Best Go Pro Alternative For Pilots

When it comes to capturing the highest-quality content for pilots in the cockpit, the GO-Pro has been discussed many times over the years. At Datatoys, we manufacture what we believe are two of the best alternatives to the Go Pro currently on the market: our AV HD Pro and AV HD Pro 2.

We’ve created this article to bring you the best alternative to the Go Pro for pilots.

Key Takeaways

  • High-resolution video capabilities like 4K or 5K are essential for capturing detailed footage in the cockpit
  • Rugged design and reliable stabilization features are crucial for ensuring smooth recordings in challenging aviation environments
  • While the Go-Pro is a fantastic action camera, we believe the AV HD Pro is currently the best action cameras for aviation.
  • Specialized aviation features and data integration capabilities are key advantages of using data toys as GoPro alternatives
  • Prioritizing reliability, performance, and user-friendly features is important when choosing a cockpit camera for enhancing the aviation experience
  • Two of the highest-quality alternatives to the Go Pro are the AV HD Pro and the AV HD Pro 2.

What’s The Best Go-Pro Alternative Money Can Buy?

Below are two of the proprietary products that we consider to be the highest quality for pilot cameras. 

AV HD Pro – Best Action Camera For Pilots

av hd pro alternative to go pro for pilots

Unlike GoPro and other similar cameras, the AV-HD Pro is purpose-built for aviation enthusiasts. It features specialized capabilities like propeller filtering, headset audio recording, and 3D flight path tracking, making it ideal for capturing the unique aspects of flight. With its 16-megapixel image sensor, the camera delivers breathtaking Full 1080p video, ensuring every moment is captured in crystal-clear detail. The 2-inch Chroma Display provides an intuitive interface for viewing live feeds, adjusting settings, and effortlessly playing back footage. Additionally, the AV-HD Pro is designed with the smallest camera head on the market, significantly reducing buffeting and drag during flight, resulting in a smoother recording experience.

Versatile Wide-Angle Camera with 6X Optical Zoom

Capture every detail, whether close or distant! Choose from various fields of view, offering up to 170° in 720p mode and 120° in 1080p mode. The camera also features a full 6x zoom in 720p, perfect for getting detailed shots of the ground. Thanks to a unique electro-optical zoom, you’ll maintain full resolution and video quality even at maximum zoom. Spot something that would make a fantastic photo? No worries—simply press a single button to capture a still image while recording, making it easy to document every moment.

Why Choose The AV HD Pro

The AV-HD Pro stands out as the best alternative to GoPro for pilots due to its specialized features designed specifically for aviation enthusiasts. Unlike general action cameras, the AV-HD Pro includes propeller filtering, which reduces visual distortion from rotating blades, ensuring clearer footage during flight. Its ability to record headset audio captures critical communications between pilots and air traffic control, providing a comprehensive view of the flying experience.

Check out some of our aviation video recorders here.

AV HD Pro2 Dual Camera Recorder

This camera is coming soon and this will be updated accordingly.

What To Look For In A Go-Pro Alternative?

When considering a GoPro alternative for your cockpit camera needs, zero in on key features that align with your aviation requirements. Look for cameras that offer high-resolution video capabilities, like 4K or 5K, to ensure clear footage of your flights.

Stabilization is crucial for smooth recordings, especially in the air, so prioritize models with reliable stabilization features. Also, consider the camera’s durability and build quality, as aviation environments can be challenging.

Additionally, features such as GPS, external sensors, and data-capturing abilities can enhance your flying experience by providing valuable information about your flights. 

Why DataToys Makes The Best Go-Pro Alternative For Pilots

DataToys offers pilots a superior alternative to GoPro for cockpit cameras. When creating our cameras, we kept in mindadditional features that pilots would find useful and built a state-of-the-art product.

The rugged design ensures reliable performance even in challenging flight conditions, giving you peace of mind during your aerial adventures. 

Why Trust Datatoys?

At Datatoys, we are committed to excellence in everything we do. Our mission goes beyond the norm, aiming to excel in effort, quality, performance, and, most importantly, customer service. We reject mediocrity and strive to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. This dedication fuels our relentless pursuit of customer satisfaction and high service standards. Our customers are our top priority, which is why we are available before, during, and after business hours. We are fully devoted to delivering outstanding service and support at all times.

