Steve Smith at Val Di Sole - UCI World Cup 2012 by Contour

66 Comments

73 5

WestwardHo (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:37)

Are we supposed to be impressed that the video was shot 100% with a Contour? It looks and sounds as if someone strapped a gen 1 smartphone to a helmet with duct tape.

thenos09 (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:57)

hahhaaha .. pissa!!! where are they meant to bang out the massive whips we all wanna see?

fr3er1d3r (Jun 2, 2012 at 22:06)

I'd like contour better if their footage was better. It's better in most ways over a gopro but gopros footage is much cleaner and clearer...goodluck, countour, you guys are almost worthy adversaries

fraserbritton (Jun 2, 2012 at 23:50)

The raw footage is actually fantastic. It has to be compressed a huge amount to be able to upload it on the available internet at world cup venues in time for the race. That's the trade off.

SHARK555 (Jun 3, 2012 at 0:41)

funny, they had time to edit in 100% on the contour, but not an hour to run it through adobe or something?

NZMatt (Jun 3, 2012 at 0:48)

He's talking about the video quality, they can edit it however they like, but compressing it still makes it look like that

matt62 (Jun 3, 2012 at 1:36)

no see on pinbike , go direct on youtube , and now ==>720p hd , and see !!

no-ah (Jun 3, 2012 at 2:47)

BS! 2 options. 1 who ever compressed it does not know what they are doing or 2 contour image quality is not that great. im gonna go with number 2 because this looks like all of the contour footage i have seen. I agree with xpirimint there just not quite there yet

nocoolnamesleft (Jun 3, 2012 at 17:21)

GoPro > contour

guy38 (Jun 4, 2012 at 0:18)

people are that bias when it comes to contour. personaly im just happy with them contributing to the sport while struggling to gain your approval

Malcolmr (Jun 4, 2012 at 6:53)

so glad i bout a gopro instead

fraserbritton (Jun 5, 2012 at 2:51)

@no-ah completely wrong. The raw footage is fantastic, but it has to be compressed down to about 150mb to enable it to be uploaded on shitty race venue internet in a timely manner (same day). You guys do not seem to understand how this process works from a remote venue. ie: very slowly with terrible internet and very tight time constraints. Extremely high compression is used.

no-ah (Jun 7, 2012 at 9:47)

@fraserbritton I do believe you had to compress the crap out of it Im not going to argue that. But seriously everything i have seen on the internet from the contour looks like doo doo. Go to contours website look at their main video then look at go pro's and look at theirs. HUGE difference.

30 4

live2ride93 (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:30)

Contour = ffffshhhhhhhhhhhhhhffffffffffffffffsssss......... (that was my awesome wind sound)

patatta (Jun 3, 2012 at 3:41) (Below Threshold)

Counttour has better sound then Go pro!!!

live2ride93 (Jun 3, 2012 at 13:15)

Maybe if your standing still with no wind what so ever! and really who wants to take vids of stuff not moving.... Also if you remove the case from the GoPro it has the same sound as the contour plus it now has the option of external an mic.

19 0

jamie-m (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:10)

pretty sure its val di sole not leogang, track looks awesome

bobby-owen (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:13) (Below Threshold)

correction:track looks gnarly,steep,fun and fast

sam-rodda (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:45)

FAIL!

11 5

mountaineer1993 (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:12)

guy that bailed when Steve slowed down after bridge: Can you please blur my number so nobody knows who i am??

Steve: It already is, cuz i ride that fast even when I'm not moving...

47 5

SpartanSoulja (Jun 2, 2012 at 16:26)

It's a blur because he is using a contour...

Daniel2011 (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:14)

i have a contour, and when set up right it is not blury, just have a look at this video to prove it www.pinkbike.com/video/235973

live2ride93 (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:47)

Looks about the same as this vid..

nocoolnamesleft (Jun 3, 2012 at 17:26)

www.pinkbike.com/video/249654 look at this footage... i did not change one setting. it was straight from the box. and its a GoPro

mrkamot (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:34)

They did not adjust the mic gain because it came straight from taking video/audio of steve (gain would be adjusted to 40+ i think to pickup decent audio) to riding the track hence the wind noise. When you lower the gain it is fixed.

HairyYeti FL (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:25)

at 0.36 seconds.. this isn't Leogang Austria.. its Val Di Sole contour, you wrote the wrong track!

sam-rodda (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:46)

Not even the right country!

TheBAMFpro (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:43)

kind of sad that a sponsor doesnt known where their racers are racing...

smike (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:28)

Without getting into a GoPro vs. Contour debate, this video looks overly compressed. My question is, is this due to post-processing compression? Or is it compressed this much in-camera (ie. is it close to the raw footage)?

Daniel2011 (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:20)

its how they saved the video, when my contour worked (got f*cked up because it was left in my mates mums van (and shes a terrible driver) it was really good quality. You can plug them into the tv and be amazed at how good the quality is

slayemf (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:33)

ok , calling it, top 5 , Smith, Gwin, Hill, Minar, Bronson. just saying those are my pics. MULTIUNIVERSAL group of kick ass riders, Peaty is still the man though , he dosen't even have to place he just shows up and an aw will fall on the crowd. I am though pulling for Sam Hill the crusher. He needs this.

