Video Camera Questions, considering installing an in-car cam Options

[John]

Any advice/suggestions for mounting a video camera in our track only car? There is virtually no interior left and a bracket would be fabricated and welded into place for mounting.

Any brand/model recommendations? Any brands/models to avoid?

The car is a DE only vehicle.

What I THINK I want is a small, lightweight camera that stores video on Digital Tape, and can be powered from the car 12v system. I want something that will be easy to transfer video to a PC and then burn DVD's to be played in stand-alone players.

I want enough resolution that it will look decent full screen on a television.

It will need to be hard wired as there is no lighter plug (or dash for that matter).

Thanks in advance for your replies.

[Brando]

Why not one of those compact sony DV recorders? I'm sure you can get enough battery time or splice in a +12V connection from the battery and run it off that. I think you can get a few hours on one of those little mini-discs.

[John]

Why not one of those compact sony DV recorders? I'm sure you can get enough battery time or splice in a +12V connection from the battery and run it off that. I think you can get a few hours on one of those little mini-discs.

I did a little research on it after posting here.

I kind of like what I read about the the DCR-HC96.


I found some on-line prices between $550-$600.


Anyone have any experience with them?

[blitZ]

One of the cart guys at my local SCCA group has a neat little helmet cam. Might be worth a look.


Helmet camera

[Joe Ricard]

Something to consider when mounting is EMI shielding. with the camera grounded to a roll bar my video and sound is much cleaner. with the camera mounted to a "race chase" boom and suction cup the noise was terrible.

I am using a simple digital camera with video feature.

[John]

Something to consider when mounting is EMI shielding. with the camera grounded to a roll bar my video and sound is much cleaner. with the camera mounted to a "race chase" boom and suction cup the noise was terrible.

I am using a simple digital camera with video feature.

Thanks for the tip. I plan on fabricating a "permanent" mount somewhere in the vehicle (probably to the cage).

[john rogers]

I have been using a setup called Race Cam for several years now and it is great. The camera is a wide angle so you get the driver and the complete windshield view. It also has a sun shield so that the view out the windshield is not washed out and you can see inside the car. I uses a Sony DAT digital recorder and can output to a TV or a DVD recorder. A tape is good for about 3 twenty minute race sessions or 2 one half hour sessions. There is a good microphone and wired remote for starting/stopping when running under a yellow flag. It is not cheap but gives amazing videos.

[Dominic L]

I have the io port mount and only tried it with the video on my digital cam and so far works fine. Rubber isolated so no unwanted noise. For the video camera, if tapes work I'm thinking hi def. Check out this video:

http://stage6.divx.com/NYC-Motorsports/vid...run-in-High-Def

I'm looking into the Canon hv20. Has a video input too so you can do the picture in a picture thing with a bullet camera. My only question is the durability of a tape camera. Oh and this also takes videos at barbecue's and other affairs so dual purpose!

Chasecam and RCD have complete race car specific systems (record to a sd card so no moving parts) but I still think the high def video is better quality. Haven't seen any videos from the race cam so i can't comment on them.

From the bird board:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread....threadid=296768

[drew365]

I was going to suggest the Pelican thread that Doninic linked. There's a lot of options in there.
Joe, tell us more about the shielding. Did you buy a ground cable or just mounting direct to the cage does it?

[john rogers]

I would be surprised if there was much EMI or electronic interference with a video system no matter what type of camera there was used? There will be a lot of vibration interference and that can translate into the tape system if it is not shiedled from the vibration. Most hand held cameras have some sort of electronic stabilization so if it is mounted on the cage or roll bar with a solid mount there will be little fuzziness. One place you can get interference is with wind noise and Radio Shack sell foam mic covers that elminate the wind noise very well. With my Race Cam setup, the recorder is inside a foan lined case strapped to the floor of the car and the camera is mounted solid to the roll cage.

