Recording from a Helmet Camera- I'm confused

[garrick]

Hi,

I have a 580 line Helmet Camera with Yellow composite feed. I am attaching this to my microlight wing for filming the cockpit and flight, then editing into DVD videos , just to capture trips round France and Scotland so that when I am old I can "remember the day ". This works 100% when using a DV tape camcorder. However , I would really like to set up a touch screed PVR recorder that I can mount in the cockpit. I was thinking of something like the Archos 605.

Here's the rub- I can't get answers to the following and when I do get info I don't understand the answers

Can I take an AV in feed to PVR ? Which PVR's could take feed?
Camera is 580 line Pal format, what resoultion and format would be recorded to the PVR ? i.e. 480 * 600 @ 30 FPS - Is this lower or higher quality than 580 line PAL.
I understand AVI format I think - What is recording in Composite to Mpeg 4 ? (Does that make any sense?)

Ideal PVR - Would allow composite feed allow for above 10 hours of recording and have ability to take a portable charger - (Microlight runs on 12V system).

Thanks in advance if anyone has any ideas

[guns1inger]

Recording into a PAL DV camera will get you 720 x 576 @ 25 fps, which is 4:3 DVD resolution, with a minimally damaging amount of compression. Most portable PVRs will record at 30 fps, a lower resolution, and in a heavily compressed format. This will mean difficulty in converting the video back to PAL (in fact, you probably wouldn't convert it back , as it would produce a jerky or blended mess), and you would converting from one heavily compressed format to another, producing another quality drop.

If you must use a PVR type device, look for one that will record at PAL framerates. You will probably have to settle for 640 x 480 resolution and heavy compression though. These devices are not designed for producing archive quality video, but source material for youtube mashups.

[garrick]

Guns,

Thanks for the reply , no doubt about it I would be looking for greater resolution than 640 * 480. I will set it up using my old digital camcorder , I have checked and cannot find a new Hard Disk camera with Video in capability.

Thanks for the detailed reply as I know it's a pain to answer Newbie questions. Rest assured I will "Pay it forward" in other forums where I have some knowledge.

Cheers

Garrick