ContourHD1080p has multiple video settings; with a single switch (HI on top and LO on the bottom) located inside the back door you can easily select between HI and LO while out recording. Since you can only have two settings for the camera at one time, the default settings have been set as 1080p for HI and 960p for LO. See Tech Specs

	Resolution	Frame Rate	Window Size	Record Time	Field of View
Full HD	1080p	30 fps	1920 x 1080 pixels	15 min/GB	110˚
Tall HD	960p	30 fps	1280 x 960 pixels	15 min/GB	135˚
Action HD	720p	60 fps	1280 x 720 pixels	15 min/GB	135˚
ContourHD	720p	30 fps	1280 x 720 pixels	30 min/GB	135˚
Fast SD	WVGA	60 fps	848 x 480 pixels	60 min/GB	110˚

	Resolution	Image Quality	Battery Life	Record Time/GB	CPU Processing Power
Full HD	1080p	Best	Low	Low	High
Tall HD	960p	Excellent	Low	Low	High
Action HD	720p @ 60fps	Great	Low	Low	High
ContourHD	720p	Great	Medium	Medium	Medium
Fast SD	WVGA	Good	High	High	Medium

Things to Know:

• Easy Edit Software does not play videos above 720@30fps smoothly
• Clipping in Easy Edit Software creates bit efficient files intended for playback on VholdR.com or through the Easy Edit Software. After clipping, the bitrate may be significantly reduced and the quality of the clipped video may be diminished from the original video.

Setting the time with the Easy Edit Software is automatic and simple. First, start Easy Edit Software. Then connect your camera to your computer. If the clock is wrong, you will be prompted to update the clock. Just select “Update Camera”. Eject and disconnect your camera. When it beeps – you are set to go.

If you don’t want to set the clock, when you connect, you can do it later by highlighting your camera and then selecting “Configure Camera” from the “Tools” Menu. The “Time” tab will indicate if your camera clock matches your computer time. If it needs to be updated, you can simply select “Update Camera” Eject and disconnect your camera. When it beeps – you are set to go.

To safely eject your camera on a Mac simply drag the camera icon on your desktop into the trash can. For a PC you will want to select Safely Remove Hardware icon from your toolbar and then select the camera device drive and Stop then OK.

Things to Know:

• If you wait an extended period of time to disconnect the camera, your camera clock will be incorrect.
• If you connect your camera to the computer before starting the Easy Edit Software, you may be falsely alerted that your clock is incorrect.
• If you disconnect you camera without safely ejecting it, you may see a write disk error dialog.
• If the ContourHD1080p battery is dead for an extended period of time (e.g., more than an hour), the camera time will be reset.
• If the camera time is invalid and has been reset, then both the memory and battery status lights will flash red twice when you boot the camera.

Configuring the video resolution and bitrate is simple with Easy Edit software. Start your Easy Edit Software, connect your camera, highlight your camera, and then select “Configure Camera” from the “Tools” menu. On the “Video” Tab you can configure the resolution settings for the HI and LO switch on the camera along with the video bitrate and the microphone gain. The resolution settings and bitrate will have an effect on the image quality, battery life, record time allowed per GB, and computer processing capability required for smooth playback. The microphone gain controls the volume of the microphone for the camera. Once the settings have been chosen, select update camera and safely eject your camera. You will hear one beep to signify that the updates have taken place.

Resolution Settings:

	Resolution	Image Quality	Battery Life	Record Time/GB	CPU Processing Power
Full HD	1080p	Best	Low	Low	High
Tall HD	960p	Excellent	Low	Low	High
Action HD	720p @ 60fps	Great	Low	Low	High
ContourHD	720p	Great	Medium	Medium	Medium
Fast SD	WVGA	Good	High	High	Medium

Things to Know:

Easy Edit Software does not play videos above 720@30fps smoothly

Clipping in Easy Edit Software creates bit efficient files intended for playback on VholdR.com or through the Easy Edit Software. After clipping, the bitrate may be significantly reduced and the quality of the clipped video may be diminished from the original video.

