powerlord

Here's a video of a flight I made in Lanarkshire last week in scotland. I'm taking off from a little village called Kilncadzow where my parents live and I grew up. You then see me flying over New Lanark (a world heritage model town built in 1785), before flying over Lee Castle, then doing a fly over of the village for the locals - look closely was some waving people. Taking off was a bit tricky, involving running with my knees up to get my feet clear of 14" of snow with every step. It was interesting after landing to look at my footsteps getting further and further apart as I accelerated for take off. [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]It was shot on my goPro HD at setting r3 (1280x960) 4:3 for the vertical FoV, and then squished to 16:9 as I think it works well with the very wide fov and fish eye. I did try a semi-unfished version, but the effect of pushing mid distance objects further away detracts from the effect I think, so I have stuck with this version. The audio levels were a bit better on that one though, but I'd uploaded it by then, so tough. I will take some stills from both version later and post them, so you can see more clearly what de-fishing does - basically thing of projecting a picture on the back of a spoon (fish eye), projecting on front of spoon (defish). This was the first video I've taken with the goPro, so a bit of an experiment as much as anything. I also wanted to find the best settings for the gopro, but also for youtube, and also find youtube's limitations regarding mac codec. GoPro wise - a variable bit rate H264 encode, 2 pass, average 4MB, peak 10MB seems to maintain the full quality of the 16MB goPro native video. You can see this 'master' edit (i.e. same as on youtube but proper higher quality as you get out of the gopro) here (direct download - no mucking with entering codes, etc) : http://premium.fileden.com/premium/2010 ... now720.mp4 You'll notice differences with YouTube in areas where colour variation is small - youtube will introduce banding and blocking across areas like the sky. And also where there is massive amounts of detail, such as taking of and landing with all the details in the snow - this becomes blocky and blurry on youtube, but maintains its definition on my upload. YouTube footage still looks decent, but basically YouTube re-encodes to Constant Bit rate 2.5MB - so resultant file on youtube ends up being half the size of mine. Finally, if you want to see some defished footage it is only in master edit here: http://premium.fileden.com/premium/2010 ... ow720b.mp4 - there is a bug in the edit with a bit duplicated, but I have left it uploaded for folk to look at the defish. You will see I've only partially defished - more than that and I'd start to lose significant details from the sides and top, AND the centre of the frame would be reduced even more, losing too much detail. I think the defish does make it a bit less goldfish bowl like, but in the end I stuck with the original one I updated to YouTube. I don't want to put the other one on youtube, there ain't much point. comments (and ratings!) welcome! stu

I like it. there are just frames from the video too - not actual stills (which are 3 or 4mp). I just leave it videoing all the time so far, so not tried the interval shots. I got mine off a seller on ebay in the states. Even after customs charges it was only 200 quid for the motosport version - saving 100 quid on UK price.. so worth a look if you are thinking of getting one. I'll post the video tomorrow. stu

some piccies I took last week (actually just stills from my gopro HD video footage) http://powerlord.smugmug.com/Paramotor/ ... h-Dec-2009 hny everyone.

from a trip a few weeks ago in south africa. now I know it works, I'll be trying it on the paramotor. still experimenting with positioning of the left and right video - but this seems to work pretty well. you'll need red/blue glasses. .. and 2 eyes. also, it really needs HD to work.. and seems to work better in a window rather than full screen weirdly - I think it's the sheer amount of movement in the video (all the data required for the bushes, etc) giving the encoder a hard time within the data rate available. so - let it buffer, then watch in a window with HD on seems to work best. try moving closer and further from the computer monitor if its not quite working right. you should be able to quite clearly see me in front of the ridge, and then later I zeroed it on the far distance, so you should see some depth in the road below me, the bushes, etc. [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]

just a note to say, this is still for sale, but will only be in scotland for the next month or so, then I'll be moving it to ipswich. so if anyone in the north of the country is interested, now would be the time to say summit. stu

hi guys, got around to editing the video of the weekend PPG event that ukppg.com put on. make sure the HD button is red (on). full screen is best. it's got synced music, so the odd grumpy old man will moan, but I've still left the engine noise in there too! here's the vid: [youtubevideo] [/youtubevideo]cheers, stu

I have one as new for sale in the for sale section if you are still looking for one. stu

Parajet Volution 2006. New cylinder, electronics, exhaust. Last services 2008 by Parajet. New battery just fitted also. Comes with wooden scimitar blades, plus a one piece DK type 3 blade prop (with different ratio) as an optional fitment. Good nick. A few dents in bottom of cage, but nothing serious. £1800 ono. piccies here: http://tinyurl.com/kv5ylp powerlord_stu@hotmail.com 07887748555

Surplus from my paramotor acquisition... harness: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0465820380 Also, as new. never flown. Ideal for a bit of free flying with yer paramotor wing. stu 07887748555 powerlord_stu@hotmail.com

Looking for around £1200. basically flown for around an hour or so tops. Also on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0465804426 stu 07887748555 powerlord_stu@hotmail.com

Hell, u should get much better quality with the TG3. I've got the CX6/7. Far far better quality than FX37, but then there is the faffing with deinterlacing, and avchd plus the size of the thing. Put in the effort with your TG3 and you will be well impressed. Thing I like about eh FX37 is that it's the first truely convergent device between video and stills with the HD. Even the TG3/CX6 take terrible stills. But it is mono sound, rather than lovely 5.1, and there is no doubt that the video quality is still far better on the sony avchd jobbies. However, the FX37 costs 160 squid. Dan Burton shot some TG3 footage over there and is posting it next week, so look out for that.

