recording from more than one video camera

[wingdude]

Hi
I'm new in using a video camera to more than recording in birthdays,
and I got a lot of questions
first of all I'm gonna use the camera(s) in a car, recording on track days and that kind.
If you are using 1 camera, I think I can handle it.
But if I want to use more than one camera, and want to use one at the time, what is recomended to use to switch between the diffrent cameras? and how do I record it? directly to a laptop? or is it other alternatives?

hope my english is understandable

[redwudz]

Your English is fine.

What format do your cameras output? If they are camcorders and output with FireWire, you can probably record both at once, though I've never tried that. Then sort out the different views during editing. I don't know of a FireWire switcher, though they may be available.

If they are composite output, you would likely need separate recording setups, or a PC with multiple composite inputs in the form of a PCI or similar video card. Surveillance cards can use several composite inputs at once. But not usually with a laptop.

FireWire can have more than one device connected. There are probably FireWire hubs available. Generally FireWire is about 25MB/S if I remember correctly. That's not that much bandwidth. Two FireWire devices should work at the same time.

A bit complex, but with a inverter to supply your local AC line voltage, you can use a regular tower PC with any needed cards and use that in a vehicle, running off the battery. I've done that with a VHS recorder and a composite output video camera. A bit retro, but it will work.

Give us a bit more info on what hardware you have available and someone may be able to supply better information.

And welcome to our forums.

[grossjamesh]

May I suggest a small two channel video mixer. You could then send the video result to a laptop through a video capture device.
I do this on a regular basis.

[unclebud]

Does this need to be seen and/or recorded in real time as it happens?

If not just record with all camera's to video tape or what ever recording method they use and edit it all down later in a Non Linear Editor (NLE) such as Premiere, Vegas, Video Studio or whatever (there are dozens of these applications you can use and there are FREE ones too).

There are hardware and software video programs that will let you connect several video camera's to one computer and record the results in real time. You can add lower thirds and any number of transistions in real time.
The software version that I've tried is called Wirecast from Vara Software. Pretty good software for DV cam's.