Interval recording to a laptop
 

I need to be able to record 10 seconds every hour over a period of several days.

The subject is bats in a dark cellar (the project is how they respond to building work nearby). I have a Sony A1e for infra-red work but it doesn't have an interval/time-lapse option. Also, it would be more useful if I could record direct to a laptop (power supply isn't a problem) so I could see the results without going into the cellar and risk disturbing the bats.

Is there a program, preferably low priced, that will allow me to do this?

Any alternative suggestions welcome.

Thanks
Annie

Check out Adobe On Location CS3. That might be what you are looking for.

Tony

Thanks Tony - I suspect on-location will do this. However, at the moment I'm trying to keep costs down. I'm also trying to leave CS3 until I have time available to get into editing properly rather than spend the money now and have to upgrade later anyway.

So far, the best compromise I have found is to use the stop motion option in premier elements 4 which will give me one frame at any frequency I want. It's just not quite what I need in this case.

What about Scenalyzer? <http://scenalyzer.com/> The software can do time lapse and it is reasonaably priced. I use it all the time with my laptop.

Good luck.

Jon

Is HDV a requirement?

If not, our DV processing software can do timelapse and can also be programmed to do interval recording in the way you describe.

John.

Scenalyser
 

Jon - I've downloaded the trial version, got it set up on the old laptop I intend using for the project, and so far it looks good.

Thanks

John -

HDV is not a requirement for this project, though it would be useful to do in the future.

What is your software?

Our software is the Enosoft DV Processor (see my profile for link).

Like Scenalyzer, it can capture to disk using timelapse - i.e., one frame every specified number of frames. But single frame capture isn't what you are after.

Our software is fully programmable by other applications and it would be a trivial exercise to create a little program that simply starts and stops the capture process in the way you are wanting. We would include such a program with the main software package.

Thanks John. That looks really good.

However, right now I'm exhausted after a whole day of trying to get this sorted out, and having now just about got a set-up that will work over the weekend at least, I'm going to have to stick with it.

Will your software accept video coming in via composite cables? Scenalyser only takes firewire so far as I can see, and my firewire cable isn't really long enough but I have another CCTV type camera with composite output that will do the job after the weekend - when real long-term monitoring will begin and I don't want a my Sony A1e tied up all the time.

Hello Annie,

Like Scenalyzer, our program is designed to work exclusively with SD DV via FireWire.

To use either application with a CCTV camera with composite output would require a analog/DV converter such as one of the Canopus ADVC units.

John.

Thanks John, that's what I was afraid of.

Unfortunately at the moment my interest in doing wildlife video for pleasure is crossing into my paid work - also with wildlife. But if I didn't have the paid work (which takes up too much of my time) I wouldn't have been able to afford any video equipment (which I don't have time to use much). Vicious circle huh? And I could definitely have done without this emergency monitoring project.