Bit Rate Settings:

	Image Quality	Battery Life	Record Time/GB	CPU Processing Power
Max	BEST	Low	Low	High
High	Excellent	Medium	Medium	High
Default	Great	High	High	Medium

Microphone Gain:

For high action video where there is a chance of picking up noise generated by the wind, you will want to be between the range of 0-33. For low action video where wind noise will not be a factor, you will want to be within the range of 33-59.

0 – No audio captured in recordings.
33 – Reduces audio volume that is recorded and is ideal for in action video.
59 – All audio is captured and is ideal for walking and recording conversations.

Adjusting your lighting setting is simple with Easy Edit software. Start your Easy Edit Software, connect your camera, highlight your camera, and then select “Configure Camera” from the “Tools” menu. On the “Lighting” Tab, you can choose from preset lighting conditions (i.e. Everyday Outdoor, Extra Sunny, etc.) that will automatically configure the variables to provide the best video experience. Or select “Edit” if you want to customize any of the settings (Contrast, Exposure, Sharpness, or Metering).

Contrast Setting:

Contrast determines the difference in brightness between light and dark areas. Higher contrast emphasizes texture within an image by differentiating between the brightness of the light and dark areas.

44-60: Best if you are looking for the richest colors and you have plenty of light. The lower the contrast the richer the color, but if you go too low the colors will look a bit cartoonish.
60-70: Better for low lighting conditions as it will help to distinguish between objects within the image and not blur them together. Your images will have brighter lights and darker shadows.

Exposure Setting:

The exposure of the camera will determine how much light is allowed into the lens. If you are filming in low light conditions you want more light coming into the camera, which means your exposure should be greater than 0. The reverse is true if you have super bright conditions and want to darken the image so the camera can better see the details, which means you want an exposure number less than 0.

-3 to -1: Best for bright conditions
1 - 2: Best for darker conditions

Sharpness Setting:

The sharpness determines the clarity of the fine details of the image. For everyday use you will want to use a setting of 3.

1-2: Best for low lighting, but produces less detail in images
4-5: More defined in the detail of the image, may require a higher bitrate for best results.

Metering Setting:

Metering for the camera determines how the lens measures light from the objects that you are filming.

Center Metering – Determines the light level from the center region of the image. This option will be best for your everyday outdoor use.

Average Metering – Averages of the lighting from the entire image. This will be the best option for highly varied lighting or dark conditions as it will help to balance the lighting for the entire scene.

Spot Metering – Light level is determined from a small portion at the center of the image. Center metering is suited for optimizing the very center of the video and is generally not well matched to high motion.

The field of view does vary depending on what video resolution setting you are using. If you are recording with a resolution of 960p or 720p you will have a field of view of 135 degrees. The 1080p and WVGA resolution settings will give you a 110 degree field of view.

ContourHD1080p uses H.264 video codec, AAC audio compression, and a .mov file type. Your videos will be accepted by almost all HD video editing programs and players. H.264 has become a standard for video compression, and by using H.264 your videos will be more user-friendly as well as deliver the highest quality video with the smallest file sizes.

See Wikipedia for more on H.264

ContourHD1080p records to an internal microSD memory card, which means there are no wires and no separate recorders. We include a 2GB card in the box when you purchase the camera, but ContourHD 1080p is compatible with up to a 16GB microSD memory card. Although many microSD cards are compatible with the ContourHD, we cannot guarantee that all microSD cards are compatible with the CountourHD. However, we have tested the following makes, classes, and capacities of micro SD cards with the ContourHD 1080p. Tests were conducted in both 1080p and 960p modes for short (less than one minute) and long (+45 minute) video recordings.

