In car video camera question

[Dave Moore]

Originally Posted by 02 Graphite GTS

ViperGTS,
May I ask what video camera you bought?
I've been looking into different ones as well. I was hoping to stay away from tapes, so I started looking at the alternatives.

The first one that I considerd is the Chase Cam PDR100. For $875.00 you get the personal digital recorder, bullet camera and mount. It writes directly to a compact flash card and has no moving parts....so vibration should be no issue. I haven't been able to figure out if it has a monitor built into it to watch the playback or monitor what the bullet camera is aimed at. I know a bunch of guys use their bullet camera, but haven't gotten any direct feedback yet on the PDR100.
Their website is ChaseCam, Your Source for Video at Speed

Another one that I came across the other day and have been trying to get more info on is the RO-800SD/HD DVR. This one has a 30 gb hard drive and also a 4gb SD card slot. The website says it is not ideal for Harsh Vibration Environments and switching to the SD card changes it to solid state and thus vibration is no longer an issue.
I wonder what is considered "harsh vibration" . My assumption is that this DVR device would not necessarily be hard mounted like a camcorder (only the bullet cam would be hard mounted) and the vibration would be minimal. You would think in this situation the hard drive system would function with out too much of an issue....
The big plus to the RO-800SD/HD DVR is the built in 3.5" screen
It has a starting price of $819.95.
The only place I found it was here HCV-R Camera System

I'm still looking and really don't know what I will buy.
Any advice others may have would be great.

Lance

The chase cam and pdr doesnot have a monitor. I have used mine a few times and mount it to the mirror. It has so far passed tech and the picture is good. You just might need a longer s video cable, depending on where you put the camera and the pdr

[Makara]

I used a HVX200 which works great. It records to P2 card media in HD with a picture superior to pretty much any camera that costs less than the car you are putting it in lol

Of course youtube made a mess of the video once I put it online YouTube - ESX track day

[Copperhead245]

I use an Oregon Scientific "Action Cam" - SD Flash cards. While not the best quality, (motion JPEG 640x480 @ 30fps), its only about $120 and I strap it to my helmet (no mount needed).

Link: Action Cam

[vincy]

Thanks for the thread. I was getting tired of tape and thinking of a disk video camera, but now I see it would have been a waste. I never had a vibration problem with a Sony video camera.