Portable AV to Digital Video Capture Device?

16mman

16mman

Active member
Okay, so I admit that this is a weird request, but hear me out.

I have a black and white toy camera from the mid 90s called a TycoCam, and I want to use it for a project. I can mount it onto the hot shoe of my Panasonic HV20 and record the AV video out onto Mini DV tape, but it's kind of a hassle and way heavier than I'd like it to be. Does anyone know of a solution? I would like a small field recorder similar to an Atomos Ninja Star that can record an AV signal digitally. I've looked around online and the only thing I can seem to find are these weird Chinese products called "portable DVRs," but the codecs they use are way too lossy. Anyone know of anything? I'd be surprised if something like this doesn't exist, considering how many people are going for the lo-fi video look these days. Even a small digital video cam that shoots to SD card rather than Mini DV tape and has an AV in option would be better than my current setup.
 
You might specify the outputs for better answers...

If it's RCA plugs for video and audio, there's probably several solutions for laptop or desktop boxes. I believe my Blackmagic intensity card has RCA ins, and as I recall my Atomos box did when I had that. Those were desktop boxes, but they do make laptop boxes via USB with various inputs. And recording SD shouldn't require a RAID, maybe just an SSD.

Have you tried an RCA extension cable, so at least you could, I dunno, strap the big camera to your back or have an assistant handle it? Most of the monitor-based recorders will be HDMI or better.

When I owned an HMC150 (sd card) I recall it having analog ins… my AC-130 only has RCA out.
 
Michael Carter said:
You might specify the outputs for better answers...

If it's RCA plugs for video and audio, there's probably several solutions for laptop or desktop boxes. I believe my Blackmagic intensity card has RCA ins, and as I recall my Atomos box did when I had that. Those were desktop boxes, but they do make laptop boxes via USB with various inputs. And recording SD shouldn't require a RAID, maybe just an SSD.

Have you tried an RCA extension cable, so at least you could, I dunno, strap the big camera to your back or have an assistant handle it? Most of the monitor-based recorders will be HDMI or better.

When I owned an HMC150 (sd card) I recall it having analog ins… my AC-130 only has RCA out.
Click to expand...

It has an RCA out. That HMC150 is a bit too big, but thanks anyway. Maybe I'll just stick with my HV20 solution :)
 
You say you have a low-quality "black and white toy camera from the mid 90s" but then you say that the low-quality "weird Chinese products called portable DVRs" have codecs that are "way too lossy". Do we have that right? Are we missing something here?

 
Richard Crowley said:
You say you have a low-quality "black and white toy camera from the mid 90s" but then you say that the low-quality "weird Chinese products called portable DVRs" have codecs that are "way too lossy". Do we have that right? Are we missing something here?
Click to expand...
Sounds reasonable as a lot of those analog toy cameras have a really unique grain and noise that would turn to crap when recorded in a lossy codec. Ever notice how bad that static burst that opens most HBO shows looks on heavily compressed digital cable TV? It looked fine back in the day when it was standard def over analog cable. The reason that static burst, and a lot of analog noise doesn't hold up under lossy compression is that there are too many changes from frame to frame of the same pixel. Lossy compression relies on a certain number of pixels staying constant from frame to frame. Noise and static are the opposite of that and thus the hardest to compress well.
 
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