Looking To Take Your Cockpit Videography To The Next Level? Give Us A Call Today

Looking to capture footage for training purposes? We highly recommend checking out the AV HD Pro today. Looking for more information, head over to our contact page here.

Drone Terrorism?

drone-oct Drones are a popular topic in the news today. More and more, drones are being used by people in cities and rural areas across the country. On October 23, 2016, Law enforcement officials fired at an unmanned aircraft and a large group of opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline blocked a North Dakota state highway Sunday, capping a weekend of protests.

A helicopter helping monitor a protest against the four-state pipeline Sunday morning was approached by a drone in a “threatening manner,” the Morton County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. An officer in the helicopter told law enforcement on the ground that the pilot and passengers were “in fear of their lives” and that the unmanned aircraft was going after them. Less-than-lethal ammunition damaged the drone, which was then landed by its operator.

Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier said drones flying near protests and near the area where hundreds have been camping out are not being operated according to federal regulations.

“Reports of drones not being operated within the (Federal Aviation Administration) guidelines or in a reckless and unsafe manner are being investigated and forwarded to the Morton County States Attorney’s office for prosecution,” Kirchmeier said in a statement. Two people operating drones during the protests have already been charged.

Sunday afternoon, the large group of protesters had blocked the highway with hay bales, rocks, tree stumps and other items to create a roadblock north of the encampments, to where at times thousands of people have flocked. The North Dakota Department of Transportation closed the highway down.

Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners is building the $3.8 billion pipeline, which crosses through North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Illinois. Opponents worry about potential effects on drinking water on the reservation and farther downstream because the pipeline will cross the Missouri River, as well as destruction of cultural artifacts.

Sunday’s demonstrations come after more than 80 people were arrested Saturday during a large protest at a pipeline construction site. More than 220 people have now been arrested since demonstrations began in August.

 

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/pipeline-733083-dakota-people.html

Now a solution to bring that intrusive drone down

Drone newsletter Dones are increasing in numbers every day. While this is good news for the drone industry, it causes significant concerns to several agencies that need to protect their resources. Locations like prisons, for instance, require their airspaces to be free of drones to prevent any sort of malpractice.

Authorities around the world have tried different measures for this. The Dutch police, for instance, has trained eagles to tackle intrusive drones. Other measures include shooting a net to capture the drone, or even the conventional firearms to shoot the drone down.

However, none of these measures are perfect. Using eagles is not agreeable to animal rights activists, nets are not viable in the long distance and firearms come with their own challenges.

Now, a Taiwanese startup has come up with a solution that can bring a drone down or send it back to its spot of origin. DronesVision’s HiGH + MiGHTY SKYNET looks like an oversized rifle with a viewfinder and a trigger to activate it. It is light at 5.7kg and works on lithium ion battery that has to be carried separately in a backpack.

How does it work?
Consumer drones mainly use two bands in while in operation. One is the GPS/GLONASS for satellite position at 1.45-1.65GHz and the other is the remote control uplink and video transmission downlink, both of which use 2.4 GHz band.

“Our product HiGH + MiGHTY SKYNET anti-drone system is designed to jam/block these two bands when drones are flying into unauthorized areas,” said Kason Shih, Founder and CEO of DronesVision. “HiGH + MiGHTY SKYNET can block GPS navigation positioning, force rogue drones fly back to original take-off points, or to land onto the ground where they hovered.”

The solution can work in three modes. In the first mode, it can cut off the global positioning system alone, causing the drone to drift in the air, making it harder to control. Usually, when this happens, the owner gets nervous and stops flying around. In the second mode it can jam the remote transmission link, cutting off the video connectivity, and it will send the drone back to its owner, allowing authorities to track down the culprit. In the third mode, the solution can force the drone to land on the spot where it hovered and got jammed, enabling authorities to access the footages it has recorded.

The target market

SKYNET can be useful in a range of situations, but currently, the company is targeting government, critical infrastructure and other large-scale deployments. It sells mainly to systems integrators and arms dealers.

