Video cameras for in car footage

I bought a camera for some incar footage of my races to see how Im going and Im having problems with it. Its a cheap Samsung DV tape type video recorder but I cant download the video to the PC via the Firewire9(1394) cable. So Ive decided to buy another camera but dont wont to spend $1000 on a video camera that will get the crap shaken out of it in the car. The nephews run camera in their cars and generally get 2 seasons from them before they fall to bits internally. Im hoping a SD camera may be more robust than the DV, DVD and HDD ones.

To get a proper race style camera with a seperate recorder and a few lipstick cameras is between $1500-2000:eek: would prefer to spend that money on making the car faster.

Ive been looking at some cheap sd type camcorders that record in HD, seems like a better idea because it will look better on the TV. I need some feedback from some of the multimedia guys from UCP about cameras.

These are the style and performance of the cameras Im looking at:

[url=http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HD-DIGITAL-VIDEO-CAMCORDER-CAMERA-MP3-MP4-PLAYER-16MP_W0QQitemZ160268134445QQihZ006QQcategoryZ39834QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem]HD DIGITAL VIDEO CAMCORDER/CAMERA/MP3/MP4 PLAYER/16MP - eBay Other Digital Video Cameras, Digital, Video Cameras, Accessories, Cameras. (end time 06-Aug-08 08:33:03 AEST)[/url]


[url=http://cgi.ebay.com.au/HD-DIGITAL-VIDEO-CAMCORDER-CAMERA-MP3-MP4-PLAYER-16MP_W0QQitemZ160268976678QQihZ006QQcategoryZ39834QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem]HD DIGITAL VIDEO CAMCORDER/CAMERA/MP3/MP4 PLAYER/16MP - eBay Other Digital Video Cameras, Digital, Video Cameras, Accessories, Cameras. (end time 08-Aug-08 18:56:45 AEST)[/url]

Problem with competing with an in-car camera is two-fold.
First, getting one with a wide enough angle lens to give a better view of what's going on and giving impression of speed :)
Second, the imaging coping with fast moving objects. Video compression on fast objects requires a lot of very specific processing. I'm guessing this will do "average" and so might be very blocky for in-car.
Buying cheap ones off eBay is agood way to reaplce old ones - we do that in the rally cars. AND if you can get one with video in then adding a bullet cam gives more flexibility.
Fit and anti-vibration mount to the camera and it'll last longer. Problem is most of us clamp it on to the roll cage or a screw mount on the rear parcel shelf. In both cases the camera is subjected to VERY high G, short distance/duration shock loads. Even just a simple piece of rubber can extend the life with out having any impact on the filming.

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I know what you mean Matra we bolt ours in a enclosure to the rollcage and pack it with rubber and foam but they still fall to bits after a few years:(. Ive looked at the chase cam ones but they start at $1500 for a basic kit. might just buy a cheapy ebay one and if its crap the oldest daughter has a Christmas present:) Also true about wide angle, most incar gives no idea of the real speed, Im mainly using mine to see how inconsistent I am lap to lap:o

If it's purely for consistency & problem solving would a VBox not be a better solution? I don't know how expensive they are though.

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These arent too bad but a few mates ran the HERO and ATK cameras at bathurst and the footage is very choppy, plus the resolution is low. Plus Im a tight arse and dont want to spend too much money:)