Several things to consider if getting a hand held camera: Run it with auto focus turned off and focus on the outside of the car in front, run it with zoom all the way out to get the best width range of video, make sure the remote works with driving gloves on and put some velcro on the remote so it won't fly around inside the car and make sure you have plenty of tapes before going racing so you don't overwrite anything.

[John]

Several things to consider if getting a hand held camera: Run it with auto focus turned off and focus on the outside of the car in front, run it with zoom all the way out to get the best width range of video, make sure the remote works with driving gloves on and put some velcro on the remote so it won't fly around inside the car and make sure you have plenty of tapes before going racing so you don't overwrite anything.

Those all sound like excellent suggestions.

[Dominic L]

I would be surprised if there was much EMI or electronic interference with a video system no matter what type of camera there was used? There will be a lot of vibration interference and that can translate into the tape system if it is not shiedled from the vibration. Most hand held cameras have some sort of electronic stabilization so if it is mounted on the cage or roll bar with a solid mount there will be little fuzziness. One place you can get interference is with wind noise and Radio Shack sell foam mic covers that elminate the wind noise very well. With my Race Cam setup, the recorder is inside a foan lined case strapped to the floor of the car and the camera is mounted solid to the roll cage.

Several things to consider if getting a hand held camera: Run it with auto focus turned off and focus on the outside of the car in front, run it with zoom all the way out to get the best width range of video, make sure the remote works with driving gloves on and put some velcro on the remote so it won't fly around inside the car and make sure you have plenty of tapes before going racing so you don't overwrite anything.

John, ever have any trouble with tapes malfunctioning? Also, have you ever tried any type of uv filter or is the hood on your race cam enough to cope with the washout from the sun?

Thanks,
Dominic

[john rogers]

I have a UV filter on the camera mostly as a protector for the lens glass. The race cam has a small allen adjuster on the bottom of the lense at the front and you move a shade filter up/dpwn to adjust the light in the windshield so it does not wash out. The tape unit is a Sony DAT recorder and never had a skipping issue.

[mikelsr]

Several things to consider if getting a hand held camera: Run it with auto focus turned off and focus on the outside of the car in front, run it with zoom all the way out to get the best width range of video, make sure the remote works with driving gloves on and put some velcro on the remote so it won't fly around inside the car and make sure you have plenty of tapes before going racing so you don't overwrite anything.

John,
I thought about the auto focus after yesterday's event. I have a Panasonic PV-GS9 that I won a couple of years ago and an I/O port mount. The camera doesn't have a remote so you have to do everything by hand. It isn't too bad to work with. Here is one of my runs from Sunday. I will set the focus next time.

Heartland AX

I am still in the learning mode with my car and AXing. I guess I always will be.

Mike

[turboman808]

I have the io port mount and only tried it with the video on my digital cam and so far works fine. Rubber isolated so no unwanted noise. For the video camera, if tapes work I'm thinking hi def. Check out this video:

http://stage6.divx.com/NYC-Motorsports/vid...run-in-High-Def

That's one I did awhile ago. Used a sony HC3.

For in car I found the disc and hard drive cameras don't work. Tape is more robust and will not fail and easy. This video is High Defineition and I can't imagine buying anything of lower quality.

Get a camera that uses tape or get one of those compact flash based in car systems. Those have no moving parts but I don't think they do High Def for a reasonable price.

Trust me you want to stick with a mini dv tape camera. The others will fail and good luck returning them when they do.

[John]

I've been playing around with my wife's DCR-HC40. I can capture the video on the PC via the DV cable (firewire) and get acceptable results (for me).

Now I just need to figure out a robust method of attaching the camera in the car. I think the camera has a remote to start/stop the recording.

I'll also have to figure out how to manually control the focus and the brightness. Looks like it may be a fun challenge.

We've wanted to put a camera in the track car now for about 15 years and it may just make it in for our last event this year (in October).

I've got to get to work on a mount.