SD Card	Class	Capacity
Generic MicroSD	Class 4	8Gb
SanDisk MicroSD	Class 2	8Gb
Centon MicroSD HC	Class 2	16Gb
Transcend MicroSD	Class 6	6Gb
Kingston MicroSD HC	Class 4	8Gb
SanDisk MicroSD HC	Class 2	16Gb

ContourHD1080p will record different time lengths depending on what video resolution setting you are using and bitrate you select (default, high, max). Your record times will also vary slightly in cold weather conditions, with older memory cards, and bitrate setting. Below is our list of estimated record times for each resolution at its default bitrate:

	Resolution	Record Time
Full HD	1080p	15 min/GB
Tall HD	960p	15 min/GB
Action HD	720p	15 min/GB
ContourHD	720p	30 min/GB
Fast SD	WVGA	60 min/GB

Yes, ContourHD1080p uses an embedded microphone that is located on the bottom of the camera. With the ContourHD1080p you can customize the microphone gain of the camera to configure it for you needs here.

The ContourHD1080p uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, located right inside the back door of the camera. We use a rechargeable battery to save you money and to save the environment. You can recharge your own battery whenever you want to keep recording all the action, and you don’t have to worry about purchasing AA’s. We even included a quick check feature on the camera to tell you how much battery life you have left.

The primary method for recharging your ContourHD1080p is to use the included USB cable that connects the camera to your computer. We also sell chargers for your car and your wall outlets. Generally, ContourHD1080p takes four hours to completely recharge when the camera is off and connected to your computer. See ContourHD Accessories

The ContourHD1080p battery will last up to three hours (180 minutes) when recording in the various resolution settings. However, the battery life is reduced in cold weather conditions and is reduced at higher on the resolution and bitrate settings.

ContourHD1080p and our Easy Edit Software are Mac and Windows compatible. When you connect the camera to your computer it will show up as a standard USB device; on the camera we include a simple installation file to help you quickly install the Easy Edit Software. Our VholdR Commitment is to make action video easy to shoot and share, and so the Easy Edit Software makes it nearly automatic to import, clip, and share your videos to VholdR.com.

As we say, HD video is beautiful, but not all machines can play it smoothly. If your ContourHD1080p videos appear a bit choppy on your computer, don’t worry, there is nothing wrong with your camera; your computer is just having a difficult time playing the videos. You can do small things like close all other programs when playing your video, chose lower resolution or bitrate for future videos, or upgrade your graphics card and RAM so that your computer will be better suited for playing rich HD video.

1080p and 960p both have great appeal from a video quality perspective. This amazing quality is achieved by capturing high quantities of data compared to standard definition video formats. Playback and editing of these data-intensive video formats can be problematic if your computer does not have the necessary resources to effectively process large amounts of data very quickly. Under-resourced computers will result in choppy playback of high-definition video files.

We have conducted some testing in order to determine computer requirements for 1080p playback. Playback testing was performed on a desktop computer. Laptop performance should be similar. Please note that we used Quicktime 7 as our media player. Also note that testing was done without any other application running on the computer.

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

Windows XP

• 3.2 GHz single core
• 4 GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM
• 512 MB +VRAM w/a 1920X1080 resolution or higher

Windows Home Vista

• 2.8 GHz dual core
• 4 GB DDR2 1033Mhz RAM
• 512 MB +VRAM w/a 1920X1080 resolution or higher

RECOMMENDED REQUIREMENTS

Windows XP

• 3.2 GHz dual core
• 4 GB DDR2 1366Mhz RAM
• 1 GB +VRAM w/a 1920X1080 resolution or higher

Windows Home Vista

• 2.66 GHz quad core (i5 or higher)
• +4 GB DDR2 1033 or 1366/DDR3 16003Mhz RAM
• 1 GB +VRAM w/a 1920X1080 resolution or higher

The test results above only involve playback of 1080p video. 1080p video editing performance will vary significantly based upon the video editing program used.

If you plan on upgrading your computer to better process video from your ContourHD 1080p, you should consult a professional to make certain to select parts compatible with your motherboard. For example, some older motherboards will not support DDR2/DDR3 memory or graphics cards with 1GB or greater ram.

The ContourHD1080p is water resistant. This means it is designed to withstand normal exposure to the elements (rain and snow or occasional light splashing) during recreational activities. It is NOT designed to be submerged or exposed to pressurized water or intense wave action, such as waves or severe rain storms. Water sports enthusiasts stay tuned — we are working on a waterproof enclosure for the ContourHD1080p which will make it suitable for water sports.

