in car video

[Mike Spencer]

I've been looking on-line and it seems that mini-VHS and HI-8 formats are becoming a thing of the past. With the vibration we experience in the car, what are people using for in-car video these days?

I had heard that the mini-DV and other DVD-based technologies don't hold up well under the kind of environment we are in. Anyone care to chime in?

[Z3_GoCar]

mini-DV will hold up, HDD and DVD's won't. There's a thread on solid state video in the bargin section. As for what I'm unsing. I found the Samsung Sports Camcorder with included bullet cam. The bullet cam has a wide angle lense so I get all of the dash and windshield and it records to mini flash memory. The camera is about the size of a pack of cards. I made an aluminum box filled with polystyrene foam to protect the recorder. But before you decide check out the bargin thread.

James

[JoshS]

Mini-DV is a digital TAPE technology, not a DVD technology. Works fine in a car.

[NutDriverRighty]

I don't know anything about it, but I saw a camera on SRacing dot com called the "Hero 3". Uses SD cards and they have a low res video on the site. Haven't gotten the high res to work on my puter to see how good it really is. With 2GB, the time is only about 54 minutes, but for less than $200, sounds like something to investigate. Wonder if it'll work with the new 4GB cards?

Scott Franklin
www.NutDriver.org

[Greg Amy]

If all you want is basic reference video and the ability to post on the InterWeb, the resolution of the cameras that write to CF, SD, and other digital solid-state media is just fine. However, if you're looking for resolution good enough for DVD quality and watching on TV (especially larger screens), I suggest you'll want the capabilities of a MiniDV camera.

My MiniDV camera (a Panasonic DV-7xx something) has been working great for several years. It writes DVD-quality video to a tape in uncompressed AVI format, to the tune of about 14GB per hour. I burn straight to DVDs from the camera, and the quality - both audio and video - is very good, even on a 55" big-screen.

Remember, you can always down-grade AVI to InterWeb standards, but you can't up-grade low-res WMV or MPG to TV quality... - Greg

[erlrich]

Another vote for the MiniDV cams - I've used a Sony handycam on an I/O Port mount for 2 years (probably close to 50 track sessions total, counting track days, qual & race sessions); the camera has held up fine and as Greg mentioned the video quality is outstanding. To be fair, I haven't tried any other medium, but that's because I haven't felt the need to.

[ScotMac]

Here's an interesting article on it:

http://www.camcorderinfo.com/d/Reviews&lev...el_c=MiniDV.htm

It basically says that miniDV is still probably the best format, despite the fact that is NOT random access. I agree w/ the desire for random access. Hopefully as the flash cards go up in capacity (now have 16gig CF cards), they will switch off of mpeg-2 to something higher quality.

[BlueStreak]

We've been talking about this locally, and we're just trying to figure out how best to solve the following:

A dash mounted "record" on/off toggle switch ( I hate contorting to turn on the camera ).
A dash mounted "recording" LED. (I MISSED THAT WHOLE SESSION! )
Power the camera off the "MAIN" power switch, ie, if the car is on, so is the camera, and the camera battery never dies! (The battery died during the unexpected long wait in grid!)
Long record times. (Ran out of tape/memory during the unexpected long wait in grid!)


Anybody found simple fixes for these yet?

My current setup:
Rollbar mounted spycam on cage (works great, powered off car) with RCA cables going back to a Hi8 camera acting as a VCR in a padded bag in the spare tire well. This system works, but you don't know for SURE that you're recording, and you don't know for sure that your buddy hit the correct button on the camera in grid, and I'm still relying on the camera battery for the recording.

[sgallimo]

To echo a point that Mike Spencer mentions, I've had two MiniDV camcorders (JVC and Panasonic) fail on me around the one year mark. The JVC's sound board died after three uses and the Sony's power supply died after only 2 weekends. I'm using an I/O Port mount. I have friends that are currently using both models without issue so maybe it's just me....

[mrjones2]

We've been talking about this locally, and we're just trying to figure out how best to solve the following:

A dash mounted "record" on/off toggle switch ( I hate contorting to turn on the camera ).
A dash mounted "recording" LED. (I MISSED THAT WHOLE SESSION! )
Power the camera off the "MAIN" power switch, ie, if the car is on, so is the camera, and the camera battery never dies! (The battery died during the unexpected long wait in grid!)
Long record times. (Ran out of tape/memory during the unexpected long wait in grid!)
Anybody found simple fixes for these yet?

