Interval recording

[Dhruba Naug]

Can someone help me a bit with what I think can be called interval recording?

I have a Sony HDR-HC1.

What I want to do is take a 1 min video every 1 hour for 48 hours. So, the total duration of the recording would be 48 minutes (so a regular tape should be sufficient for that). I'm not planning to edit and join them into some kind of time-lapse video. I'm collecting data in these 1 min segments and each 1 min would be viewed independently of the other.

From some of the posts here, I got the impression that the frame speed might differ for such recordings, making the motion jerky. Is my understaning correct about this? Because that would really spoil the data I'm trying to collect.

I'm thinking that the camcorder needs to be stopped and re-started somehow at these intervals. Does the camcorder I have capable of doing it by itself (at least it doesn't seem so from what I understand from the manual) or do I have to buy some other hardware and/or software to do this? Or one has to have a whole different kind of camcorder?

I've a Grelab Intervalometer that I've used in the past to control lights in a similar fashion but it doesn't seem I can use it to control the camera in such a manner.

I would really appreciate some responses here.

Thanks in advance.

[Wayne Faulkner]

I don't believe there is such a function, but you may be able to pick up some old surveillance equipment that might operate in such a fashion, as I understand it some pieces of kit can be programmed to operate at intervals, and some of these will learn IR remote commands to operate other equipment.

For instance, I have such a device and it can operate the recording to a VCR (or indeed any other device using and IR Remote Control), which would likely include a HDR-HC1.

Check out eBay for surveillance equipment of this type, since it appears that everyone has probably bought into PVR recording by this time and such old kit will be going for peanuts.