What type of video camera do you use? Does it have to be digital to get them to the computer for posting or can you use a Hi-8 type tape camera. If so how do you get them uploaded...TIA...JR

 

You have to have a capture card that accepts RCA inputs to do it with Hi 8.. THen you need video editing software to trim it down to a manageable size and compresss it so folks can dload it

Doug

 

Thanks Doug, I guess I'll let the research begin...sounds like lots of work... ...JR

 

A digital camera really only saves one step if you are using the tape.. Some of them do have little memory cards that record direct to MPG which would save a couple steps cause you could just tape what you want and dump it direct to your PC in a format you could post...

The storage or record time of the memory cards is low compared to the tape...

One warning when using Hi 8 ( most of the movies sixpipes and I did were using his Hi 8 Camera ) the captures are saved as AVI files and are HUGE. 3 or 4 min of video is like 900 mb of disk space.. Of course you can then save as mpeg at less than full screen which cuts that way down BUT your PC has to be able to handle BIG files to start with ......

Doug

 

Doug,
then are you guys useing digital cameras, I was looking at Hi-8 because they are lower priced. What other low priced alternatives are there. I don't want to buy a digital camera cause I will rarely use it...thanks ..JR

 

We have used BOTH Sixpipes Hi 8 and the Movie function in ihis and my digital still camera.. If you are getting started and just want to do short movies and dont want to screw around with the editing sofware just get or borrow a digital still camera that can record either mpgs or MOV files.. The sony floppy based camera can record 15 seconds of movies on a floppy - Which if you are taping racing is plenty ...

Doug

 

Doug,
I have a Sony digital still camera that takes 15 sec vids, guess that's probably all I need but I just doesn't seem to zoom far enough

 

Your best bet is this, hardware wise for your computer for starters. Now im not a big advocate of ATI video cards because of their shody drivers from the past and discontinuing hardware because they couldnt get it to work properly in " Windows 2000 " Ahem, Rage Fury Maxx

At any rate, pick yourself up a ATI Radeon AIW ( All In Wonder ) video card. Theyhave really gotten their act together and this hands down, is the best solution for a Noob.. Unless you own a mac ( bleh )

This will help immensely when ripping your video whether you choose HI-8 or Digital. It has a breakout board and will accept all inputs. It comes with a mass utility base for your editing and xfering of files. Cant beat it. Check here for good prices from this reputable company.

You can find some really good deals right now on Digial Video Cams as well as 256 meg flash memory cards. Buy what you can afford. The AIW will make it quite painless for you to edit and produce your own rips.

One last piece of advice, whatever you choose to do, please to do NOT encode crap using DivX Mpeg 4!! Quality goes to **** in a hand basket. If you need that much compression, look at the On2 suite of compressor/filters.

 

I used to have the HUGE sony with 14x optical zoom... I now use olympus c2100 UZ with 10x ... To me for action shots 10x optical is a minimum

Doug

 

Although I still use a Hi 8 camera and tape, I would rather have a firewire camera, because there are two steps (or one if you script it so it's automatic) that could be eliminated:
1. Capturing the video (analog) from the camera on the tape,
2. Converting the analog to a digital format.

BTW, capture the video at 25 fps minimum. I capture it at 30. With a firewire camera, all the capturing and editing could be realtime. And the quality of the final product would be MUCH better. Resolution is lost in step 2, above.

Once the file(s) are on the computer, I start my editing. Once I've selected the clips and inserted transitions, titles, music (if needed), etc, all that is left to to is exporting the file for use on the internet. In my experience, .MPG or .MOV (MPEG or Quicktime) files will give the best quality with the smallest file size. But, the kind you can export along with the parameters of the export, are dependent on the software you're using.

Following are a couple samples.

The first is a good example of how a tape will look if you're more interested in watching versus capturing good video. I just held the camera off to the side and pointed it without paying attention what was in the view finder. I didn't care and it still worked.
The video track is 1:48 long, frame size is 320x240, color depth is millions, video data rate is 272.1 kbytes/sec, frame rate is 24 FPS. The sound track has a sample rate of 48kHz, is mono, 16 bit, and used IMA 4:1 compression. File size is 28.7 MB.

The second is an old video from Thunderhill with some still clips and music inserted. The camera is mounted on the rear of the truck and the microphone is inserted in the engine compartment.
The video track is 3:44 long, frame size is 320x240, color depth is millions, video data rate is 74.2 kbytes/sec, frame rate is 20 FPS. The sound track has a sample rate of 44.1kHz, is stereo, 16 bit, and used IMA 4:1 compression. File size is 26.2 MB.
I used Sorenson Video as the compressor for both clips.

One quick item: MPEG-4 works great BUT only as long as your software allows you to adjust all the parameters and you adjust them correctly for the output and connection speed.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Thunderhill

 

hey JR

i use a sony mini DV camcorder. i also have a package that includes all the software and wires to connect the camera to my pc. it saves on compressing all the pix and what not. it does it all for you as they get imported. the software also has all the editing equiptment in it. the picture quality is real good, and it saves a lot of time.

i get all types of electronics at cost, so if you are looking for a new camcorder, i can help you out. shoot me an email and let me know what you are looking for and ill see if i can help...chris

 

I would love to see someone devise a nice in ****pit camera setup for the L.

Good advice spike. Riping video is quite an art.. Especially learning filter chains, etc. I just despise a lot of mpeg 4 because of how people encode with it.

 

A what-type camera?

 

lmfao. K.O.C.K pit camera .. stupid filters.

 

$150. Duct tape it to your helmet. I've been using it for two years and works great.




If you add data acquisition, you can also overlay the truck info on the video.