing gum" dv cam - firmware settings?

[the-cat007]

The instructions said use userconfig.txt for the time but that didn't work at all.
The time.txt does work for me (THANKS cat 007) but I cannot turn the time off.
The directory dates are 1/22/2007 9:49PM (that's about where the time was too before setting it)..

TO DELETE THE DATE/ TIME CLOCK.

How do you do that?
Just change the letter Y to N .
2009.09.25 15.30.00 N
You can also read the detailed explanation of jackerbes.
Here post #25

It might help you.

It was advertised at 30FPS but I don't know how to measure that for sure.

Check the properties of the file.
(Right-click on the movie file and
select 'properties')

[bnrusso]

Originally Posted by the-cat007

TO DELETE THE DATE/ TIME CLOCK.
How do you do that?
Just change the letter Y to N .
2009.09.25 15.30.00 N

As I said, adding the "N" doesn't work on mine.
but now the time says 2009.09.25 15.30.xx
I might try the other idea. Using the time.zip file

Originally Posted by the-cat007

Check the properties of the file.
(Right-click on the movie file and
select 'properties')

Thanks again, 29FPS is what it says.

[jackerbes]

I have the gum stick camera, the one seen in the *.pdf file I posted at post #37.

Windows Media Player was irritating me so I downloaded the codecs pack and the freeware named Media Player Classic - Homecinema from the links posted above in posts #39 and #42. And that has everything working fine.

With that player I can go to File > Properties > and the Details tab and see details like the following:

Video: MJPG 640x480 29.91fps [Stream 00]
Audio: PCM 8000Hz mono 64Kbps [Stream 01]

I'm using a 4 GB card and always get that 30 FPS rate.

You might try the time setting procedure in that file I posted above at post #37, that worked for me. It says to:

h. Set Time: The video recorder provides the function to display the video recording time in video file. The format is as following: Year – month - Day: minutes: seconds.

Time setting process is as following:

h.1. Create a new file in ".TXT" format. Input the time in accordance with the following
format 2008.07.15 16.10.28. The time is the current time at your location. Please doublecheck the text format in order to ensure the correct format..

h.2. Rename the new text file as "time.txt".

h.3. Connect the video recorder to the computer; wait until the computer appears a
‘REMOVABLE DISK’. Copy the “time.txt" file to this storage device root directory.

h.4. Disconnect this storage device. Restart the video recorder to complete the time setting.

h.5. The set time will be saved to the video recorder.

Note the space in between the date and the time as it is entered in the text file.

With the ON or OFF not entered, mine updated the time and displayed it on the video. I later set the time again, adding the "OFF" flag and turned the time display off on playback.

To set the time I went to an online time display and entered a time that was a couple of minutes ahead of the real time and entered the date and time in the text file.

Then I saved the time.txt file to the root of the card with the card in a USB card reader (not in the camera).

Then I put the card in the camera, put the power switch to On. One second before the time I had put in the file, I held the button that turns it on down. I see a red LED in the center at first, I release the button as soon as the other two LEDs flash.

The camera will set itself to any date/time it finds a time.txt file on power up and then erase the time.txt file. And it will set to the date/time in the file of course. The ON and OFF setting in the text file is not for turning the clock on and off it is for whether on not the time is seen on video playback.

Mine saves videos and photos to folder \_REC\100MEDIA, names are REC_0001 and up, with *.AVI and *.JPG as file types for videos and photos. If no files are found, it starts with REC_0001 each time it is powered up.

If the 100MEDIA sub folder is not found it will create it when it saves.

You have to hold the button down to save the videos before you power off. If you power the camera off without holding the button down first, you lose the videos (not sure if you would lose photos too).

Not sure how much of that will work the same for your cameras.

What are you guys using for editing videos? I find the Windows Movie Maker thingy sort of incomprehensible.

Jack

[underthefloor]

Hey jack, thanks for the tips on changing the time and hiding it. I just did it and it worked perfectly.

[bnrusso]

I never tried movie editing software until I tried movie maker.
My judgment of this being a good piece of software is that I was able to edit my first youtube movie in about an hour, adding title, Text breaks and removing a whole bunch of sky only shots, (I had the camera aimed too high for this video), music and credits.
I found it quite easy to use but I don't think I was asking much from it.

FIRST RC movie from my Stryker (4 min 18 sec)

This video was not done with the gum camera which I think would take better pictures.

[jackerbes]

Nice job on that, a couple of test glides never hurt anything.

I'll have to give that Movie Maker another try. It seem awful mysterious the one time I looked at it but maybe I just need to bear down on the learning curve. The help file was not much help... Welcome to windows freebies.

