Video Capture - Anyone used this?

Jon-G · 10-24-2006, 08:27 AM

Hi All,
Im working on the plan for my project and ammassing parts as I go. After searching over and over I can't seem to find anyone who has setup cameras as I wish to for their carPC.

The ideal setup for me is as follows:
1) A night vision wide angle cmos camera installed in the the rear end, for reverse parking
2) Non IR wide angle in the front bumper for recording trips etc.
3) Tiny camera installed in the bottom of the kerbside wing mirror for parking without kerbing alloys (jus had big refurb bill!)
4) Tiny camera in the passenger a pillar (between windscreen and door) pointing at the drivers seat (for surevillance if alarm is triggered)

I have been trying to find ways to connect and capture from these, as I would like the rear view cam to be available at high framerate/res when I select reverse gear (i no the easiest was would be to hook this direct to the AV input of the xenarc), would liek to be able to use the one touch record software someones kindly posted up in the software section to record my trips etc, but I would also like to be able to activate all four cams and start recording if the alarm is triggered (the actuation im not worried about at this stage, just selecting a suitable DVR card)

I will be running my carPC from a laptop around 1.5GHz Pentium M with a gig of RAM, in turn I will be limited to USB or firewire as my bus for connecting the DVR to. I have found these on ebay, but they do look pretty ****ty, so was wondering if anyone has used them:

http://www.grandtec.com/xguardUSB.htm

They also do what looks like a delux model but maybe a little overkill/overpriced for my requierment:

http://www.grandtec.com/magicguardusb.htm

If anyone can offer any feedback on these products, or suggestions to other hardware I can use to satisfy the requirement it would be very much appreciated.

pate60 · 10-24-2006, 11:15 AM

buy a standalone 4 channel, dvr unit which can run on 12v, loop you reverse camera to it, and connect up that other 3. trigger the dvr via your alarm maybe siren output and a relay.

this is the fastest way, otherwise by the time you puter starts recording, someone will have already ripped it out and made off with it!

Genesisfactor · 10-24-2006, 11:51 AM

you havent' searched too far my firend. There search HUD and nitemax for people who have done this. Shotgunefx, alti, and a few tohers are the people you need to talk to on that. As for video capture, i have a brand new USB 2.0 video caputre card with Ulead recording software on sale right now in the FS thread for a good price (less than what you'd pay elsewhere in store). If you need lenses or CCDs, you can either PM me or NiteMaxMark. We both have a replete supply of goodies with quality Sony SuperHAD 1/3" camcorder CCDs that are IR based (all light capable).

As for the sruvalence alarm, tat is a bit harder and will need to be a WELL hidden stand alone unit. Plus, to be submissable as evidence, it has to be decent quality. Also, if they jack the whole car, what are you going to do? Do what another forum member did: have it stream a photo over the web while the computer is on (when the car is started). IF you can, have the software run in DOS like he has it so that you dont' need to boot into windows to ge tit to work. That forum member's name is billforde

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