Here is a question about the videos posted on the web such as youtube: What format and resolution are those in? AVI, MPEG??? I'm more used to making VOB files for burning to DVD's.

[turboman808]

Here is a question about the videos posted on the web such as youtube: What format and resolution are those in? AVI, MPEG??? I'm more used to making VOB files for burning to DVD's.

VOB is just another for of Mpeg. For the most part I make everything a DIVX file. It gives you the highest resolution without being to large.

When you go to upload to many sights you will find they do not accept files over 100mb or 10 minutes. So using DIVX format will resolve alot of this.

Also I use a site called Veoh.com and Stage6.com

Stage6 is the only sight I know that lets you freeely upload any length and also in High definition.

Veoh.com is really handy because when you upload to there sight it will also upload to all your other video sites. So it knocks out 6 video sites in one upload(youtube myspace aol etc). It's really handy. Plus if your friends run Veoh on there home theatre and they are subscribed to your channel they get your videos automaticaly to the home theater. Really nice!!!

[Dominic L]

Here is a question about the videos posted on the web such as youtube: What format and resolution are those in? AVI, MPEG??? I'm more used to making VOB files for burning to DVD's.

VOB is just another for of Mpeg. For the most part I make everything a DIVX file. It gives you the highest resolution without being to large.

When you go to upload to many sights you will find they do not accept files over 100mb or 10 minutes. So using DIVX format will resolve alot of this.

Also I use a site called Veoh.com and Stage6.com

Stage6 is the only sight I know that lets you freeely upload any length and also in High definition.

Veoh.com is really handy because when you upload to there sight it will also upload to all your other video sites. So it knocks out 6 video sites in one upload(youtube myspace aol etc). It's really handy. Plus if your friends run Veoh on there home theatre and they are subscribed to your channel they get your videos automaticaly to the home theater. Really nice!!!

Thanks for the tips, Nathan. I went ahead and bought the Canon hv20 high def camcorder. (So now I'm 1000 dollars poorer thanks to your video of Yarin in high def! LOL) Read lots of good things about it. I recorded one autocross video with it but it came out too jittery. Afterwards, i found out that one clamp was loose on the io port camera mount. DOH! Worked well for vacation too! One question. What do you use to edit your videos?

[turboman808]

Thanks for the tips, Nathan. I went ahead and bought the Canon hv20 high def camcorder. (So now I'm 1000 dollars poorer thanks to your video of Yarin in high def! LOL) Read lots of good things about it. I recorded one autocross video with it but it came out too jittery. Afterwards, i found out that one clamp was loose on the io port camera mount. DOH! Worked well for vacation too! One question. What do you use to edit your videos?

I use Sony Vegas. Way before I picked up a camera I was an audio engineer for Sesame Street. Sony Vegas started it's life 10-15 years ago as a program for audio engineers. So the controls are laid out like a multitrack recorder and make alot more sense to me then say Premiere or Final Cut. I also never have issues with taking in different formats like all my friends have with the other programs. My system is pretty high end though. But Vegas is scalable.

My computer has 3 32inch widescreen monitors, 2 quad core processors and runs blackmagic decklink with Vegas. I have a terrabyte of storage localy and a file server with another 10 terrabytes. Have a few other toys around but that's primarily what I use.

[Dominic L]

I use Sony Vegas. Way before I picked up a camera I was an audio engineer for Sesame Street. Sony Vegas started it's life 10-15 years ago as a program for audio engineers. So the controls are laid out like a multitrack recorder and make alot more sense to me then say Premiere or Final Cut. I also never have issues with taking in different formats like all my friends have with the other programs. My system is pretty high end though. But Vegas is scalable.

My computer has 3 32inch widescreen monitors, 2 quad core processors and runs blackmagic decklink with Vegas. I have a terrabyte of storage localy and a file server with another 10 terrabytes. Have a few other toys around but that's primarily what I use.

Wow! No wonder your videos look so professional! Thanks again!