inspectormike Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I have been using a wearable video camera during home inspections to make sure nothing important is missed: I am thinking of providing video to certain clients as a value added service. Would like to know if anyone is doing this now? If so, what video editing software is recommended? The camera I'm using is the Survey camera from adrenaline systems: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Many (actually most) of us email our reports. Having a decent quality video creates files that are too big to send via email. What kind of resolution does that thing have? Can the operator see the actual frame that's being recorded? Does it have stabilization? I don't see something like that being practical for what I do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marc Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Yeah, make sure the video doesn't exacerbate the possibility of the client noticing something on the video after closing that you didn't write up and using your own video to sue you. Ouch! A picture has a lot of information in it. A video has many, many pictures in it. Marc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspectorjoe Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 "Advertise for us and earn money! Sign up to the Join Our Affiliate Program . Now!" You wouldn't happen to be an affiliate, would you? How about you post a clip of one of your inspection videos. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see it. YouTube is free, you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectormike Posted March 23, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I use the unit to make sure I don't miss anything, but would like to post select clips to youtube for example, but would like a simple to use video editor. In this way I can just sent a link of the video (not the whole video) resolution is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kibbel Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 InspectorMike, The link was removed from your initial post because we have a constant problem with link droppers signing up and immediately posting. You signed up and immediately posted. The link was replaced with an informative illustration. If you continue to keep replacing the link that we keep deleting, we will conclude that you are in fact a link dropper and lock your access. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectormike Posted March 24, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Thank you for your input. Understand and totally agree! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Lamb Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I use Windows Live Movie Maker. It's free and would be a good place to start if you want to do video editing. The head camera could come in handy in places like an attic and or crawl space but then you'd need appropriate lighting. I don't see a light. I'd have to be compensated heavily to make a YouTube video for my client. Providing a report with photos takes long enough. Here?s an example of what you can do. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZWnMcedPZY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kogel Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 If I wore that helmet, I'd smash my camera lens on the first rafter I came to. [] My client filmed a one hour walkthrough with me yesterday. There are some neat segments where I'm telling him he's stepping in doggy doo, and another where I open the metal garden shed door and it falls off. Then he's panning across the kid's room and as I open the window he gets a shot of an ashtray full of soggy cigarette butts. I'm sure he's gotten some entertainment out of the whole event. Watch for it on U-Tube, eh? [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspectorjoe Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 My client filmed a one hour walkthrough with me yesterday. There are some neat segments where I'm telling him he's stepping in doggy doo, and another where I open the metal garden shed door and it falls off. Then he's panning across the kid's room and as I open the window he gets a shot of an ashtray full of soggy cigarette butts. I'm sure he's gotten some entertainment out of the whole event. Watch for it on U-Tube, eh? [] I've got the perfect soundtrack for it: http://ia700308.us.archive.org/18/items ... nyHill.mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inspectorjoe Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 It couldn't be any easier. Just use the Bennyhillifier! http://bennyhillifier.com/?id=NVPRo99NFyc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Dirks Jr Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 On second thought, I think that hardhat and cam setup would go good with my other getup. Click to Enlarge 47.78 KB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Katen Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I have been using a wearable video camera during home inspections to make sure nothing important is missed: I am thinking of providing video to certain clients as a value added service. Would like to know if anyone is doing this now? If so, what video editing software is recommended? The camera I'm using is the Survey camera from adrenaline systems: At least one inspector, John Geiger, used to deliver video home inspection reports. He used a video camera, filming and narrating as he went. That worked for him for years. (He recently passed away.) I've done it occasionally for litigation support work. It was useful because I'd sometimes be surrounded by people from the opposing side and I didn't want to take too many handwritten notes or risk being overheard speaking into a recording device. So I just silently recorded stuff as necessary. It was fast and discreet. I think there's a good sized niche to be filled with video in home inspections. You could deliver an entire report via a narrated video or you could just insert some small animated GIFS in a traditional report. (Think The Daily Prophet.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Amaral Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I've been using VLC media player with that eye-stick thing... to snip-out stills from videos I take of inaccessible roofs.. Works great.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exploreparadise2 Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I don't believe Inspector Mike has ever done an inspection. He's a camera salesman. There's another similar posting at Inspection News using another pseudonym. Video shots need to be taken with a slow pan or stationary to be watchable. If you capture a frame from a video when the camera is panning it will be blurred. Just like when you release the shutter on a still camera that is in motion and the image is blurred. Still cameras work well when the subject is stationary (like a building) and video cameras are appropriate when the subject is moving (hopefully not like a building). We need to be looking at buildings with our eyes, and thinking about video shots can cause us to loose focus (pun intended). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hausdok Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 I really want a system that is a wireless video transmitter with a two-way audio feed. I'd like to be able to come in, set up a monitor and a recorder on a table and be able to simultaneously record the inspection process while being able to communicate with someone back at the monitor. I think it would enable me to show clients the stuff that's up on the roof and in the attic and crawlspaces in real time. They could ask their questions while they see the issue and I could explain it to them and this would save some time as well as provide a video record of what was found, what I told them, what they asked me and what the answers were. That would limit one's ability to misconstrue what was said and done. It would be the perfect tool for training and breaking in a new inspector. You could monitor what he's doing, record it and communicate with him all from the comfort of a seat somewhere in the house. If he gets stuck explaining something to the client you can be the little birdie that helps him through it. If he want to, he can ask you a question or two and you have the ability to provide instant feedback. I thought that technology was already here. It isn't. Last year when I was lying in bed for weeks recovering from an injury I spent a lot of time on the net and on the phone trying to find such a system and was disappointed to learn that none exists. Hell, I thought there was such a system out there - hell, we've seen it in TV shows and movies for years, right? Well, that's why they call it artistic license. The companies I talked to said they could offer a compact video recorder but no ability for live audio feed. So, to do that simultaneously the inspector would have had to carry two rigs, an FM intercom and a Video cam with recorder. That's just too much crap when you're already carrying a lot of crap around. The closest anyone could come was a suggestion to wear an iphone velcro'd to my shirtfront, call the client's iphone and keep an open feed going during the entire process. I pointed out that not everyone has an iphone (I don't). He countered that if the client didn't have an iphone that I could set up a laptop on a table and then use skype to communicate with the them using the iphone. I dunno, there's actually a dent in the metal plate on the front of my W90 from where I thunked it against something while low-crawling through an attic or crawlspace someplace with it tucked into my pocket; I don't think an iphone would last one inspection before it was busted all to crap. The camera I see being used the most by athletes, paratroopers, media is the Go Pro. I've never even heard of the one the OP's talking about. id="left">http://gopro.com/ I know the technology is headed that way; I just wish they'd hurry up and get around to it. ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inspectormike Posted March 28, 2012 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2012 I don't believe Inspector Mike has ever done an inspection. He's a camera salesman. There's another similar posting at Inspection News using another pseudonym. Video shots need to be taken with a slow pan or stationary to be watchable. If you capture a frame from a video when the camera is panning it will be blurred. Just like when you release the shutter on a still camera that is in motion and the image is blurred. Still cameras work well when the subject is stationary (like a building) and video cameras are appropriate when the subject is moving (hopefully not like a building). We need to be looking at buildings with our eyes, and thinking about video shots can cause us to loose focus (pun intended). 10 years of sweat and tears I think is enough...but on days like today I feel I just started yesterday!... Yes; the cam is at times very shaky but with some editing, you can just show the most critical elements you choose to show. You really cant show all your footage...It is just to boring and disjointed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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