VIO POV1.5 Action Camera Review |
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 The ability to take on-board video footage of your motorcycling exploits is becoming ever popular and there is a bewildering array of equipment now on offer to satisfy the needs of the amateur through to the professional.One of the UK's leading specialists in helmet camera systems, bullet cameras and mounts for extreme sports is Action Cameras whose online shop and website is at www.actioncameras.co.uk. They kindly provided us here at www.inter-bike.co.uk with one of their top end camera kits in the form of the VIO POV1.5 Action Camera to test on a gruelling 16 day, 4000 mile mountain motorcycle tour. The standard VIO POV1.5 kit consists of a fully integrated point-of-view (POV) video system that is claimed to be waterproof, dustproof and shock-resistant. The kit includes a mountable camera head, built-in video recorder, wireless remote, mounts, 4 Gb SDHC Card and software for managing the videos. In addition we had the POV1.5 pouch in which to keep everything, a mounting kit and the POV Power 12V which allowed us to power the POV unit from our motorcycle rather than use the 4 AA batteries which slot into the back of the unit. In this case we used a BMW R1200 GS as the test vehicle.  The kit is fairly simple to install on your motorcycle. The POV Power 12V has a cigarette lighter plug on the end which we just plugged into a cigarette lighter socket adapter powered from the BMW R1200 GS’s power socket. This and the video unit were placed in our tank bag and the camera and cable which plugs into the top of the video unit were run out of the bag to the mounting point on the side of the bike.We did note that care is needed locating the camera cable into the top of the video unit as the plug pins are very small and fairly easy to misalign, but we soon became expert at it as we obviously needed to unplug the camera several times a day, when we parked up and needed to remove the tank bag.  The unit is primarily designed to be used as a helmet mounted camera, but can be bike mounted and knowing that we would be on and off the bike fairly regularly, we chose to mount the camera directly onto the bike, rather than risk forgetting to take our helmet off and wrench the camera cable from the video unit.The camera itself is a very solidly built, with an all metal case and a 110 degrees wide angle bullet camera. The mounting system consists of a metal collar that fits around the camera and is screwed tight, this is fixed to a flexible 3 point base that can either be stuck to the bike using the very strong adhesive pads supplied or has the capability to be mounted magnetically. Whilst affixing the adhesive pad was really simple, the securing of the camera into the mount is by means of two small cross head screws. Whilst it was easy to do this in our garage prior to the trip it could prove more trying if you did this on location and dropped one of the tiny screws. The camera cable also encompass a microphone but the unit also has the capability to plug in a separate microphone as well, we chose to use the built in cable mike to capture the sounds of the ride as we went along. Video is recorded to the supplied 4 Gb Secure Digital Card supplied, but knowing we would be riding 8-10 hours each day we took a couple of extra 4 Gb cards. The recording format is MPEG 4 (DivX Codec) and at top quality of 720x480 30fps you can get approximately 2¾ hours of recording time on a 4 Gb card. The recording unit will take up to an 8 Gb card, doubling this time. We chose to set the quality down to 640x480 to get more recording time, meaning two 4Gb cards would cover a normal days riding.  In addition the kit includes a nifty wireless remote control which works up to 3 meters away without requiring line-of-sight. We located this in the clear map pocket on the top of our tank bag, enabling us to stop and start recording whilst on the move.So what is the equipment actually like to use? Really simple, each morning before we set out we plugged the camera into the video unit, loaded up a clean SD card powered the unit up pressed record and that was it. However we did experience one recurrent problem on the first few days of the trip. We were riding some extremely poor quality and bumpy mountain roads causing a lot of vibration and jolting of the bike, this in turn caused the POV recording unit to move around in our tank bag, intermittently causing the power supply to disconnect. Unfortunately if the recording is not stopped using the unit stop button or remote control in the correct way the video file is not closed off properly and the recording is lost. However we soon realised what the problem was and used some gaffer tape to secure the power connections which solved the problem. In fairness a permanent 12v power lead to your motorcycle’s battery is available as an optional accessory to power the POV video unit, which would overcome this issue. At the end of each day it was simple to load the videos directly from the SD card onto the Net book we were travelling with to review the day’s recordings or we could have used the supplied USB cable to upload the videos direct from the video recorder unit. The VIO POV1.5 also comes with software for video editing that allows you to cut, mix, set and upload your videos easily.  One of the best features of the POV 1.5 recorder is that it has an LCD screen and using the inbuilt screen we were able at any point on a days ride to review the video we had been recording. In addition the software built into the unit allows you to customise the sound levels, the picture quality and all other settings easily.The quality of the video and audio recorded by the POV 1.5 kit is excellent and at its highest setting you are approaching full DVD quality, the medium quality we recorded at was more than we needed for web use on the www.inter-bike.co.uk site. The wide angle lenses capturing in stunning detail and clarity the many amazing mountain passes and mountain views we enjoyed during our tour. The VIO POV1.5 Action Camera is available exclusively in the UK from Action Cameras. The current price is £499.94 which for camera equipment of this quality represents a worthwhile investment for those who want to capture their motorcycling adventures in stunning quality video, as you can see below on one of the many videos we took on the tour. Review, pictures and video by Jon Booth – www.inter-bike.co.uk
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