This is usually an indication that the battery is unable to charge. Check the USB connector and ensure this is properly seated in the camera and in your computer. Also check that the battery latch is fully engaged to hold the battery securely in place. If none of these remedies improve the situation, and if your camera is under warranty, contact Twenty20 technical support and provide the serial number of your camera along with your shipping address, email address, and phone number.

The plastic lens protector of the ContourHD1080p is designed to be replaceable. Twenty20 can provide you with a new replacement lens protector and replacement instructions for your ContourHD1080p for $10 + shipping. Please contact Twenty20 technical support if you wish to purchase replacement lens protectors.

Please be certain to save your video files before reformatting the SD card. If you do not, you will lose ALL information once the SD card has been reformatted. – we now have a better tool for formatting SD cards – the new site I sent you will give better SD card efficiency and performance. That will be more important than ever – do we want to recommend that instead?

To reformat the Micro SD card on a PC:

Insert the SD card in your computer
Click the "Start" button and go to "Computer"
Find the SD card in the listing for "Computer"
Right click on the SD card, and select "Format"
Use Fat 32 w/ default allocation and select the "Quick Format" box

To reformat the Micro SD card on a Mac:

Insert the SD card in your computer
Find the “Disk Utility”
Select the SD card drive and select “Erase”
Use MSDOS FAT setting and select “Erase”

Not sure we want to address this when we have no reason to expect it to happen

It is ok to charge your battery overnight. The maximum time that your battery will need to charge is four hours; however, it is ok to charge your battery beyond that. However, we do not recommend consistently overcharging your battery.

First, check to make sure that your SD card is properly inserted in the camera. You may also want to try different USB ports on your computer. If you still have problems, please contact Twenty20 technical support.

The operating temperature for the camera ranges from -20°C to 45°C. This information can also be found in our Product Information Guide.

You will encounter wind noise with most action sports that take place at faster speeds. We have designed the camera and firmware to optimize your audio experience for action sports in general. With the Easy Edit software you are able to adjust the microphone gain for the ContourHD1080p to ensure that you are capturing the best audio possible. Please refer to the software FAQ (add link here) for the recommended settings for the microphone gain based on the activity and exposure to wind. Additionally, some of our users’ suggestions suggestions to reduce wind noise can be found on our forums.

The ContourHD1080p has an auto focus lens and cannot be manually adjusted. The camera is designed to focus on whatever is in the center of the image screen. Objects at a different focal length than the object in the middle of the image screen may appear blurry.

The ContoruHD1080p is designed to automatically adjust white-balance to account for changes in lighting and contrast. If you believe your camera is not set to the proper conditions, you can manually adjust them in the Easy Edit software for your specifications. Please refer to the software FAQ for the suggested settings.

Make certain that the camera is situated as far forward in the mount as possible – this will help stabilize the camera. If you believe there is a problem with the fit of your camera in a mount, please contact Twenty20 technical support.

The ContourHD1080p records in a digital format which will allow for you to play back your videos on any computer. If you are interested in watching your videos on a PAL supported television, you will first need to use editing software to export the video as PAL or NTSC DVD. For more details check out our forums.

Many editing programs will accept .MOV files; however, if the editing program you are using does not, you will need to convert your videos to a file type that is supported by your software. We do not recommend any specific third party editing software applications. For some tricks and tips regarding video editing, check our forums

Twenty20 warranties the ContourHD1080p for 180 days from the date of purchase of product, unless otherwise indicated by your local government’s warranty laws. The warranty applies only to defects in material and workmanship and not situations caused by impacts or abuse. For complete warranty information, please refer to the Product Information Guide.

The ContourHD1080p was designed to take on the challenges associated with many extreme recreational activities. However, paintball offers the potential for some high velocity impacts. Because of the number of variables associated with a paintball impact (load weight, muzzle velocity, range, deflection angle, etc.), we do not warrant the ContourHD1080p against paintball impacts. Generally speaking, the Contour HD1080p should fare well in this environment. However, a shot from a high-powered gun into the lens at point blank may damage the camera.