Thursday, April 12, 2018

Comedy of Errors

So. Yesterday did not go according to plan. #storyofmylife, am I right? But that's okay. It was still productive, and I still have something to write about, so I guess you win some, you lose some! In the category of winning some, yesterday a long-awaited package arrived.
Prepare yourself. GIFs are coming.
My very own Pixio. A good friend was selling hers and I couldn't resist the chance to snag it. I've been lusting over one forEVER. Especially after getting to mess with Jen's when I photographed her in the KPG clinic. So anyway, I digress. It arrived last night, and clearly the only thing I had planned for the evening was to set it up and ride with it!
This is where it spent most of the evening.
Which, spoiler alert, didn't happen. I did set it up, and I did ride, but no media. *sobbing* my friend shipped it all to me in a super cute backpack with everything carefully tucked into it's place. I promptly dragged everything out, and started trying to put it together..... yeah. I maybe should have printed out Pixio's handy little user manual and done some reading. That might have alleviated some of my problems. But I was WAY TOO EXCITED and just dove right in. After spending 30+ minutes trying to attach both the Pixio and the camera to the tripod, I finally gave up in defeat and texted my friend. Turns out I was trying to use a base that wasn't intended for the video camera, she had just thrown it in there as a freebie (which explained why I could not for the LOVE OF GOD get it to fit haha). Then I realized I didn't have the necessary micro sd card. All the memory cards for my camera were too big. Whoops? That meant another half an hour frantically googling and playing with settings until I figured out how to set it up to record to the internal memory. So finally I thought we were ready to roll, so I grabbed Cinna and tacked her up.
Isn't this backpack for real the cutest? All the chargers and everything are tucked into it, so all I have to do is pull out a plug and find an outlet, and everything can charge neatly!
My excitement was apparently a bit too palpable, and she fed off that and lost her marbles. When I was bridling her, she barged over me and took off, sans bridle. Thankfully, DH was in the arena and she made a beeline for him, so I was able to contain her. Then we spent 10 minutes trying to CATCH her, which she thought was the most fun game imaginable. I was.... less amused.
Whoa there wild steed. I'm not sure you can see it well in this photo, but I had put a bonnet on her -- it didn't budge an inch in the shenanigans. Props to ITBF!
Clearly things were off to a SUPER GREAT START. Arghhhhh. So we caught her, I finished tacking up, then I walked around the arena placing my beacons. No sweat, I got this. I pulled up Jen's handy "how to set up the Pixio" post, and worked my way down the checklist. It took me a minute to get the tripod and camera adjusted and zoomed in on the necessary beacon, but finally I got everything squared away. Cinna was already tacked and waiting, so I pressed the power button on the Pixio. *crickets* I pressed it again. Still nothing. The battery was dead. Ughhhhhhhhhhh. So I plugged it in, and went out to ride Cinna, so the evening wouldn't be a total waste.
Handy little tripod legs wrapping around the fence!
We ended up having a nice ride, once we both calmed down and took a few deep breaths. I didn't ride super long (mostly because I was hoping I could still play with the Pixio haha) but we had the nicest canter transition on her to date -- tracking right I just thought canter, and she did! We also worked on some circles and changes of direction where I just hooked my fingers through my grab strap and focused on my body, and let her do whatever she wanted (within reason) with her head and neck. I was a bit shocked at how well it went, especially since I left the arena gate open (DH had gone inside and I thought he was coming back, but he didn't). She never once made a dive out the open gate, and was very easy to direct with my body, even with my hands in a stationary position. Is she getting a little trained? Funny how that works ;)
Working nicely even with the gate open.
After I had her cooled out and untacked, DH was starving to death, so I had to take a break go to make dinner. I plotted the whole time about how I was going to make him come back outside with me after dinner, and I was going to toss him up on Trigger as a test dummy while I continued to play with the settings. We pulled the horses in for the night and I went to check the charge on the Pixio base -- and by then it was charged, but the tracker (for me to wear) was not. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth, but I admitted defeat. Pixio video was just not meant to be last night. But I plugged every conceivable piece of equipment in to charge last night, so we should be good to go today!

