hi

im looking at setting up a car pc

what i would like to know is whats the best option for capturing/recording video

i want to have incar footage for hillclimbs/track days
i would also like to be able to link the video and telemetry from the ecu (can just have that displayed on a screen in front of camera if easier)

are usb cameras easiest?, or is it best to have a video input?

so far the plan is
mini atx mobo
pretty quick processor (whatever is supported by the mobo)
at least 1gb ram
big hdd (at least 200gb)
decent power supply
dvd burner
7" touchscreen

as well as, but not important
audio out
gps

any ideas, help would be awesome
cheers
bluesteel

This can rely a hell of a lot on what front end your going to use? Check out mp3car i think ive seen a post on this for an addon in road runner

Hi, newbie here from USA.
My 2c:
You can just use any web cam and record with it's software.
Yes, RR has the plugin for that.
Video input quality is better, and depending on what monitor you have, you can switch to video quicker. Recording on the other hand may be a little tougher.

thanks for that... have posted the question on mp3car.com too

seems like the easiest way to do it is to use a usb video capture device and a normal camera and it should come with the software for recording

havent even looked into what front end i would be using as yet, all depends on what lets me do everything i need i guess

RoadRunner is the best IMHO. With the DFX skin.
However, not sure what GPS software would work with that for you Aussie guys.

i know its stating the obvious here.. but make sure you have a good cushioning system so it can cope with the bumps of a hill climb..

Or suspend the camera in a rubberband hammock for smoother video.

I would recommend a PCI-based capture card, these can be had for as little as 20usd. I would use a color weatherproof security camera with RCA plugs for the capturing device. It could be powered by batteries or the car/pc. If you had a monitor hooked up, it would be easy to start and stop recording and with a big enough hard drive, time limits would be almost non-existent.

The hard part is combining ECU data to the equation, I'm still working on this one myself. Maybe just record ECU data and mix it into a second video channel as an overlay so you can see it (transparent) on top of the video from the camera? This could easily be done when you save your video files to a home PC...

if you log the ECU data in via the serial port, then combine it to a sub-title overlay for merging with the video/DVD stream later on.