Would you recommend this - CVP800?

[steevg]

HI guys,
I'm a new member here, there's some great info, but none that I've found which answers my first question:

I'm trying to hook up a basic video system so that our customers can take a record of their short journey back home with them.
We run a small 4x4 (jeeps, tanks etc) facility where the customer can experience a short "thrill seekers" trip around our purpose built facility.

I've attached a couple of small pencil camera's to the roof & window of one of our vehicles, and would like to sell the footage to the customer. I've seen the following Mini VCR advertised but am not sure if it'll allow me to copy the footage directly to DVD, or even if the frame sizes for capture would fill a normal (PAL) TV screen:

http://www.svat.com/productDisplay.php?id=290

We're looking at first, for a budget system, hopefully if it's successful we can improve over time and upgrade to something mor professional.

Any comments or other product recommendations would be very welcome.

Many thanks.

[BJ_M]

it looks pretty good - mpeg4 capture at full D1 at 30fps

[steevg]

Thanks for that, yes I agree the specs look good, but any idea how I can find someone who has one of these for a real appraisal of the product? I was hoping someone on this forum might have used one!

Cheers.
Have a great weekend.

[Richard_G]

The only downside I can see with it is the format. Although the specification states NTSC and PAL, it only shows NTSC recording resolutions and frame rates. If it isn't capable of recording PAL frame rate (25 fps) and resolution (720 or 704 x 576), it isn't going to be of much use to you. Also, I couldn't find a price for it anywhere.....

[Richard_G]

You might get on better with something like this:

http://www.archos.com/products/video/av_500/tech_specs.html?country=global&lang=en

Will definitely record in PAL format and as a known brand probably easier to get support if you need it.

[tinker]

From the spects it make 12,24 and 30 fps, which is close to NTSC
24 fps is film. However it will produce Mpeg4 file (it uses SD card to capture-good for rough conditions-no moving parts) and you should check if it is XviD or DivX compatible format, those can be played on some players not all.
If you want DVD (Mpeg2) than you will have to do some conversion and editing before being able to burn.

[steevg]

Hey thanks for the replies.

Regarding the price, I've seen them for around the US$200 mark and this makes a possible purchase a little easier for us than buying (for example) a Firestore. ($1500)

Regarding PAL, full specs do show it records in PAL (720x576) but I'm still unsure of Mp4 formats - having never seen Mpeg4 "live" can anyone inform me how the quality compares with Mpeg 2 or DV for examples?

I realise it will be a lower quality due to the compression it uses, but how noticeable will it be for our customer on their return home?

Many thanks for your comments guys.

[BJ_M]

it all really depends on the bitrate

[steevg]

Thanks,
Do you know of any other low priced Mini DVR's - prefereably without a display - which might do the job?
Ideally, we'd like an Mpeg2 recorder - similar to the Firestore - quite simply so there's no down-time when recording the footage to DVD later!

[redwudz]

Those solid state DVRs are really made for surveillance video. Quality is not the main objective, it's usually long recording time. On the other hand, if you are on a budget, they may work out. You could copy the MPEG-4 video to a data DVD and include a player like MPC or VLC on the disc. Probably only good for a computer playback, though. Converting the MPEG-4 to a MPEG format could take a while; Unless you want to mail it to the customer at a later date. Usually, you would get a better response from your customers if you can supply a DVD ASAP.

I'll assume your video cameras output as composite. DV would be better, as you could output directly to a DVR that accepts DV video and burn somewhat directly to DVD. But then you have the cost of a DV camera and they are not the best for surviving high shock loads like your present cameras.

Best of both choices would be a reasonably priced solid state DVR that recorded to MPEG directly, but I haven't seen any, but they may be out there.

Personally, I would go with the MPEG-4 DVR for the present. The cost is low and you should be able to deliver the video fairly quickly. You could include instructions to convert it to a DVD format on the disc. That, at least, would get you up and running with your idea and maybe get enough profit to upgrade to a better system in the future. JMO.

[Soopafresh]

Don't buy anything until the company you're considering buying from sends you a short sample clip. Most of them don't look much better than phone cameras. Plus, I'm sure they are dainty little devices, bent on breaking after a few jolts.

Here's an interesting idea, although I've not tried one.

http://w3.isee-ato.com/Products/iSee-360i/Default.aspx

[steevg]

Redwudz,
great response, and some good idea's - I think you're probably right about just doing it and buying better equipment as work increases and we start (hopefully) making a profit from this!
The CVP800 does have an SD card, and we also thought about just simply selling the SD card to our customer, but at this stage I'm not sure what they would cost us wholesale.

Soopafresh: That's not a silly idea either, thanks for the suggestion, I'm sure any supplier who's serious about selling his product would send me a clip from the product to show off it's capability. And the iPod idea is interesting - would like to see that in action - if it's full size Mpeg2 in PAL format, that could be an optin for us - thanks for the link!

Thanks guys,
OK time to do it!

Have a great weekend and thanks for all the input!

Regards,
Steve