What camcorder for trackuse?

Wobbles a lot dontchya think ?


Great Driving style ....

 

Bit steadier if it's bolted to the seat you're sitting in.

Scotland, it's the UK's answer to the nurburg.

 

I've had a quick Google, Ebay and Kelkoo search and I think this might be a good one to go for:

JVC GR-D270EX

It seems to have a full array of connectivity?

Can someone verify that this can be used with a bullet type camera? And that it would be ok for trackday use?

 

From the link above:

Connectivity
Audio OutPut Yes
Audio InPut Yes
Video OutPut Yes
Video InPut Yes
DV in (IEEE1394, FireWire) Yes
DV Out ( IEEE1394, FireWire) Yes
Computer Interface FireWire IEEE 1394 et USB

Does this sound about right to run one of these Dogcams? Video and Sound?

 

No! i think it's an AV input that you need.
Cheapest i found with an AV input was about 300 (internet price) but i decided that i did'nt need it.

And before you ask no i can't remember what one.

 

But... AV means Audio Visual, the list above says yes to both Audio and Video inputs.

 

"sounds" ok to me

 

This might become a bit of a long one but please read on if you know this kind of stuff...

I've had a look at the JVC GR-D270 in a store but found that the A/V in connection was a small rectangle type of affair, a bit like what you get with digital camera, the bloke mention something about an adapter from this from maplins but I cant say I can find anything that will suit. I would need something along the lines of a jack lead end to whatever this small rectangle connector is.

Another option, slightly more (as things usually are...) is a Canon MV-830i.

Canon MV-830i specification

This mentions 'Analogue-in' and 'Yes', is this what I need?

Looking back at the Dogcamsport page here, which gives a list of compatible cameras with the correct AV IN terminal, you will find the Canon MV-700i.

Canon MV-700i

Both state that they have Analogue-in and AV as yes - if that's of any help.

Will this MV-830i be suitable? It has a jack style, circular terminal for the AV terminal.


Does this (above) a normal 3.5mm jack terminal?

Now the MV-830i doesn't list the ability for an external mic but I want to use one of the Dogcamsport kits which looks like this:


Will both the external bullet cam images and external mic, both run through to this camcorder, or will I only be able to record the images and not sound due to the camcorder specification?

Please help.

 

Here goes, The bullet cams i have all have a small crap microphone as part of the harness, the harness typically ends in a white phono jack and a yellow video jack, and there is the small 12v power plug all of which you can see if the dogcam pic. Now these plugs are of quite a size, so to take up less room on the camcorder itself the camcorder will have its own small connector and a fly lead that will connect between the av connectors of the bullet cam and the camocorder. You cannot use the existing camcorder microphone whilst recording in the vcr mode, but with the right bits you can connect a decent external mic that will connect into the flylead harness.

I suggest for the begining you concentrate on getting the correct camera, and sort a decent mount that passes scruitineering.

Heres a pic of my sony Pc-110e, shows you the normal av red yellow and white connectors and the small 3pole jack plug to get the signal into the camera.



As far as i know most if not all sonys connect in the same way, the two video recorders i have also connect in the same way.

A few things to think of :-

Battery power, its a f**ker when they run out, especially if your not aware or able to check them at the track. believe me it happend at the ' ring two years ago and i've no footage of me driving the track . Be aware that they suffer from the cold and deplete even faster if its nippy. Get a huge cell for the camcorder from ebay, and use the highest rated NiMh cells for the minicam. Make sure the camcorder your getting has the option of bigger batts first off.

Storage of the kit, I used a cheapo Jessop case at brands last year, the race car was in a horrific accident and my GVD-800 got crushed and burnt. I have now bought a Peli case (storm do a similar cheaper version) which are guarenteed unbreakable, whether that would have held in a 120mph shunt i dont know but it may have helped in that instance !

I know it sounds like over kill but now i've lost it i cant replace it, it is worth looking into.


Ok ive bored myself now, if theres anything else i can help with ....

 

EDIT, read bottom of post, defo being special!!!

think its cost i have just come off nights that or i am just "Special"

will this spec let me use a bullet cam simular to those dog cams?

