Im looking at the best way to get on board footage. I have been thinking about getting a mini dv camcorder and buying/making a rollbar mount for it. I have seen bullet camera on ebay for less than £50, and was wondering if it can be done cheaper than buying a camcorder, especially if im just going to use it in the car.
How much are recorders that you plug the bullet cameras into, and what is the best way of determining the quality of the cameras? Pixels? Lens dims?

Thanks

Hmmm. Interesting. I believe hicost has a trick cam setup with various bullet cameras.

If you plan to film track action you may have to be more subtle than a camera on the rollbar though! They're even clampin down on visible cams at the ring

Liam

Any idea why they dont allow filming. I know alot of tracks wont let you use any timing equipment, i guess this is to stop people going balls out and driving dangerously.

I guess they might see a camera as a way of timing.

The camera is for general use really, i guess i would use it for trackdays quite abit too. Booked Le Mans this year, so want to use it for that too.

If i use a bullet cam, i can mount it in the grill or something, just need a way of recording the images. Just been looking at Hicosts site, the recorders are £500 odd, but very nice ones with LCD and big hard drive, would be very nice, but cant afford it. The cameras ive seen on ebay are very similar to the ones he has on his site, sony ccd had sensor, but quite abit cheaper.

Ive been thinking about buying an old cheap laptop, then getting a USB tv card with video input and hooking it up that way, the laptop wouldnt take up much room, could install it in the boot somehow, or maybe in the passenger footwell, so you could easily turn recording on and off.

That's pretty much it. They reject to filming cos it might encourage balls out driving for the purposes of just showing off to the camera, not specifically timing.

Computer seems like a good idea to me. I will hopefully have a laptop in there anyway to play with me megasquirt mapping. It would be rude not to hook up a camera i suppose.

Liam

I used a normal tape cam corder bolted to my roll bar. Quality was fine and camera was sub £200 so no complaints.
Also good for daughters and sons parties etc...
Pat...

I guess i will have to see how much I can do it for, if it is just less than a video camera, i may just buy one as they are handy to have, not kids birthdays yet though!

Have seen some portable media players on ebay with LCD screens, will have to see how much they go for. As would be cool to have the LCD screen and can be used for MP3s etc.

Are camcorders much cheaper in the US? I'm over there at the end of March, i know they work on NTSC, but if its digital there shouldnt be a problem should there as it will be downloaded to my PC. I may have a look, if they are a lot cheaper it might make it worth the expense.

they seem to be cheaper to places like currys/dixons but in general not much differene to online discount places like qed.

edd

oh and most cameras can switch between pal/ntsc any way, well my cheapo sony one does.

There are some cheapo camera's on ebay... always!

HERE

I've considered one myself. However, when questioning the seller about a tripod mount fitting there seems to be little response It's a shame really, this camera combined with a 512Mb Media Card would give over 2 hours recording for under £100. Due to the method with how it is recorded it would be almost shock proof too.

It may be worth someone else asking about the mounting method, if there is one.

HTH

Check out the specification on those little camcorders and you will see why they are so cheap. A frame rate of 15 fps would be no use to you if you are looking to record fast moving track day action. The finished result would be very dissapointing.
Again, it's the same with bullet cameras. Yes you can get cheap bullet cameras on eBay but what sort of quality are you looking for? I haven't seen anything better that a 420 TV Line camera for sale, I personally would not use anything less than a 480 line camera to achieve the highest resolution possible.
James (Hicost) and I have spent a lot of time trying to source high specification equipment at the best possible prices so we can be confident in what we sell. Our cheapest recording device is £395, records in mpeg4 format direct to a 40Gb hd, will record upto 40 hours of continuous video at 25 fps, will output direct to a TV or VCR via AV out or direct to a PC (in a windows compatible format) via USB2. It is also an MP3 player, a personal DV player and an external hard drive should you wish to use it that way.
We have priced this unit to be competitive with a camcorder so the customer can make a decision based on the type of features he requires. Two things worth considering when making that decision are:- 1) does the camcorder have AV in? (95% of camcorders sold in the UK don't) and 2) what are you getting for your money? (you get what you pay for usually rings true).

Cheers,

Paul

Paul - surely it depends what level of video you require. If you want hi-spec DVD quality TV out pictures then yes your equipment would seem to tick the boxes. For those that want a decent video clip of their cherished, needn't spend anywhere near £400.

My mate does banger vids and he does incar cameras as well. He made up a box that could be bolted to the roll bar. The box was padded so as to hold the camcorder resonably tightly, while absorbing some of the vibration.

The results he gets with a digital camcorder are amazing TBH, and they rarely break up even in big crashes (prob doesnt do the cam much good tho). He uses only digital camcorders now, the last one he bought cost over £1200 about a year back. Thats a 3megapixel camcorder, picture quality is fantastic. The ones he uses incar are not so expensive, but still have a great picture.

Cheers,
David

if the pocket was deep anough i would love some of the gear that paul is selling,but the camcorder i have will do for now

For a bullet camera, you need a camcorder with an AV in socket, i've just bought a Canon MV730i (£290 Dixons duty free) and will shortly be getting a bullet camera from http://www.cameras-cctv.com/categories/71/

Take a look at this site which should explain how to do it http://www.mycaterham.com/66828/44306.html

HTH

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Originally posted by Hellfire
Paul - surely it depends what level of video you require. If you want hi-spec DVD quality TV out pictures then yes your equipment would seem to tick the boxes. For those that want a decent video clip of their cherished, needn't spend anywhere near £400.

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quote:

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Originally posted by langy
For a bullet camera, you need a camcorder with an AV in socket, i've just bought a Canon MV730i (£290 Dixons duty free) and will shortly be getting a bullet camera from http://www.cameras-cctv.com/categories/71/

Take a look at this site which should explain how to do it http://www.mycaterham.com/66828/44306.html

HTH

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quote:

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Hi Langy I was once told that as a rule of thumb if a camcorder model number ends with an i then it should have the all important AV in. I don't know how accurate that is but it certainly holds true for yours.

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I bought a Sony camcorder 18 months ago after reading the instruction book which said AV in function. Great I thought. When I came to use it, I realised the book covered 3 models and you've guessed it, mine only has DV in, AV in would cost another 50 quid ARSE!

Marcus

Buy a Camcorder.

Why:

1. Bullet Cams, Have no Auto focus, or anti shake software in them. Not many have auto iris to combat varying light levels.

2. no audio (mostly).

3. You need a 12v Video recorder (not cheap) to record to.

4. The reasons above make a camcorder a reasonable outlay, and is easy to use at other events etc.

4. Bullet Cams are only good resolution at close (ish) distances. ie general view.
Camcorder is much better.

5. Camcorder has higher frame rate, and produces far better video quality, considering the conditions.

Just my 2d worth.