Underwater Hockey + Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V

    I took my Sony Action Cam to the pool for an underwater hockey practice this week.  I shot the video in 1080P.  The performance of the camera in an indoor pool is good.  It is a little grainy and at times out of focus under water, but in general it is decent quality.  The sound is pretty fantastic, that and the POV perspective makes you feel like you are actually underwater and playing.

     I used a strap mount from the the universal head mount kit BLT-UHM1 to attach the action cam to my diving mask, making it as low profile and compact as you can get for a video setup - I am not sure how you would even do this with a GoPro with it's big square front facing form factor.  I didn't notice the camera or the drag much underwater. Some people playing didn't even realize I had a camera on my head during the game until I posted the video later.

Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V - Changing the GPS Overlay Units

       I have finally figured out how to changed the units displayed on my videos while inserting an overlay on them from the GPS on the Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V.  Up until now, the units have always been in mph, where I prefer km/h.  I thought originally that it was in internal stting somewhere, since i purchased mine from the US.  But that isn'ty the case.  I looked all over in the Playmemories home editing software to look for a setting for which units you would like to select - there is none either.  I even emailed Sony about it.  They told me to call customer service.  Nothing pisses me off more than having to call customer service and sit through 10 minutes worth of answering questions regarding which product you want to talk about, then waiting another 10 minutes on hold for someone to answer so I didn't do that.

      I did start messing with the region and language format settings on my computer.  Apparently it was set to US language and region (I live in Canada), so Sony's ultra brilliant software just assumed I wanted my units in mph, instead of having a simple intuitive selector built into Playmemories software to do that.  I have been playing with it for about half an hour to figure out if it is the language setting itself, the region setting or both.  It seems like it might be both, since I have tried just to change one of them and it didn't change to what I thought it should be.  In any case, this is a good tip for someone wondering how to change the speed units on the GPS overlay for the Sony Action Cam..  it only took me about three weeks to figure it out.

Sony handlebar mount VCT-HM1 and Action Cam HDR-AS30V shaky , too much vibration.

So I took my Sony handlebar mount VCT-HM1 and the action ca, HDR-AS30V out for another sin with my cross country mountain bike to see how it performs.  Last week it was ultra shaky, both due to the mount and the case for the camera itself, the camera was rattling around in.  I mounted the arm vertically this time to try get rid of some of the shake, and I added shims to the inside of the case so the camera wouldn't rattle in the case.  Unfortunately it is still unacceptably shaky as this video on even an asphalt road shows, never mind on a singletrack trail.  Image stabilization was on in this video, too.

This Sony VCT-HM1 mount is pretty useless, I think I might try the Minoura VC100 handlebar mount.

Sony HDR-AS30V GPS Kinda Sucks Part 2

     My second video clip of a longer movie shows the poor GPS performance of the Sony HDR-AS30V Action Cam with me walking and jogging around my neighborhood.  The calculated speed from the GPS is all over the map, bouncing from 0 to 8 mph, even though I am traveling at relatively constant speed.  The track again also shows lack of accuracy, part of the track being 10m/30ft off of where I was actually traveling.  I did not walk through people’s back yards as the track shows.

 

 

      Again, what’s the point of having a GPS attached to your video if both the track location itself and the speed are inaccurate and worthless?  I would have rather paid a bit more for one with an accurate GPS, than have one with useless GPS data.

 

Sony HDR-AS30V Action Cam GPS Kinda Sucks Part I

I took a ride last Sunday with my new HDR-AS30V last Sunday to test the camera and mount itelf out.  The shakiness from the mount and also from the camera rattling around inside the case itself aside, the GPS’s accuracy doesn’t seem to be all that great.  It appears to lose it’s position sometimes, makes assumptions and then draws the wrong track.  This video clearly shows that the GPS isn’t following where I am riding.  By looking at the track, you would think I was looping back, doing tight 180 turns and crossing back on the path I had already ridden where that isn’t the case at all. 

What’s the point of having a GPS enabled action camera and recording the track if the track it generates isn’t accurate at all?  My suspicion is that the GPS receiver and antenna are low cost to keep the cost of the camera down, and probably low accuracy as well making it kind of pointless.  I’d recommend not paying the extra $100 for the GPS enabled HDR-AS30 and stick with the lower cost HDR-AS15 if you are looking to pick up a Sony Action Cam.

 

Um, no, this isn't anything close to accurate, we didn't cross the road at any point.

Sony VCT-HM1 Action Cam Handlebar Mount Review

I'll let the video speak for itself for the most part, but here's a summary:
     I just got a Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V last week and took it for a spin today on my cross country mountain bike with Sony's VCT-HM1 handlebar mount accessory.  To cut to the chase, the handlebar mount is horrible.  It exaggerates and induces much more shake than if it was firmly fixed to the mountain bike, due to the articulation joint and the flexible plastic.  Not only that, it adds noise from the plastic parts shaking..  and it costs $30 to boot.  For that price, it should be rock solid and perform stellar, but it doesn't.
     I suggest you stay away from this mount at all costs  It's like throwing your money away.  I don't think I will ever be using this mount again.

Sony Action Cam HDR-AS30V

    So I picked up a Sony action cam.  I had been wanting one for a while, not that I am into all types of extreme sports, but it would be good to use on occasion, it's also good for timelapses.  The choice of action cam is a difficult one.  There's the industry standard GoPro, Sony Action Cam, and a bunch of others made by Midland Radio, Garmin, and a bunch of others.  You would think someone would jusy go to the industry standard, but after looking into it, the Sony appealed to me much more than the GoPro.  Up until it went out o business, I actually liked Contour's form factor, but it kicked the bucket recently.  GoPro introduced it's 3rd gen earlier this year and has just released the 3+.  After doing a bit of research, it looks like Gopro only released the 3+ as a fix for what the 3 black should have been in the first place.  There's many reports of buggy software, the camera shutting off randomly, freezing up, corrupting SD cards and horrible battery life to boot.  I don't want to spend money on a product a company that is run like that.  People seem to think GoPro's seat on the throne is untouchable, but I tend to disagree.  GoPro doesn't have the expertise in manufacturing cameras and the tech thtat goes with it, although they are learning quick.
     There's a wole handful of features that I think the Sony HDR-AS30V has that the GoPro doesn't.  Namely GPS, better battery life, better low light, image stabilization.  From the sounds of the boards and reviews I read, the image quality on the GoPro has a slight edge, but that's under the right conditions.  The other features and the solidit of the Sony design won me in.  Besides, i can't stand the form factor of the GoPro, it just seems wrong to have a big square thing that looks like a 2001 digital camera on your head creating extra drag and/or the possibility for the camera to be kncked out of alignment.  I don't think the Sony is even available in Canada yet.  It's not on Sony Canada's website - only the HDR15 GPS-less model is, but I got one on eBay.
     I plan to take it out for a test spin for some night cross country mountain biking in the near future, and I will report back when i get a bit of a chance to check out the capabilities properly.