primuspaul

The Taxi DVR searches resulted in equipment recording from fewer than 3 sources (4 would be ideal). I did find a cheap DVR for $50 with pretty good reviews and working with 12 volts at 2 amps, which is very good for the car environment. Unfortunately, it will NOT work with a hard drive that is less than 500 GB. While such an HDD is easy to find, HDDs are vulnerable to vibration and their operating temperature is generally 0 degrees Celsius (freezing point) and up. Every year the temperature where I work drops below that, often significantly below that, which is why the laptop I use uses a small SSD, which has no mechanical parts and is therefore not limited to the temperature ranges of the older HDDs. A small SSD that I use is more than enough for me to record what I need, but the size of it is either 32GB or 64GB, I forget which. It is fairly cheap, but getting an SSD sized 500 GB or more is prohibitively expensive so that idea is not feasible. I am looking for something small, simple (on button, record button), and cheap. I don't need to have the ability to play items back from it. I can do that by taking out the storage media and putting it into another computer. I also don't need to store anymore than 10 hours of video.

I am looking for a very basic video signal receiver that can receive and record multiple analog signals from cameras. The cameras I am planning to use are basic low voltage cameras such as this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CMOS-Car-Rear-View-Reverse-Backup-Parking-Camera-Night-Vision-Waterproof-7-LED-/321758470456 The receiver must receive and record the video data from the cameras to a reusable digital source, such as an SD card or a solid state drive. Right now I have a system which records using USB webcams. While relatively inexpensive ($5-10 per camera, $150 for the laptop), the laptop tends to overheat in extreme weather. Obviously I will buy new cameras since USB cameras are digital, not analog. The receiver must be capable of recording from 3 or more sources at once. I am looking at this right now: http://www.ebay.com/itm/CCTV-4Ch-DVR-Hybrid-DVR-1080P-NVR-CCTV-Video-Recorder-for-IP-Analog-Camera-/151708410544 Looks like it has 4 video inputs and only needs 24 watts at 12 volts no less (so no power conversion necessary since the car provides 12 volts). What do you think?

Well, I guess I can get http://www.ebay.com/itm/CMOS-Car-Rear-View-Reverse-Backup-Parking-Camera-Night-Vision-Waterproof-7-LED-/321758470456 since it is already waterproof, but it looks like it has the same connectors. So my question is still the same: will it work? Also, reversing is not entirely what I had in mind. I don't need help reversing. I can just use mirrors or turn my head. I need it for parallel parking in the city. I am considering also putting one on the front of the car to view the bumpers, maybe having a switch to change from one camera to the other.

I have a Magellan RoadMate 9212 GPS that has AV input. I already confirmed that it switches to camera view when it has an active video signal (I used a cable box to test it) coming in on the fourth pin and a ground available on the third pin (from the tip). I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a backup camera for the GPS unit. http://www.ebay.com/itm/480TVL-CCTV-Color-Camera-Board-1-4-Inch-CMOS-4-0mm-Lens-/311091056866 Will that work? The output should be pretty easy to wire since I already tested it and know what pins to use on the GPS unit. I can also wire the power input directly to the cigarette lighter port of the car since the power requirement is so low (about a watt it seems) and since it wants 12 volts, which is exactly what a car provides. Will this work?