Didn't read the whole thread, but regarding the aspect ratio, you're using the r4 setting which is the tallest available. It's good for helmet mounts and where you want height rather than width. Try the r2 or the r3 settings (difference is 30fps and 60fps). R5 ia full 1080p hd but the downside is that it has a narrower field of view, 127 degrees rather than 170 of r1, r2 and r3. R5 also takes up a hell of a lot of memory. I use r2 and r4 more so than than the others.