Experience with Hard Drive Camcorders at the track?

Dadofour · Dadofour's Garage

I am interested in upgrading from tape to electronic storage of video when at the track.

I'm concerned about the viability of a small internal hard drive with the bumps involved in off track excursions etc.

Does anyone have any experience with Hard drive cameras like this:

Toshiba GSCR60

Jeff Jagusch · 12-24-2006, 12:34 PM

Hi,
I'm not sure about that particular camera, but based on an earlier thread here, I bought a ATC-2K hemet camera.
Man is it neat!
Have'nt tried it yet, but it is really slick, search for the thread, lots of information, and a link to the place I bought it from.
I paid less than $120 delivered!

Jeff

ZOA NOM · ZOA NOM's Garage

I've thought about this too, but I think I'll go with a hi-res bullet cam into a personal DVR that is tucked away in a padded mount somewhere. I just don't think the hard drive heads will be able to handle the vibrations for very long. I'm looking at the Archos 700 and similar DVR's that record from an external source and can store very high quality digital video in MPEG-4 format.

Having said that, I'm still very happy with my old MiniDV camcorder and it's tapes. I have a dual VCR/DVD burner that I can run the camcorder into to burn the video right to a DVD quickly, so I re-use the tapes. The camcorder also takes external video in from the bullet cam.

J P Stein · 12-26-2006, 05:01 PM

I used my Sony camcorder for AX. Our venue is so rough
that it shut down on occasion. I to0 got an ATC 2000....I'll try it first on my helmet and use the old bod as a shock absorber....why not, it's been used for worse things.

Dadofour · Dadofour's Garage

ZOANAS,

Can you elaborate on the DVR you are using? Is it recording to a drive or flash media? What brand. I use bullet cams and microphones so storing a recorder all padded up in the glove box would be no issue.

Thanks!

Tim Stevens · 12-28-2006, 03:04 PM

I had purchased a Sony Hard drive camera for my last race and it did not work. I did not even make it down to the grid without it shutting down.

Dadofour · Dadofour's Garage

Thanks Tim. Looks like other alternatives will have to explored.

ZOA NOM · ZOA NOM's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by Dadofour
ZOANAS,

Can you elaborate on the DVR you are using? Is it recording to a drive or flash media? What brand. I use bullet cams and microphones so storing a recorder all padded up in the glove box would be no issue.

Thanks!

I don't currently use a portable DVR , but I do use a high resolution bullet camera as an external video input for my MiniDV camcorder. I've started using it less, however, since a camera mounted outside the cabin prevents me from seeing my dash light setup, which I use to review my driving. I can't mount the bullet camera inside due to the white balance. It simply washes out in anything but daylight.

swa911 · swa911's Garage

I bought a Sony HDD camcorder today. Brought it home and mounted it to my suction cup camera rig and went for a test drive. As soon as I hit the brakes it shut down due to "vibration". The hard drive protection circuit is way too sensitive for hard mounting in a car. I returned it and bought a Panasonic GS300 Mini DV and it works fine. It also has a remote and ability to mount a seperate mic which my old camera didn't.

Dadofour · Dadofour's Garage

Thanks for posting your experience. Looks like hard drives are out of reach technically at this point.
Thanks

Tom W · Tom W's Garage

HDD cameras may shut down immediately, but don't assume that just because a camera that records to tape does not also shut down immediately it will last more than a season (if that) of track use. While my Sony Dv camera still works as a camera, it will no longer work with bullet cameras as the vibration damaged the input. I've switched to a ChaseCam setup with no moving parts (records to CF).

bbh03 · 01-08-2007, 10:16 PM

My Panasonic HDD cam will also record to SD card. I haven't tried it at the track yet, but that may be an option for you.

Chuck Moreland · 01-08-2007, 11:04 PM

I use an AIPTEK all digital camera that records to SD cards. Just memory cards, no moving parts. A 2G card is good for about 40-60 mins at 640x480 30fps. Much longer for lower res. Image quality is impressive.

I keep 2 SD cards with me.

These type devices have become dirt-cheap (I got the unit for $120 and the SDs for $40/each)and the record time has gotten reasonable. Soon, these things will have 4G, 8G +. Then there won't be anymore discussion.

This is the way to go.

jaydubya · 01-09-2007, 05:57 AM

Hi Chuck - I have the Aiptek (MPVR) unit too.

Are you using external camera and microphone inputs? If so, could you give me some details on which camera, microphone, where you mount the microphone, etc.?

As you say the base unit is dirt cheap a takes good quality video, but the audio has not been good when it is mounted on my rollbar. So I was thinking about an external mic and camera (my understanding is that you have to do both at the same time - can't use camera from base unit and audio from external).

Thanks,

Jeff

chrisp · 01-09-2007, 07:12 AM

Subscribing so I can see how the AIPTEK is being used. As jaydubya asked, are you using the camera in the AIPTEK or are you using an external camera and soft mounting the AIPTEK unit?

A quick search on line shows that the DV4500 model is under $100 at a few places.

jaydubya · 01-09-2007, 07:37 AM

Here is a sample video from the Aiptek. Despite the fact that this video has been compressed substantially and resized from the original recording, the quality is still acceptable IMO. As you will see, main issues are exposure (which seems to change as you turn away and toward the sun, not necessarily for the better) and sound quality.

http://www.sci.utah.edu/~weiss/temp/mmp_west_course_062506_0001.wmv

Disclaimer - this was before I replaced the 25 year old spring plate and banana arm bushings and the car was extremely loose and unpredictable...

I can post a part of this clip at original resolution if there is interest.

chrisp · 01-09-2007, 07:43 AM

Is that without an external camera? How long have you been using it?

I think the quality is fine considering the cost of entry is so low.

jaydubya · 01-09-2007, 07:44 AM

Yes, that is just taking the MPVR unit and mounting it to my roll bar with an I/O Port camera mount. I used it about 15 days last season.

chrisp · 01-09-2007, 07:47 AM

Thanks.

Sorry for the low tech questions....how are you pulling the info off the card? Are you downloading with the card in the camera or do you have to load the card into a reader and then download from there.

jaydubya · 01-09-2007, 04:06 PM

The camera comes with a cable that plugs into a USB port. Just plug it in, turn on the camera and the SD card shows up like any other filesystem in Windows.

Cheers,

Jeff