WeakMindedFool

Gotta agree...and disagree with you. It's funny this comes up now as we were having a similar discussion at the DZ this weekend. The fact is we are playing with WAY more energy then most of us think. I jump at Skydance in Davis and we have an asphalt swoop pond. As in an old taxiway...with sandy gravel on it. Now a lot of swooper that come visit think were high for swooping something so hard as asphalt. Got a news flash, Asphalt, grass, water, dirt it's all gonna fuck you up at 50 MPH+. Now I havent seen THAT many swoops gone bad. I have seen about every other way you can fuck yourself up done and done well. Picture cruzin down the free way at 65 MPH, now open the door and step out, this is the energy we are playing with. Chuck I'm with you on the road rash protection, but road rash is annoying, head injuries are for life. Now I'm a beer line swooper for now with a lame excuse for protection on my head (2kcomposites ff2) and a freefly suit. If I was swooping on the edge I think more serious protection would be warranted. Boarding helmets like the bad LT are MUCH better then skydiving helmets but I guess the question is where is the point when protection gets in the way of performance? Someone needs to come out with a line of gear for swoopers. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

No Dude! Don't rent, buy used! The money you save from juping your own gear can go to jumps. Like everyone else said, used gear first. You can sell it later and use the money for another used rig. Then when you get to a wingloading you are gonna keep for awhile, and you have the experience to know what you want, buy new! PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Skyhook! Only offered on Vector when I got it. Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

All of the above! Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Saber2 Kicks ass, so does the Nitro/Nitron. I know just how you feel wanting to get to a longer recovery arc and why. The thing is that now that I'm jumping a Velo I've found what all those guys who were saying it's the canopy and not the pilot were right! Oh yeah, and every aspiring swoopers favorite thing to hear, "Wring all the performance out of your current canopy." I thought they were trying to keep me safe...maybe they were, but I think what they were trying to tell me was that what you learn on those less elliptical, shallower diving canopies, translates very well to the more elliptical negative recovery arc canopies. Then it becomes a situation where your dialing in a new canopy vs. learning shit you should have learned earlier. I haven't jumped the others, for my money it's the Saber 2 or the Nitro! Peace! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Yeah, I tried side mounting the HC7 and didn't like how far it stuck out. I've been spoiled by the PC1000 and thing all cameras should be very small and high quality. Did you ever have problems with riser strikes with a side mount sticking out that far? I never jumped it in that configuration but it just seemed to stick out too far. To Gus: Yeah brother, I've tried everything I can think of, talked to every expert I could get to talk to me and I'm convinced this road is at an end. I might see if I can sell mine on ebay and get an HC5. Most of the video I shoot is from the inside so I don't really need the HD....I just want it real bad! HEY anyone out there want to buy an HC7? Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Yeah...were seeing the same here in nor cal. Those with HC5's Happy....Those with HC7's....Sad. The guy I talked to yesterday has done a lot of work on sony cameras. He went through an explanation of how optical stabilization works and I'm pretty sure he hit it on the head as to why the HC7 is not good camera for freefall...which explains why the HC5 (Electronic stabilization) is better for what we do. I would switch but...I do love the HC7 for a ground camera...I also love my pc1000 for freefall. I really do hate top mounts, for big-way freeflying they are kind of dangerous. Think I'll wait on the solid state stuff. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

The final word from Sony... There is no fix. The suggestion was made to place the Camera in an air tight enclosure. I've tried it with no success. I've tried HD tape with no luck. I even turned on the wide angle conversion lens button with no success. I had a guy who works on sony cameras explain why optical stabilization is bad for skydiving (basically he feels that a standing wave gets built up in the mechanics from the vibration) so unless anyone else has any Ideas????? Back to the PC1000...I hate fucking top mounts anyway PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

I have been talking with Sony about the problems with the HC7. I have gotten to where I'm not talking to tech support rather to engineers. They say there WAS a modification to the HDR-HC7 between runs that may be causing the mpeg skip problem. The problem has been handed over to Japan and they will keep us informed if they come up with a fix. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Supposedly there is a hack out the to turn on all the options in the HC5 that are available in the HC7...I haven't seen it but have heard talk here and some folks down at Elsinore were talking about. Hunt around and you might get lucky...or you might fuck up your camera...worse Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