“At the moment, our target customers are government-related units such as military, police and law enforcement, fire department, power plants, prisons, airports,” Shih said. “In the near future, it might be deployed to protect stadiums or sports events, amusement parks, national parks.

Outlook

The drone market is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years. According to a report from MarketsandMarkets, the global UAV market for commercial application is expected to reach US$5.59 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 32.22 percent between 2015 and 2020.

With such growth, the concerns associated with it could also increase, and hence there could be a strong market for a solution like SKYNET in the coming years. DronesVision is looking to capitalize on this and is currently working on a second solution called Dronedar that would integrate a radar-based drone detection system with the anti-drone facility.

This article originally appeared on August 23, 2016 on www.asmag.com, written by Prasanth Aby Thomas.

Source: http://www.asmag.com/showpost/21033.aspx

What are the differences between the 1080p version and the 720p version of the same media?

Differences in video probably won’t be noticeable for untrained eye. 1080p video would have to be downscaled anyway.

Let’s assume the original video was 1080p. In this case the 720p video was first scaled, then compressed. On the other hand, 1080p clip was first compressed server-side, then scaled on your machine. 1080p file will obviously be bigger. (otherwise it would offer higher resolution, but at lower quality, ruining the visual experience and invalidating the point of using higher resolution1)

Lossy compression usually causes visual artifacts that appear as square blocks with noticeable edges when video is paused, but aren’t visible when you play it with normal framerate. 1080p file will contain more square blocks (caused by compression) than 720p video, but those blocks will be of approximately the same size in both videos.

Doing simple math we can calculate that 1080p video will contain 2,25 times more such blocks, so after scaling it down to 720p those blocks will be 2.25 times smaller than in actual 720p video. The smaller those blocks are, the better quality of the final video is, so 1080p video will look better than 720p video, even on 720p screen. Resized 1080p video will appear slightly sharper than actual 720 clip.

Things get a bit more complicated if source material was bigger than 1080p. The 1080p clip is first scaled to 1080p and compressed before you play it and then scaled once again while playing. The 720p clip is scaled only once and then compressed. The intermediate scaling step which is present in 1080p video case will make its quality slightly worse. The compression will make 720p even worse, though, so 1080p wins anyway.

Audio

It’s not only video that is compressed, but audio too. When people decide to use higher bitrate for video compression, they often do the same with audio. 1080p version of the same video may offer better sound quality than 720p video.

Do you have questions about video and recording? Ask the Doctor! We will answer all your questions on our blog. Submit your questions today…

AirKnight HD Video Formats

The AirKnight HD is the key to HD-SDI Solid State Airborne system.

AirKnightbase Shop Record Audio and Video in full high definition, 3G-SDI at 1080p60/30 with the Datatoys AirKnight HD single channel solid state airborne video recorder. Full 1080p60/30 HD 3G-SDI solid state airborne video recorder designed for professional aircraft operations. Record 3G-SDI, HD-SDI, HDMI or CVBS (NTSC & PAL) video input streams to USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 flash media, USB External storage such as SSD or HDD, or SD solid state media.

Available Video Formats:

  • Composite PAL, NTSC
  • SD-SDI PAL, NTSC
  • HD-SDI 720p30, p50, p60
  • HD-SDI 1080p25, p29.97, p30, i50, i59.94, i60
  • 3G-SDI 1080p50, p60, p59.94
  • HDMI 640x480p60
  • HDMI 480p30, i60
  • HDMI 576i50
  • HDMI 720p50, p60
  • HDMI 1080i50, i59.94, i60
  • HDMI 1080p25, p30, p50, p60
  • HDMI 800X600p60, p75, p85
  • HDMI 1152x864p60
  • HDMI 1280x768p60, p75, p85
  • HDMI 1280x960p30, p60
  • HDMI 1280x1024p30, p60, p75
  • HDMI 1360x768p60
  • HDMI 1400x1050p60
  • HDMI 1440x900p60
  • HDMI 1600x1200p60
  • HDMI 1680x1050p60
  • HDMI 1920x1200p50, p60
  • HDMI 2048x2048p30

Learn more about the AirKnight HD. Contact us today for a quote!

July 2016 Photography Contest winner….

