In car HD video with good quality sound

[handbraketurn]

Afternoon All,

I know there are a lot of options around, the obvious being the go-pro's as picture quality quite good, small, light and have the clamps etc.

Watching quite a few videos online, the sound quality is as best average, but mosly tinny, and lets the high quality images down.

For me, engine sound has to be as important as image quality in a car vid.

What are the best options to try and get good quality HD and good sound. Whether that is an HD cam with a plug in mic or something that has best of both worlds and can be fitted to a car windscreen etc.

If there are already any threads, be great if you could point towards them.

Thanks in advance,
HBT

[Craikeybaby]

The new GoPro might be worth a look, the sound is meant to be one of the main improvements.

[wetny]

Can add ext mic to HD2. Heard about a guy who put the mic in the airbox. Accept may not be the cheapest option. May need skeleton housing.

[handbraketurn]

I totally forgot about starting this thread, just occured to me.

Thanks for feedback, I'll check out the new go-pro and report back.

Airbox sounds like a good idea, but possibly a bit OTT for me.

[TheHeretic]

I ordered a Poseidon 720p waterproof jobby. Only 90 quid I clouding all the bits you need. Anyone used one?

[handbraketurn]

TheHeretic said:

I ordered a Poseidon 720p waterproof jobby. Only 90 quid I clouding all the bits you need. Anyone used one?

Good value. Interested to hear the results.

[handbraketurn]

wetny said:

Can add ext mic to HD2. Heard about a guy who put the mic in the airbox. Accept may not be the cheapest option. May need skeleton housing.

Quite a few options for mic's as you'd expect. The first problem is the mounts, there are no standard mounts for car use .

Alternatively there is this, not sure how much better this is going to be over the internal mic. Would be easy to use... Does say its for use with specific products, but assume it would work with gopro as its just a basic 3.5 jack.

http://www.porthale.co.uk/products.asp?partno=N129...

Here are a few good quality mics:

http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/microphones/detail.a...

http://www.creativevideo.co.uk/index.php?t=product...

http://www.play.com/Electronics/Electronics/4-/988...

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories//pr...

Just need to find some kind of horse shoe style mounting option, will have look for sucker pad mounts or perhaps just something with flexible arms that you could wrap around something.

Edited by handbraketurn on Saturday 1st September 16:47

[LostCroc]

I am assuming you are in a closed cabin car? This makes it relatively easier than what I am trying to do with a Caterham seven where wind is a major issue.

Best results for sound from a GoPro come from using a separate digital audio recorder and not from running a mic from the GoPro camera. Thats what GoPro do for some of their commercials and then sync the sound in with the video during post production.

For the average person this is more of a hassle than we want so the best external mic is a powered one. While the GoPro camera can supply power through the 3.5mm plug, the range of audio it can collect is more limited since the in-camera power output is not great. On the cheap end I use an Audio Technica ATR3350 to decent effect out of the wind. It is an inexpensive battery powered lavalier mic on a long cord so you can place it in a variety of spots around the cabin to get out of the wind or get better volume. I have run the mic forward to be next to the throttle bodies on the motor plus a variety of other places around the car. The Rode Videomic and Nikon mic shown above are very good but bulky - not always what you really want in a car cabin or in an engine bay. On the high end of price a quality powered lavalier mic (i use an AT-899) will give you flexibility to place the mic some distance from the camera should it be needed plus have the dynamic range to collect audio from a operating car environment.

[sjg]

GoPro with an external mic, or just about anything else with an external mic port. Get a mic with a reasonable lead put it somewhere out of the wind and closer to the engine. With the gopro you'll need to either get the "skeleton" case though or drill a hole in the standard case to get to the port though.

This is a good example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM6xmjSIfWc