Captain Dick pilots his boat and shoots HD video at the same time!
December 1, 2012 When I first heard about a new gadget, Point-of-View (POV) video-recording glasses, I thought the name they picked was rather strange – Pivothead. But after using a pair to shoot some HD video, I think the name is pretty accurate. Pivothead glasses are available with clear lenses so you look like you’re wearing old-fashioned black plastic frame eyeglasses. Or you can buyPivothead disguised as trendy sunglasses with various color lenses. If someone is standing directly in front you, looking you in the eye, they will probably feel you’ve got a 
hidden camera in the center of your glasses. But from a few feet away,Pivotheadcan pass as ordinary glasses. The various models (Aurora, Durango, Moab and Recon) are only different on the outside. Inside each one features an eight-mega pixel Sony sensor, a four-element glass lens and 8GB of built-in storage. (There is no external storage, but a wireless option is coming.) The company says you can capture about an hour of video with the built-in 440mAh battery. Video modes include: 1080/30fps, 720/60fps and 720/30fps. Shooting video is really easy once you turn the camera on. There’s nothing to hold, you record whatever you're looking directly at. (All the controls are built in the frame and tiny LEDs let you know if you’re in video mode, still mode, etc. You can see these lights even when you’re wearing your Pivothead device. There's built-in optical image stabilization, which I definitely needed. I shot video as I left the dock, and drove my boat out into the Hudson River. With a fast moving tide, I swing my head quite quickly from side-to-side to avoid hitting anything, and you see it all happening in the video. (Don’t get whiplash watching!) You charge the glasses via a micro-USB port also built into the frame. The same cable is used for downloading files and adjusting settings. Most settings can be adjusted directly on the glasses. The blinking LEDs tell you the settings you’ve choosen, but I found it far easier to use the digital dashboard on my computer to set everything up. Once you have the Pivothead set the way you want, your choices are sent to the glasses via the USB cable. The glasses feel well made and the video results are quite good. The MSRP is $349.00. There is an external WiFi device availabe too. Info is at the company website
The Giz Wiz (aka Capt Dick) using Pivothead Glasses while piloting his boat
Reader Comments