I know DSE knows what he's talking about, the problem I'm having doesn't seem to be settings. The settings I'm using are the same that are being suggested. I've talked to Sony....a lot and they claim the has only been one run with one firmware on the HC7 line. If it's turbulent air causing the problem I'll prove or exclude that problem this weekend. I should be studying for a promotional exam...but this is more important . I'm gonna build a water tight box (yes for all you geeks out there I will hydrostatic test it). I'll jump this box with both the HC5 and HC7. If it resolves the problem then we have an answer...if not, HC1's are going for less then $1000 on ebay. I'll keep you posted. Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Don't listen to these guys DSE...150 to 165 is normal but diving to bigways I've seen 289 lol. But who cares I was wondering if you had time to look at the .mt2 I posted and if you were still seeing it as mpeg skip or was there some rolling shutter in there? I have only seen a problem in a sit. No problems head down, none belly flying. Again I fly with: Steadyshot - off X.V. - on Focus - Manual Shutterspeed 1/60 To Damonsteel: Answering from the other thread...Where I am at with this is, I've talked to sony, fought my way through 1st level tech support. Once I got him convinced that I could actually capture to my computer I got bumped up to 2nd level/Product specialist who was a jackass. He basically said, "you bought a consumer camcorder, sorry" I understand sony makes no garuntees for freefall, but if the problem is with some and not others it suggests a problem with the first run...maybe. I got a hold of an HC5 and will test it out this weekend... Keep you all posted. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Ok, here are the results: HC7 Lens .3 Diamond Shutter Speed 1/60 Steadyshot off X.V. Color on First I took the HC7, top mounted on a 2kComposites FF2. Covered the I/O area with gaffers tape, covered the tape door as well, in fact the whole front of the camera (not the lens though ;)). I flew this set up in every axis. The only time I saw mpeg skip was in a sit. This was 90% better then the clip I posted before. Head down and on my belly and back the video is perfect. In a sit there is intermittent skip but once again, not nearly as bad as it had been. One thing of note, the longer I was in a sit the worse it seemed to get. Second, I took the tape off, placed the HC7 in a cookie box (the HC3 box) mounted on a Flat Top Pro, taped every opening but the seam where it clamshell closes. Flew HD, back, belly and in a sit. No problem till I went into a sit. This set up was by far the worst! The skip got so bad that the people looked like blobs. The fact that getting the camcorder as airtight as possible seemed to reduce the problem gives me hope. I picture a tight condom (well they are all tight on me), maybe neoprene with a layer of latex inside. If anyone has any more ideas…let’s hear it! PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

I think we have overlapping conversations here. I capture with firewire. I was just trying to help the above poster with a method for getting A/V off of his DVR and into his computer. I suggested that he use the composite I/O on his camcorder to capture from his DVR. He tried to use the firewire port on his DVR without success. My question to you was about capturing video and ending up with a file with an .m2t extension verses an .avi. I'm just starting out on the road to HDV so am not as familiar with it. Sorry for being confusing. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

They're all RCA plugs to me...lol, I stand corrected. Guess if I want to help I should use correct terminology...I think his first challenge is getting it off the DVR. Mine has a firewire port too, I can't capture off it though. Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Nope...problem is being reported on the HC5 as well...What do you think an HC1 goes for on ebay Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Shutter speed was set to 1/60. You obviously know a hell of a lot more about this than I do. Hell, I'll send you the tape if you like...or...you can tell me how to get an .m2t off my camera. I'm using Canopus Edius Pro 3.5 and can extract what you want...I think. Is an m2t what extracts when I use the generic HDV cap? Why does it ONLY happen in turbulent air? It only occurs in a sit or when I traveled over something? Do you think my plan of completely encapsulating the camera will have an effect? As for recreating it...Tell me what you want to see, in what body position, with any setup you like. I'll go out tomorrow and get it. I'll send you the tape, just PM me with the address you want it at. Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

OR...you input to the component (you know, the red, white, yellow....or in this case just the red and white) from the DVR to your camera? You shouldn't have any noticeable loss in quality. Then cap to your computer as normal. You don't need the firewire....the camera will generally figure out whe the signal is coming from (which I/O) and record when you tell it to. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

HC7 in a rip off of a bonehead box. Top mounted to a FF2 2kComposites. A long narrow hole was cut into the left side to allow LANC access. The first shot was with it taped over, the rest it was not. I'm gonna see if covering all openings with gaffers tape does the trick....if it does, I'll make a neoprene condom with a non permeable layer on the inside to encapsulate the camera. It may not be that bad....but it's bad enough! Why switch to high def only to have worse quality? I hope it's fixable because otherwise the camera kicks ass...will keep all posted. PEACE! Jason P.S. Thanks Dave! Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Alright. Skydivingmovies has the video, I'll link it when it becomes available. it's 45 sec's and 170 megs name is "Flutter.avi" and I put in Misc. Peace! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

I have a .3 Diamond. Shutter speed set to 60 X.V. Color on Steadyshot off is microsoft DV Ok as far as the resolution goes or do you need it to be 1080i? Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Ryan & DSE, Iwan is right, it was pretty bad. I did note that it occurred in sit flying and If I was head down and the camera got burbled. It wasn't nearly as bad if the box (home made) had the Lanc access taped over. I plan on taping the whole thing up to see if it corrects the problem. If you would like to see the video, reply back and I'll post some full res copies to Skydivingmovies. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Plug your camera into your DVR. Use the record function in the play/edit portion of your vid to record from the DVR. Capture as usual to your computer. Place the captured video onto an audio track OR place on an A/V track and delete the video...Tere you go! Peace! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Check This out... I don't know if you're familiar with this box but I just modified one for someone else (I make my own...maybe I'll buy one of cookies) and it's a tight bastard. Minimal...very minimal openings to the air. Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos

Just was watching some of my video from this weekend and noted that if the camera gets burbled in a Head down, it flutters BAD! Traveling over a sit fliers arm the image flutters but as soon as I pass through, it stabilizes immediately (Cam eye was in and no tape for that jump). Friday I'll be doing VRW all day. I plan to take it out of the box, tape every orifice and put it through the ringer. Let me know what luck you have please. PEACE! Jason Faith in a holy cause is to a considerable extent a substitute for lost faith in ourselves. -Eric Hoffer - Check out these Videos