I’m getting better at video renderings of POV lights… this video turned out pretty good, for one-camera-in-my-living-room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKRdHiowOcU
Wow! Looks great on several levels!
Any tips on how to shoot video that shows the work so well?
The trick I used in Premiere was to duplicate the clip on video track 2 and 3, until I had it stacked up on itself 3 times. Then I shifted the top two layers by a couple frames, and changed the blend mode to “Lighten” for those two layers. Voila: long trails. 
Also, which camera do you use?
How well does that match what you see in reality?
It’s a Panasonic TM900 shooting at 30fps.
I think the magic is actually in the DotStars. Adafruit pushed them at me and told me to spin them around and write a guide. I am happy with this.
As for how they look IRL… well I guess it depends in how much rum you’ve had.
Srsly though my dance partner and I were pretty giggly and mesmerized playing with these in front of the mirror after no rum at all. They look good.
How much better is the APA102 vs the ws2812b for POV?
ALL the better. The APA102 is more than ten times faster than the older WA2811/WS2812.
You basically can’t do any good POV with WS2811/WS2812 at all. Doing POV with APA102 actually pretty easy because they’re just so darn fast.
Mark, how does the APA102 compare to WS2801?
The APA102 is faster. Much faster. If I’m doing the math right, it’s 5-10x faster-- and therefore much better for POV.
For good POV, you really need APA102 or LPD8806.