We are proud the announce our July monthly winner in Bad Wolf Technologies 2016 Photography Contest. Thank you to everyone who submitted a photo in July. We have some great pictures so far but keep submitting your favorite aviation pictures for a chance to win monthly prizes and the grand prize!

The winner with 9 votes in July is….

off to the wild but yonder, but really loud

off to the wild but yonder, but really loud

Congratulations to Kathi Taylor! Kathi will receive a $50 gift card, Bad Wolf Technologies T-shirt and be featured for the month of July in our 2017 calendar.

PhotocontestV3 The contest isn’t over yet! Even if your photo didn’t win for July, you can submit a new photo for June and still win at the end of the year for our grand prize. The photo with the most votes at the end of the year will win an IPad and be the featured cover image on the 2017 Bad Wolf Technology Calendar.

Submit your next photo for August!

Visit www.datatoys.com/photocontest or our Facebook page to upload your next photo and encourage your friends and co-workers to vote. Good luck!

 

The Difference Between Gain, Volume, Level, and Loudness

This article originally appeared at  http://www.offbeatband.com/2009/08/the-difference-between-gain-volume-level-and-loudness/

When working with sound amplification equipment, we often misuse these terms. Probably because you’ll see them often, and two or three on the same piece of equipment! That can seriously make your brain want to go flip upside-down and jump into a pool of boiling acoustic particle velocity soup. On top of that, you might have channel volume, master volume, guitar volume, fader levels, guitar amp gain, mixer board gain … etc. But, it’s pretty important stuff to understand if you want to get a good sound from your equipment.

Gain
Gain is one of the harder terms to define, mainly because its used in a lot more places than just the audio world. Quite simply it means an increase in some kind of value. So for example, you can have a power gain, voltage gain, or current gain; and they all increase those respective values. Typically when referring to gain, we refer to transmission gain, which is the increase in the power of the signal. This increase is almost always expressed in dB (decibels). This could be the increase in the raw signal from your guitar or microphone before it goes into any of the other electronic components. For the curious, here’s the equation to calculate gain:

Gain = 10 x log (Power out/Power in)

expressed in dB.

Practical Use of Gain
For all non-rocket scientist purposes, you’re probably going to see a gain control in two places. One of them is on your mixer board or PA, and the other is on a guitar amp. These both mean the same thing as far as electronics go, but serve different purposes in each.

On the mixer board, you’ll see the gain at the top of the board. It’s the first control that the raw mic signal sees, and it will boost the signal to a sufficient level for the rest of the controls to work properly. You’ll want to set this gain level high enough to bring up the level of the signal, but not so high that you’ll get clipping or distortion in the signal. For this purpose, many boards come with a PFL (Pre-Fader Listen) button. This button will let you see the actual signal strength by looking at the LEDs on the board. Use the mic at normal sound levels and set the gain knob so that the peaks in sound don’t send the signal into the red, and you’re good to go.

On a guitar amp, the gain’s main intention is to create distortion (as my blood tingles with ground shaking delight). You already know what it does, so there’s no point in telling you, but I do have a small tip – turn your gain down! Yes, I also love the gut wrenching melodies of face-meltifying solos, but you seriously don’t need your gain sitting on 10 all the time. Novices will go into the recording studio thinking their sound is redonkulously awesome, only to have the sound engineer take their distortion down to a 5 or 6 cause they sound terrible. The distortion shouldn’t hide your skills, but accentuate them.

Volume
Besides defining three dimensional space, volume can also be used to describe the power level of a signal. So when you turn up the “master volume” knob on your amp, it simply means you’re increasing the amount of power used by the amp to increase the signal. This term is quite ambiguous since it’s used in so many different places, mainly to mean the actual sound you perceive in your ears, which is not exactly true. Use with caution.

Level
This term is used to describe the magnitude of the sound in reference to some arbitrary reference. More specifically we use SPL (sound pressure level) to describe sound waves. SPL is a term calculated from the log of the rms sound pressure of a measured sound related to a reference value. Basically meaning we create a measurement scale with zero starting at the lowest threshold of human hearing. The SPL scale is shown in dB and goes up to 130 dB (well, infinity, but whatever), which is the threshold of pain for the human ear. Now I just need to find a way to rock as loud as Krakatoa (180 dB standing 100 miles away).

