Products
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DVR (Digital Video Recorder) Guide
There are more solid state, digital video recorders (also known as DVRs and PVRs) being made now that flash memory is becoming cheaper. Although hard disk drives will be the cheapest form of mass storage for some time to come, flash memory is now an affordable way to record audio and video files. The big advantage for extreme sports enthusiasts is that flash memory cannot be damaged by shock and vibration in the same way hard disk-based recorders can.
However, the difference in build quality, picture and audio quality and reliabilty between these new DVRs appearing on the market can be enourmous. What looks like a bargain, can turn out to be a waste of money once the result is viewed on even a reasonable size TV or PC monitor.
Look at the specification carefully before making a decision. The recording resolution and frame rate are the biggest factors when it comes to overall picture quality. High Definition (HD) is still in it's infancy, so we will be looking only at Standard Definition (SD) products here.
The maximum resolution and frame rate possible for SD (non widescreen) is 720 x 576 at 25fps for PAL (The European TV Standard) and 720 x 480 at 30fps for NTSC (The North American standard). Full resolution is also known as D1 resolution.
There are numerous DVRs being sold which cannot record at full D1 resolution and at the full frame rate. This will make the picture look 'blocky' or 'jerky' when played back. There are also several methods of compression which can be applied during the recording to reduce the filesize and hence the amount of storage needed for a given recording time. Compression methods include MPEG2, MPEG4 and ASF. Within these standards, there are even more choices a manufacture can make which affects picture quality. Some recorders use cheap components inside which can affect picture quality and colour rendition.
Ultimately, the only sure way to find out if a recorder is good enough for your purpose is to get hold of a sample of original video to view on your chosed device (TV, PC, PDA etc.).
The Drivedata FB2 is probably the highest quality DVR available today and is certainly the smallest and lightest D1 recorder capable of true DVD/Broadcast quality results. Another product on the market with a similar specification, but at a lower price is the Chasecam PDR100. See a comparison between the Drivedata FB2 recorder and the Chasecam PDR100 here
Drivedata is committed to selling only high quality, ultre-reliable products so make sure you look carefully at the specifications and sample recordings before making a buying decision.
Read more about television standards here
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