Help Capturing video from a PTZ Camera

[Jeremy_bk]

I'm currently trying to find the best way to record video and audio from a Vaddio WallVIEW 70 PTZ Camera(http://www.vaddio.com/audio_visual/wallview_70.asp). I originally tried using an Axis 243SA Video Server(http://www.axis.com/products/cam_243sa/index.htm) to record the output of this camera but the recordings all came out grainy and dark. If anyone could help me with this or point me in the right direction, please let me know. Thank you very much.

[Soopafresh]

Looking at the pdf of the tech specs, it seems like you can connect the SVideo connector to any device which can capture the signal. The Canopus ADVC 100 is a device which would work, although it's around $250. One end would be Svideo and the other would be Firewire to your PC. Then you could use a capture program (several free ones out there) to record the video.

However, what you're complaining about sounds more like an issue with the camera rather than the capturing process. Is the illumination of the area you wish to record adequate ?

[Jeremy_bk]

First thanks for taking the time to look at this issue. I appreciate it very much. This camera is part of a bigger system of four camera's that all feed into a "control center" to handle camera presets and which also has a preview monitor to see what each camera is seeing. The output of the control center is feed to a distribution amplifier that feed two HD TV's and this Axis box to capture the feed. When viewed on the tv's or preview monitors, the feeds look great. I only see the quality loss and the darkness on the recordings. I was thinking that this device might be a possible replacement for the axis box(http://www.vaddio.com/audio_visual/tech_specs/dv_capture_pro_ts.pdf). It sounds very similar to the device you mentioned in that you pull the video from it over Firewire using some kind of software to pull the video. I really don't know that much about video capture some I'm not sure this device would record any better than the axis box I've got. I would like something that records video at the same or close to the same quality as is output straight from the camera's. Again, thank you for all your help.

[Soopafresh]

Yeah, that device is functionally equivalent to the Canopus product I suggested.

There are many apps which will capture the video from the firewire connection, once you install the above mentioned hardware(as in the dv capture pro device). Stoik Capturer is one that you can try for free. It will also transcode the video to another format, such as Xvid, h264, etc so you can store more on your drive.

http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Multimedia_and_Graphics/Video_and_Animation_Tools/S..._Download.html

- Capture to AVI or WMV with selected codec or profile
- Option to capture through temporary file (direct from capture devices without recompression) to avoid drop frames during recompression.
- Split capture file by size to override filesize limitations.
If this option is selected program will start new capture file (sequentially numbered) once maximum capture file size is reached (650 MB, 700 MB, 800 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, No Splitting)