Loudness
Loudness, even though similar to volume and level, is another monster. Since human ears are not able to hear each frequency at the same level, perceived loudness is different as we move up and down in frequency. The following graph shows the level that a human ear “thinks” its hearing, which as you can see is not correct most of the time. The lower frequencies, like the bass guitar at 40-220 Hz, need more sound pressure for us to believe it’s equally as loud as a sound at 1 kHz.

Source: http://www.offbeatband.com/2009/08/the-difference-between-gain-volume-level-and-loudness/

Source: http://www.offbeatband.com/2009/08/the-difference-between-gain-volume-level-and-loudness/

Equal Loudness Contours

Here we introduce a term called a “phon“, which is used to describe loudness. You can see on the graph that the phon contour is different for each dB level. The 120 phon contour requires less boost in the low frequencies than the 10 phon contour. Mostly because of the shape of the ear, you can also see from the graph that we hear the 3-4 kHz range the best, which happens to be on the slightly higher end of human speech. If you lost it, you’d have a hard time understanding people.

Source: http://www.offbeatband.com/2009/08/the-difference-between-gain-volume-level-and-loudness/

What to do at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016

AV16_1cLogo_black

EAA AirVenture 2016 in Oshkosh is just around the corner. As always, this year features some great events all week long.

1. Bad Wolf Technologies photography contest
PhotocontestV3 If you’ve been to AirVenture before, you know there are plenty of opportunities to take some amazing pictures of aircrafts. This year, make sure to enter our 2016 photography contest. We are giving away great monthly prizes and a grand prize at the end of the year. Show off your photography skill and if you win, you’ll be features in our 2017 calendar.

Enter the photo contest today

 

2. Third Eye Blind EAA AirVenture Oshkosh Opening Day Concert on July 25
Third Eye Blind, the San Francisco-based band that has sold more than 12 million records with a string of Top 20 hits, will get EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016 off to an energetic start when it headlines the fly-in’s popular opening night concert on Monday, July 25.

The concert, presented by Ford Motor Company, is free to all AirVenture opening-day attendees and will be held on Boeing Centennial Plaza immediately following the afternoon air show.

3. Canadian Forces Snowbirds
The Canadian Forces Snowbirds, one of the most popular military aerial demonstration teams in the world, announced EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016 as part of its schedule, which would be the first time the team would be back at Oshkosh in more than 30 years.

Snowbirds Air Show Schedule: First performance is a “practice show” – basically, a full dress rehearsal for the weekend – on Friday, July 29, at the end of the regular afternoon air show. On Saturday, July 30, the Snowbirds will again fly as the final performers in the afternoon air show. The Snowbirds will wrap up their Oshkosh performances on Sunday, July 31, as the closing act in the last air show of AirVenture 2016. Learn more…

4. World’s Largest Flying Water Bomber
The gigantic Martin Mars aircraft, the world’s largest flying water bomber and the last of its kind, will make its first trip to Wisconsin to participate at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2016.

During the event, the massive airplane will be parked near the EAA Seaplane Base on Lake Winnebago, just a few miles east of the main fly-in grounds. It will also fly several demonstrations throughout the week during the daily afternoon air shows.

Martin Mars Air Show Schedule: July 25, July 27, July 29, July 30 evening

The Martin Mars is the largest flying boat ever flown operationally, with a height of 38 feet, a length of 120 feet, and a wingspan of 200 feet (approximately the wingspan of a Boeing 747). Only six of the massive aircraft were built, with Coulson Flying Tankers of Port Alberni, British Columbia, owning the two remaining examples since 2007 and using them as water bombers on forest fires throughout the western United States, Canada, and Mexico. Learn more…

5. Aircraft of Desert Storm Gather 25 Years Later
The aircraft of Operation Desert Storm/Desert Shield, which formed one of the largest air power operations in history, will return to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh in 2016 for a look back 25 years after this massive undertaking.

The commemoration at Oshkosh this year will feature many of the aircraft that were highlighted at the 1991 EAA Fly-In Convention, which attracted many of the aircraft used during Operation Desert Storm. In addition, military commanders of that operation will recall their experiences during that multi-national operation, which began after Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait.

