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If you've been thinking about purchasing a new GoPro camera to capture your rides but are confused about the different options available, you're not alone. I am often asked for recommendations on which camera to buy so I thought I'd put together a little buyer's guide of sorts to help our readers make an informed decision.
There are currently three models available from GoPro. The HD Hero, the HD Hero 960 and the SD Hero 170. The retails prices on these models range from $299 down to only $99 but there are key differences among them to be aware of before buying.
The lineup:
HD Hero - This is the flagship. It comes in several flavors such as Helmet, Surf, Motorsports and Naked but these are actually all identical cameras. The only difference among these choices are the included mounts. The motorsports option for example, comes with a large suction cup mount, curved adhesive helmet mounts and flat adhesive mounts as well as a few other odds and ends. The helmet model comes with the adhesive mounts and a strap type system for mounting to a bicycle style helmet. For our uses in the off road world, the motorsports edition will give you the most mounting options. The "Naked" model is a bare bones offering that only comes with a couple of adhesive mounts but at a reduced price of $259 retail. If all you need are some basic mounts or if you plan to purchase other mounts later, this option is a good way to save a few bucks. All of the HD Hero models feature full 1080p capability as well as 720p @ 30 and 60 frames per second. Other supported resolutions are 960p (this is the only non-widescreen mode) and 480p. The HD Hero can also take advantage of an expansion bus for current and future accessories such as the just recently released LCD "BacPac" and some other accessories that are as of now just rumors. Both the HD Hero and the HD Hero 960 come with a component cable to plug the camera directly into a HDTV which looks absolutely mindblowing for such an inexpensive camera. The videos you see streamed on the internet are compressed and do not do the raw footage justice.
HD Hero 960 - A step down from the HD Hero, the 960 boasts the same 720p and 960p quality as the HD Hero. What it lacks is the 60 frames per second mode and the option to record in full 1080p. Also missing is the expansion bus of the HD Hero. For some users the $179 retail price point can be worth giving up a few features.
SD Hero 170 - This was formerly called the Hero WIDE and was the option before the HD cameras were released. Still an impressive and easy to use camera for a retail price of only $99, this is the least expensive and in some ways the easiest to use of the three. The picture resolution is substantially lower than either of the HD offerings at only 512x384 in video mode. It does have the same 5MP still picture ability of the HD models. Unlike the HD models which come with a rechargeable battery, the SD Hero does not come with batteries at all and goes through them quickly. I've personally had good luck with Energizer rechargeable batteries using a car charger. Charge them up right before and in between rides and you should have no problems.
What do all these options and numbers mean? Here's a quick breakdown.
1080p - 1920x1080 resolution in a progressive scan format. The HD Hero can record 1080p video at 30 frames per second. The field of view (FOV) is reduced to 127 degrees in this mode but this is still much wider than the 90 degrees of a typical camcorder. The FOV in all other modes on all GoPro cameras in their current lineup is an extremely wide 170 degrees.
720p - 1280x720 resolution. In this mode with the HD Hero you have two options. 30 frames per second or 60 frames per second. The video that we watch on television or DVD is displayed at 30 frames per second. The benefit to recording at anything over that is for smooth slow motion playback. If you record something at 60fps, then slow it down by 50%, you still have silky smooth playback. Note: the 960 model does not have this 60fps option in 720p mode.
480p - Also refered to as WVGA format, the resolution is 848x480 (same as a DVD). Both the HD Hero and the 960 can record at 60fps in this mode.
The SD Hero 170 shoots at 512x384 at 30fps with the 170 degree FOV. This is the only mode available on this camera.
So which should you choose? That can be a little more complicated than you might think and the answer will depend heavily on what you intend to do with it.
None of the GoPro offerings come with editing software. If you'd like to experiment with doing some editing to make some fun videos but don't want to spend a lot of money, it's important to realize some key differences among these different models. Specifically the HD and SD models. They use different formats and codecs. The SD model records a very common AVI file that can be opened by almost anything. The file sizes are relatively small and don't require much computer power to play or edit. Any editor including the free editors that pretty much everybody reading this already has can open these files. Whether it's Windows Movie Maker or iMovie, you should have no trouble with these files which means you can start creating your own montages and highlight reels right out of the box.
In the case of either of the HD options, things are not quite so simple. While it's true that the HD models have far (and I do mean far) superior image quality and even sound quality versus the old SD Hero, it does come at a price.
High Definition video takes up a lot of space. you will need much larger (and faster) SD cards for the HD cameras. HD video also requires a good bit of computer horsepower to even view it, let alone edit it. My aging desktop PC can't even play the HD files at full speed. I would say anything made in the last three years should be able to play the files assuming you have enough RAM (1GB at the very minimum and depending on how much you have running on your system that may not be enough). My also long in the tooth laptop running a dual core intel processor can play them to an extent. Gets a little choppy here and there but this is due to RAM. It has 1GB but due to the memory use on that computer, it runs into some minor issues. Keep in mind this is a lower end laptop and about five years old. This is what kept me away from the HD models for so long. It wasn't until I got a new Macbook Pro that I could really do anything with them.
Now onto editing. As I mentioned before, editing the AVI files from the SD 170 should be no problem at all for just about anyone. Every version of windows since Windows XP has come with a program called Movie Maker which can open and edit those files with no problems. On the Mac side, iMovie can also edit these files easily. The HD cameras record in MP4 format using the h.264 codec. The Windows XP version of Movie Maker (and so far as I'm aware, later versions as well) will not open these files. You can of course download some third party software and convert the files but this obviously adds another step to the process and Movie Maker cannot export in HD so you lose the High Definition quality. If this has changed with Windows 7 versions of Movie Maker, someone please let me know.
iMovie on a Mac can open and edit the MP4 files, and even export High Definition. However, iMovie does not recognize the 60 frames per second mode. It will treat it like any 30fps video which means if you slow down a clip for slow motion, you will not get that silky slow-mo that the HD Hero is capable of creating. You need editing software that can handle 60fps like Adobe Premiere, Avid Media Composer or Final Cut (keep in mind that none of these are cheap). There are some inexpensive solutions out there as well but I'm not very familiar with them.
If you choose to go with a HD camera and a higher end editing program, keep in mind the learning curve is quite a bit steeper with programs such as Premiere or Final Cut than it is with something basic like Movie Maker or iMovie.
So again, which should you choose?
If you simply want to record videos at the highest quality possible and intend to just watch them or upload small clips to youtube, you can do that with the HD cameras without purchasing expensive software. Youtube has some limited editing capability now and you can also use the very inexpensive Quicktime Pro to simply trim and splice videos to make them shorter for uploading. Watching these videos on a HDTV straight from the camera is a real treat as well. If you have a higher end computer and good editing software, the choice is obvious. Either the HD Hero or the 960 offer superior picture and audio quality. The picture quality is so good actually that you can take a still shot from a movie file and people would be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and a picture shot with a still camera.
If on the other hand you want to experiment with editing using the free software you already have, the SD Hero is still a viable choice. It's cheap, uses smaller capacity SD cards and you can view and edit the files even on older, less powerful computers.
