Originally Posted by Daemon

I don't like remotes either, but it looks like the ECO has a one touch Record/Stop
slider control on its top that'd be all you need most of the time. Perhaps someone
with an ECO can chime in as to whether it works as expected. My PV-1000 has
full dedicated controls on the unit itself, so I can stop and start recording without
even looking at it (and often do, to cut up long flights).

ian

Yes, the recording slider control works very well. I thought the EVO had this as well, I'm not sure though. If it hasn't I wouldn't buy the EVO. The ECO I have is also supplied with a wired remote that turns on the DVR and starts recording immediately.

Originally Posted by Flypoppa

Those Lawmates are expensive, I can get a netbook or another laptop for less. Which would certainly do the job. I already have a video grabber if needed.

As usual, people ask questions they don't want real answers to. I wonder why we bother sometimes.
Good luck using a netbook or laptop in the field to capture high quality video reliably.

ian

Originally Posted by Daemon

As usual, people ask questions they don't want real answers to. I wonder why we bother sometimes.
Good luck using a netbook or laptop in the field to capture high quality video reliably.

ian

Sorry Ian. but I was a bit peed off after yesterdays dramas.
When you say "Good luck using a net book or laptop". Is that tongue in cheek as if it will not get good results?

Yes I'm being sarcastic.
Most netbooks simply don't have the horsepower to capture high quality video.
Laptops are slow to boot, and fussy to set up for video capture, have short or
unreliable battery life. Also, outdoors is generally not a good place for laptops
and netbooks. Last time I had mine outside (to do a live FPV broadcast) it ended up
with a lot of dirt and crud in the keyboard.

ian

Ok thanks for that, so netbooks and more laptops are out.
But does one realy have to spend big bucks to do what we want for our hobby?
I originaly got a Digilife as my mate has one that he uses for his recorder. The one I got was a later model. My one freezes if it gets any static.
I then got an Archos off Ebay cheap. As It had a cracked screen and the touch screen did not work. But It seems to do the job as I use the buttons, untill sometimes the files get corrupt and I cannot record any more on the day untill I get home and sort out and save the files on the PC.
When I am out both myself and mate record both of our flights so we do have a back up system when it works.
Yesterday my mates Digilife started playing up.
I fly an Easystar and I am into thermal soaring. Yesterday I caught a cracker. I got up to 1100ft + I could have gone higher but I chickened out.
This is a grab shot of the duff recording that I was getting.
So you can see I was a bit peed off as I said.

The 9.99 Emprex is a solid reliable recorder. Nvr cuts out on static. One touch(well you have to turn it on first) record. But only average record quality.

If you want singificantly better record quality then I think the lawmates are prob the best option, as I imagine if you damage it accidently they'll have warrantly cover ect.

Originally Posted by NDw

The 9.99 Emprex is a solid reliable recorder. Nvr cuts out on static. One touch(well you have to turn it on first) record. But only average record quality.

If you want singificantly better record quality then I think the lawmates are prob the best option, as I imagine if you damage it accidently they'll have warrantly cover ect.

Cheap and cheerfull. Quality seems good enough for me. I could hook it up to my Archos for the view screen.
I can't seem to find anyone in the UK selling them for £9.99 anymore.

They still have it on ebuyer, who are UK based

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/248383

You'll need an ide hard drive to go with it of course. If you don't have one I got a 6bg one which is plenty for £11 on ebay.

Originally Posted by NDw

They still have it on ebuyer, who are UK based

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/248383

You'll need an ide hard drive to go with it of course. If you don't have one I got a 6bg one which is plenty for £11 on ebay.

I have ordered one from ebuyer. But they have problems with my payment. Don't know why, no one else does.
Trying to sort it out.

Originally Posted by Flypoppa

I have ordered one from ebuyer. But they have problems with my payment. Don't know why, no one else does.
Trying to sort it out.

Did you try to get it delivered to somewhere other than where your card is registered? With your first order, I know that ebuyer won't deliver to anywhere other than where the card is registered.

Originally Posted by lovegroove

Did you try to get it delivered to somewhere other than where your card is registered? With your first order, I know that ebuyer won't deliver to anywhere other than where the card is registered.

No. Same address. Paid with my Mastercard. Should have paid with Paypal.
I have done one of their emessages. Got a reply saying it could take up to 2 days for a reply.
I noticed that they tried to make me get it delivered within 2 days and it cost almost as much as the device. So I opted for the cheap £4. I am in no hurry.
I have found a 2.5 4gig ide HD that should do for a trial.
What is the average meg for say a 10 minute flight?

Hi,

I just got my new PV500 ECO. Thanks boopidoo and Ian for finally stimulating me to buy this device.
I'm very satisfied with the great quality of all the components.
The remote is IR and not wired like boopidoo one.

I did a quick test and bit rate is definitely high at >7Mb/sec.
Recording resolution goes up to 1280/960 at 30fps, another great feature.

If I only decided earlier I could save some money. It is worth for a ground station to wait a little more and buy good devices. They will last (not crashing ).

After my miniDV died I bought several recorders, but no one was even satisfactory.
Summarizing, I have :
- V-mate. Not so bad, but low bit rate and needs external power, remote and screen. It does not memorize date, so you have to set it every time you cycle power.
- JXD 980. Very low / bad quality. Only good point is colours saturation.
It has a nice screen, big memory (8GB), external microSD memory.
Firmware does not allow any quality change. It is a good player.
- S-Cam. Quality not so bad, but it does not record through statics. It will restart when video is there again. But here too, the firmware seems a work half done. There are several options, but nothing changes when you try them. E.g. if you select record time 30minutes it still splits the video in 10minutes files.

So after some thoughs and doubts I decided to invest some money (thanks low dollar currency too) and the first approach is very satisfactory.
Money invested for ground equipments (RC tx, video recorders, pan / tilt etc) is always well invested.

Best regards,

Ric

Yes I've gone through a few recorders too and would be not far off a lawmate. If you are going to pay over $50 for something I'd prob go for one of them now. Provided I could buy it local for service.

I just pulled the trigger on the Lawmate PV500EVO so we'll see how it comes out. Thanks for all the informative info in this thread that helped me make up my mind.

Anyone tried Emprex with CF card and IDE adapter?
http://cgi.ebay.com/CF-Compact-Flash...item2c5b0e41a2

Kristaps