Audio InYES
Audio OutYES
i.LINK (DV) In NO
i.LINK (DV) Out NO
i.LINK (MICROMV) In YES
i.LINK (MICROMV) Out YES
S-Video InYES
S-Video OutYES
USBYES
Video InYES
Video Out yes

Camera is a sony DCR-IP1E

sony cam

got ti cheap cheap


magic lead!!!Ignore me i am being dump!!!!!!!! just spend time time to read the sony site and found these;
Edited by: mk1g60turbo

 

The "magic" lead is included in that cam package, its also shown in my above picture too.

Supplied Accessories

21 Pin Adaptor
YES

AC Adaptor
AC-L25

AV Cable
Stereo AV

Lens Cap
NO

Memory Stick (MB)
8.0

Rechargeable Battery Pack
NP-FF51

Shoulder Strap
NO

Editing Software
PIXELA ImageMixer ver1.5 / MovieShaker ver3.1

Stylus Pen
NO

Tape / Cleaning Tape
NO

USB Cable
YES

USB Driver
YES

Wireless Remote Comander
RMT-832

Wrist Strap
NO

It appears to write directly to memory stick. the stick is only 8mb which if it records normally will take about a second to fill up. I guess it uses some form of compression (MPEG AX) as normal video uncompresssed is something like 4GB per minute ! Worth looking up to see how the mpeg fairs for normal viewing, and/or budget for some extra 1gb sticks. Personally i'd stay with minidv tapes.

 

has extra stickgs with to matey, and for 280 notes brand new, can't complain!

 

If I am able to record from a video recorder, will this mean that I will be able to use one of those bullet cameras, as it's the same principle isn't it?

i.e. data coming in through the AV (Canon = analogue in) terminal.

 

yup, thats the easiest way to test it

 

I've plumbed for the Canon MV-830i and did the test as per the above but I had to use a scart connector which had a switch for in/out for the camcorder to pick up what was on the TV screen.

With a normal scart connected, or just the 3 seperate leads connected to the TV, there is nothing live, if you see what I mean. How will the below work to give me the right signals, will it be the battery pack (below) that will somehow say that the external bullet cam is producing a signal that the camcorder will see as an input?

 

My tv has the three coloured jacks on the side, this is known on the tv as AV3. Pluging the camcorder into it, it will either record whats being played on the tv, or show what the camcorder is playing out.

Never had to switch a scart lead over ....

 

Put the camcorder into vcr mode, and make the display show the tape time code (it needs to actually display something on the cams screen, the tape remaining data etc.) which will make the camcorder output a signal to the tv. Now depending on the av channel the cam is connected on you need to switch the tv to that channel. Its should now diplay the image that the camera is showing - the data code.

This will basically work in the reverse of what i said above, the only signal the camcorder recieves is coming straight from the camera

 

I think I'm with you B, so will the camcorder pick up the signal when the bullet camera is powered up, without any problems?

I have managed to record things from the TV to the camcorder but that was with a switchable scart, set to 'out'. With the scart adapter supplied and the camcorder on the same VCR mode, it seems to pause/freeze.

Which is why I have slight doubt that the camcorder wont understand the signal from the bullet camera...

 

Ok try omitting the scart part, you'll not be using it when on track ... Try connecting to the tv via the 3x jack plugs. If the tv doent have them see if anything else has like the home vcr. I know scart cables have more than just tv signals passing through them, some scarts have the full pin set in the connector, others have a very basic few. For instance a good cable will have the right pins located so that when a unit (DVD for example ) is turned on the tv will get the powered up signal from the dvd player and switch the channels over to the appropriate scart lead.

Maybe your scart cables are confusing the camcorder this way.

My three sonys have never shown this problem.

 

That's right about the scart, the one with the camcorder only has 7 pins, so I would imagine this is for output only, camcorder > tv. My switchable scart has the full set of pins.

I've tried plugging the 3x jack leads in to all the tv's in the house and it still just seems to lock up. [:^(]

The spec of the camcorder (830i) is listed near enough identical to the 700i I posted a link for earlier. One of the blokes e-mailed me back from dogcamsport and said: "Either camcorder will do fine, you will get the same results with any camcorder in the range. In fact, any canon with model numbers ending in "i" will work ok.".

Hmmm, unless I should go ahead with buying the bullet cam kit and see what happens then...