On-board camcorders

[Hail Ming]

Hi Guys,

Richard and I were experimenting yesterday with an on-board camcorder - the results were pretty impressive. So impressive that as soon as I got home I ordered two. I'll being editing the footage shortlly and will add a link to this thread.

If anyone is interested in an on-board camcorder, the one we were using was a MD80 mini DV; widely available on Ebay for about £12 (inc shipping). In addition to the camcorder, you'll need a micro SD card, but these are really cheap.

Watch this space for the footage...

Cheers

James

[Hail Ming]

YouTube link as promised...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmTTR536pdw

Some of the quality has been lost when uploading onto YouTube, but still entertaining.

Cheers

James

[conor steptoe 2]

can i stick one on my tourer

[IBEXMotorsport]

Excelent quality.. better than that i managed some time ago.. Still suffers from the same old problem though..The angle is not wide enough / the car changes direction to quickly..

If the quality / frame rate is good enough, then maybe these shots would benefit from being run at half speed?..

[Hail Ming]

Hi Rich,

Good to hear from you - cheers for the comments. Quality would also be improved if we'd cut a hole in the windscreen. Not sure what we could do about the angle, but the frame rate might be worth looking at.

Cheers

James

[IBEXMotorsport]

Hmm. The windscreens look clear from a couple of feet, but of you study them, they can be a little opaque, especcially if yours is particuarly "orange peel" effected..

It seems that this camera is a MUCH better option than the wirless spy camera I tried some time ago. Can you confirm that this also records Sound. Not managed to watch you tube with sound yet..

If it does, I'm gona seriously consider 1 or 2 for my motocross..

[Dale]

Hi James,

Great post - would like this on the front of the website and more if possible!

Richard Pacey - a blast from the past - are we going to see a Return to Hinckley perhaps?

[IBEXMotorsport]

nope...

no offence

[Dale]

Hi Rich,

Sent you a PM.

[Hail Ming]

Hi James,

Great post - would like this on the front of the website and more if possible!

Sure thing - should be getting some more footage at tomorrow's meeting.

James

[IBEXMotorsport]

Iv'e just orderd my camera... Thanks for your help yesterday james. Much appreicated.

[Hail Ming]

No worries Rich,

It was good to see you again - good luck with the new moto-x season.

James

[Rich]

These seem to be all the rage lately! I think they're a copy of the Muvi cameras which retail for about £50.

Bought one myself actually! Anyone else looking to get one make sure you get a Class 6 memory card for it, anything less and you'll find that the footage 'skips' a lot.

[IBEXMotorsport]

Whats "Class 6" Then when its at home?...

[Rich]

These cameras record onto a micro sd card. The cards are rated by class. For a class 6 card, the minimum write speed of the card is 6mb/s. With a class 2, the rate is 2mb/s. You'll find with class 2 cards (for these cameras), the footage will skip, because the card can't handle the rate the camera is trying to write to it at. With a class 6 card, this isn't an issue therefore the recorded footage will be smooth.

Obviously the class 6 is a bit more expensive than say a class 2, but you can get an 8GB one for around 15 quid which is pretty reasonable!

Hope that helps