would u believe that was all shot on a panasonic fx37 compact digital camera. It does 720p video, and it does a pretty good job of it, and lets me take stills inbetween video without having to have 2 gadgets up there with me. stu

handheld. and it wouldn't be a stuVideo without some cheesy grins and some feet

video of my Las Candelas flights last week: http://www.vimeo.com/3084247 And some stills: http://powerlord.smugmug.com/gallery/72 ... 8973_ziGUP It was good to chat to Whitters about tip 2 tip too. Well done you lot for making it! stu

video of my Las Candelas flights last week: http://www.vimeo.com/3084247 And some stills: http://powerlord.smugmug.com/gallery/72 ... 8973_ziGUP stu

Andrew McMahon: www.1photo1.com most awesome paramotor shots I have ever seen. makes me dispair of my own dismal efforts every time I look at his latest amazing shots of scotland. stu

OSD is done in post-edit in Sony Vegas. I play back the recorded GPS data in GPSDash2 on the PDA, through a PC PDA remote control thing. Then I can record the 'PDA screen' through a screen capture on the PC. Then I just need to sync it up to the live video. stu

sorry Ben, not checked here for a while. You can see the piccies of stuDash on powerlord.smugmug.com It's still working fine. fuel guage and CHT are invaluable. Lastest video 'dashes' the video too: http://www.vimeo.com/1785489 stu

Hi Simon. You can get his details from his website: http://www.mahonyaviation.com stu

Sorry this has taken 6 months to get around to editing. On the plus side, it'll bring back memories and get us all ready for the summer season ! It's my first video in HD, so best way to watch is (assuming you are on broadband or you're stuffed): press play, then once it starts to play immediately press pause, and go and get a cup of coffee/beer while it loads a bit into the buffer (the grey line in the timeline). Once its 1/4 to 1/2 loaded then start watching after making sure full screen and 'HD is on' are selected. Then you won't get it stalling half way through. http://www.vimeo.com/626646 stu

Been desperate to find a site that allows posting HD videos and not just crappy youtube quality. Phanfare is pretty decent, but even that is a bit rubbish compared to the original clips. Found one! Here is a sample clip I took in HD of 'Mad' Mike Nunn taking off. http://www.vimeo.com/623629 Check the 'HD is on' button, go FULL screen, (and you might want to turn scaling off to see it in 1280x720 rather than expanded to fit your monitor. Please ignore the interlace artifacts, I just quickly deinterlaced it rather than doing a smart deinterlace, so it has just blended the fields, not the fault of vimeo. stu

worth getting a PDA with built in GPS now though. loads out there. mine is a wee G100 (mini PDA running wm5) . But there are plenty others about. Should be able to get a PDA with GPS built in new for under 100 quid. stu

Its on my phafare site I posted earlier I think (the copdock flight) http://powerlord.phanfare.com/ Have to say, I looked at that flycamone2 though.. the original was rubbish quality, but that new one isn't half bad! and for 45 quid! - just ordered one, so will let you know how it goes. Even if the video isn't too hot, setting it to shoot stills every 4 seconds continuous could get some good shots if mounted up in the wing looking down for example. yeh took a bit of faffing to get the gpsdash info on the video, but it does bring a new angle to watching the videos, and recording them for my own 'log' if you like. I try to do that with each decent flight now: start with a map showing the gps trace, then the video with gpsdash instrumentation overlayed on it. I find it useful when watching it back to see what I'm doing, speed, etc and whether I can learn anything for next time. stu

Never used a flycam, but most of the solid states ones are a bit crap. terrible compression artifacts, etc. resolution doesn't really tell you much tbh. using an archos at 2500bps (top rate) give me reasonably quality. Then just get whatever bullet cam you fancy. Still not DV quality though.. any cheap sub 200 quid DV camcorder will give you superior results. you can get an archos for less than 100 quid, and a bullet cam off ebay for 20 quid. Reason I use it rather than one of my other video cameras though is it allows me to have it helmet mounted, and not need to worry about starting, stopping, changing tapes, etc, etc either will be far far better quality than the sd solutions. Nothing wrong with SD.. I have a sony AVCHD camcorder which records onto memory sticks in 1080i. amazing quality. but these things (the organ scientific is another) are just crappy things tbh. Price and Quality wise: get a small cheap 150 quid DV camcorder and mount it to your helmet. Too big: Get a real SD card camcorder like a samsung miniket. I have one of these too, and it takes very decent quality and is small enough to mount on helmet. They also do a version with a bulletcam, though that pushes the price back up. Must have a bulletcam: -miniket with bullet cam (250-300 and very good quality) -archos and mulletcam (solid state or HD archos) 200 -300 quid. give me a bell if you want further info. Dunno if I consider myself an expert but I've been shooting video and doing non linear editing for 15 years. stu p.s. currently got: Sony CX7 high def solid state camcorder Sony PC55 DV camcorder Sony PC100 DV camcorder JVC DV1 DV camcorder Sanyo C6 SD camcorder Sanyo HD1 high def SD camcorder Samsung minket 4xbulletcam/pinhole cameras into archos solution

yup, or use it with memorymap maps: I just save them out of memory map, load em in to gpsdash and calibrate them... this gives me OS detail moving maps which is handy sometimes. I don't find I use the maps that often though, I find the main dash gives me everything I need. But having the map is useful for sure. stu