Imitation GoPro Cameras from China. Any Good?

[JamesBon92007]

More "jerky" than "choppy" meaning it appears to be camera movement rather than missing frames or the inability of the device to play it back smoothly. It definitely plays back better on my desktop than on my laptop. I would not even attempt to do something like edit videos with Movie Maker on my laptop. But it's good to take along traveling for email and finding stuff and I can copy all of my videos onto it.

I did some searching on Google and a possible solution is to save the movie from Movie Maker in HD instead of the usual format. After several attempts to compile some video clips that did not exceed the capacity of the DVD disc I managed to get about 43 1/2 minutes on a disc and the difference is significant. It will only play back on a Blue Ray player but it now looks very, very good! Next I will try recording in 1920 X 1080 and see how that looks on a HD DVD. The Blue Ray player sees it as a Data disc but all of the clips flow along, one after the other and my title and captions all work. Plus you can stick some stills in there which I did at the end as a finish. So far the results are not quite as good as actually being there but almost. In any case I feel like I got my $43 worth.

 

[Chappys4life]

I had a sj5000 and hated it. The buttons kept sticking so it would stop and start recording whenever it wanted to. Spend the money get a GoPro. You should be able to pick up a used GoPro for decent prices with the hero 5 coming out.

 

[JamesBon92007]

So far I'm liking my SJ7000. The only time I had problems with the buttons not working was when I put it in a different housing, which I did because I had filters to fit it. Meanwhile, I just received a package from Malaysia and now have filter holders that fit my housing.

This fits my SJ7000: 1pcs 58mm Aluminum Alloy UV Lens Filter Ring For GoPro Hero 3+ 4 color New

Now I need to go back and read which editing software you guys said you liked

 

[JamesBon92007]

I think I got it now--here's a link on YouTube to a sample video that I took with my SJ7000. It still does not look as good online as it does on my computer or on my Blue Ray player but I think it's better than my first YouTube attempts:

 

[H20doctor]

Here is the thing to look at when your going to buy a clone from China ... Look at what the CPU chip set is .. there is only 1 major player in the action camera market, the Ambarella company .. gopro and others use their chips .. So look carefully before you buy a camera and see what they are using, the band new SJ cams are using a 2 year old chip, the A7 , so you are not getting a better picture quality, your getting a updated , new looking camera with a new number... the new chip is the A9 .. so do your research ... the New camera out right now is the Xiaomi Yi 4k ..

 

[JamesBon92007]

Here is the thing to look at when your going to buy a clone from China ... Look at what the CPU chip set is .. there is only 1 major player in the action camera market, the Ambarella company .. gopro and others use their chips .. So look carefully before you buy a camera and see what they are using, the band new SJ cams are using a 2 year old chip, the A7 , so you are not getting a better picture quality, your getting a updated , new looking camera with a new number... the new chip is the A9 .. so do your research ... the New camera out right now is the Xiaomi Yi 4k ..

That is precisely the kind of information I was looking for before I bought anything. Up until your post the only one I was able to get any specifics on and find comparisons for is the AR0330 Sensor Novatek 96655 Chipset so I was careful to make sure that's what was inside. I'd read some comments about Xiaomi but yours is the only one that mentioned specific chipsets.

In any case I figured I'd try the cheap imitation before shelling out $500 for a GoPro. So far, if I use Windows Movie Maker and save the movie for HD playback and play it on a Blue Ray it looks very, very good. If I save it in standard definition it does not look so great. Currently I'm thinking that I now need a high definition DVD recorder in order to preserve the original quality. The same seems to hold true for YouTube--if I "publish" the video from Movie Maker the resolution is much lower than if I "save" the movie and then upload it. I have a lot to learn

 

[Chip Elliott]

If you have a BJ's around you, the Hero 4 silver package is on sale at 199.99 starting this Friday.

 

[Dnaber]

Any thoughts on the SJCAM SJ6 LEGEND?

 

[Chip Elliott]

Why would you pay more for a GoPro Clone (Xiaomi Yi 4k) then for an actual GoPro?

 

[H20doctor]

Why would you pay more for a GoPro Clone (Xiaomi Yi 4k) then for an actual GoPro?

Several reasons the major one is the battery life.. The Xiaomi has way longer life than the gopro... Built in touch screen.. Way more features than the gopro