Using a laptop as a video monitor & DVR

[Mauronic]

Hey Guys -

Been lurking for a couple of weeks while I have been getting into this hobby. Having lots of fun with my multirotor and looking to rig it for FPV.

I don't want to buy goggles or a monitor yet so I was thinking that it would be great to repurpose my iPad or MacBook to save a few bucks for now. I researched it a bit and found the Elgato Game Capture:

http://www.elgato.com/elgato/na/mainmenu/products/capture-convert/GameCaptureHD.html

If there's no lag it could be a great monitor / DVR solution.

What do you guys think?

pete

EDIT: FAQ on website says 1 second live video delay. Is that a dealbreaker for FPV (probably, huh?)

 

[Tahoe Ed]

I have an Elgato usb capture for my Mac. It is not the one you showed. I want to use it for just video capture. I would never fly by the capture on my Mac. The latency would be much to much. You could use it to frame camera shots or record your FPV flights.

 

[Droider]

Aye Up Pete.. Nice find Ill go have a look. I second rely is a killer for the FPV. But as TD said it would be ok for recording an FPV flight if you are not using a GoPro or something similar. Personally I would not like my MBP out in the open on a tripod or something incase it got trashed.. There are plenty of cheapish monitors out there with no delay.

DAve

 

[Stacky]

I use an older elgato on my mac laptop to record some flights. Every now and then the recorded footage has bursts of speed which Im guessing is some sort of buffer happening. I couldnt use mine for FPV flying because of this but my elgato is about 5 years old now.

 

[Mauronic]

Too bad this won't seem to work for live video. I know I can buy a monitor and battery but it kills me that my MacBook has those two things already and I can't use them!

 

[kloner]

an easier way to record is like a memory card recorder like this. one side affect is if you use it inline with your monitor, it always feeds the monitor so if it has a blue screen when the signal sucks, this keeps it from happening feeding static. you can usually still make stuff out in static but once it flips to blue, your done. the pc capture cards usually blue screen
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/single...video-recorder-with-sd-card-slot-53835?item=3

On the monitor, if you have any "extra" 3s packs laying around work great for 12v stuff like monitors

 

[Mauronic]

an easier way to record is like a memory card recorder like this. one side affect is if you use it inline with your monitor, it always feeds the monitor so if it has a blue screen when the signal sucks, this keeps it from happening feeding static. you can usually still make stuff out in static but once it flips to blue, your done. the pc capture cards usually blue screen
http://www.dealextreme.com/p/single...video-recorder-with-sd-card-slot-53835?item=3

On the monitor, if you have any "extra" 3s packs laying around work great for 12v stuff like monitors

Good to know. The DVR that I was looking at is much more expensive although it has a couple of nice extras.

http://www.multiwiicopter.com/products/fpv-blackbox-flight-recorder-mpeg4-pvr-for-sdhc

 

[kloner]

same resolution so at the end of the day it's the same recording. This one has an internal battery so when it powers down, it closes out the file no matter if you just unplug power or switch it off, record auto when power applied, all configurable. but that one shows needing a battery, i'd rather give it power from the rest of the ground station just so it's not a forgot to charge the recorder thing. you got an onscreen there, but you got a screen your flying through the deal extreme ones osd is viwed through

The really good one is made by lawmate from what i'm told
http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/Lawmate-PV500-evo.html

this is from the deal extreme, same res so would be similar to what your looking at

the bending at the top is my vrx, not recorder

 

[Stacky]

This is the feed that my elgato on my mac laptop recorded. Its from my very first fpv flight.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLzFmEI_B0E&feature=g-upl