Comments on: Oregon Scientific ATC-2k Camera: Bah!

By: Tafantic

Tafantic — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:19:25 +0000

The EXACT same thing happened to me!

By: mick

mick — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 17:59:59 +0000

I recently purchased OS ATC-2K POS (piece of shit) from Compuvisor (worthless, don’t order from them) & am a Mac user w/ an IQ & have had no response from either OS or Compuvisor re Mac & SD card format instructions. Went to the Mac store & not one of the employee’s there were able to figure this out !! Absolutely disgusted w/ OS, Compuvisor & in general American Capitalism !! Give us your money & we will do as we wish, because we can !! Aren’t there any legal (lawyers) people out there that have been shafted by OS that can get a lawsuit going ?? I’m soooo pissed off because of the principle & not the $115 that I feel I threw away. I’m going to fight this to get a full refund because I CAN !!! WANKERS, the lot of them !!

By: nathan

nathan — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:31:29 +0000

hey all
well me and my friend both bought an atc2000 headcam each. we use them for surfing so they get fully immersed and thrown a bought a bit.

They worked faultlessly for about 2 years. his though one day just wouldnt recognise the sd card.

now today i went to format the card to remove some footage, using disk utility on the mac which i have used before to format the footage, and it seems to have wiped the DCIM file off the camera.

this means that it now wont turn on except when plugged into pc via usb, and there is no DCIM file that i normally clicked on to view footage.

If anyone knows if its possible to reload the software or recover it from my mac that would be great. email is ngm8x@hotmail.com

as for quality of footage it was quite good considering the price. check out my user name on you tube of “ngm8x” for some bore surfng videos, also try bristolsurfer as he is another mate with same camera but his is still working!!!

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 00:24:13 +0000

I have been having a problem perhaps in its own class. Turned the unit on and captured 10 or so quick videos for testing purposes. Later on i used the unit again and though the unit powers on as soon as you click the record button a “0″ is displayed and slowly fades out. In order to turn the unit back on, the batteries must now be removed? what a bummer. Contacted oregon scientific and hope to hear back. Menu and everything else works fine, just when you click record the 0 is displayed and dissapears and no final products! Not recording internal or external (sd).

By: rob

rob — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 23:00:32 +0000

i bought this not too long ago and i have no problem with it.
i dont know about all you putting the card in the wrong way, it only goes in one way IF YOU DONT FORCE IT.

By: Rick

Rick — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:06:54 +0000

My problem is different from the above…the camera seems to take video and sound without difficulty, but when it is plugged into the USB port of the computer (XP), it turns off and cannot be turned on again until it is unplugged. If I take out the card, the video playback (windows media) works fine. But it will not play from the camera via the USB port. Any ideas??

By: Carl

Carl — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 01:40:38 +0000

This camera is garbage. It simply won’t recognize any SD Card that I put into the damn thing. Sure, I know that I have to format it to FAT16, but the SD card never shows up at ALL! What a waste of time and money! And the Oregon Scientific tech support BLOWS. They simply repeated what was already in the manual. Thanks!!!

By: anthony

anthony — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 03:27:12 +0000

vlc player solved my sound issues.

By: andyz

andyz — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 18:55:29 +0000

hired goon is right the sound is there just another player.had the same problem with windows media player but fine with apple quicktime

By: anthony quattrochi jr

anthony quattrochi jr — Mon, 24 Dec 2007 03:17:38 +0000

i have no sd card issues or video problems but i do have no sound on playback

By: billb

billb — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 04:24:03 +0000

Don’t connect the camera to the bars, connect it to you–a helmet mount works well. You don’t shake around like the bars do.

By: William

William — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 00:29:20 +0000

The only problem I am having is the shaking of the video. I mounted the camera to my handlebar and it is mounted firmly. When I watch the video it is moving up and down. Any ideals on fixing this.

By: Hired_Goon

Hired_Goon — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 12:50:31 +0000

Re Sound issues.

I have found that the sound is there but sometimes media players like Windows Media Player don’t find the required codec to play the sound.

If you are missing sound try a player like VLC media player.

Note Not affiliated with VLC at all, but it plays just about anything.

By: Martijn

Martijn — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 16:39:59 +0000

Hi Jim, same problem for me, just bought the ACT 2000 and I tried some things to get the mic on, but no sound within the video. guess the mic is broken.

By: Jim Kuminecz

Jim Kuminecz — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:59:23 +0000

Can not get ATC2k to record sound. I followed the vage manual. My atc 1000 records sound ok and it is automatic. I have been on the phone for 30 minutes but no answer and waiting for email answer since Monday,

By: Madison

Madison — Thu, 24 May 2007 20:26:36 +0000

Same problem. Won’t power up with an SD card in. Take the card out and it powers up fine. Card was formatted to FAT16. I have tried another SD card of 512 mb… still will not work. It is almost as if by inserting the card that you are somehow causing a short or loss of power from the battery.

I tried removing the little O ring around the positive terminal side of the battery case and still it will not work.

Very frustrating.

