I’ve got an application that calls for wireless video capture. On the camera end the plan is to use two bullet cameras along with body worn transmitters to capture the footage. On the other end I need to have a receiving station, if you will, to record that video. The receiving station is actually a Pelican 1550 case with two small LCD monitors mounted inside. The challenge I’m running into is what to use to capture and record those video sources in better quality than DVD, preferably 10mbps CBR MPEG-2.

Some ideas I have been entertaining are using mini ITX motherboards to capture video via the firewire port, but that would require the use of a dedicated video card. And, I would need two sets of these to be able to capture from the two wireless cameras.

Another was using two dedicated MPEG-2 capture boards. But, I soon realized that prices were well over my budget.

The challenge I’m running into is what to use to capture and record those video sources in better quality than DVD, preferably 10mbps CBR MPEG-2.

((Why woudl you want mpg as an archive? if doing that u may as well get a dvd recorder and burn straight to disc.. ))

Some ideas I have been entertaining are using mini ITX motherboards to capture video via the firewire port, but that would require the use of a dedicated video card.
((no you wouldnt.. you only need a firewire port.. depends on how u do it though.. ))

And, I would need two sets of these to be able to capture from the two wireless cameras.

((why not get 2 cheaparsed laptops for $500 each? so longa s there is firewire and wireless networking, u wont have an issue.. and for storage, u can always expand with an external USB drive ))



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I thought long and hard about using laptops, but I need a setup that doesn't use moving parts. If I can get away with using CF flash cards for storage it would be great.