16 comments:

  1. It's some kind of torture that all new stuff needs to be charged! Hopefully you get it working tonight! Are the beacons weather proof? Or do you have to take them down and put them back up every time you want to use it?

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    1. They have to be charged, so they can't stay up 24/7 (although in an indoor if you had plugs in every corner I guess you could hardwire them in?). You have to turn them on for each ride anyway, so even if I could leave them up, I'd still walking around to turn them on/off, so it's about the same amount of effort to put them up and take them down each time. My arena is small, so a lap around doesn't take long 😉 haha

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    2. Oh right, charging. That makes sense. I'm thinking about getting a solo shot since it doesn't use beacons. I'm seriously the laziest person on the planet.

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    3. I researched them both (like the compulsive type A person that I am haha) and decided the pixio would work better for me. My arena is on the smaller side, and I think a soloshot would be more effective in a larger space. And the soloshot not working indoors was a deal breaker for me -- while I don't have my own indoor (yet), living in the Midwest means I do ride indoors at other facilities with some frequency, so I wanted the option to be able to use a camera system inside. I know soloshot is hypothetically working on a fix for that issue, but considering how insanely late they were on the projected timeline for the soloshot 3, I don't have much faith that it will be usable indoors any time soon. I know some people aren't fond of the defined smaller space you can use it in with the Pixio, but as a dressage rider, it suits my needs. I can see why the soloshot might work better for jumping though!

      TL;DR
      Both systems have pros and cons and each person's situation is different so find the one that works for you and go for it! Lol

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    4. Yes! I think the pixio is a better product for horsing in general especially since it's useful indoors. I don't actually have a video camera though, so that's the other nice thing about the solo shot for me since it's all in one. Meanwhile, I have to buy tires first so we'll have to wait and see what I actually end up with eventually!

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    5. The list of supported cams for the Pixio is pretty extensive, and it was actually another mark in the "pros" category for me that I can take the video camera off the Pixio body and use it for non-horsey things (not that I really ever do those, but it was a selling point for DH lol).

      But yeah. If you end up with a soloshot I can't wait to read about how it works for you! There are a lot of situations where I think they're a better option than the Pixio, just not in my specific circumstances 😂

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  2. omgggg haha, isn't that always the way tho???? anyway that's super exciting about the pixio - for some reason i thought it wasn't intended for outdoor use but maybe i'm just thinking of "outside an arena" where there isn't an obvious boundary for the beacons ? anyway i hope you love it and look forward to your thoughts on using it! (plus, obvi, ALL the media!!)

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    1. Yeah, it's intended for both indoor/outdoor usage. One of the better promo videos I found to show my husband this week was an outdoor show jumping session ☺️
      In my research I've found plenty of people who set them up out in fields, even without a defined arena space. Might take a little more tweaking to figure out where the beacons go I guess? Maybe I'll experiment with them out in my pasture this summer!

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  3. I feel this pain. I am often in the same place with new technology toys lol! and BAD CINNA! NO BARGEY NO RUNNY!

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    1. Yeah we had a wee bit of a come to Jesus about it when I got her back to try bridling again. Some of it was my fault, because I was more lax with her the first attempt than I usually am (more like how I treat Ruby, who is trustworthy in the exteme), but she also does not get to exit stage left when I am giving her some unusual freedom 🤷

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  4. I'm looking forward to your review once you get it working. We're planning to get something once we move.

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    1. I'm itching to get started so I have a frame of reference for how it is to use on a daily basis! Hopefully yesterday's frustrations were atypical haha. Also, the fault lies mostly with me for not actually reading the directions 🙈

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  5. You are not allowed to make me want one of these widgets. I'm making enough bad choices as it is.

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  6. So exciting that you got a Pixio but so frustrating they needed to be charged, I wish everything arrived fully charged and ready to go!

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    1. It was kind of the definition of a first world problem, lol.

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