By: Carl

Carl — Fri, 11 May 2007 02:46:27 +0000

I got a replacement a week after getting the RMA number, so I guess my customer service experience was substantially better than most. As for the camera, the sound is kind of funky, but the video I shot with the thing attached to the roll bar of my Miata was a blast! Couldn’t convince my wife to watch all 20+ minutes of it, though. Can’t imagine why…

By: ATC Support Team

ATC Support Team — Wed, 09 May 2007 01:57:38 +0000

Dear ATC-2K users,

Thank you for your reviews and comments on the ATC-2K, they are extremely valuable to us. We would like to answer a few of your questions and give some more specifics about the ATC-2K action camera through this statement.

· ATC-2K can accept SD cards 8MB to 2GB. We recommend SanDisk SD cards and AData SD cards.

· Please ensure you insert your SD card with connect terminals facing up. This means, with the LCD screen facing you turn your SD card label side down/terminals up and insert it.

· The SD card must be formatted to FAT(FAT16).

· Ensure your camera is switched off before inserting/removing the SD card or batteries.

· We recommend users familiarize themselves with the button positions and sounds when pressed.

· The ATC-2K is waterproof to 3m/10ft. Please ensure the O-rings have been properly greased.

· The ATC-2K is intended for use with extreme sports. We have deliberately designed the ATC-2K with this purpose in mind and thus have made the microphone less sensitive. Through research and experience we have found that users would rather add their own music or commentary after their activity as opposed to trying to commentate live.

· The ATC-2K uses 2 x AA Alkaline batteries, however; we advise that users change to Lithium batteries during cold weather usage for longer recording time. We have a Cold Weather Pouch for the ATC-2K camera for use in cold weather. Please check our website for availability.

For troubleshooting please refer to the manual.

You are welcome to send any further comments to atc@oregonscientific.com

Best Regards,

ATC Support Team.

By: Modette

Modette — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 01:02:15 +0000

Well I had my Camera for a week, I got two ULTRA 2GB 150x SD Card’s the other day ($29.99 from Tigerdirect.com). Today was a nice day so I decided to test the unit out on my motorcycle before I leave in a week for a motorcycle trip.

I formated the cards using the FAT file system like the inclosed paper stated. Card was inserted correctly (however I can relate to a poster saying that he did not know which way was up). This should be a little more clear.

Well as I am riding down to my Uncles place (45mins away) the camera is rolling and seems to be working, and then it says Err. So as I am riding I am able to power cycle the unit (on and off). I then hit the film key and it starts again. In my mind I wonder if I went with too good of a card (150x 18mbps write time).

This time the unit just goes off, I’m thinking oh great I put in dead (old) batteries so I pull over and switch the batteries. Again down the road the unit goes off, at this point I give up, I figure maybe I will reformat the cards at my uncles house to FAT32 and try that.

So after showing the camera to my Uncle and cousin (which thought it was neat especially for $130) I reformatted one of the cards to FAT32 and stuck it into the camera. I start the camera on my way back and it records for like 19 mins then it just cuts out. I’m like what the heck. To me it seems like a power problem of the vibrations are causing a problem.

So I get home, and I delete the videos it cought and with the card still being FAT32 I get it started and leave it on my desk, at 40 mins I decide that it has to be the card vibrating loose or the write protect/lock on the SD Card is vibrating closed. So I yank the SD card out and the Write switch is in place. Okay what is the problem I think. So I put the card back in the unit and power it on.

I then pick the unit up and slap it on my hand. It goes off. I pull the SD card out and turn the unit on (now filming on internal memory). I again slap the unit and off it goes. I then take the batteries out and look at them (Energizer AA’s). I decide to put in my Energizer Rechargeable 2500mAh batteries. Again I power the unit on and slap it, this time it stays on, so I repeat the slap a dozen times and it stays on. The batteries feel like they have snug fit (slightly longer).

During this whole process I notice that on the positive battery side they have a plastic “O” ring. hmmm, that might cause the battery not to always touch the terminal. So with a swiss army knife I gentle pop that black plastic ring off the unit. Now with the standard battery in the unit, it fits better and stays on when slapped. I will again test the unit on my motorcycle tomorrow. I believe the vibs were shaking the batteries loose.

The lid does have a mark on the metal inside part to remind you wich is the positive and which is the negative side. Plus just remember the positive side in on the right (when lifting the battery door away from you).

My unit now seems to work…good luck

By: Carl

Carl — Thu, 19 Apr 2007 02:08:37 +0000

At the risk of sounding like a brain-dead AOLer (for you Weird Al fans out there), Me Too! Same problem(s) with memory card, camera won’t power up, SanDisk UltraII 2GB SD card (which is one of two recommended cards in their instructions). I formatted the card first, later did a read/write test on the card to verify the card was good (which of course it was). When I remove the card, 2 seconds later the camera briefly displays “ERR”, then powers up. I’ve sent an email to atc@oregonscientific.com as well as filling out the form on their website. We’ll see what happens. But for now, my opinion of this camera is “fscking worthless piece of crap”.

Background? 27 years in computer industry, last 7 writing test and service software for Nokia, including playing around with various kinds of flash memory. I, too, know what I’m doing. *sigh*