2021 Cockpit Video and Audio Gear Recommendation

Garmin Virb Ultra has gps etc and can be connected to the audio panel. There are kits for phones including mount, filter and audio cables from Nflightcam

I never succeed to do it, even with genuine cables * nflightmic cable. The setting With 2 channels on external + internal mic is not working well.

I think the challenge will be the contrast range – if you want to show the panel and the view outside. Most flying videos fail horribly in that.

I asked for much the same thing here. You should definitely read that thread.

In my experience you either get crystal clear ATC audio or the standard cockpit audio with engine etc but not both – personally I want the ATC and no naff music added post flight.

personally I want the ATC and no naff music added post flight.

This was much debated in previous threads. One can turn the sound track down if one doesn’t like the music, and editing for ATC (which I have done extensively in my videos) stretches the job from say 1hr to 1-2 days, while producing a longer video which far fewer watch; people look at the total length and if more than 5-10 mins don’t bother watching it. The owner can see this in the play stats. So it’s a matter of who you are trying to reach and how much time you want to put in. Also a lot of ATC exchanges reveal obvious ATC incompetence or just unhelpful behaviour and one has to think whether one really wants to show that. And it is “illegal” in Germany, and possibly other countries with similar laws e.g. Austria. It’s not illegal in the UK if you leave in only ATC exchanges with yourself, which is what I always did, but editing then takes a lot longer.

There is also the matter of what is possible with passengers. If you fly alone then recording the cockpit is fine. With passengers, most will be wary of being recorded, and especially filmed. One can see the passengers cringeing in some videos when the pilot is trying to sound like a real pilot for the camera while they are supposed to look appreciative It’s a big topic…

As usual, below “Threads possibly related to this one” has good reading

There is a lot of room for improvement here. A couple of suggestions:

https://goprotelemetryextractor.com/telemetry-overlay-trial

This app helps a lot with getting a cool view on top of the video. He even can read in data from your EFIS or “smart” action cam.

For sound, what I found gives OK results but is a bit ugly, is to run the wired lapel microphone to one of your headset earcups, and just stuff it in there. Going full on, it would be easy to glue it in there, but I just hide it under the headset cushion in a place that can’t be felt. I did this with my Bose X headset – have not yet moved it to the A20. The sound will include whatever you get in your hear – your sidetone, engine noise w/cancellation from your headset, intercom, and of course what comes in on the radio.

The guys that do really good YT videos spend a lot of time post-processing to make it look simple, and it’s anything but simple. Particularly the sound – many get an ambient sound track separate from the headset sound and mix them later – which is easy to do with today’s software, but takes time.

I think people would pay good money for a fully integrated system that “just works” – multiple (360) cameras, multiple microphones, telemetry, and then automatic post-processing. This will come to a bigger market than aviation, and then we can borrow it.

I have lots of videos that I have saved but not published, since they don’t really add much value, and I record every flight in one way or another. Sort of like my auto dashcam – I do it in case something happens, like this “near collision” event.

Note the complete lack of post-processing – it’s just raw video.

There used to be a system which was used to record telephone converstions. It consisted of a mic built into a suction cup which was then plugged into recorder. You could get the same recording sticking on to a headset, although most sound recordists would probably us a splitter or splitters to take individual feeds to different channels on the recorder. Sharp used to make a mini disc recorder which was sound activated but any sound recorder would do.
As there is very little lip sync in ATC recordings. Each sound would be recorded on a different channel and put back together and mixed in post.
Most modern recording devices carry information such as real time or time code which can be used to sync to the picture in post. A bit of time is needed to get frame accurate sync but 90% of the time that is unnecessary and can be done quickly. By mixing in post rather than in real time means you don’t have to have a mixer in the plane and someone to operate it while you fly and level decisions don’t have to be made in real time.
A suggestion, which will work, but may not be to your liking, for videoing both interior and exterior in the same frame and keeping exposure more even on ext and interior is to get some NDfilm and stick a strip of it down the front.windscreen through which you would film any exterior visual.
Under certain circumstances an ND grad might work but the line between ext and interior would have to be carefully set between each flight and you would need a set of ND filters of different grades. There are other ways such as adapting lens hoods etc.
Post production takes time but it can make a huge difference to any video and these days it costs nothing.except your time.j