Recording to disk... new wrinkle

[lovetrumpsfear]

Hi all,

I'm in development on a new project, with the somewhat uncommon requirement that I be able to record to disk, on a first-in-first-out (FIFO) basis. In other words, I need to be able to connect my camera (either via firewire or a capture card) to the computer, aim the stream at a second internal drive, and record until the disk fills up. When it reaches capacity, I need whatever software is capturing to start overwriting footage from the beginning. Just a big, many-hour loop.

I'm hoping someone on the boards has had experience with this... Or at least has a clue where I can start looking?

Thanks so much!
Paul

 

[Charles Angus]

Does it need to be full quality?

 

[Steven Caesare]

You mention FIFO, but describe looping.

Are you reading this stream back out from the beginning while simultaneously recording it?

 

[number6]

Sounds like a hi-rez security cam setup to me.

 

[Stuart English]

Loop Record

Loop Record

Just a big, many-hour loop.

How many hours ?

 

[lovetrumpsfear]

Thanks for the responses! The more I research this, the harder it looks to me... I appreciate the interest.

Angus: Full quality is of course preferred, but practicalities of band/bus-width may limit to a high-quality motion JPEG or similar(?)

scaesare: I wouldn't be reading it back out immediately, more like defining a partition to write to, and letting software/firmware/*ware handle organizing/logging the individual frames. When the storage unit became full, it would begin over-writing the first frames written, I guess chasing its tail for however long a loop the storage allowed.

number6: That was the first thing I thought of, but obviously it's not possible to haul a security DVR out to location. I was hoping to find something more tuned for the cinematographer.

Stuart: as many as the storage device allowed, based on the size/bit depth/compression specified.

My interest in this (apparently theoretical) tech came from a recent trip to Haiti. All sorts of amazing things were happening, but often where it wasn't advisable/possible to set up and shoot. (A white guy with a big camera attracts a lot of attention.) I had a UN escort for the trip, who lived in the city where I was staying, and whose balcony overlooked a Haitian prison and several government buildings. I realized that if I had a recorder like the one I'm attempting to describe, I could set up under cover, let it record for as long as I had disk space, and come back to retrieve the gear the next day.

Again, thanks for the interest! I love these boards... ^_^