Bullet Camera

[Daniel Gast]

I recently picked up a bullet camera and have been iching to use it mounted on the inside of a car windshield to get in-motion shots. The trouble is, as it's a bullet camera, it has no storage medium...and I'm at a loss for what exactly to plug it into.

A few people have made suggestions, but all of them didn't work out for either cost or other reasons. I just need some cost-effective way of capturing the video, either onto tape or any other medium that is able to be captured into a PC at a later date and edited.

The best success I had thusfar was plugging the RCA Video from the bullet camera into a used Canon GL-1. I no longer have access to said GL-1, and it wouldn't be cost-effective to buy the GL-1 just to use the video-input feature...surely there's a better way.

Any and all suggestions are most welcome.

[Chris Soucy]

Anything powered by either it's own batteries or a cars 12 volt system and accepts and records composite video will do:

VCR?

DVD recorder?

SD Camcorder?

Cheap as chips will do, bullet cams aren't renowned for their great pictures.


CS

Tho', on reflection, throwing away the bullet cam and buying a cheap camcorder (of any variety) with OIS makes more sense: self contained, better picture, easy to mount, recorder and camera all in one etc etc etc.

[Daniel Gast]

Well, here's the issue and the reasoning for a bullet camera - it can go more places. A regular self-contained video camera costs more and may not have as good a picture.

The bullet camera I have has a very fine image...it's quite good, and it can be bought on-the-cheap because it's simply a lens and a CCD, no paying for external storage and such.

VCR - No good, far too much quality loss

DVD Recorder - Would I then be able to access the footage for editing? I've had a LOT of problems with editing footage from DVDs in the past.

SD Camcorder - As I stated, I could go this route...but most of the really inexpensive ones don't have input options.

CS? What's that?

[Chris Soucy]

er, me.


CS

[Robert M Wright]

You could use something like this connected to a laptop:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815306013

You might even be able to get something like that to talk to an Asus Eee. I don't know if you can load WinXP on an Eee or not.

I'm not sure how a tiny bullet camera with composite out would shoot a better picture than something like a TRV70 or an Optura 20, which can be found for pretty dang cheap nowadays.

[Lloyd Coleman]

I think many small SD cams have a mini plug style video input. You can get a cable or convertor to go from RCA to mini plug I think and use that.

[Daniel Gast]

Indeed, SOME cameras have such an input...but everywhere I go, nobody knows which ones. I've asked Best Buy, Circuit City, etc, all of them stared at me like I was crazy. Why would I want to record into the camera from another camera?? Heh... Like I said, the mini-plug worked on a Canon GL-1...but it didn't on another cam that a friend of mine had.

What cheap camera could I use?? Many have mini-plug output, but not all of them accept input...and it's never listed as a standard feature.

[J.G. Beckman]

You might consider the Aiptek A-HD. It's an $125, cigarette-pack-sized HD camera that records h.264 onto SD cards, but it also has an AV-in for capturing standard definition video. It weighs next to nothing, has a 2.5 inch LCD and uses cellphone batteries you can buy for like 3 bucks.

The codec fits 4.5 hours onto a 4GB card, and the high-compression can be difficult to edit, but looks fairly good, I think. Good color; a little crunchy during high-motion.

[Robert M Wright]

I know a TRV730 (Digital 8) can record from composite in. I use it to record from cable tv once in awhile. I think I paid $200 for that camera (in great shape) a couple years ago. But again, it's sort of difficult to think the TRV730 couldn't shoot at least as good a picture as a bullet cam.

[Kenneth Johnson]

try these links

also look at this Archos 504

ken


http://helmetcameracentral.com/2006/...et-cam-system/

http://stuntcams.com/shop/product_in...products_id/88

[Chris Swanberg]

Most it not all of the Sony Hi8 Handycams will record from composite video through the AV connector. They are capable of recording more lines than the little lipstick cams will put out (eg. will capture 520 lines which is about the top limit on these cams). TRV XXX were the model numbers. I have a TRV350 and it works just fine.

The other nice thing about these cameras is that you can use a LANC controller to remotely start and stop them. Very handy with a bullet.

And for those who say just buy the camera it is better forget there are places you cannot or do not, want to mount a "big" camera.

[Kelly Harmsworth]

Originally Posted by Daniel Gast

Indeed, SOME cameras have such an input...but everywhere I go, nobody knows which ones. I've asked Best Buy, Circuit City, etc, all of them stared at me like I was crazy. Why would I want to record into the camera from another camera?? Heh... Like I said, the mini-plug worked on a Canon GL-1...but it didn't on another cam that a friend of mine had.

What cheap camera could I use?? Many have mini-plug output, but not all of them accept input...and it's never listed as a standard feature.

my old canon zr60 could do this so I would expect nearly any camera could

[Giroud Francois]

for about 300$ you can get a DVR ( a video recording device working with memory card). It is a nice solution for bullet camera, because then you are fully solid state and can plan to leave camera and recorder to funny places.