I don't really know where to post this, but I figured most road racers would find this info useful. To moderators, if you feel this thread does not below here, please move it to the proper forum. Thank you so much.

About 6 months ago when I was looking into a cheap and compact digital video camcorder, I stumbled upon the Aiptek A-HD flash memory recorder. It was a popular choice among the miata forums so I gave it a try. This little guy can record up to 1080p and take up to 32GB SDHC memory card. I got it on sale for about $90. I think right now, they cost about $120-130.

Anyways, the down side to it was that it did not come with an external mic jack. I surfed the net and found this http://forums.steves-digicams.com/hy...d-tests-2.html. With this info, i went about modding the camcorder for an external mic.

Here is the picture that you will need to refer to:


So what you need is the same parts as from the link above.
1/8 stereo phone jack (274-249): http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...rodsPerPage=60

Take the camera apart and desolder the mic. bend them straight and then extend GND lead (which is anterior to the other lead) about 5mm. bend the other lead at a 90 degrees away from the GND lead.



follow the diagram above and this solder the wires to your jack. I used about 4" of wire to allow enough slack. Using soft flexible wires will help a lot. cut off any lead that are not used. then bend the solder lead down as flat as possible. this is what I got: (i forgot to put tape over it at this step. I did it in a later step, but do it now is a lot easier than when mounted)


drill a pilot hole on the outer cover. I picked this area because allows for the most space inside the camcorder to house the jack. Then enlarge the hole to 1/4".



mount the jack:




solder the wires to the leads on the board and on the mic. if your leads are very close to each other, you can put a piece of tape to separate them.


Before putting assembling it back together. Make sure the blue wires inside are not in the way of the LCD flipping mechanism. there's a magnet inside that is used to hold it in place so it doesn't interfere with any moving parts. magnet shown here:


assembling back together:


and here's the finished product:



it sticks out about 1.5mm and interferes with the flipping of the LCD when i turn it on, but it's not a big deal because you just tilt it a little to flip open the screen.

Now, I can use both the external mic or the built-in mic when nothing is plugged in so no functionality is sacrificed. you can now position the external mic anywhere you want to avoid wind noise, or even get more engine or muffler noise if you want.

I hope some of you might find this useful.

 

Nice man!! I have an aiptek cam. will do this in the future.

 

great write up!

 

bump

 

very cool!

 

Perfectly allowed here, and nice writeup I know a lot of people (myself included) have problems with camera audio, so that's nice to see.

Any chance we could get that first pic in better resolution? I can't really see wtf is going on there.

 

How is the video on that camera? Any waving\pulsing?

 

some autoX guys on another forum weren't that impressed with it, thought it was very similar to the gopro

 

very neat.

 

very awesome post. Does anyone have a video from this type of camera, I'd like to see the quality.

 

http://vimeo.com/4914851

However from what I gather, this is the Aiptek GVS HD and not the camera shown in this post which is the Aiptek A-HD - I'm not sure what the exact differences are, but the GVS HD apparently already has an external jack available.

Full review of this cam here:
http://forums.steves-digicams.com/hy...5s-review.html

http://www.amazon.com/Aiptek-Action-.../ref=de_a_smtd

perhaps spending the extra 40-50bones is better than messing around with installing your own ext. mic jack for some.

 

I borrowed that pic from steve's digicam forum so I don't have a better image of it. However, if you were to get the part from Radioshack, you will see that terminal 2 and 3 are continuous when you don't plug anything in and discontinuous when you stick a 3.5mm plug in. This mechanism basically interrupts one of the pin on the built in mic allowing you to use the external mic.

 

here's a vid on DV mode (the crappiest video mode): http://www.vimeo.com/4849646

A-HD (DV mode): http://www.vimeo.com/5235007
A-HD (HD mode, but don't know which one): http://www.vimeo.com/3002522

a video of the A-HD+ (which is just the A-HD with 3x zoom). i don't know what mode this is but it looks like 720p:
http://www.vimeo.com/2315579
http://www.vimeo.com/1241109

one thing i notice about this camera is that it requires at least a class 4 memory card or else you will get choppy videos in either 720p or 1080p.

 

Quality it not too shabby.

 

Awesome thread!!! I just returned my 350$ Canon because the video quality was not as good as my old 140$ Radio Shack HD camera. Problem is, Canon is one of the only companies that makes a camera with a mic-in. I knew there was a mod to convert the mic on other camcorders but never looked into it. Thanks for the writeup!!

[edit] Apparently the Aiptek GVS HD has a mic-in. (Thanks RagingAngel) Who knew?

 

great write up!

 

nice write up.
i spent a little more and got the Aiptek GVS. it has built in external mic plug. remote control for recording (very nice because my old one didn't). auto focus lock, although i haven't use the feature yet for track video because there doesn't seem to be a problem with focus hunt. i also use an after market wide angle lens. i use a cheap sony external mic i got from ebay for $5. i don't see a need to record in 1080p because the file size will be too large. i normally record 480p during practice sessions and 720p during the timed laps.

here's some vid.

720p/30fps with wide angle.
http://vimeo.com/5431579

480p/60fps with wide angle
http://vimeo.com/5266358

720p/30fps without wide angle.
http://vimeo.com/4229151

 

may i ask what memory card you are using?

 

sandisk 8GB SDHC i got on ebay.

 

do u know which class? ultra II, extreme III ,etc?

because i have a 2gb microSDHC with adaptor and it makes my videos choppy at 720p. I think it's because it's a slow card.

 

it's class 2. i have record in 720p/60fps and 1080p/30fps and video is smooth.

 

What kind of wide angle is that? I'm debating weather or not to try an ebay cheapie.

 

I got the Raynox QC-505 universal 27mm-37mm wide angle lens from amazon. it's a clip on style because the GVS is not design for any after market lens adapter. make sure you set the camcorder in macro mode when using the wide angle so it can focus correctly.

 

I'm surprised at the quality of the lens for that price. I know cheap lenses on SLR still photo cameras tend to look crappy from the imperfections in the glass, but I'm assuming its attenuated due to the small size.

 

you are correct