Jack

[quailbird]

Most all P/S cameras and video camera need to be pointed down so not too much sky can be seen. If you notice, when the sky is a lot in view the ground is very black and dark. When the plane is aimed more down the ground gets light and with good color. I found that out just like you are doing. Finally I try to set my cameras too shoot down enough to avoid the darkness. Also, I laughed at you first two attempts. I wish I had a dollar for every time I've walked over to pick mine up. We always see the old legs coming in the video. Later on when we view the video we get a good laugh. That is part of what makes this hobby enjoyable. "A Merry heart does good like medicine".

[Arakon]

Where do you put the ON or OFF? I got one that has the dcim\100DSCIM folder structure, but while I can set time and date fine, I can not hide them. adding the N after date/time doesn't change anything.

[bnrusso]

I have absolutely no luck in turning OFF the clock on my camera.
The first 2 cameras I bought (and sold) from a different source did not have the date on at all but these 2 do.
The clock sets if I use Y, N, O, F, ON, OFF, YES, NO, it doesn't care what I type.
I even tried those letters without the time. Most of the words/letters alone changed the clock to 2000-12-01,00:00:00 or 2007-01-01 00:00:00
I'm sure because whenever the clock set I purposely used a different date. I also tried dashes dots and colons. They all work to set the clock but my clock will not turn off.
I even shot videos of the screen where each change I wanted to make certainly set the clock but none would turn the clock OFF. I have 27 videos of the clock updating but always there.

[underthefloor]

I got the clock off but it turned back on again.

[jackerbes]

Here is an interior view with the clip side lifted off (remove four screws on corner), the flexible clip is held on by two screws on the inside.

I made a mount with a strip of aluminum. Bent the aluminum to give a forward and down viewing angle. Used double sided tape and a cable tie to attach the bracket to the camera.

Made a bungee cord double loop mounting and have it on my Zagnutz but have not flown it yet.

The string is a safety strap.

Jack

[SSM]

I think I've got my first gum-cam fixed permanently showing the correct date and time. But my (second, arrived today) gum-cam requires a "tag.text" file in this format:

[date] - insert space before new line
2009/20/10 - insert space before new line
20:18:00

And even then it forgets the date/time setting the next time it is turned off.

Some more work to do before I get it licked ... !

Simon

[dghutt]

Jack - thanks for cracking yours open for us to have a look.

I'll be interested to know how your mounting arrangement works with the shock-cords. Is your Zagnutz powered or a sloper? If powered, I've found that vibration in the mount or plane results in wavy, distorted footage. When I attached mine to the plane with elastics or velcro I was getting wavy video, but using tightly-wrapped hockey shinguard tape on a light-ply mount, supporting almost the whole height of the camera body, solved the problem. Even with solid mounting a vibration-prone plane will cause problems. On the weekend I tried it on my Superfly -- not good. I guess I've made plyers-and-eyeball motor shaft repairs one too many times, because the video looked like it was underwater. There would be no problem with a glider though. Good luck.

Dave

[jackerbes]

"..I'll be interested to know how your mounting arrangement works with the shock-cords. Is your Zagnutz powered or a sloper?..."

That is a powered version with a KFm4 wing, 48" wing span, some build details on it here:

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showp...postcount=3040


I flew it this morning and both did and did not get the waviness you mention. I flew it on two planes, the Zagnutz and a Nifty flying wing too. I did not see any waviness in any of the videos except for the last flight with the Zagnutz. And then it was more or less continuous and pretty annoying. Not bad enough that the video can't be watched but enough that you would not like it.

I think it might be that if I snug up the bungee cord a little the issue might abate. I'll also try putting a small piece of rubber or foam both between the metal bracket and the wing and then try it again on top of the bracket too.

I think this mounting is close to being right or good enough, at least worth a try.

I need to process and upload some videos, I'll follow up here with a link to them.

I am video stupid right now because it is all new to me. I'm slowly coming to grips with WMM but the where and how for uploads and linking is still a little baffling. I tried uploading one to the Airplanes - Electric Videos gallery last night and at the end of the upload it said it was not accepting any videos.

Is there a place here that explains the limits in size, and the format the video should be saved to from WMM? That is one question I have not figured out.

Jack

[jackerbes]

Another problem I had to solve was that my computers are all SDHC stupid.

But I bought this USB SDHC microSD card reader on eBay for $3.75 including shipping. The seller is a good one, they shipped instantly by mail and I had it in hand in less than 48 hours:

http://cgi.ebay.com/640-480-30FPS-Sp...mZ270472031362

I was thinking I needed to buy new computers but I've fought that off for now...

Jack