The aircraft already confirmed for this year’s AirVenture gathering include fighter jets such as the F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, A-10 Warthog, and F-18 Hornet. It also includes such support aircraft as the KC-135, EA-6B, and C-5M. Many of the aircraft used during those operations remain valuable assets for the U.S. military today. In addition, the Air Combat Command F-16 Viper Demonstration Team will fly as part of the afternoon air shows on Friday through Sunday, July 29-31.

On Friday, July 29, Gen. Chuck Horner – who commanded U.S. and Allied air operations in Desert Storm and Desert Shield – will be the guest of honor at an evening “Salute to Veterans” Day program at Theater in the Woods. Horner will be joined by Gen. Gilmary Hostage, who flew combat missions during Desert Storm. Other special guests are likely to join the lineup prior to AirVenture. Learn more…

These are just a handful of the wonderful activities taking place at EAA AirVenture 2016. Visit http://www.eaa.org/en/airventure for all the details.

HD-SDI Cabling and Loss

HD-SDI is regularly transmitted over low-loss digital video grade RG6-style coaxial cable up to a nominal maximum distance of about 100 meters. However, when a lesser diameter cable like the RG179 is used, higher loss is encountered. This is primarily because of the size (cross-section) of the center conductor. Electrical signals travel through a wire by an effect known as the ’skin effect’ and the lesser the area available, the more the attenuation. Using RG179 for transmitting HD-SDI signals is good to about 100 feet. Another important factor is to use cable sweep tested for the highest possible frequency -bandwidth. Although the Mil-SPEC RG179 cable has a very strong outer jacket, the RG179 MIL-C-17/94F is rated to carry a maximum of 3GHz, with “attenuation rated at 21dB per 100 feet, maximum, at 0.4 GHz”. In comparison the Belden RG179DT (Digital Truck) cable carries signals to 4.5GHz. The ultimate distance limitation occurs for any digital signal when the perceived signal jitter component seen by the receiver impairs its ability to recognize and reconstruct bit transitions.

Range

The range of operation for an HD-SDI receiver is specified in SMPTE 292M to at least -20 dB at one-half the data clock rate, or about 743 MHz. Therefore, a standard level 0.800 volt peak-to-peak digital transmission may be attenuated to as low as 0.080 volt, or 80 millivolts, while performing reliably. A very high-grade receiver may recover the HD-SDI signal at a level as low as -30 dB, or 70 mV.

To perform a cable loss calculation, the designer should look for the attenuation in dB at 743 MHz, or a frequency very close to that value, on the cable specification loss chart. Cable loss is based on a 100 foot length or a 100 meter length depending on the chart column used. Divide the cable run distance by 100 and then multiply by the dB value to attain the total attenuation in dB for that run. Refer to manufacturer tables. The SMPTE recommends the designer factor in about 10% less cable than the calculated run length so as to build in a safety margin for reliable operation.

Coax is not the only medium available. Serial digital video may be routed through fiber optic cable for essentially unlimited distances depending on the system configuration. A convertor is used to convert the electrical signals to light signal, and then sent along the fiber optic cable whereas the other end would have the decoder to convert the light signals back to electrical signals. If your application requires long runs of cable, do not hesitate to contact us for suggestions and solutions.

June 2016 Photography Contest winner….

We are proud the announce our June monthly winner in Bad Wolf Technologies 2016 Photography Contest. Thank you to everyone who submitted a photo in June. We have some great pictures so far but keep submitting your favorite aviation pictures for a chance to win monthly prizes and the grand prize!

The winner with 17 votes in June is….

Flying high in Chicago – Sue Blackwell

Congratulations to Susan Blackwell! Sue will receive a $50 gift card, Bad Wolf Technologies T-shirt and be featured for the month of June in our 2017 calendar.

PhotocontestV3 The contest isn’t over yet! Even if your photo didn’t win for May, you can submit a new photo for June and still win at the end of the year for our grand prize. The photo with the most votes at the end of the year will win an IPad and be the featured cover image on the 2017 Bad Wolf Technology Calendar.

Submit your next photo for July!

Visit www.datatoys.com/photocontest or our Facebook page to upload your next photo and encourage your friends and co-workers to vote. Good luck!