My current setup:
Rollbar mounted spycam on cage (works great, powered off car) with RCA cables going back to a Hi8 camera acting as a VCR in a padded bag in the spare tire well. This system works, but you don't know for SURE that you're recording, and you don't know for sure that your buddy hit the correct button on the camera in grid, and I'm still relying on the camera battery for the recording.
[/b]

I use a Sony TVR (mini DV) something on my open prod car. I bought it new in 2000 maybe, and have beaten the hell of it for years. I have it mounted directly to a rigid mount to the roll cage. I bought a huge battery for it on ebay, and it lasts for 700 minutes or something. Sony image stabilization kicks ass, and never had any issues with it (and even had a big shunt with it) But, to answer your questions...

I have the remote for it near the shifter and can see the red "record" LED in my rearview mirror. I just flip it on when I belt in a 5 minutes & hit record when I pull out for the formation lap. I bought a clear lens for it to protect the "Karl Zeiss" Lens, but the bugs / rocks hit the rest of it (its a little battle worn). I'm working on a remote camera setup for it, mainly cause I want to record rain races.

Kendall

[sgallimo]

Here's a link that I found while looking for in car camera info:
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/sony.asp
as referenced by
http://www.pegasusautoracing.com/group.asp...upID=VIDEOINCAR

Seems like it was the LAN-C gizmo that allowed the camera to be
controlled from the dashboard ...

[924Guy]

We've been talking about this locally, and we're just trying to figure out how best to solve the following:

A dash mounted "record" on/off toggle switch ( I hate contorting to turn on the camera ).
A dash mounted "recording" LED. (I MISSED THAT WHOLE SESSION! )
Power the camera off the "MAIN" power switch, ie, if the car is on, so is the camera, and the camera battery never dies! (The battery died during the unexpected long wait in grid!)
Long record times. (Ran out of tape/memory during the unexpected long wait in grid!)
Anybody found simple fixes for these yet?
[/b]

1) I use a remote control for my recorder (DVR)
2) The DVR's just velcroed on the dash - easy to see
3) No battery in my DVR; only external power. So it is powered off the kill switch. Only downside is that this recorder will not save video if power is lost while recording; recording must be stopped first.
4) I ran without issues at the IT-Fest, 2Gb card, will take some 4Gb cards... that'd be enough for a whole weekend without download...

[JoshS]

1) I use a remote control for my recorder (DVR)
2) The DVR's just velcroed on the dash - easy to see
3) No battery in my DVR; only external power. So it is powered off the kill switch. Only downside is that this recorder will not save video if power is lost while recording; recording must be stopped first.
4) I ran without issues at the IT-Fest, 2Gb card, will take some 4Gb cards... that'd be enough for a whole weekend without download...
[/b]

I know a DVR is not a camera, per se, but I wonder -- is it safe to just velcro it to the dash? And further, is it legal?

"9.3.12. CAMERA MOUNTS
The mounts for video / photographic cameras shall be of a safe and secure
design. The body of the camera (recording unit) shall be secured at a
minimum of two (2) points on different sides of the camera body, neither
of the attachments may be elastic or plastic. If a tether is used to restrain
the camera, the tether length shall be limited so that the camera can not
come in contact with driver. These rules of attachment do not apply
to the remote lens of “lipstick” cameras, which weighs approximately 2
oz. The remote lens of these cameras may be secured with items such
as cable ties and racer’s tape. Helmet mounted cameras are prohibited
regardless of size, weight, or location of camera on the helmet."

[BlueStreak]

1) I use a remote control for my recorder (DVR)
2) The DVR's just velcroed on the dash - easy to see
3) No battery in my DVR; only external power. So it is powered off the kill switch. Only downside is that this recorder will not save video if power is lost while recording; recording must be stopped first.
4) I ran without issues at the IT-Fest, 2Gb card, will take some 4Gb cards... that'd be enough for a whole weekend without download...
[/b]

Which DVR are you using? Have you posted any on youtube from it?

Thanks

[924Guy]

Yeah, it's safe - the DVR itself doesn't weigh any more than the cameras. Likewise the quad processor - all very lightweight, no batteries, electronics only. I work in the auto industry, we test cars routinely through much mroe severe stuff than 99% of IT racing, and use velcro to secure much much heavier equipment than these little pieces, with no issues. I'm talking many pounds of heavy metal equipment. The secret is surface area.

The DVR is the Neuros Recorder 2, I have a whole page on my website showing all the components and installation:
http://www.vaughanscott.com/construction/video_data.htm

All my video from the past couple of years is from that recorder, with the exception of the IT-Fest trackside clip I posted. So yes, if you've watched my IT-Fest video on Youtube, it's taken with that recorder.