ImILL (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:05)

bronson isnt running VDS

slayemf (Jun 3, 2012 at 17:31)

just found out about that, sucks, anyway that was a sick race, Gwin killed it and Minar was on fire but I feel G Man might be the suprise , not counting out Steve Smith and Sam Hill. G man I think will win the series but the come back storie will be Sam Hill and as for Steve Smith,, He is the ruler of North America, He is the man. One of my favorite riders of all.

james4life (Jun 2, 2012 at 16:22)

im sorry but the contour cameras are soooooooo shit

10 3

thevondals (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:00)

you have to have your helmet sooo friggin tight to make it look kinda good (less blurry). and have to have it set in the 720p hd (fast speed) setting, to have a chance at a good video riding...but go-pro makes you look like a douche la rouche wearing a brick on your head/ bike/ chest...both are flawed

mike-gillespie (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:21)

@thevondals that is so spot on hahaha gave me a good laugh hahaha

bryantaber (Jun 3, 2012 at 4:06)

LOL....Douche Larouche!!!!!

macherschu (Jun 3, 2012 at 11:42)

reckon everyones been taken over by go pro marketing, my mate's contour is as good

longhitter2000 (Jun 3, 2012 at 13:20)

This Contour vs. GoPro bashing is so useless. So these words to all the GoPro (Teletubbie) idiots, who always complain as far as they see a Contour video (hope you all shut the f*ck up after this)
We all understand, that you have spend a lot of money for your bulky GoPro 8and now look like idiots) and yes we know you think it is the better one (why else should you have prefered this camera over the Contour).

If you look at the Red Bull logo of the helmet, you see, it is always sharp and not getting shaked up - so that means the movement comes not from the camera - it comes from the head of the rider. (this is a proven fact, so please teletubbies don't even try to deny)
The video quality is bad. But everyone who understands something about film and video knows it depends on the editing software or on the compression rate. If you film with a Contour or a GoPro on the same settings and use exactly the same SW and compression you will have the exact same quality in the end. THERE IS NEARLY NO DIFFERENCE IN VIDEO QUALITY. But yes GoPro 2 has the newest sensor inside so maybe it is slightly better - but that can't be seen by your amateur eyes on a computer - believe me!! But for this difference, which can only be seen on a HD TV by watching the raw material not edited or any color correction done you accept to look like shit while you pay a lot of money for "cool clothing and nice helmets" - idiots.

So the biggest mistake Contour is doing is that they put up those videos and even put "shot 100% with Contour" in front of it. Contour marketing you are to honest. The people here want to be fooled by super produced and edited and color corrected videos, which they never can do by them selfs. So do it like GoPro - just load up perfect videos - people will love you.

nouser (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:09)

aww yeah Stevie! Get gold for Canada!!!

Kona-Stinker-Dude (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:03)

so that's why people buy go pros

nightmareterror (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:57)

The course is awesome but the camera needs some kind of wind deflector unit to supress all that noise. But who am I to complain I don't even have one !! ...jealous.

Davealicous (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:57)

you could fry something off their brake discs when they finish

nouser (Jun 2, 2012 at 19:50)

I have to turn off my volume whenever I watch a coutour video...

slayemf (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:39)

Ganarley as Gary Ga Nue would say, kill kill kill....

conv3rt (Jun 2, 2012 at 16:33)

man, I watched that and instantly started pronouncing the G in gnar. no ga-news is good ga-news.

ButtonPusher (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:51)

cool course, hope his finger is feeling better for finals...

Z-WAAAAAZ (Jun 2, 2012 at 19:16)

sick riding and course.... disgusting angle

sammyboy2038 (Jun 2, 2012 at 19:25)

anybody know why he got a DNF in qualifications ?

oldschoolj (Jun 2, 2012 at 19:29)

Dislocated his finger, but he still gets to race tomorrow, being in the top 20 he is safe.

mountguitars (Jun 3, 2012 at 1:33)

thank god i have a gopro.

Views (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:00)

damn camera movement, i couldnt finish watching this....

fraserbritton (Jun 2, 2012 at 23:53)

That's Stevie's head movement, the camera is firmly attached to his helmet. Now you know just how beat up this track is...

Views (Jun 3, 2012 at 2:33)

i've seen other helmet footage which was smoother

Views (Jun 3, 2012 at 2:53)

looked into others again.... prolly was my eyes....

flamesrock300 (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:13)

Gnarly course!

bikerguy222 (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:36)

Wanted to watch all of that but it was so shaky...

bikehard11 (Jun 2, 2012 at 23:10)

Gopro hero all the way!! . . . . . . . Not contour

Caliber38heavy (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:14)

VDS looks BRUTAL :-O

bryantaber (Jun 3, 2012 at 4:08)

what horseshit is this???

Below threshold threads are hidden

gizmogunner (Jun 2, 2012 at 15:50)

is it me or does val di sole just look a little bit tame compared to say fort bill even i could rip on that that track and im a pretty crap rider

Y0sh1 (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:21)

Fort Bill... that's what they call Mnt. Everest now?! I guess I didn't get the memo...

wwalker33 (Jun 2, 2012 at 17:31)

Is it just me or does everyone want to see a POV of this guy "rippin" at VDS. I guess what he means by "I could rip on that track" is 1/2 walking, 1/4 scooter kick, and 1/4 belly flopping.

Stevie is on a completely different level.

gravityhelps (Jun 2, 2012 at 18:23)

tame was not the word i was thinking when i was watching this. that track looks beat up and plain nasty if it rains its going to be a unpredictable race

flyindutchman (Jun 2, 2012 at 20:35)

No offense gizmo but I think the opposite. This track looks brutal. Steep, rutted, exposed rock the whole way down with all the riders claiming difficulty just holding on to the bars by the finish.

gravityhelps (Jun 2, 2012 at 21:30)

^^^this not to mention they said the medics ran out of neck braces on the first practice day. pretty sure if that many people are getting mangled its a nasty track. its a true downhill not alot of pedalling just pure gnarly goodness.