Originally Posted by Daemon

http://gopro.com/camera-accessories/combo-cable

So this will work for Fpv then? I thought it might need a converter or something.

Originally Posted by flohio117

So this will work for Fpv then? I thought it might need a converter or something.

No way for me to know for sure yet, but would seem pretty silly to sell a cable that it
says it provides video output, with composite RCA cable plugs, and then have it require an
additional converter. There's also an "OSD on/off" setting in the menus, which I assume
is an OSD overlay for the live video output.

ian

Hmm cool that's good to know if someone figures out how to make this work for Fpv then I'll probably buy before Xmas. But if nobody can make it work I'll probably just buy it whenever I feel like I need to upgrade. So far I really like my hero 2 and I like using it for Fpv and having a regular SD card.

Test video

FPV - Hero3 Black Edition - 720p at 120fps slow-mo test (2 min 21 sec)

The original quality and even the 8Mbit/s re-rendered quality of this vid is *much* better
than YouTube can manage. It just can't do this level of ground detail at this
speed, although you see it kind of snaps into focus when the playback is
reduced by 25% (120 down to 30).

[edit]Vimeo version

FPV - Hero3 Black Edition - 720p at 120fps slow-mo test (2 min 21 sec)

bit more crisp ground detail.

ian

Originally Posted by Daemon

Best Buy doesn't "have them in stock" exactly. It looks like each store was sent one Black
Edition along with their full stock of the other models.

Picked my "Black" up a little while ago. I don't know if my BB is different but they had all 3 models and more than one of each. They had at least a handful of each model on another shelf. If you want one now might be best to call your local Best Buy and see if you get lucky.

On a side note I had $60 in RewardZone coupons I forgot about. Out the door for $365

EDIT: Sigh, upload the file right-side-up and it shows upside down, upload it upside down and it still shows upside down, I can't win.

So when you left with your Black Ed, there were more Black Ed boxes behind/below it?
I, like others, got the last (seemed like only) one in the store.

ian

All out at my Best Buy and they claim no indication of additional stock coming any time soon.

The reduced noise level in low light is really impressive. Looking forward to trying this at night.

ian

Originally Posted by Daemon

So when you left with your Black Ed, there were more Black Ed boxes behind/below it?
I, like others, got the last (seemed like only) one in the store.

ian

She told me on the phone the system showed one in stock. I got there and they ended up having more somehow so inventory was clearly off.

At the one I went to yesterday, there was apparently a long line early in the morning. So there was quite a bit in stock. I'd be interested to know where those people heard about the surprise-release at Best Buy

Low light comparison between Hero2 and Hero3

GoPro Hero2 versus Hero3 low light comparison (1 min 12 sec)

For whatever it's worth, 95% of the scene would have been black with the Hero HD.

ian

Well, I finally figured out why it keeps turning on the Wifi radio even after I turn it off
through the menus. There's a black Wifi button on the side opposite the uSD slot.
When I'd push hard to seat the card against its spring, one of my fingers was often on the
button on the other side, and it'd simultaneously turn on the Wifi radio. Was driving me nuts.
Haven't figured out why it keeps locking up on me in various strange modes,
necessitating pulling the battery to reset, but it sure seems Wifi related.

ian

Raise your hand if you ever fly your FPV plane in the cold.

Well too bad, appears the Hero3 doesn't like cold. Not freezing, just cold.
Was 46 degrees outside. Went out to do a night flight. First flight
went ok. Packed moved to another location, fired up the camera
started recording and about 5 seconds later, it shows a
thermometer icon and an "!" and shuts off. Turn it back on,
it shuts itself off. Awesome. All those Alaska reality show
TV producers will be thrilled.

[edit]Did some testing. It's camera temp, not battery temp that causes it to shut down.

I've flown both my Hero HD and Hero2 in sub freezing temps without issue.

Other than that potential showstopper, the night time video is quite good.

ian

Originally Posted by Daemon

Well too bad, appears the Hero3 doesn't like cold. Not freezing, just cold.
Was 46 degrees outside. Went out to do a night flight. First flight
went ok. Packed moved to another location, fired up the camera
started recording and about 5 seconds later, it shows a
thermometer icon and an "!" and shuts off. Turn it back on,
it shuts itself off. Awesome.

I can't imagine it's normal for an outdoor cam to shutdown at 46°F. Especially when the Hero 2 was much more tolerant. Does the manual say anything about operating temperatures?

If I were you I'd contact GoPro or get it exchanged.

Edit: The manual is online. It says:
"Temperature warning icon on the LCD
The temperature Warning icon will appear on the LCD when the
camera has become too hot and needs to cool down. Simply let it sit
and cool before attempting to use it again. Your camera will not allow
itself to overheat —do not worry, no damage has occurred."


It doesn't say anything about too cold. Are you sure your hero 3 is not overheating? (maybe because of some firmware bug that keeps cpu at 100%)

Maybe it means that GP gets relatively hotter than environment