Video recording indicator on stream

[Skip Talbot]

I've got a weird situation with my video streaming, where the video camera is inaccessible to me while I'm driving (its on the roof). I have no way of knowing whether or not I'm actually recording unless I enable the info you see on the camera's LCD to be output through the video out, where I then monitor it on my laptop. The problem with this is that it outputs a whole bunch of information including the battery info, camera options, recording time, and a bunch of icons. This in turn gets streamed live to the internet and looks real amateurish. The alternative is turn this option off so I have a nice clean image while I'm streaming, but then I have no idea if I'm recording and the camera does screw up from time to time. Does anyone have a suggestion on a way to check if I'm recording without outputting it to my video stream? The model I'm using is a Sony HDR-XR500V. I know you guys probably don't know the specifics of the model or its settings, but was hoping for a general solution. I thought about somehow directing the red recording light from the outside of the camera back into the vehicle, but that doesn't seem very practical.

 

[Steve Miller]

Redirecting the red light was going to be my suggestion all the way up until you said redirecting the red light "doesn't seem very practical".
Given that you have about 6 hours of record time in the highest quality HD video that camera will take on a 120gb hard drive, I would flip it to record and forget about it. 6 hours is a lot of time when it comes to chasing.
You will have a killer timelapse of every chase too!
Or you can redirect that red light... ha

 

[Skip Talbot]

Given that you have about 6 hours of record time in the highest quality HD video that camera will take on a 120gb hard drive, I would flip it to record and forget about it.

I get a lot more recording time than that at the highest setting actually. The problem is there are errors that occur that cause the camera to stop recording. Above 85 mph the wind noise causes a "Buffer Overflow" error on the camcorder. This problem was present on earlier Sony's and I had hoped they fixed it, but apparently they didn't. Also if the shock sensor is tripped due to me hitting a huge rut in the road or something recording will stop. I can turn this feature off but then I risk corrupting the hard drive on the next bump.

Just letting it run is exactly what I did on May 13 and I came away with only the first hour of the chase. I would have been devastated if I hadn't also gotten stills of the tornado and Ben hadn't also shot HD video on his video camera. So on May 15 I streamed back the camcorder info. I did make a pretty spiffy timelapse of it too although there were no tubes that day: http://www.skip.cc/chase/090515/video.html (Warning: 350 MB Video). I had to hit record via a wired remote about 5 times over the course of 4 hours due to these glitches, you can see them as brief jumps in the video.

Or you can redirect that red light... ha

Any ideas on how to actually accomplish this?

 

[Steve Miller]

Not without voiding your warranty. I have seen this done for tower cams that are in acrylic domes. The red light would reflect on the inside of the dome and therefore needed to be removed. Why a tiny piece of electrical tape or some paint over the light wouldn't work, I don't know. I think there was something to do with that light triggering something something else in the design. Regardless, the case was opened and with the board exposed, there were two terminals big enough to accept beads of solder. Simply run long wires to your LED from there.
On newer camcorders and with technology making these boards smaller and smaller, I'm not sure how feasible this might be. It MIGHT be easier to relocate the LCD viewer and have complete control over the features of the camera AND see what it sees, all from the car. Now you have me thinking!

 

[Skip Talbot]

That would be ideal if I could detach the LCD. I paid for 4 year accidental damage coverage though and removing the LCD panel wouldn't technically be an accident.

 

[Steve Miller]

Short of cutting a hole in the roof of your vehicle and mounting a 007-like series of mirrors, I think there might not be a good solution.

Anyone else have ideas?

 

[Jeff Russell]

Is the red light a red light or a red lens cover. If a cover, you could drill a small hole and insert a fiber optics strand and run that inside the car.

 

[Walt VanRheen]

Wo, Jeff, that is a really good idea.

 

[CZandbergen]

That led is probably a light pipe. You could just extend the light pipe with fiber or something as suggested above. A more complicated method would be an optical sensor attached to the LED and or light pipe.

 

[Dennis Sherrod]

Is it possible to just hook up an external monitor? I do this on my HV-20. I dont have to try and see the small screen on camera and can just use the 7" monitor to see what is going on. It is still hooked up to my computer for streaming and nothing shows up there or on tape.

 

[Paul Austin]

Dennis' suggestion should work if all the LCD monitor data is passed through the video out as well.

The optical sensor solution is not really all that complicated. I used something similar to build a flicker box for a Halloween maze. Just buy a light sensor type night light. Remove the bulb and run wire from the contact points to some place in the vehicle to which you could attach the bulb or some other indicator with a similar voltage/wattage requirement. Run power to the sensor and position the sensor over the record light. The problem I see with this simplified version is that the sensor/night light device combination could be too large for your camera enclosure. In this case, the sensor solution becomes more complicated involving removal of the sensor and rewiring with proper power supplied. I guess the fiber optics solution seems a bit simpler.