The wife is currently 20 weeks pregnant and has suggested that it might be a good idea to purchase a camcorder to record the new additions early years.

Great i thought. Perfect oportunity to also get a bullet cam an make some cool movies of my next track day (of course i haven't told her this)!

Only problem is all the digital camcorders i have looked at in currys don't seem to have an AV in.

Is an AV in the only way to hook a bullet cam up and if so can anyone recomend a camera that has one?

Thanks,

Doug.

I bought a complete system. An Archos 604 with bullet cam.
Basically it is a hardrive recorder with a screen, a bit like a pda, but with 30gb hardrive.
Unlike other bullet cams, it takes it's power from the hardrive unit so no extra power packs to plug in. Not cheap at £379 but what is these days.

Dogcam Sport sell a few camcorders and obviously bullet cameras as well. Have a look here I think somewhere in the site is a list of cameras with AV in. DogCam recommend not using a DVD camcorder.

I use the Archos 504 & a DogCam Pro Zoom, very easy to handle and manipulate the .avi recordings & transfer to PC or DVD.

You could try a Stor Vision storage device, much cheaper than the Archos, however I tried this with my bullet cam and it couldn't scale the image correctly.

Stor-Vision are here

Greenlight TV use a system of a digitape recorder, as in a digi cam, with a bullit camera plugged in.

i have had one of these fitted by them, on loan, to my Tin Top during the Manx International Rally.

You have all seen the quality on Rally reports and Duke videos.

ill see if i can find the piccies of the set up, or something similar.

a list of camcorders with av in.
http://cameras4sports.co.uk/product.asp?id=79

i just thought you might want to see Greenlights showreel.
very approachable people, maybe ask them for any advice.
http://www.greenlight-tv.com/showreel.htm

I have a Sony TRV-80E 2mp mini dv camcorder for sale if you are interested, bluetooth, wifi, 1/2gb memory stick, remote, original + hd battery pack, new tape still sealed. VGC and barely used except for stills. was purchased for aerial photography project that didnt proceed.

Will negotiate on price.

Can recommend the Canon MVX30i

Can be had for about £250 brand new on ebay. Or Comet were doing them for around £280 not so long ago.

Its a mini DV camera, really good quality when played back on a TV, havent used it for a bullet cam yet. But quite a few guys on the site have the same camera and have used them for in car footage. (Ox, Richi Jenkins...)

quote:

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Originally posted by greggors84
Can recommend the Canon MVX30i

Can be had for about £250 brand new on ebay. Or Comet were doing them for around £280 not so long ago.

Its a mini DV camera, really good quality when played back on a TV, havent used it for a bullet cam yet. But quite a few guys on the site have the same camera and have used them for in car footage. (Ox, Richi Jenkins...)

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quote:

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Originally posted by garage19

quote:

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Originally posted by greggors84
Can recommend the Canon MVX30i

Can be had for about £250 brand new on ebay. Or Comet were doing them for around £280 not so long ago.

Its a mini DV camera, really good quality when played back on a TV, havent used it for a bullet cam yet. But quite a few guys on the site have the same camera and have used them for in car footage. (Ox, Richi Jenkins...)

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Ah.. but does it have an av in?

[Edited on 5/3/07 by garage19]

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PS if you want bullet cam quality, just buy a Mustek digital image recorder

whats your avatar suppose to say Gman????

quote:

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Originally posted by G.Man

quote:

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Originally posted by garage19

quote:

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Originally posted by greggors84
Can recommend the Canon MVX30i

Can be had for about £250 brand new on ebay. Or Comet were doing them for around £280 not so long ago.

Its a mini DV camera, really good quality when played back on a TV, havent used it for a bullet cam yet. But quite a few guys on the site have the same camera and have used them for in car footage. (Ox, Richi Jenkins...)

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Ah.. but does it have an av in?

[Edited on 5/3/07 by garage19]

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I may be cynical here, but if you have the camera onboard why do you need a bullet cam and AV in? the camera will have a much better quality pic than the bullet cam and there are plenty of mounts available for far cheaper than a bullet cam...

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Looked at the MVx30i but at £700 its a bit more than i want to spend. I have about a £300 budget for the camcorder.

just pm'd you back, and I think I have the price you are looking for

quote:

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Originally posted by dilley
whats your avatar suppose to say Gman????

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mvx30i has av in, and i bought one for about £300 i think it was. Im fairly sure it has been discontinued now though?

This is his alter ego
Rescued attachment evilkitty.jpg

I think they have been discontinued as comet were the only place that had them for under £500.

Have you checked ebay for new ones? Might be worth a phone call to your local comet too they may have some left in stock. I was selling one not so long ago, went for £315 brand new.

And yes it does have AV in.

As for the need for a bullet cam for a camcorder, to get decent pictures with a mounted camcorder you would need to fix it fairly rigidly and this risks damaging the internals of the camera (ask ned!) Where as a bullet cam has no moving parts and you can have the camcorder softly mounted.

Im not sure, but I would imagine a proper miniDV camcorder would recorded the bullet cam pictures better than a PVR like the Archos. I could be wrong, but the PVR I had, had quite a small res.

And of course you can unstrap the camera from your rollbar and use it to film the family!

Edit: Have a look for the Canon MV300i or MV5i, both also have AV in. Older camcorders, but will be cheaper.

[Edited on 6/3/2007 by greggors84]

Couldn't find any MVX30i s in the end but managed to pick up a new MVX25i for £320.

Should have been £570 before was discontinued so i'm happy.

Will let you know how i get on with it.

Thanks for all your advice.