Using PSP for bike camera?

[badcrumble38]

does anyone else use a Sony PSP as a bike camera like myself? I find it really versatile as camera itself is connected by a wire to anywhere on your bike or helmet, the quality is not too bad, you can watch your videos on an evening on a pretty decent sized screen and when finished, you can watch a film or play a game on it. I have a 8gig card in it and have spares. That works out at hours of video. I have the PSP mounted on my bars in a water proof case and the camera mounted either on my helmet or my indicator. One great thing is when mounted on the indicator I can turn the camera around to face backwards and get some great shots of me riding the bike. Just wondering if anyone else has a similar setup or if anyone thinks the set up sounds interesting? Cost? PSP =100ish. Camera=20ish. Wire = 15.

[*Touring Ted*]

I work for Playstation and use/test the PSP (all chassis) regularly.

They are a versatile little device and are great for music, photos, films etc. It also has wifi for browsing. I often take mine with me although the battery life isn't great unless you have regular charges.

I think the camera isn't much good though. The resolution is very low and the video quality is poor. It is designed for gaming functions only.

For me, I need a proper camera but I like your style of versatility.

[backofbeyond]

If the camera is on some sort of flying lead you must be able to get some great shots. A few bits of Velcro and you can put it just about anywhere. It would be the quality of the resulting images that would concern me though. I've not got a PSP so I've no idea what the footage would look like but if, as Ted says, it's not that good you might be disappointed if you used it on a major trip.

About 20 yrs ago (so pre digital days) I met an Aussie doing an extended tour of Europe (and afterwards the US). To cut down on the cost of camera equipment, film, processing etc he'd brought a small 8mm movie camera with him and was using it on the single frame setting to take stills, figuring he could get thousands and thousands of pictures from one roll of movie film. To economise even more he was using it in half frame mode to get two pictures on each frame.

I never saw the results (I don't think he did until he got back) but I did wonder at the time if he'd pinched a few pennies too many - particularly as he was taking an awful lot of shots. It would be a great shame to have gone to all the places he did, put the effort in to take loads of pictures and have little to show for it at the end because of the choice of technology. I'm not saying that the PSP approach is similar as I've no idea but whenever I'm trying to take the road less traveled these days I do reflect on the Aussie and check whether I'm doing something equivalent.

[badcrumble38]

Not been here for a while!! The PSP is quite poor quality video, but not that bad! Especially if you are traveling at speed, quality of video doesn't matter as much. Check out this video.

Created by Camtasia Studio 6

And this footage has been downgraded so it streams fast enough over web. What I love about using the psp is a) it is relatively cheap b) it is fairly good quality c) you can position camera ANYWHERE! d) you can watch the footage on a fairly big screen at the end of the day e) it doubles up as a game/mp3/video/internet/photo device as well!! Some of the "backward" shots of me riding are pretty amazing too.

Tis the future!(history)

[*Touring Ted*]

Originally Posted by badcrumble38

Not been here for a while!! The PSP is quite poor quality video, but not that bad! Especially if you are traveling at speed, quality of video doesn't matter as much. Check out this video.

Created by Camtasia Studio 6

And this footage has been downgraded so it streams fast enough over web. What I love about using the psp is a) it is relatively cheap b) it is fairly good quality c) you can position camera ANYWHERE! d) you can watch the footage on a fairly big screen at the end of the day e) it doubles up as a game/mp3/video/internet/photo device as well!! Some of the "backward" shots of me riding are pretty amazing too.

Tis the future!(history)

I'd be keen to see a picture of your bar mount....

You won't to be strapping the new VITA to your bars though.. That may dent the wallet

[Alexlebrit]

Thanks for that, I really like the idea of having the camera away from the recorder, but the systems I've seen have all been ludicrously expensive. I'm only really interested in YouTube quality videos so the likelihood is the quality would be no problem at all.

I was tring to work out how to connect an external camera to my Android phone as the USB connection has host facilities, but it looks like it's impossible.